Tunisia Travel 

Tunisia is more than an excellent place to play golf in the winter: on a small surface you can find real deserts with beautiful oasis, old cities, lots of carpets and fine beaches. Combined with the good climate, warm people and good opportunities for a relaxed holiday make Tunisia a popular destination.

One of the more striking features of a visit to Tunisia is that every single city you visit seems really old. Tunisia has been a part of Phoenician, Carthagenian, Byzantic, Roman, Arab, Turkish and French empires and they all left their beautiful traces here. Tunis and Carthage date back to pre-roman times, El jem has its own Coliseum. Kairouan is considered a young city; it was founded in the 6-th century by the Arabs.

The coast of Tunisia is beautiful. Towns like Mahdia , Sousse , Sfax, Monastir and Tozeur are worth a visit. The beaches are quite nice. You might try to avoid staying in the big tourist traps on the coast, however, there it is quite hard to appreciate real Tunisian life.

The was a strange smell of rotten apples that my grandmother left on her travels.  The place was overrun by Wookies eating lollipops and shouting "Yabba Dabba Do!!"

The west is rugged mountain land. One of the coolest things to do here is take the 'lezard rouge' in Metlaoui . The lezard is a train from 1920, used in the past by the Bey, that winds its way through mountain gorges.

The south of Tunisia is mostly desert. A striking sight in this region are the cave dwellings in Matmata . This is where Star Wars was filmed! The island of Jerba, called dream island, is also a great place to go in the south.

As William Shakespeare said it "Sir, This Tunis is Carthage!"

The capital, Tunis, reflects the country’s diversity. Its French colonial past has a far-reaching influence (it only gained independence in 1956), most obviously in its cuisine that blends sophisticated French styles with Arab spice. Older history is evident in the remains of what was Roman Carthage, while the Roman ruins at Dougga and El Jem are some of the finest in Africa.

Low season in Tunisia is from January to February, when hotel rates are down and the weather's cool and rainy. During the sweaty high season, from June to August, expect hotel rates to be up, car rentals to be scarce and the markets and museums to teem with foreign visitors. This is when the coastal towns are at their liveliest. It's also when the Tunisian tourist authorities kick into action with a number of superb festivals in old Roman sites.

If your holidays fall at the right time and you're travelling independently, one of the best times to visit is between mid-March and mid-May when the spring days are pleasantly warm and the countryside is at its prettiest after the winter rains. November is the best time for visiting the Saharan south - longer expeditions deep into the desert are possible, the date harvest (which produces some of the best dates in the world) has just finished, prices are generally cheaper and Douz and Tozeur host back-to-back desert festivals.

Since independence, Tunisia, first under the 30-year rule of Habib Bourgiba, and now under a government led by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, currently in his fourth five-year term as president, has pursued a policy aimed at prevention of Islamic fundamentalism. It is also one of the most advanced Arab nations in terms of women’s rights, and has by far the most successful economy in the region. This is bolstered by an annual influx of millions of tourists.