Day trips from Hammamet
A pottery town with a Friday market, a fortress above a harbour with a beach below it, and the capital with Carthage — all on two directions out of Hammamet.
- Nabeul
- train (SNCFT, via Bir Bou Rekba)
- Kelibia
- louage via Nabeul, or a driver
- Tunis and Carthage
- train from Bir Bou Rekba
From Hammamet you head in two directions. Cap Bon holds Nabeul and Kelibia, which are on the same road and fit into one day; the capital holds Tunis, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said, the one organised trip the hotel sells. Nabeul takes half a day, Kelibia a full day, and Tunis with Carthage a full day.
The pottery town, with a market only on Fridays
Nabeul is train (SNCFT, via Bir Bou Rekba), about ten minutes from Hammamet, and known for pottery workshops that run all week. On Fridays they're joined by a market the whole of Cap Bon comes to — crockery, orange-blossom water, spices — and that's when the town is liveliest. On other days the same shops are calm, without the market-day crowd. Seeing it takes half a day.
A fortress above the harbour, a beach below it
Kelibia is louage via Nabeul, or a driver, an hour's drive further on from Nabeul, so the two places combine naturally into one day. The 6th-century fortress stands on a hill above the fishing harbour, entry is 8 TND (€2.37), fortress, and right below it is El Mansoura beach, free and quieter than Hammamet's hotel beaches. Seeing both takes a full day.
Tunis, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said: the hotel's one organised trip
This direction is train from Bir Bou Rekba, or louage from the station, an hour on the motorway, and it's the only trip a Hammamet hotel genuinely sells as a package — worth buying if you're not travelling with someone else, since organising three sites in one day isn't trivial. The Carthage ticket, €6 Carthage, covers the baths, Byrsa and the Punic ports the same day, and Sidi Bou Said is seen without a ticket, on foot through the blue-and-white lanes. The whole trip takes a full day.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Can Nabeul and Kelibia be done in the same day?
Yes, and it's a natural pairing — Kelibia is reached via Nabeul, so both fit into one day without an extra trip.
Which day makes sense for Nabeul?
Friday, for the market the whole of Cap Bon comes to; on other days only the workshops are open, without the crowd.
Do you need to book the Tunis and Carthage trip?
Not necessarily, but it's the one trip a Hammamet hotel sells as a package, and it's worth taking if you're not organising it yourself.
Ready for Hammamet?
Where to next
Where to stay in Hammamet
→Old Hammamet keeps the kasbah and the quay on your doorstep, Yasmine Hammamet keeps a pool and a marina ten…
Sidi Bou Said · 58 km
→A blue-and-white village on a cliff above the bay and, two stops before it, what is left of the city that was bigger than Rome
How well does Hammamet suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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