Sousse
A charter town with a 9th-century medina on the World Heritage list, and El Jem, Kairouan and Monastir up to an hour and a half away — the one place on the coast where a holiday and sightseeing fit into the same week
- When to go
- September 27° · 2 rainy days
- Per day
- €€price 2 of 5
- How many days
- 7days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 13 km Monastir · 33 km Enfidha
- Right now
Sousse is where many charter travellers first set foot in Tunisia, because the planes land at Monastir twenty minutes away. The hotels line the beach north of town, but the town itself is not skipped: the medina with its 9th-century ribat is the best preserved on the coast, and Monastir and El Jem are a train ride away, twenty minutes to an hour, Kairouan an hour and a half by louage — three trips that need no organised tour and no waiting on a hotel departure.
The town has two parts that do not touch. Port El Kantaoui, ten kilometres north, is a built resort with a marina, a golf course and hotels in a row — this is where the all-inclusive packages are and where people stay on the beach. Sousse itself, with the medina and the Boujaffar town beach, is a real town where people live, with restaurants on the quay, a market and a train to Tunis. Choosing a hotel means choosing between the two: Kantaoui for quiet and a pool, the town for an evening walk and prices without the hotel markup.
The medina is a walled triangle from the 9th century. The ribat — a fortified monastery of warrior monks — stands on its northern corner, its tower climbed for the view of the whole town, the harbour and the Great Mosque next door. Entry to the ribat and the museum in the kasbah is charged separately; the souk inside is for tourists in the first street and for locals further on. The kasbah at the top of the hill holds the archaeological museum with mosaics second in the country only to the Bardo, and it is regularly empty. The medina is walked in two hours, in the morning before the groups arrive or in the evening after they leave.
The day trips are what set Sousse apart from Hammamet. El Jem is an hour south, Monastir with Bourguiba's mausoleum twenty minutes by train — both by train or louage from the station in the centre, when you want rather than when the hotel has a departure; Kairouan, an hour and a half west, is louage or driver only, since the railway doesn't reach it. Anyone who does all three in a week, with four beach days between, has seen more of Tunisia than most people who come for two.
Guides for Sousse
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Sousse in 2 days
→The medina, the ribat and the kasbah on the first morning, El Jem by train on the second — two days done from a hotel…
Day trips from Sousse
→El Jem by train, Monastir by train, Kairouan with a driver and Mahdia for fish — four trips from Sousse ordered by time…
Where to stay in Sousse
→Port El Kantaoui keeps a pool and a traffic-free marina, while the quay by Boujaffar smells of fish off the ice at…
What Sousse costs
→Sousse is cheap to look at and pricier to sleep in: tickets in the medina run under three euros, while a room in…
What to eat in Sousse
→Brik before dinner, lablabi as a breakfast everyone here eats, ojja when it turns cold, and fish couscous as a weekly…
The best time to visit Sousse
→Sousse keeps a long summer, with July the hottest and driest month, while rain falls most in the shoulder months and in…
Getting around Sousse
→Charters land in Monastir, not Sousse, and the same line that carries you from the terminal into town later runs the…
Mistakes everyone makes in Sousse
→Four mistakes that cost time or money in Sousse, and what to do instead.
What to see in Sousse
The ribat
A fortress of 821 on the corner of the medina, with a courtyard, cells and a 27-metre tower from which you see the whole medina and the sea. Entry €2.37, the visit an hour, and best in the morning with the light from the east.
€2.37 · an hour
The medina and the souk
The walls, the Great Mosque of 851 without a minaret, and a souk that turns from tourist to genuine as you climb from the gate to the kasbah. Buy in the upper part, look in the lower. Two hours, no ticket.
free · 2 h
The archaeological museum in the kasbah
Mosaics from Roman Hadrumetum — Neptune on his chariot, Medusa, fishing scenes — in the kasbah at the top of the medina. As a rule empty. Closed Mondays.
€2.97 · 1 h 30 · closed Monday
Boujaffar beach
The town beach along the promenade with restaurants and hotels, where half the town swims in summer. In the evening this is the promenade; anyone staying in Kantaoui comes by taxi for dinner on the quay.
free
Port El Kantaoui
Quiet and tidy; the excursion and dive boats leave from here. The tourist train to town is slow, a taxi is the faster option.
free
The catacombs
Roman and Christian catacombs with five kilometres of galleries and fifteen thousand graves, in the west of town. One short section is open; half an hour, and hardly anyone comes.
half an hour
Two things you probably did not know
The eighth-century ribat in Sousse is a fortified monastery, a military tower and a place of prayer at once. Its watchtower was used to scan the sea for Byzantine ships.
Over five kilometres of early Christian catacombs with around fifteen thousand graves run under Sousse. Only a short stretch is open; the rest is closed because of collapse.
Ready for Sousse?
Within reach from here
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Morocco
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Italy
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All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
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