Tunisia's Ancient Cities: Carthage to El Djem

The journey

Overview

Unforgettable moments

Highlights

Your itinerary

Day by day

1. Day1
   Arrive in Tunis.+

   Your tour begins in Tunis, Tunisia’s capital and a city that has been welcoming travellers since the Phoenicians first sailed into the Gulf of Tunis.

   Today is free with no sightseeing planned, so you can arrive at any time. The hotel is on the Carthage Coast between Gammarth and La Marsa, within a short drive of Sidi Bou Said and local restaurants and cafés. Find the pool, take a first walk along the seafront, or unwind after the flight.

   Your tour guide will meet everyone over breakfast tomorrow morning.

   StayEl Mouradi Gammarth (or similar 4-star)
2. Day2
   Uthina’s Roman ruins and the streets of Sidi Bou Said+

   Our tour opens with a drive south of Tunis to Uthina, one of Roman Africa’s earliest colonial settlements. Established under Emperor Augustus in the 1st century BC to settle veterans of the XIII Gemina legion, the site later peaked during the reign of Hadrian, who oversaw the construction of its amphitheatre in the early 2nd century. Remains of baths, fortified walls and residential quarters spread across a broad hillside, with the restored amphitheatre, once seating around 16,000, rising from the slope below the hilltop Capitol with its remaining Corinthian columns.

   From here we continue to Sidi Bou Said, perched above the Mediterranean on a rocky bluff. The town is instantly recognisable for its whitewashed walls and vivid cobalt-blue doors, shutters and balconies. Cobbled lanes wind gently uphill, opening onto framed views of the Gulf of Tunis at almost every turn. There’s time to browse small artisan shops or sit at a traditional café for mint tea overlooking the sea.

   We return to the hotel this afternoon.

   StayEl Mouradi Gammarth (or similar 4-star)MealsBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner
3. Day3
   The Roman ruins of Dougga+

   We travel inland this morning to the UNESCO-listed ruins of Dougga, widely regarded as the best-preserved Roman town in North Africa. The site covers around 75 hectares on a high hillside overlooking fertile plains and olive groves, and the first impression is of a place that feels remarkably complete for somewhere nearly two thousand years old.

   Dougga began as a Numidian settlement before being absorbed into the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC. Walking through the site, the layers of that history are everywhere. The Capitolium, dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, stands prominently above the old forum, its columns framing views across the Medjerda valley. Nearby, the temples of Saturn and Juno Caelestis show how Roman and earlier Punic belief systems sat alongside each other here.

   The theatre, built into the hillside in 168 AD by a wealthy local patron, could seat around 3,500 and is still used for performances today. Its acoustics are worth testing. From here, paved streets lead past baths, cisterns, the Libyco-Punic mausoleum and residential quarters that together sketch out what daily life in a prosperous provincial Roman town actually looked like.

   StayEl Mouradi Gammarth (or similar 4-star)MealsBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner
4. Day4
   Ancient Carthage, the Bardo Museum and the Tunis medina+

   This morning we visit the ruins of ancient Carthage, scattered across the suburbs of modern Tunis and forming one of the most historically significant archaeological landscapes in the Mediterranean. Founded by Phoenician settlers in the 9th century BC, Carthage grew into a trading empire that dominated much of the western Mediterranean before its destruction by Rome in 146 BC. The Romans then built their own city directly on top, centred on the Hill of Byrsa.

   Today, remains of both Punic and Roman Carthage are interwoven across the modern landscape. Punic ports, Roman baths, cisterns and scattered foundations all add to a picture of a city that reinvented itself across centuries. The site sits above the Gulf of Tunis, and the coastal setting helps explain why this position mattered so much to so many civilisations.

   In the afternoon we visit the Bardo Museum, set in a former 19th-century palace and home to the world’s largest collection of Roman mosaics. The pieces come from sites across Tunisia, including Carthage, Dougga and El Djem, and range from vivid hunting scenes to intricate depictions of daily life and mythology.

   From here we head into the medina of Tunis, a UNESCO-listed quarter of narrow alleys, traditional souks, mosque courtyards and centuries-old architecture. A lively contrast to the ancient ruins we’ve been exploring all day.

   StayEl Mouradi Gammarth (or similar 4-star)MealsBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner
5. Day5
   The holy city of Kairouan. Then on to Sousse+

   We leave Tunis this morning and travel south to Kairouan (around three hours), one of the most important cities in the Islamic world. Founded in 670 by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi, Kairouan became a centre of Islamic learning and architecture under the Aghlabid dynasty in the 9th century and remains a significant place of pilgrimage today.

   We begin in the medina, a well-preserved quarter enclosed by sturdy, multi-gated walls. Narrow lanes open into quiet courtyards and small squares, their whitewashed buildings linked by arches that create pockets of shade and stillness. The covered souk is livelier, with workshops and stalls offering carpets, metalware and traditional crafts.

   The day’s centrepiece is the Great Mosque of Uqba, one of the oldest and most important mosques in the Islamic world. First built in 670 and given its present form by the Aghlabids in the 9th century, its prayer hall is supported by a forest of marble and porphyry columns, many repurposed from earlier Roman and Byzantine buildings. The imposing square minaret has dominated the Kairouan skyline for more than a thousand years.

   We also visit the Zaouia of Sidi Sahbi, better known as the Mosque of the Barber. This 17th-century complex, decorated with ceramic tilework and carved stucco, contains the tomb of Abu Zamaa el-Balawi, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad who is said to have carried hairs from the Prophet’s beard.

   From Kairouan we continue east to Sousse, our base for the next three nights.

   StayMövenpick Sousse (or similar 5-star)MealsBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner
6. Day6
   The amphitheatre at El Djem. The Ribat at Monastir+

   We travel south this morning to El Djem, where one of the most extraordinary Roman monuments in the world rises from the flat Tunisian plain. The 3rd-century amphitheatre here is the largest in North Africa and among the biggest anywhere, built entirely of stone blocks and capable of holding around 35,000 spectators. Walking through its towering arches and intact passageways, you get a clear sense of the scale and spectacle of Roman public life. The arena floor, the underground chambers where performers and animals once waited, and the upper tiers with wide views across the surrounding countryside are all accessible.

   Nearby, the El Djem Archaeological Museum displays mosaics, sculpture and everyday objects from the Roman villas that once surrounded ancient Thysdrus, placing the amphitheatre in the wider context of Roman life in this region.

   In the afternoon we continue to Monastir, a coastal city on the Sahel. Here we visit the Ribat of Monastir, the oldest surviving ribat in the Maghreb, founded in 796 as part of a chain of coastal fortresses. Its golden sandstone walls, towers from various centuries and quiet interior courtyards offer a different side of Tunisia’s history, one shaped by faith and coastal defence rather than Roman ambition.

   Close to the ribat stands the Mausoleum of Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia’s first president. Its gold dome and twin minarets are visible from across the city.

   StayMövenpick Sousse (or similar 5-star)MealsBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner
7. Day7
   Sousse Medina, Museum and a lecture at the ribat+

   We begin the day at the Archaeological Museum, set within the 11th-century Kasbah above the Sousse medina. The museum holds one of Tunisia’s most significant collections of Roman mosaics after the Bardo, with vivid scenes of mythology, maritime life and everyday activity alongside Punic stelae, Roman sculpture and early Christian artefacts.

   From here we explore the medina of Sousse, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 and one of the best examples of early Islamic urban planning in North Africa. Surrounded by 9th-century Aghlabid ramparts, the medina includes the Great Mosque, the Bu Ftata Mosque and the kasbah itself, all forming part of a coherent coastal defence system. Narrow lanes, traditional buildings and atmospheric squares reveal centuries of trade, religious life and community.

   This afternoon, a local university professor leads a talk on Tunisia’s layered history at the Ribat of Sousse, one of the country’s best-preserved Islamic fortresses. Originally founded in the late 8th century and given its present form by the Aghlabids in 821, the ribat served both military and monastic purposes as part of a chain of coastal watchtowers. Its multi-level cells, arcaded courtyard and ancient prayer hall date from the early 9th-century construction.

   The rest of the afternoon is free. The hotel is right on the seafront, steps from the Corniche promenade and the city centre.

   StayMövenpick Sousse (or similar 5-star)MealsBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner
8. Day8
   Tour ends at Tunis Airport+

   Our tour ends this morning. We depart Sousse and return to Tunis Airport, where the tour will finish.

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   MealsBreakfast

Accommodation

Where you stay

Hotels are as planned; occasionally similar alternatives are used.

Peace of mind

What's included

• ✦7 nights’ accommodation
• ✦Meals Included: breakfast daily, 6 lunches and 6 dinners
• ✦Itinerary as described
• ✦Services of guides and local representatives
• ✦2027 Departures: All local accommodation taxes
• ✦Flights from the UK can be added — ask your adviser