Sandwiched neatly between the nations of Algeria and Libya, Africa’s smallest country Tunisia is a hubbub of Berber, Mediterranean, Arabic, Ottoman and Saharan people, glued together with Aladdin-esque medina towns, sprawling luxury resorts on the sea, rolling desert dunes and ancient archaeological sites to boot.
While most visitors come to lounge around on the sandy beachfronts of Hammamet, La Goulette and Monastir, many others come for a dose of history. There’s ancient Carthage to explore, along with the UNESCO sites at El Jem, Sousse, and the capital of Tunis, whose heady pottery bazaars rub shoulders with dusty adobe souks, and locals tout goods to the aromas of Berber tagine and spicy harissa alike.
Travellers looking to go off-the-beaten-track here won’t be disappointed either, with plenty of Tunisia tour guides at hand to take more intrepid types into the heart of the Sahara for camel trekking or dune surfing, or to the rugged Dorsal of the Atlas Mountains and the rolling Tunisian steppe for an experience that’s guaranteed to be far removed from any package traveller’s itinerary.