Mistakes everyone makes in Tunis
Five things that ruin a day in Tunis before anyone notices what happened — and what takes their place without losing time.
- A carpet-shop roof without a glance at the rugs
- A few minutes of browsing is expected
- The medina after seven at night
- Shops close
None of these five mistakes stops the trip, but each eats an hour or more if it isn't known in advance: an old guidebook pointing at a closed museum, a souk shut for half the day, sites with no shade, a rooftop climbed without a glance at the goods, and a medina that turns to empty streets after seven.
Heading for Dar Ben Abdallah
Older guidebooks still point to Dar Ben Abdallah, a nineteenth-century palace with a folk-art museum inside the medina — but the building has been closed for restoration since 2009, with no reopening date announced. What that museum offered, mosaics and a palace as the display case, is found at the Bardo instead; and a palace that can actually be entered, for free, is Dar Othman.
Souk el Attarine and Souk el Berka on Friday afternoon
These two souks, for perfume and for gold, run Friday afternoons, partly — Friday is the day of communal prayer, and part of the stalls stay shuttered into the late afternoon. Anyone planning to buy perfume or jewellery does it another morning, not on a Friday.
Carthage in the afternoon, without shade
The Carthage sites are scattered across the suburb without a single tree over the path; after midday you walk the stones in full sun, the same as the morning, only hotter. The order that works runs against instinct: Carthage in the morning, with Sidi Bou Said's shade saved for the afternoon.
The carpet-shop roof by the Zitouna, without a glance at the rugs
The rooftop with the view of the minaret and the medina belongs to a carpet shop beside the mosque, and the owners let visitors up on the understanding that the goods get a look, not necessarily a purchase. Climbing up just for a photo, without a single question about what's for sale downstairs, reads as if the roof were a public attraction — it isn't, the courtyard is a shop.
Dinner in the medina after seven
The medina closes with its shops, around seven, and the streets behind Bab el Bhar stay empty until morning. The only way to eat inside it after dark is a table booked ahead at one of the palaces turned into restaurants; without a booking, dinner is outside the walls, on the avenue.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Is Dar Ben Abdallah still shown on maps?
It is, on older maps and some online ones, but it has been physically closed since 2009 with no reopening date announced.
What if you arrive in the medina on a Friday afternoon?
Souk el Attarine and Souk el Berka run only partly; the rest of the medina, including the Zitouna from outside and Tourbet el Bey, runs as normal.
Can Carthage still be visited in the afternoon?
It can, but without shade in full sun; anyone with a choice leaves Carthage for the morning and Sidi Bou Said, which has shade, for the afternoon.
Ready for Tunis?
Where to next
Tunis in 2 days
→The medina and the Bardo on day one, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said on day two — two days done entirely on foot…
Sidi Bou Said · 17 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 Tunis suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Front row for the next trip
Leave your email and we'll let you know when a new destination or story goes up.