Day 1: Arrive Tunis — The Medina & Zitouna Mosque
Arrive at Tunis-Carthage International Airport. Private transfer to your hotel in the heart of Tunis. After settling in, walk into the Tunis Medina — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved medieval Islamic cities in the world. Founded in the 7th century, this labyrinth of 700+ monuments includes palaces, mosques, madrasas, fountains, and centuries-old souks. Your guide navigates the maze of narrow alleys organized by trade: the souk of the fez-makers, the perfume sellers’ souk with jasmine and rose oils, the leather workers’ street, and the gold souk glittering with Berber jewelry. Visit the Zitouna Mosque (the “Olive Mosque”) — the second-oldest mosque in Tunisia (built 732 AD), whose 44-meter minaret defines Tunis’s skyline. Non-Muslims can admire the courtyard and exterior. Climb to a rooftop cafe in the Medina for sunset views over the white-washed city with the Mediterranean beyond. Welcome dinner: traditional Tunisian cuisine — chorba soup, brik a l’oeuf, and couscous with lamb. Overnight Tunis.
Day 2: Carthage — Hannibal’s City & Roman Glory
A full day dedicated to Carthage — one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. Begin at Byrsa Hill, the acropolis where Carthage was founded by Phoenician princess Dido in 814 BC. The Carthage Museum displays Punic jewelry, sarcophagi, and the haunting limestone stelae from the Tophet sanctuary. Walk the Punic quarter excavations — fragments of Hannibal’s city that survived Roman destruction in 146 BC. Next, the Antonine Baths — the largest Roman baths outside Rome, built in the 2nd century AD directly on the Mediterranean shore. The remaining columns tower 15 meters high; imagine 1,000 bathers moving through the frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium. Visit the Tophet sanctuary — the controversial Punic burial ground where urns containing cremated remains of children and animals have fueled centuries of debate about Carthaginian child sacrifice. See the Punic ports — Carthage’s military harbor (capacity: 220 warships) and commercial port, circular marvels of ancient engineering. Afternoon: the Roman Villas district — wealthy patrician homes with mosaic floors, and the Roman Theatre where Carthage’s elite watched performances with a sea view. As the sun sets, stop at the American Cemetery — the World War II North Africa memorial where 2,841 American soldiers rest beneath white crosses, the Mediterranean glinting in the distance. Overnight Tunis.
Day 3: Sidi Bou Said & Bardo Museum
Morning: arrive at Sidi Bou Said — Tunisia’s most photogenic village, a whitewashed jewel on a cliff above the Mediterranean. Founded by Sufi saint Sidi Bou Said in the 13th century, the village took its signature blue-and-white color scheme in the 1920s when Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger, a French painter and musicologist, restored his palace here. His home — Ennejma Ezzahra (the Star of Venus) — is now the Center for Arab and Mediterranean Music, with exquisite Andalusian-Moorish architecture, carved stucco, zellij tilework, and a collection of rare musical instruments. Visit Dar El Annabi — a traditional 18th-century Tunisian mansion-turned-museum showing upper-class domestic life. Stroll the cobblestone streets, browse art galleries and craft shops, and stop at Cafe des Delices — the iconic cliffside cafe where mint tea comes with pine nuts and the most-photographed view in Tunisia: the Gulf of Tunis, the distant mountain of Bou Kornine, and the sea below. Afternoon: the Bardo Museum — one of the Mediterranean’s greatest museums. The collection of Roman mosaics is the finest in the world: the Triumph of Neptune with his sea horses, Virgil seated between two muses, and the extraordinary 50-square-meter pavement from the Villa of the Months. The Punic, early Christian, and Islamic art galleries complete Tunisia’s 3,000-year story under one magnificent roof. Evening: farewell to Tunis with dinner in La Marsa seaside. Overnight Tunis.
Day 4: Cap Bon — Kerkouane & Kelibia
Morning drive to the Cap Bon peninsula — Tunisia’s fertile garden, a finger of land jutting into the Mediterranean toward Sicily. The landscape is a patchwork of vineyards (Tunisian wine country), citrus groves, jasmine fields, and olive orchards. First stop: Kerkouane — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only surviving pure Punic city in the world, abandoned in 250 BC and never rebuilt. Unlike Carthage (rebuilt by Romans) or other Punic sites (overlaid by later settlement), Kerkouane offers an authentic, undisturbed glimpse of a Carthaginian town. Walk through Punic houses with intact bathrooms (individual hip-baths!), red-and-white mosaic floors featuring the Tanit symbol, courtyards with stone drainage systems, and a temple sanctuary. The necropolis sits on a cliff overlooking the sea. Continue to Kelibia — crowned by a massive Byzantine fort on a 150-meter promontory. The 12th-century fortress offers breathtaking 360-degree views: the Cap Bon coastline, the Mediterranean, and on exceptionally clear days, Sicily’s Mount Etna. Visit the fishing port below for fresh seafood lunch. Drive along the Cap Bon coast, passing through vineyards and orchards, to Hammamet. Overnight Hammamet.
Day 5: Nabeul Pottery & Hammamet Seaside Medina
Morning: visit Nabeul (20 minutes from Hammamet) — Tunisia’s handicraft capital. Nabeul is famous throughout North Africa for its distinctive pottery: hand-painted ceramics in greens, yellows, and browns, with traditional Berber and Islamic geometric patterns. Visit a pottery workshop to watch artisans work foot-powered wheels, shape clay vessels, and paint intricate designs — techniques passed down through generations. Nabeul is also the center of Tunisia’s perfume industry — visit a distillery to see how orange blossom water, rose water, and jasmine essence are produced from the surrounding fields. Afternoon: explore Hammamet — one of Tunisia’s most beautiful coastal towns. The 15th-century fort (Kasbah) stands guard over the sea, its ramparts kissed by Mediterranean waves. The Old Medina within the walls is a maze of narrow streets with whitewashed houses, blue doors, trailing bougainvillea, and jasmine-draped walls. The medina is filled with art galleries and craft boutiques. Walk the corniche along the beach, then visit the International Cultural Center — the former villa of Romanian millionaire George Sebastian, a Mediterranean modernist masterpiece with gardens overlooking the bay. Evening: farewell dinner at a seaside restaurant in Yasmine Hammamet — grilled fish, harissa-spiced dishes, and Tunisian wine from Cap Bon’s vineyards. Overnight Hammamet.
Day 6: Hammamet to Tunis — Departure
Morning: free time to swim in the Mediterranean, walk the beach, or browse Hammamet’s souks for last souvenirs — Cap Bon olive oil, orange blossom water, pottery, and Berber silver jewelry. Transfer to Tunis-Carthage International Airport (65 km, ~1 hour). Depart with the scent of jasmine, the blue of Sidi Bou Said, and the stones of Carthage forever in your memory.
