Tunisia in 7 Days: The Ultimate Road Trip

Morning: Arrive and Dive into the Medina

Your Tunisian adventure begins the moment you collect your car at Tunis-Carthage Airport with 3A Rent Car. The drive into the city takes barely fifteen minutes, and before you know it you are standing at the Porte de France, the grand gateway into one of the best-preserved medieval cities in the Islamic world. The Tunis medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, is a labyrinth of over 700 historic monuments — palaces, mosques, fondouks and covered souks that have traded continuously for more than a thousand years.

Wander the perfumers' souk (El Attarine), where the air is heavy with oud and jasmine. Browse the chechia souk, where artisans shape the traditional red felt caps by hand. Lose yourself — deliberately — in the narrow lanes around the Zitouna Mosque, the oldest in Tunis, whose serene courtyard is open to visitors and offers a moment of calm amid the bustle.

Afternoon: The Bardo Museum

After a lunch of lablabi (spiced chickpea soup, the medina's beloved street food), drive fifteen minutes west to the Bardo Museum. Housed in a former beylic palace, it holds the world's largest collection of Roman mosaics — room after room of staggeringly intricate floor panels salvaged from villas across Tunisia. The Virgil mosaic alone is worth the trip. Allow two hours here; it is genuinely one of the finest museums in Africa.

Evening: Rooftop Dinner in the Medina

Return to the medina for dinner at Dar El Jeld, a 17th-century palace turned restaurant where Tunisian cuisine is served on a rooftop terrace overlooking the tiled rooftops and minarets. Try the couscous with grouper and finish with makroudh, semolina pastries stuffed with dates and drizzled with honey. The medina at dusk, when the souks quiet and the light turns amber, is an experience you will carry with you long after you leave.

Morning: Drive to Hammamet

Head south from Tunis on the A1 autoroute. In just one hour you will reach Hammamet, Tunisia's most famous beach resort. But look beyond the sunbeds: the Hammamet medina is a jewel in its own right — compact, whitewashed and set on a rocky promontory above the sea, with a 15th-century kasbah offering panoramic views. Stroll its quiet lanes, peek into artisan workshops, and feel how different the rhythm is from Tunis.

Afternoon: Nabeul and Kelibia

Continue along the coast to Nabeul, famed for its vibrant pottery market — stalls heaped with hand-painted ceramics in traditional blue-and-yellow patterns make irresistible souvenirs. From there, drive north to Kelibia, where a magnificent Byzantine-era fortress perches on a clifftop with views stretching to the Italian island of Pantelleria on clear days. The beaches below the fortress are among the most beautiful in Tunisia — uncrowded and crystal-clear.

Evening: Hammamet Yasmine

Return to Hammamet Yasmine for the evening, where a purpose-built marina district offers beach bars, restaurants and a lively promenade. It is an ideal place to enjoy a leisurely seafood dinner and watch the sunset paint the sea in shades of coral and gold.

Morning: The Long Drive South

Today the landscape transforms dramatically. The four-hour drive south from Sousse or El Jem takes you through the Tunisian steppe — a vast, arid plateau where the terrain shifts from olive groves to scrubland to nothing at all. The road is smooth and well-maintained, and the emptiness is its own kind of beauty. This is when having your own car from 3A Rent Car truly pays off: you can stop whenever the landscape calls to you.

Midday: Crossing Chott el Jerid

The highlight of the drive is the crossing of Chott el Jerid, the largest salt lake in the Sahara. A dead-straight causeway cuts across a surreal landscape of crystallised salt, shimmering mirages and otherworldly colours — pink, white, turquoise — that seem to belong to another planet. Pull over at the roadside stalls to buy desert roses (natural salt-crystal formations) and sip mint tea while gazing at the infinite flatness.

Afternoon: Tozeur Old Town

Arrive in Tozeur, the jewel of the oasis towns. The Ouled El Hadef quarter is famous for its distinctive geometric brick architecture — intricate patterns adorning every facade. Walk through the palm groves, a shaded world of irrigation channels, fruit trees and birdsong that feels impossibly lush after the desert crossing. Tozeur has over 200,000 date palms, and a guide can show you the ancient irrigation system that makes it all possible.

Evening: Sunset at Ong Jemal

Drive to Ong Jemal (the Camel's Neck), a dramatic rocky outcrop used as a filming location for Star Wars: Episode I. At sunset, the desert turns every shade of orange and gold, and the silence is absolute. This is one of those moments that make the entire trip worthwhile.

Morning: Matmata Troglodyte Houses

Leave the desert and drive to Matmata, a Berber village unlike anywhere else on Earth. Here, families have lived for centuries in troglodyte houses — dwellings carved into the ground around circular pit courtyards, invisible from the surface. The design is ingenious: cool in summer, warm in winter, and perfectly adapted to the harsh climate. Visit Hotel Sidi Driss, the most famous troglodyte building of all — its courtyard was used as the set for Luke Skywalker's home in the original Star Wars film.

Afternoon: Drive North via the A1

From Matmata, you have two options. The direct route back to Tunis follows the A1 autoroute and takes approximately five hours — a comfortable afternoon drive with a stop or two for coffee and fuel. Alternatively, if you have the time and inclination, detour to the island of Djerba (two hours from Matmata), where whitewashed villages, the ancient El Ghriba synagogue and some of the best beaches in Tunisia await. Either way, you will arrive with a head full of memories and a camera full of images that no filter could improve.

Evening: Drop-Off and Departure

Return your rental car at Tunis-Carthage Airport or the city centre. If your flight is the next morning, consider one final dinner on the rooftop of a medina restaurant — a fitting bookend to a week that has taken you from the heart of one of the world's oldest cities to the silence of the Sahara and back again.