Tunisia 12-Day Luxury Private Tour

Welcome to Tunisia. Your representative meets you at Tunis-Carthage Airport and your private driver takes you to your hotel in Tunis or on the coast nearby, usually about 30 minutes away. Nothing is planned today, so settle in and rest after the flight. If you arrive in good time, a walk by the sea and a quiet welcome dinner at the hotel, included tonight, are an easy way to begin. Your local team is on hand for anything you need, and your guide will be in touch to go over tomorrow’s plans.

Meet your private guide after breakfast and spend the morning in Carthage, the great Phoenician city that once rivaled Rome. Walk among the columns of the Antonine Baths beside the sea, see the circular Punic ports where the war fleet once sheltered, and climb Byrsa Hill for the view across the Gulf of Tunis. In the afternoon, drive a few minutes to Sidi Bou Said, with its white walls, blue doors and bougainvillea. Stop for mint tea on a terrace and wander at your own pace before returning to the hotel.

This morning your guide leads you through the medina of Tunis, a UNESCO-listed maze of covered souks, carved doorways and old merchant houses. Pause near the Zitouna Mosque, the heart of the old city, and climb to a rooftop café for the view. Then visit the Bardo National Museum, home to one of the finest collections of Roman mosaics in the world, set in a former palace. The museum is closed on Mondays, so the day is planned around it. The afternoon is free to rest or to enjoy the hotel.

Drive about an hour south to Hammamet and walk with your guide through its small white medina and onto the ramparts of the kasbah above the sea. Stay for lunch by the water, then continue for about an hour to Sousse. In the late afternoon, visit the ribat, a fortified monastery whose watchtower looks over the medina, and the arcaded courtyard of the Great Mosque nearby. Check in to your hotel by the beach in Sousse or the marina village of Port El Kantaoui, and enjoy a quiet evening.

A drive of about an hour brings you to El Jem, where a Roman amphitheatre that once held around 35,000 spectators rises above the small town. It is one of the best preserved in the world, and you can walk the arena and the passages beneath it with your guide. Arrive early and you may have it almost to yourselves. You are back at the hotel for lunch, with the whole afternoon free for the beach, the pool or a long massage.

After a slow breakfast by the sea, drive about an hour inland to Kairouan, founded in the seventh century and the oldest holy city of the Maghreb. Arrive in time to visit the courtyard of the Great Mosque, which is open to visitors in the morning. Later, your guide shows you the Aghlabid water basins and the lanes of the walled medina, where the carpet makers still work. Check in to your hotel in the afternoon and rest before dinner, which is at your leisure.

Set off after breakfast for the longest drive of the journey, about four hours west through the steppe toward Gafsa and the edge of the Sahara. We break it with a long, relaxed lunch on the way. Arrive in Tozeur in the afternoon and settle into your hotel among the palms. Later, if you feel like it, stroll through the Ouled el Hadef quarter, known for its patterned brickwork, or simply relax as the evening cools over the palm grove.

With two nights here, the day runs at an easy pace. In the morning, explore Ouled el Hadef by daylight, then visit the Dar Cheraït museum, whose tiled courtyards and rooms show life in the oasis a century ago. Climb into a calash, the local horse carriage, for a ride through the palm grove, where water channels feed the date palms and fruit gardens. After an included lunch in Tozeur, rest at your hotel in the heat of the day. In the late afternoon, drive about 30 minutes to Nefta, look down into the Corbeille, its palm-filled basin, and over the domes of the Sufi zaouias, and watch the sun set over Chott el Djerid.

Today you cross Chott el Djerid, the largest salt lake in North Africa, on a long, straight causeway. In the morning light the surface shines white and pink, and mirages are common. Stop along the way for photographs, then continue to Douz, the gateway to the Sahara, about two hours in all. Settle into your selected desert camp, with private tents and en-suite facilities. In the late afternoon, a camel ride (included) or a walk into the dunes is a lovely way to watch the sunset. Dinner is served at the camp as the desert goes quiet.

Wake early for sunrise over the dunes if you like, then enjoy breakfast at the camp. Drive about an hour and a half to Matmata, where Berber families have lived for centuries in homes dug into the ground around open courtyards. Visit one with your guide and hear how they keep cool in summer. Continue to the coast and cross to Djerba by causeway or short ferry, about two hours more. Check in to your hotel by the sea, where you stay for your last two nights.

Spend an easy morning on Djerba with your guide. Visit El Ghriba, one of the oldest synagogues in Africa, with its blue tiles and painted woodwork, and the village of Erriadh, where artists have painted murals on the white walls. Finish in Houmt Souk, with its market and old fortress by the harbor. El Ghriba is closed to visitors on Saturdays, so we plan around it. The afternoon is free for the beach or the spa, before an included farewell dinner by the sea.

Enjoy a last breakfast by the sea. Depending on your flight time, there may be time for a swim or a short walk on the beach before your private driver takes you to Djerba-Zarzis Airport. We say goodbye there and hope you leave with the ruins of Carthage, the silence of the dunes and the warmth of Tunisian hospitality still fresh in your mind. Extra nights on Djerba are easy to add if you would like more time by the sea.