Tunis & Carthage

Currency

The dinar is a closed currency: you cannot buy it before arriving and you cannot legally take it out. Exchange at the airport or a bank, keep every receipt, and reconvert what is left before departure — the receipts are what let you.

ATMs & cards

BIAT, Amen Bank and Attijari machines are reliable and widespread. They run out over long weekends. Cards are accepted in hotels and the larger restaurants but almost nowhere in the medina.

The dinar cannot leave the country. Keep every exchange receipt: they are what let you convert what is left back before departure.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety

Tunis is comfortable to walk in daylight and the tourist areas are policed. Persistent carpet-shop touts in the medina are the daily friction, not a danger. Check your government travel advice before booking, since parts of the country near the Libyan and Algerian borders and the south are advised against, and standard travel insurance often follows those lines.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa

Health & emergencies

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present

Worth having

• Hepatitis A
• Typhoid
• Tetanus up to date
• Rabies for longer or rural stays

Getting treated

Private clinics in Tunis and the coastal resorts are decent and inexpensive by European standards, and are used to treating visitors. Public hospitals are stretched. Pharmacies are excellent and dispense a great deal without a prescription.

Tap water is chlorinated but most people drink bottled. Stomach upsets are the most common complaint. Summer heat inland is severe.

Orientation, not medical advice. Entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history and where you have been — check with a travel clinic or your national health service four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Brik à l’oeuf, couscous on Fridays, and lablabi for breakfast in winter. Harissa is on every table and is hotter than the Moroccan equivalent. Mint tea with pine nuts in Sidi Bou Said is the ritual worth doing.

Getting around

• TGM light rail — Tunis to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said, cheap and the simplest way to do the classic day
• Taxi — yellow, metered, and genuinely inexpensive; insist on the meter
• Metro léger — trams across the modern city
• Louage — shared long-distance minibuses, how the country actually travels between towns
• Airport: Tunis-Carthage (TUN) is 15 min from the centre, unusually close

Must-see

Things to do

• Walk the medina early, before the shops open and the touts start
• Spend a morning at the Bardo among the best Roman mosaics anywhere
• Take the TGM to Carthage and walk the Antonine baths
• Have lunch in Sidi Bou Said above the sea
• Day trip to Dougga, which almost nobody visits

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Arabic

• Helloمرحبا — MarhabaMAR-ha-ba
• Pleaseمن فضلك — Min fadlakmin FAD-lak
• Thank youشكرا — ShukranSHOOK-ran
• Yes / Noنعم / لا — Na’am / LaNA-am / la
• Excuse meعفوا — AfwanAF-wan
• How much is it?بكم — Bikam?bi-KAM
• The bill, pleaseالحساب — Al-hisabal-hi-SAB
• Welcomeأهلا وسهلا — Ahlan wa sahlanAH-lan wa SAH-lan

Inshallah, meaning God willing, follows nearly any statement about the future and is conversational rather than religious.

Religion

Sunni Muslim

Islam is the state religion, though Tunisia is among the most socially liberal countries in the Arab world. Non-Muslims may not enter most mosques; the Zitouna courtyard is one exception. Ramadan changes daily rhythms considerably.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Greet with as-salamu alaykum, or bonjour — French works everywhere
• Cover shoulders and knees away from beach resorts, and more so in Kairouan
• Haggle in the souks, starting around a third of the asking price, and keep it good-humoured
• Use the right hand for eating and for handing anything over

Don't

• Do not follow anyone who offers to show you a "special" workshop or a festival that happens to be today
• Do not photograph police, military or government buildings
• Do not eat or drink openly in the street during daylight in Ramadan
• Do not discuss politics with people you have just met