Tunisia is situated on the north coast of Africa East of Algeria and North of Libya.
The capital city is Tunis, which is located in the North East slightly inland. The climate is hotter and drier in the South, milder and wetter in the North. The end of the Atlas Mountains run into the top North West corner of Tunisia and this area is quite lush. The country has a lot of coastal area and lots of excellent beaches.
Tunisia has lots of sites of historical interest including the ruins of the ancient city of Carthage. Founded in 814BC and fell to the Romans in 146BC. Carthage is situated to the east of Tunis on the coast. The Country was also invaded by the Vandals in 429. This race destroyed a lot of the country’s statues and architecture.
The capital city of Tunis, while not especially geared up for Tourists, has a number of interesting places to visit, good shopping and good restaurants. It contains the Bardo museum, famous for it’s Roman Mosaics and a number of Souks (markets) for all types of wares.
Local dishes are hard to come by, restaurants tend to feature European dishes. The main languages are Tunisian Arabic and French but a number of European Languages are commonly spoken in tourist areas. Public transport is good, care hire is quite expensive. There are some official Tourist shops there to specifically promote local craft items. These will be marked ONAT. In these shops you do not need to haggle. When haggling start at about a third of the offered price and end up paying just over a half.
The North coast contains the resorts of Bizerte and Tabarka, with excellent beaches, a World Heritage wetland site and the roman ruins of Utica nearby. Tabarka is a fairly quiet resort with low-key hotels and a Genoese Fort and is good for it’s coral jewelly. It is also the best place for snokelling in Tunisia.
The north of the East Coast finds the resorts of Hammammet, Nabeul, Port El Kantaoui, Mahdia, Skanes and Sousse. The area boasts beautiful white sand beaches, hot and cold springs at Korbous, the renown Friday ‘camel’ market at Nabeul. It is also famous for Falcony, with a falconry festival held in June at El Haouaria. Sousse, a little further south is one of countries most popular resorts which has an excellent archaeological Museum.
The southern part of the coast has the resort of Jerba (dJerba). Jerba is an island with good beaches. Nearby is the troglodyte village of Matmata.
Airports - Monastir Tunisia Skanes (MIR), Sfax Airport (SFA), Tunisia Carthage (TUN)
Currency - Tunisian Dinar
Language - Tunisian Arabic & French
Time Zone - GMT +1 hour (all year)
Flight Time - Approx. 3 hours
Tunis average temperature and days of rain
