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Hotels in Sousse

A university city with UNESCO walls and an eight-kilometre beach

Sousse

LanguageArabic / French
CurrencyTND
TimezoneAfrica/Tunis
Temperature12-35 °C
Dial Code+216
Population12.5M
Area163,610 km²
SocketsType C / Type E
Tap waterNot drinkable

Discover Sousse

Sousse is Tunisia's third-largest city and the only Tunisian beach resort that is also a genuine, functioning city of two hundred thousand people, with a university, a harbour and industry. Visitors here aren't confined to a closed zone but move through streets where people commute to work in the morning and sit in cafés in the evening. At its heart is a ninth-century medina ringed by two kilometres of walls, home to the steep tower of the ribat — a fortified monastery from which monks once watched the sea for Byzantine raids — and the Great Mosque, built without a minaret. The whole complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. North of the walls runs the eight-kilometre Boujaffar beach, followed by a strip of hotels stretching to Port El Kantaoui, an artificial marina styled like a white Arab town. Compared with Hammamet, Sousse is noisier, cheaper and livelier; compared with Djerba, it has more history and less calm. The season runs from June to October; through winter the city stays busy, just without swimming.

What to see

The places worth your time in Sousse, and what to expect at each

Medina of Sousse

Medina of Sousse

centre

A fortified old town from the ninth century, with two kilometres of walls that survive intact all the way around. Inside is a dense network of covered souks selling gold, spices and leather, alongside residential streets where locals live and tourists aren't really expected.

Tip: Enter the medina through the Bab el Bhar gate by Farhat Hached square. Head straight up to the ribat and loop back on the way out, and you'll avoid the busiest shopping stretch, where you'll be approached at every other step.

Admission:
free entry
Time needed:
half a day
Ribat

Ribat

medina

North Africa's best-preserved fortified monastery, built around 821. Around the inner courtyard are the cells of the monk-warriors, a prayer hall above, and a round watchtower over the city at the top. From the stairway you can see the whole medina, the harbour and the bay.

Tip: The stairway to the tower is narrow and one-way — go up right at opening time, eight in the morning, before it gets crowded; later in the day it jams up and you can't stop to take photos at the top.

Admission:
from 8 TND
Time needed:
1 h
Great Mosque

Great Mosque

medina

A mosque from 851 with a plain courtyard ringed by arcades and no minaret — that role was filled by the tower of the neighbouring ribat. The building looks more like a fortress than a place of worship, since it was built at the same time and from the same stone as the city walls.

Tip: Non-Muslims may enter the courtyard but not the prayer hall, and only outside prayer times — the safest bet is mid-morning, between nine and eleven. Shoulders and knees must be covered; a cloak is available to borrow at the entrance.

Admission:
from 8 TND
Time needed:
30 min
Sousse Archaeological Museum

Sousse Archaeological Museum

medina, kasbah

Tunisia's second-largest collection of Roman mosaics after the Bardo, housed in a fortress at the highest point of the medina. The mosaics come from villas around Sousse, and some are displayed in open-air courtyards where they can be seen in daylight.

Tip: The museum has shade and air-conditioned halls, making it the best plan for midday, when it's thirty-four degrees in the streets. Labels are in French and Arabic, with English only on the main pieces.

Admission:
from 12 TND
Time needed:
2 h
Catacombs

Catacombs

western part of the city

Five kilometres of underground passages carved in the first centuries AD, holding over fifteen thousand early Christian graves stacked in the walls. Only a short lit section is open to visitors.

Tip: The catacombs lie outside the medina in the western part of the city, and opening hours are irregular — check with your hotel the day before, or you may arrive to a closed gate.

Admission:
from 8 TND
Time needed:
1 h
Port El Kantaoui

Port El Kantaoui

10 km north

A marina built in the 1970s ten kilometres north, around which a white townscape with blue shutters grew up, complete with a golf course and hotels. Over three hundred boats moor here, and the promenade around the harbour is the most pleasant evening walk in the area.

Tip: Pirate-themed pleasure boats depart from here and are noisy; anyone who wants a peaceful trip on the water should choose a sailboat with an early eight o'clock departure, when the sea is calm and the decks are half-empty.

Admission:
free
Time needed:
half a day
Boujaffar Beach

Boujaffar Beach

north of the centre

An eight-kilometre stretch of light sand that begins right beneath the medina's walls and runs north past the hotels. The town section by the promenade is free and packed with local families in the evening; the northern stretch by the hotels is quieter and cleaner.

Tip: The stretch of beach by the promenade in town gets crowded in the afternoon. The best balance of quiet and access is about two kilometres north at Boujaffar Nord, reachable by the metro train for a dinar.

Admission:
free, sunlounger from 15 TND
Time needed:
all day
Dar Essid

Dar Essid

medina

A late-19th-century townhouse in the medina that one family kept fully furnished and opened as a museum. It shows how a wealthy Tunisian family once lived: marriage chambers, kitchen, wedding room, and even a first-century oil lamp.

Tip: Up on the roof is a café with a view over the Great Mosque and the sea, which you can visit even without touring the house. Coffee costs the same as it does downstairs in the street, and the view is the best in the medina.

Admission:
from 10 TND
Time needed:
1 h
Hergla

Hergla

30 km north

A whitewashed fishing town on a clifftop thirty kilometres north, where baskets are still woven from esparto grass, and home to the only mosque in Tunisia with a domed saint's tomb sitting directly above the sea. There's barely any tourist infrastructure, which is exactly what makes it interesting.

Tip: This stop can be combined with the trip from Enfidha Airport, since Hergla lies roughly halfway there. Swimming here is off the rocks, not a beach — not suited to children.

Admission:
free
Time needed:
half a day

Photos: Medina of Sousse — Bert in England (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Ribat — Christian Manhart (CC BY-SA 3.0 igo) · Great Mosque — Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Sousse Archaeological Museum — Yamen (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Catacombs — Habib M'henni (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Port El Kantaoui — Tony Hisgett (CC BY 2.0) · Boujaffar Beach — ChrisTheDude at English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Dar Essid — User: (WT-shared) Shoestring at wts wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Hergla — Togodumnus (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Where to stay

Areas and districts, matched to the kind of trip you are taking

Medina and city centre

Best for: history and independent travel

Inside the walls and around Farhat Hached square is the cheapest accommodation in town, with everything within walking distance: the souk, the ribat, the market and the start of the beach. It's noisy, though — the city gets going at six in the morning and cafés run past midnight. For a traveller who wants to see a working Tunisian city, this is the best base.

Boujaffar and the promenade

Best for: beach within reach of the city

A strip of hotels along the town beach north of the centre, a few minutes' walk from the sea and from the medina alike. In the evening the promenade fills with local families and stalls, and prices at the venues are city prices, not hotel prices. The downside is noise from the main road running parallel to the beach.

Port El Kantaoui

Best for: families and golf

A self-contained zone ten kilometres north, built around an artificial marina with golf courses, water parks and upmarket hotels. The beach is cleaner and wider than in town, and the evening scene, centred on the marina, is tame. For city life and lower prices, it's a short metro or taxi ride away.

Chatt Meriem and Sousse Nord

Best for: calm between the city and the marina

The stretch between Boujaffar and Port El Kantaoui, with hotels set back from the road and the widest beach in the area. There's barely anything to walk to, but it's quiet, and both centres are a quarter of an hour away. Suited to a holiday that's mainly about the beach.

Search hotels →

Getting around

From the airport

The closest airport is Monastir Habib Bourguiba, twenty kilometres south, which handles most charter flights from Prague and offers a half-hour transfer. The second is Enfidha–Hammamet, forty-five kilometres north, which mainly serves the newer hotels around Port El Kantaoui. Both airports are also connected by train or louage. Sousse is itself a rail hub: direct trains run to Tunis in two hours, to Monastir and Mahdia along the coastal line, and south to Sfax and Gabès.

Monastir Habib Bourguiba (MIR) · 20 km

  • Hotel transfer· 30 min· included in package
  • Sahel Metro train· 45 min· 2 TND
  • Taxi· 25 min· 35 TND

Enfidha–Hammamet (NBE) · 45 km

  • Hotel transfer· 45 min· included in package
  • Taxi· 40 min· 70 TND

Around town

Sousse has something no other Tunisian resort has: the coastal Sahel Metro railway, which runs from the centre through the hotel zone and Port El Kantaoui all the way to Monastir and the airport. A ticket costs one or two dinars and trains run roughly every half hour until evening. Regular buses also run around town, along with plenty of yellow metered taxis. A rental car is only really needed for El Jem and Kairouan, but even those are reachable by train or louage. Parking downtown is difficult, and a street attendant will expect a dinar.

Sahel MetroCoastal train Sousse – Port El Kantaoui – Monastir – airport – Mahdia, every 30 minutes. · 1 TND
Yellow taxiMeter required by law; a ride across town costs up to eight dinars. 50% surcharge after midnight. · 3 TND
LouageShared vans to Kairouan, El Jem and Tunis from the station near Bab Jedid. · 5 TND
Tourist road trainA loop between Boujaffar, the medina and the marina. Pricier than the metro train, but it stops at the hotels. · 8 TND
Rental carWorth it for a single-day trip to both Kairouan and El Jem. The A1 motorway is tolled. · 110 TND / day

Useful apps: Google Maps, Bolt, Maps.me

When to go

The sea is warmest from mid-July to the end of September, reaching 26–27°C. Swimming season runs from June, when the sea is at 23°C, to early October. September has the most balanced weather: summer heat has eased, the sea is at its warmest of the year, and hotel rates drop. April, May and October are good times for sightseeing in the medina, El Jem and Kairouan, since you can be out and about all day — in August it's too hot to do so at midday. Winter is mild, with rain confined mostly to December and January; the city runs year-round.

Best time

September, or June

What to avoid

mid-July to mid-August, for the heat and the crowds

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day17°18°20°22°26°30°33°33°30°26°21°18°
Night7°7°9°11°15°19°22°22°20°17°12°8°
Rainy days766542114668
Sea15°14°15°17°20°23°26°27°26°23°20°17°

Food & drink

Sousse is a city, not a closed resort zone, so eating out away from the hotel is genuinely cheap: behind the medina are eateries where ojja with merguez costs eight dinars and university students eat alongside you. By the fishing harbour the catch is grilled and sold by weight, and downtown there are several bakeries selling makroud and brik across the street from each other. The Sousse Sahel is olive country — olive oil is sold by the litre straight from jerrycans and costs a fraction of what it does in Europe. Alcohol is served on the promenade and in the marina, but not in the medina.

What to try

Brik

A thin sheet of malsouka pastry fried with egg, tuna and parsley. The yolk inside stays runny, so the trick is to bite the corner first and eat it over your plate.

Couscous

The whole country's Friday dish: semolina steamed over a pot of meat and vegetables. In coastal towns it's also made with fish, a version you won't get at the hotel.

Méchouia salad

Roasted peppers, tomatoes and garlic crushed in a mortar, with tuna, egg and olives. Served cold as a starter, and the best way to gauge the strength of the local harissa.

Ojja

A tomato pan dish with harissa into which eggs are cracked, usually with merguez sausage or shrimp. Fast, spicy, and the cheapest hot meal at any local eatery.

Lablabi

A chickpea soup with garlic and cumin into which you crumble stale bread right in the bowl. A workers' breakfast, sold in the morning and usually sold out by noon.

Harissa

A paste of roasted chillies, garlic and cumin that arrives with the bread before the menu does. Tunisian harissa is hotter than the Moroccan kind — try the first spoonful with care.

Makroud and pine nut tea

Semolina-dough diamonds filled with dates and soaked in honey, served with strong sweet green tea topped with a handful of pine nuts.

Merguez

Spicy grilled lamb sausages, served in a baguette with harissa and fries. The cheapest dinner you'll find in Tunisia.

What it costs

Coffee on the promenade

2–4 TND

Ojja with merguez

8–12 TND

Dinner downtown, outside the hotel

25–45 TND per person

Celtia beer, 0.5 l

7–10 TND

Two sunloungers with a parasol

15–25 TND

Sahel Metro to Port El Kantaoui

1 TND

Entry to the ribat and museum

20 TND

Guided day trip to El Jem

from 70 TND

Indicative prices that change over time — treat them as a guide, not a price list.

Practical information

SocketsCEuroplug, two round pinsEFrench, with earth pin
Voltage230V / 50Hz
Tap waterDo not drink tap water — Don't drink tap water — it's chlorinated, hard, and tastes unpleasant in summer. A litre and a half of bottled water costs under a dinar in a shop, four times that at a hotel. It's best to avoid ice in drinks outside your hotel, and wash fruit with bottled water.
TippingTips are expected in small change: round up at a café, leave around ten percent at a restaurant, and give hotel porters a dinar per bag. Change can't be made at land border crossings, so keep plenty of one- and five-dinar notes on hand. Guides and drivers on a full-day tour expect around five dinars per person.
Driving on theright
SafetyBoth the resorts and the medinas are safe, and police are visible in tourist areas. The most common annoyance isn't crime but pushy selling: someone in the medina will offer to take you "to my brother's workshop" and lead you into a carpet shop. A polite "lā, shukran" and continuing to walk is enough. Taxis have meters — insist they're switched on, or the driver will quote triple the fare. Watch the flags in the sea; in the afternoon the wind can pick up strongly, especially further south.
Opening hoursShops in the resorts are open from nine until late in the evening, including Sundays; medina souks close around noon on Fridays for prayers. Offices and banks operate from eight to four, and only until one in summer. During Ramadan the daily rhythm shifts: cafés and restaurants outside hotels open only after sunset, while hotel service runs as normal.
Customs & etiquetteTunisia is a secular but Muslim country: swimwear is fine at the resort, but wear a t-shirt with trousers or a knee-length skirt in town and in the medina. Tourists are usually not allowed past the courtyard of a mosque. The left hand isn't used for eating or for handing over objects. Don't photograph people, especially women, without asking, and never photograph police or military sites.
A few local wordsHello — As-salamu alaykumThank you — ShukranNo, thank you — Lā, shukranHow much does it cost? — B'kaddech?That's too expensive — Ghālī barsha

How to plan your days

1 day

A day in the medina

  1. 1Climb the ribat tower right after eight, while the stairway is still empty.
  2. 2The Great Mosque and the souks inside the walls.
  3. 3Midday at the air-conditioned archaeological museum in the kasbah.
  4. 4Afternoon swim at Boujaffar and dinner downtown.

2 days

Two days with the marina

  1. 1Day one as above.
  2. 2Day two: morning Sahel Metro to Port El Kantaoui.
  3. 3Sailing trip or golf, lunch by the marina.
  4. 4Afternoon back, then the catacombs or Dar Essid with its rooftop café.

3 days

Three days with an inland trip

  1. 1The first two days as above.
  2. 2Day three, early morning to El Jem for the amphitheatre.
  3. 3Lunch in El Jem, then on to Kairouan.
  4. 4The Great Mosque and medina in Kairouan, back in the evening.
  5. 5If there's a day to spare, Monastir and Mahdia along the coastal railway.

Day trips

El Jem amphitheatre

65 km · 1 h by car or train

The third-largest Roman amphitheatre in the world, built for thirty-five thousand spectators, standing in the middle of an ordinary Tunisian town and better preserved than many in Italy. You can climb to the upper gallery or descend into the underground animal passages.

Kairouan

60 km · 1 h by car

The oldest Muslim city in North Africa, with a Great Mosque dating to the seventh century, the vast Aghlabid cisterns, and a medina full of carpets. Non-Muslims may only enter the mosque's courtyard, and only in the morning.

Monastir and Mahdia

20 km · 30 min by train

A neighbouring port with a ribat on a rocky headland and the mausoleum of Habib Bourguiba, followed forty kilometres further by Mahdia, with its old town on a narrow peninsula. Both are linked by the coastal railway, so it's possible to see them in a single day without a car.

Frequently asked questions

Is Sousse good for families with children?+

Yes, with a caveat. The beach is sandy with a gentle slope, and Port El Kantaoui has water parks and a quieter feel. The city itself is noisy and busy with traffic, so families with small children are usually better off in Port El Kantaoui or Chatt Meriem than in hotels right by the medina.

How do I get from my hotel to the medina?+

By the coastal Sahel Metro train, which runs from Port El Kantaoui to the centre for under a dinar and departs every half hour, or by taxi for three to eight dinars. From Boujaffar it's a twenty-minute walk along the promenade. The tourist road train is pricier but stops right outside the big hotels' entrances.

Do I have to haggle in the medina?+

Yes, in the souk the first price quoted is usually two to three times the final one. Offer a third of it and start walking away — the price will drop. Only supermarkets, pharmacies and the state-run ONAT craft shops have fixed prices, and they're a good benchmark for what something should actually cost.

When is the sea warmest in Sousse?+

In August and September, when the sea reaches 26–27°C. The best combination of warm water and bearable air temperature comes in the first half of September. In June the sea is 23°C, already pleasant for most people, while in May it's only 20°C.

Is Sousse safe?+

Yes, everyday crime is low and police are visible in the tourist areas. Expect pickpockets in crowded souks and persistent selling that stops as soon as you say "lā, shukran." In taxis, insist on the meter. The pedestrian crossings along the main coastal road are the riskiest thing in town — drivers don't stop.

Is all-inclusive worth it in Sousse?+

Less so than elsewhere in Tunisia, because eating out in the city is genuinely cheap: a main course at a local eatery costs eight to twelve dinars. If you plan to eat out every day, half-board works out better value. All-inclusive makes more sense in closed zones like Port El Kantaoui, where the nearest cheap eatery is far away.

How do I get to El Jem and Kairouan without a car?+

A direct train to El Jem leaves from the main station roughly four times a day and the ride takes an hour; the amphitheatre is a five-minute walk from the station. There's no train to Kairouan — shared louage vans leave from the station near Bab Jedid once they fill up, and the trip takes about an hour. Both are easy to do as a standalone day trip from your hotel.

What to do when it's hot or raining?+

The archaeological museum in the kasbah is air-conditioned and the mosaics are good for two hours, the catacombs are underground and cool, and the souks in the medina are covered. For children there are the water parks in Port El Kantaoui. In July and August locals follow the rule of not going out between eleven and four — it's worth adopting.

Visa Requirements

Check the latest visa requirements for entering this country. Some nationalities may need to apply for a visa or e-visa before travel.

Check visa requirements

Emergency Numbers

Police197Ambulance190Fire198

Language

Arabic / French

Currency

TND

Timezone

Africa/Tunis

Dial Code

+216

Population

12.5M

Area

163,610 km²

Voltage

230V / 50Hz

Driving Side

Right

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