Tunis

Where Tunisia's story begins.

Tunis rewards slow walking. Inside the medina, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979, lanes narrow around the Zitouna Mosque and open onto souks organised by trade: perfumers, tailors, makers of the red chechia cap. A few steps outside, Avenue Habib Bourguiba runs wide and tree-lined, framed by the facades of the French period.

The city's real character sits in the in-between: a courtyard glimpsed through a half-open door, mint tea in a café that has seen generations of the same regulars, the Bardo Museum's extraordinary Roman mosaics an easy trip from the centre.

Highlights

• The medina and its souks

• Zitouna Mosque

• Avenue Habib Bourguiba

• The Bardo National Museum

Best for: Culture, architecture, food

Photo: Kritzolina / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0