Where to stay in Tunis
Tunis is rarely chosen for its hotels — it's chosen for how far the bed is from the medina or the train to Carthage.
- For atmosphere
- A funduq or riad inside the medina walls
- For the sea and quiet
- Sidi Bou Said or La Marsa
- Getting in
- From Tunis-Carthage airport
Anyone here for two days is choosing between closeness to the medina, quiet in the evening and the line to Carthage. Most people sleep by Avenue Habib Bourguiba, a few steps from Bab el Bhar and Tunis Marine station; fewer choose a funduq inside the walls themselves, where you don't walk to the gate, you walk out of it; and anyone after the sea goes further up the same line, to Sidi Bou Said or La Marsa.
The avenue and the Ville Nouvelle
The French part of the city is flat, with pavements and cafés under the trees, and it sits right between two hubs: Bab el Bhar, the medina's gate, and Tunis Marine station, where the TGM train starts. Anyone sleeping here counts transport for neither day of the plan.
A funduq inside the medina
A funduq is a former caravanserai with a courtyard, now converted into a handful of rooms to rent. Luggage goes in on foot, down narrow lanes to the door itself, and the streets behind it go quiet the moment the shutters come down — the walk back to the room at night is silent, with nothing open along the way.
For the sea and quiet: Sidi Bou Said and La Marsa
The TGM continues past Sidi Bou Said to La Marsa, the last stop on the line, and both are seaside suburbs on the gulf. The upside is the view and the quiet in the evening; the downside is that every trip into the medina or to the Bardo means the whole ride back, so this isn't the choice for anyone with only one day.
What decides it
The avenue works best for two days spent without counting train rides. A funduq is the only way to get the medina after the shops close. And for anyone continuing further down the coast, starting in Sidi Bou Said shaves a ride off the next morning.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Can you actually sleep inside the medina?
You can, in a handful of funduqs and riads with a courtyard — there aren't many, and the streets go quiet the moment the shops close, with no traffic passing through.
Which area is closest to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said?
Sidi Bou Said or La Marsa themselves, at the end of the same line; or Avenue Habib Bourguiba, where the TGM train starts from Tunis Marine station.
Ready for Tunis?
Where to next
What Tunis costs
→Tunis is one of the cheaper capitals on the Mediterranean — the biggest cost of the day isn't a ticket, it's…
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.