Day 1: Arrive Tunis — Welcome to Tunisia
Arrive at Tunis-Carthage International Airport. Warm welcome by your Memphis Tours representative and private transfer to your hotel in Tunis (10-20 km, ~20 minutes). Check in, enjoy dinner at the hotel, and settle in for your first night in North Africa. If you arrive early, take a short walk along Avenue Habib Bourguiba — Tunis’s Champs-Elysees — lined with colonial-era buildings, sidewalk cafes, and the iconic clock tower. Overnight Tunis.
Meals: Dinner
Day 2: Bardo Museum, Carthage, Sidi Bou Said & Sousse (195 km)
After breakfast, start your Tunisia adventure at the Bardo Museum — one of the finest archaeological museums in the Mediterranean. Housed in a former Bey’s palace, the Bardo holds the world’s largest collection of Roman mosaics: the Triumph of Neptune, Virgil writing the Aeneid, and intricate floor panels from Roman villas across Tunisia. The museum’s Carthaginian collection includes Punic jewelry, funerary masks, and the famous stele of the priest carrying a child (the controversial “tophet” evidence). Next, drive 25 minutes to Carthage — the legendary city that almost defeated Rome. Visit Byrsa Hill for panoramic views over the Gulf of Tunis, the Punic quarter excavations, and the Carthage Museum. Walk through the Antonine Baths — a massive Roman bathing complex on the edge of the Mediterranean, the largest outside Rome — with its towering columns and underground heating system still visible. See the Tophet sanctuary, the ancient Carthaginian burial ground. Continue 10 minutes to Sidi Bou Said — the iconic blue-and-white village perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. Stroll through narrow cobblestone streets lined with whitewashed houses, their doors and window grills painted in vivid Tunisian blue. Stop at Cafe des Delices for mint tea with pine nuts and breathtaking sea views. After lunch, drive 2 hours to Sousse. Explore Sousse’s UNESCO-listed Medina — winding alleys, craft souks, and the 9th-century Ribat fortress watching over the sea. Overnight Sousse.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3: El Jem Colosseum, Matmata Troglodyte Homes & Douz — Gateway to Sahara (400 km)
After breakfast, drive to El Jem — home to the third-largest Roman amphitheater in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built around 238 AD, this colosseum seated 35,000 spectators and rivals Rome’s Colosseum in preservation. Walk the arena floor where gladiators fought, climb the upper tiers for sweeping views, and explore the underground chambers where wild animals and prisoners awaited their fate. Visit the adjacent Mosaic Museum. Continue south (3 hours) to Matmata — a landscape that seems from another planet. Here, Berber communities have carved their homes deep underground for centuries, creating troglodyte dwellings with central courtyards open to the sky, surrounded by cave-rooms. Visit a traditional troglodyte home and have lunch with a Berber family — couscous, olive oil, and fresh bread baked in earth ovens. Matmata gained fame as Luke Skywalker’s childhood home in Star Wars — the Hotel Sidi Driss served as the Lars homestead interior. Continue to Douz (1 hour 10 minutes) — the “Gateway to the Sahara.” This oasis town was an important stop on the trans-Saharan caravan routes for centuries. Check in to your hotel, enjoy dinner, and feel the desert breeze. Overnight Douz.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4: Chott El Jerid Salt Lake, Ong Jmel Star Wars Site & Tozeur Oasis (250 km)
After breakfast, cross the magnificent Chott El Jerid — the largest salt lake in North Africa, a surreal expanse of crystallized salt stretching to the horizon. In summer, mirages dance across the white surface; in winter, thin layers of water reflect the sky like a mirror. This is where ancient armies reportedly vanished into the shimmering haze. Photo stops for the otherworldly landscape. Arrive at Tozeur — a desert oasis city boasting over 400,000 date palms and unique brick-pattern architecture found nowhere else in Tunisia. After lunch, take a 4×4 excursion to Ong Jmel (“Camel Head” in Arabic) — the iconic Star Wars filming location for Episode I: The Phantom Menace and The English Patient. The sandstone formation perfectly resembles a camel’s head and hump rising from the desert. Evening: explore Tozeur’s Old Medina with its distinctive geometric brick facades, then visit Dar Cherait Museum for Tunisian art and culture. Overnight Tozeur.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 5: Mountain Oases — Chebika, Tamerza & Mides Canyons (150 km)
After breakfast, embark on a 4×4 excursion to Tunisia’s stunning mountain oases along the Algerian border. First stop: Chebika (53 minutes), a paradise suspended between mountain and desert. A spring-fed waterfall cascades into a narrow canyon lined with palm trees — an impossibly green oasis against the ochre rock. Walk the abandoned old village clinging to the mountainside. Continue to Tamerza (18 minutes) — a village seemingly perched on the edge of a vast canyon, offering sweeping views over the plains extending to the distant salt lake and sand dunes. See Tamerza’s waterfall and abandoned old town. Final stop: Mides (43 minutes) — the westernmost and most dramatic of the oases, overlooking a deep, high-walled canyon that marks the border with Algeria. The canyon walls drop 100 meters, and the oasis palm grove is a splash of brilliant green in the desert. Return to Tozeur for lunch. Afternoon: visit the palm grove of Tozeur — one of the most beautiful oases in the world, producing the prized Deglet Nour dates. Optional horse-drawn carriage ride through the 400,000 palm trees. Overnight Tozeur.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 6: Kairouan — Islamic Holy City & Hammamet (380 km)
Early departure for Kairouan — Islam’s fourth holiest city after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. Founded in 670 AD, Kairouan is the spiritual heart of Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit the Great Mosque of Uqba Bin Nafi — a masterpiece of 9th-century Islamic architecture with its massive minaret (the oldest standing in the world), forest of ancient columns scavenged from Roman sites, and vast marble-paved courtyard. Next, see the Aghlabid Basins — remarkable 9th-century open-air water reservoirs that supplied the holy city, an engineering marvel of early Islamic civilization. Stroll through Kairouan’s Old Medina — narrow streets lined with carpet workshops, brass workers, and craftsmen. Kairouan is famous for its handmade knotted carpets — watch weavers at work in a traditional workshop. Enjoy a Makroudh pastry tasting — Kairouan’s signature date-filled semolina cookies soaked in honey. Lunch at a local restaurant, then continue to Hammamet — one of Tunisia’s most beautiful coastal towns, famous for jasmine, orange groves, and fine sandy beaches. Check in, enjoy dinner by the sea. Overnight Hammamet.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 7: Kerkouane Phoenician Ruins, Kelibia Fort & Nabeul Pottery (270 km)
After breakfast, explore Hammamet’s Old Medina — the 15th-century fort stands guard over the sea, waves crashing against ancient ramparts. Narrow streets with whitewashed houses, blue doors, and jasmine-draped walls open into art galleries and boutiques. Drive to Nabeul (20 minutes) — Tunisia’s handicraft capital, famous for its pottery, ceramics, orange blossom water, and jasmine products. Visit a local pottery workshop to watch skilled artisans shape clay on foot-powered wheels and paint intricate patterns. Continue to Kelibia — a picturesque fishing port crowned by a 12th-century Byzantine fort on a rocky promontory. The views from the ramparts sweep across the Mediterranean — on clear days you can see Sicily. Final stop: Kerkouane — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved Punic (Carthaginian) cities in existence. Unlike Carthage, which the Romans rebuilt on top of, Kerkouane was abandoned after the Third Punic War in 146 BC and never reoccupied. Walk through the ruins of Punic houses with intact red-and-white mosaic floors, bathrooms with bathtubs, and a temple to Tanit. This site offers the most authentic glimpse into daily Carthaginian life. Return to Hammamet for a farewell dinner. Overnight Hammamet.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 8: Departure from Tunis
After breakfast, free time for last-minute exploration or souvenir shopping depending on your flight schedule. Transfer to Tunis-Carthage International Airport (65 km, ~1 hour). Depart with memories of Carthage’s ancient stones, the Sahara’s golden dunes, Kairouan’s spiritual majesty, and the blue-and-white beauty of Sidi Bou Said.
Meals: Breakfast
