Tunisia - Guide or Cab?

[Debbierpof]

Our cruise (July 15) makes a stop in Tunis. We usually do not take the shore excursions. Should we make an exception here? Or should we just hire a cab at the dock? Or does anyone have any tour guides they might suggest? Thank you for any advice!

[Captain Canuck]

probably spelled wrong..but we did that a few years ago...there is a train from town into Tunis...we had to wait til the bank opened to get local currency to ride in...when we were there they had currency restrictions...you could not leave with the local money..so don't change too much...only thing I did wrong was wear shorts...shopkeepers in the souk refused to wait on me....go online and see what there is to offer re history....site of ancient Carthage but not much left...the Romans destroyed everything.....so, you can do it on your own but a cab is likely cheap too

[atlanta99]

We took a ship tour ourselves, but my 70 year old mother (who originally was going to stay on the ship but changed her mind at the last minute) joined a couple from New Zealand and hired a cab for the day directly at the dock. They had an excellent time, saw everything we did for about half the price and felt completely safe.

[atlanta99]

We took a ship tour ourselves, but my 70 year old mother (who originally was going to stay on the ship but changed her mind at the last minute) joined a couple from New Zealand and hired a cab for the day directly at the dock. They had an excellent time, saw everything we did for about half the price and felt completely safe.

[Verystormy]

Tunis is a great city with a French feel (The language is french and arabic) and easy to get about and safe. Carthage is a good visit and can be reached by the metro system followed by a short walk through the very rich area of the city.

The main heart of the city and the souk is good fun and the people are warm and friendly. I definatly wouldnt bother with a ship tour, just get a cab into the heart of the city and take it from there. I would advise on obtaining a french phrase book and a tunisia guide such as "Rough Guide"

[Verystormy]

Tunis is a great city with a French feel (The language is french and arabic) and easy to get about and safe. Carthage is a good visit and can be reached by the metro system followed by a short walk through the very rich area of the city.

The main heart of the city and the souk is good fun and the people are warm and friendly. I definatly wouldnt bother with a ship tour, just get a cab into the heart of the city and take it from there. I would advise on obtaining a french phrase book and a tunisia guide such as "Rough Guide"

[Debbierpof]

Thanks to all for your response. I think we might go with hiring a cab at the port. Is Sidi Bou Said very far? How much should expect to pay for a full day going to Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and Tunis? There would be 4 of us. Thanks for any insight!

[atlanta99]

Debbie-

 

Sidi Bou Said isn't that far--maybe 20km or so. Both my family and my mom's group went there as part of a five hour trip that included Carthage and Tunis. Nice low key place to do shopping with friendly people who weren't too pushy and spoke some English although I think it helps a lot if you can speak some French.

 

I can't remember exactly how much my mom's group paid for a cab, but it seemed like it came out to roughly half the price per person as we paid for the ship tour (which was $50pp). If that memory is at all accurate, then they should have paid somewhere around $75 total for the three of them to hire a cab for 5 hours.

 

Carthage is definitely worth visiting. But absolutely leave time for the Bardo Museum. The mosaics and other artwork there were absolutely stunning and totally unexpected.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

We too have been doing some research on La Goullette and Tunis and here is what we found......

 

As somebody else said there is a train that will take you to Tunis from La Goulette - the same line will also take you to Sidi Bou Said (if you go in the other direction). The station in Tunis is a few kilometres from the souk but it looks like a nice walk down the main avenue. Apparently the trains are efficient, quite clean and modern.

 

The advice I was given by someone who lives in Tunis was to just take a cab - it is about 15 TDN to get to the souk area from the port - taxis are metered and unless you are going to hire one for the day haggling is not done on single fares.

 

If you go to google maps and put "tunis" in the search box you can see a satelite pic of the city and see where the rail line goes - use the hybrid option - it will show you the street names. Look for Al Zitouna - this is the area where the souks "start" and is said to be the part of the city to see.

 

We are likely going to use a taxi only because we have limited time there 8am-3pm and we want to try to go to the Bardo museum which is outside the main city core (mdina).