ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

My next holiday destination is...Tunisia

Updated on October 23, 2015

My first time to Africa

I have been planning to book a family holiday for some time and have been searching every night on the internet for a good deal that would suit our budget. I knew that we could only afford anything European that was close to home so it came as a surprise when I stumbled across this great deal that was actually recommended to me by my sister. Tunisia it was. I was a little apprehensive at first because of the recent events in the country particularly because we would be travelling with my 1 year old son but having done my research, I was relieved to know that the country was safe enough to venture to. Here I want to share our trip to which may be helpful if you're thinking of choosing Tunisia as your next holiday destination.


This picture shows the Tunisian flag carved out of a watermelon!

Where we stayed - We stayed in the Sahel Region of Tunisia

View from the room
View from the room

This is the view from the balcony of our hotel room.


We stayed in the Ramada Liberty Resort which is only 150m from the beach. It is located in Skanes which in between the town of Sousse and Monastir. Although the location of the hotel was quite isolated, the neighbouring towns are easily accessible either by bus or by taxi with just under half an hour travel time. By bus it only cost 1 dinar per person each way and buses came around every 15 minutes so we chose to travel this way rather than taking a taxi. If you have a buggy, I recommend you have it folded before you board as we found it difficult to carry it up the stairs and through the bus doors as they were quite high. When using the taxi, make sure you and the driver come to a price agreement before you travel.

We visited both towns and so I will go into more depth of what there is to see and do in Sousse and Monastir in my next lens: Sights in Sousse and Monastir, Tunisia

Which part of Tunisia to go?


Tourism is a major part of Tunisia now and although you may be expecting just a whole load of beach resorts, there is still a lot of culture and heritage found behind the bustling resort scene. In the north of the country you can find the landscape filled with olive groves, lush date gardens and forest covered hills whereas the desert regions offer salt lakes and sand as far as the eye can see.


I think people are still hesitant to visit the country following the Tunisian Revolution that began in December 2010 but when we went in July 2011, Tunisia had already recovered from recent unrest.

Tunisia is divided into regions and I will go through a quick overview of what there is to see in each one.

Picture shows Tunisia from the sky.

Tunisian guide books

Tunisia by region

What to see in each region

TUNIS

Ancient Medina - Tunis is a compact city centred around the medina filled with narrow alleys, mosques, souks (markets) as well as homes and important buildings


The Great Mosque - constructed in the 8th century, it is the largest in Tunis


Bardo Museum - (shown right) holds Roman, Greek and Islamic art

GREATER TUNIS AND CAP BON PENINSULA


 Sidi Bou Said - (shown left) picturesque coastal  village with whitewashed hoses with blue doors  and shutters


 Carthage- was once a powerful city in the  ancient world, now with scattered remains and  ruins such as the ampitheatre and baths


 Hammamet - the country's biggest beach resort  boasts some of Tunisia's best beaches


NORTHERN TUNISIA

Bulla Regia - (shown right) archaelogical Roman site famous for its underground villas, also

has a temple, baths, fort and market square


Ichkeul National Park - houses migrating birds like geese and flamingoes and a variety of wildlife


Khroumirie Mountains - ideal for hiking

or hunting

THE SAHEL


 Habib Bourguiba Mausoleum -(shown left)  ex-president Habib Bourguiba and his family  have their remains in this marble mausoleum  situated in Monastir


 Matmata - this troglodyte town is known for  its appearance in Star Wars


 El Jem - a magnificent Roman amphitheatre


JERBA AND THE MEDENINE AREA


Houmt Souk - translates to "market quarter". This is the capital of the island, Jerba and is filled with narrow streets

and ancient souks.


Medenine - this area was once an important stopping point for travellers on caravans and is a good base from where you can explore outlying villages such as the ancient Berber villages

around the area


SOUTHERN TUNISIA


 Camel trekking in the Sahara - the world's  largest desert is most easily accessible from  Tunisia. Douz is ideal place to start as it is  nicknamed "the gateway to the Sahara".


 Chott el-Jerid - one of Tunisia's several salt  lakes has sparkling salt crystals and a  shimmering landscape


CENTRAL TUNISIA

Kairouan - (shown right) Considered a Holy city, an important pilgrimage destination. Has several attractions like the Great Mosque.


Dougga - This is the best preserved Roman city in Northern Africa


Jugurtha's Table - a flat topped mountain that rises above the landscape that

surrounds it. Around an hour and a half climb, its refreshing to enjoy the view when reaching the summit

Ramada Liberty Resort Hotel - Skanes Beach, Monastir, Tunisia

The above is a picture taken by the poolside

Tunisian Cuisine

Food at the Ramada Liberty Resort

The main restaurant is called "Al Maeeda" where you go for buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner.


I think everyone has a different view of what was offered at meal times. In my opinion, the hotel did its best to provide variety but there were also some consistency in some of the dishes there.


This picture shows a large cake with the England flag, welcoming their English guests to the hotel.


At breakfast, expect the usual: bread, butter, cereal etc. There are usually two chefs present. One chef cooks omelettes - choose from ingredients such as onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, green and red peppers and the chef will cook you the omelette while you wait. Further down the line, there is another chef who is cooking crepes from prepared batter. The crepes were extremely popular amongst the guests!

Every mealtime had a selection of salads

and bread. There would always be a chef cooking somehting special for the meal.

When we were there, we had sausages,

fish, pasta, 'brik à l'oeuf' which is a Tunisan speciality that is made with egg and potato

in a crispy pastry and a few others. This picture shows a few of the main dishes that were served: aubergine in tomato sauce,

fried fish and beans in sauce.

This picture shows the array of sweets that were for guests during a Tunisian themed night. There were some like biscuits and others had marzipan and nuts.

Some were very sweet as they were made with honey and spices.


This shows more of the selection of desserts that the hotel offered.

Lots of lovely layered cake, mini eclairs and cream and fruit topped biscuits. Yum!


There were always a lot of fresh fruit available. This picture shows the more popular fruit of Tunisia: figs, dates, plums, apricots and peaches. There were always melon available too which my son thoroughly enjoyed - lovely refreshing watermelons and sweet tasting honeydew melons were always in abundance.


There were three other restaurants at the hotel which we could only visit once each during our stay. The menu is simple with about three choices for each course.

There was a restaurant by the

poolside where you have a "barbeque lunch". I would have rather gone to the buffet as the choices we had were basically fish and chips, chicken or a burger. I felt that the portions were not enough (as they were served) but maybe it was because I was already

accustommed to the copious amounts

we were getting at the buffet!



The other restaurant we had lunch at was by the beach which was roughly 150m away from the hotel. This one overlooks the beach so its nice as a change of scenery but again the menu was basic and I think catered for the English. I had a pasta carbonara whilst my husband had a burger - we didn't enjoy it.


The last restaurant which we dined at on the second to last night of our stay was a contrast to the buffet restaurant. It was in a more intimate and more cultured setting as it was a much smaller room with drapes from the ceiling.

The menu again was basic but had a choice of more traditional Tunisian cuisine which we were after. The above right shows the 'brik à l'oeuf' served fancily in a sliced lemon and right shows chicken, meatballs and sausage laid on a bed of cous cous. This dish was tasty and so filling that I felt the bulge through my dress. It was worth it though!

Read more on North African Cuisine - Recreate the Tunisan tastes

Travelling to Tunisia

Flights to Tunisia from the UK take about 3 hours.

There are seven international airports:

Jerba - Zarzis International Airport

Enfidha - Hammamet International Airport

Monastir - Habib Bourguiba International Airport

Sfax - Thyna International Airport

Tabarka - 7 Novembre International Airport

Tozeur - Nefta International AirportTozeur - Nefta International Airport

Tunis - Carthage International Airport

Practical information

Things you need to know

CURRENCY

The Tunisian Dinar is a closed currency meaning it can only be bought and sold in the country. It is illegal to import and export Tunisian Dinars.

You can have your money changed either at the airport or at your hotel. If your transfer from the airport to the hotel has already been organised, for convenience, it is easier just to change your money at the hotel. We went to Tunisia in July 2011 and the rate offered at the hotel was 2.17 TND for every 1 GBP.

WHEN TO GO

The warm climate means Tunisia can be visited at anytime of year. The summer is usually from May until the beginning of October. As it is located near the coast, the heat also welcomes the occasional sea breeze. The hottest summer months may become unbearable in the the mountain valleys. During the autumn, the country may experience some cold currents from the Atlantic and some rain too but the weather is still generally quite warm. The winter weather is unpredictable sothe best times to visit is during summer, spring and autumn.

VISAS

Citizens of the EU do not need a visa but need a valid passport for at least 6 months from the date of arrival.

If in doubt, contact the Tunisian Embassy:

LANGUAGE

The main language of Tunisia is Arabic but French is still commonly used and you will find educated Tunisians bilingual. You will find some English is spoken in the tourist zones as well as in markets when vendors are trying to sell you their wares.

Tunisian Embassy

29 Prince's Gate

London SW7 1QG

TEL: 020 7584 8117

DVDs from the Global Treasures series - Places to visit in Tunisia

DVDs to help you decide on what places in Tunis to visit

This is my first lens and is still a work in progress.

If there are more topics you would like me to write about, please feel free to let me know.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)