Things to Do in Carthage

Byrsa Hill and the National Museum

From the terrace terrace you get a full sweep of the Gulf of Tunis, the white cubes of Sidi Bou Saïd glinting like sugar lumps across the bay. Inside, the museum's air is cool and smells faintly of cedar display cases. Mosaics shimmer under spotlights, their tesserae still sharp enough to snag your sleeve if you lean too close.

Punic Ports and the Tophet

The old harbors are two perfect circles of dark water, mirror-still and dotted with egrets. Stand on the rail and you can smell the diesel of the few fishing boats that still use them. A ten-minute walk south brings you to the Tophet, where the soil is salted with tiny funeral stele and the afternoon wind carries a dry, metallic taste that makes the hairs on your neck rise.

Antonine Baths at sunset

The brick arches glow rust-red as the sun drops, and the stone still holds the day's heat so you can feel warmth radiating through your palms when you touch the pillars. Swallows dive between the windows, and the sea below turns a deep, almost syrupy blue.

Village coffee crawl in Carthage-Salammbo

The back lanes above the station smell of cardamom and fresh-ground espresso drifting from tiny cafés where old men slam dominoes onto marble tables. Order a "café direct" and you'll get a thimble of black coffee so strong it tastes almost like burnt caramel, served with a square of Turkish delight still dusted in icing sugar.

Carthage Amphitheatre and local football

Grass grows through the arena floor and local kids use the ruined vomitoria as goal posts. The ball echoes off limestone with a hollow thud that makes the whole structure feel like a drum. If you climb to the top tier you can taste sea salt on the wind and hear the muezzin from Tunis overlap with the referee's whistle.

Carthage-Salammbo: leafy lanes within earshot of the Punic ports, small guest-houses that smell of orange-blossom

Amilcar quarter: 1960s villas turned into boutique stays, five minutes' walk to the museum

La Marsa beaches: ten min west, breezy rooftop bars and morning jogs along soft sand

Sidi Bou Saïd ridge: blue-shutter houses crowding the cliff, cafés that serve mint tea on terraces

Tunis centre (if you're on a tighter budget): easy TGM connection, more hostels and late-night food

Gammarth coast: resort strip, larger pools, nightclubs thump until 3 a.m.)