Top Things to Do in Tunis

After passport control's fluorescent glare, a man in pressed linen holds a card with your surname, accent marks correct. Ten minutes later you're sipping bitter espresso in the back seat while the driver threads airport traffic, Radio Babnet's Andalusian lute easing you into Tunisian time.

Group travel minus the cattle-car feel: maximum twelve people, boutique digs, a guide who'll order your brik pastry crisp-side up. The week arcs from Tunis' Ottoman core to the Sahara's sand seas, loops back through mountain ksour where air smells of rosemary and cedar.

This is Tunis unpacked, stitched into a country-wide circuit: sunrise over the Ribat of Monastir, sulfur stink of Roman toilets at Bulla Regia, cinnamon dust hanging in Kairouan's carpet souks. A private driver lets you linger, say, an extra hour inside El Jem's amphitheatre listening to your footsteps volley between arches.

Condensed but no less tactile: you'll still scald tomatoes for skinning, feel sea-salt grit between fingers when seasoning tajine (the baked omelette, not the Moroccan pot). The abbreviated format suits travelers who want to eat well but still sightsee.

Cruise tightwads beware: this private car swings from La Goulette port straight into Tunis' heart, timing the day so you hit the Medina during its mid-morning lull and Sidi Bou Said when sunlight hits café terraces at the perfect latte angle.

Three days let the Sahara seep in: the crunch of regs under tires, the sudden green slap of a date-palm oasis, salt crust crackling like thin glass on chott lake beds. Nights are pitch-black silence broken only by soft thud of sand sliding off tent canvas.

Bizerte's old port smells of diesel, grilled sardines, iodine snap of the Mediterranean. Continue to Cape Angela where land pinches to a knife-point lighthouse. Stand there and Africa ends at your toes, waves slamming volcanic rock, wind flapping your jacket like a loose sail.