Mosaics first, ruins after: the Bardo while the galleries are still quiet, then the archaeological sites of Carthage, and a last hour among the blue doors of Sidi Bou Said.
On request
Duration
A full day, roughly seven to nine hours depending on how long the museum holds you. Timings are agreed when the quote is confirmed.
Who it suits
Travellers with an appetite for archaeology and Roman history, families with teenagers, and repeat visitors to Tunis who want more than the medina.
Price
On request
The museum-led version of the Tunis day. It opens at the Bardo, whose Roman mosaic collection is among the richest in the Mediterranean, then moves on to the Antonine Baths, the Byrsa hill and the Punic basins at Carthage, and closes in the whitewashed lanes of Sidi Bou Said. Opening days are confirmed once your date is set.
Pick-up
Hotels in Tunis, Le Bardo, La Marsa, Gammarth and Carthage. Hotels in Hammamet, Yasmine Hammamet and Nabeul.
The order of the stops shifts with your start time, the traffic and how long you want to spend at each place.
The Bardo Museum
The collection fills a former beylical palace on the western edge of Tunis. Going in early, ahead of the groups, gives you the Sousse, Dougga and El Jem rooms in relative quiet: the Triumph of Neptune, the Odysseus panel, floor after floor of Roman North Africa. Two hours covers the essentials; enthusiasts stay considerably longer.
Carthage
Across the lake to the northern suburbs. The Antonine Baths at the water's edge, the Byrsa hill for the view and the site museum, the Punic quarter and the circular naval basins. Having seen the Bardo first, the mosaics still lying where they were laid, and the ground plans around them, make far more sense.
Sidi Bou Said
The day ends a few minutes up the coast: whitewashed lanes, blue mashrabiya screens, studded doors and terraces open to the gulf, with a café or two worth an hour. The vehicle waits below the village, so you come down when you are ready rather than when a group is.
Its opening days and hours change with the season and with what is happening at the site. They are checked when your date is fixed, and the running order of the day is adjusted if needed.
The rooms are labelled in French and English, and many visitors are perfectly happy with that. For a closer reading of the pavements, a licensed guide can be arranged as an option on request; the driver remains a driver.
Yes, and it sits naturally between Carthage and Sidi Bou Said. The driver knows both simple places by the water and more considered tables; the meal itself is at your own cost.
A private day that starts at your hotel door: the Tunis medina and its covered souks, the ruins of Carthage, the blue lanes of Sidi Bou Said and the seafront at La Marsa — taken in the order and at the pace that suit you.
A day in the Medjerda valley: the best-preserved Roman town in North Africa in the morning, a small town founded by Andalusian exiles in the afternoon, and a vehicle nobody shares with you in between.
Islam's fourth holy city in the morning, the largest Roman amphitheatre in Africa after lunch.
Give us the date, how many of you are travelling and your pick-up address: we reply with a quote drawn up for this day out.
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Every journey is quoted individually: no price is shown before your own quote.
