Taste of Tunisia

DAY 1: Tunis Carthage airport – Hammamet Welcome To Tunis airport where you will meet your driver. Transfer to your hotel in Hammamet. Dinner and overnight.

• Example hotel: (Eden Yasmine Hammamet 4****) or a similar category, subject to availability
• Meals: dinner

DAY 2: Hammamet -Sbeitla – Tozeur oasis After breakfast, we drive to Sbeitla to view its remnants of the Roman Empire. The small town of Sbe’tla is the site of the ancient city of Sufetula and possesses some of the best preserved Roman temples in north Africa. In addition to temples dedicated to the Roman gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, the site also has several Christian basilicas and an extensive bath complex with a remarkably sophisticated system for heating the floors. Continue to the Oasis region and main date production center of Tunisia. By midday, we reach our destination – Tozeur – one of the largest oasis in Tunisia and historically, one of the most important centers on the ancient caravan routes leading from Sahara to the Mediterranean and Algeria. On our arrival in Tozeur, it soon becomes quite clear that the main attraction of this desert city is its vast oasis. This oasis covers about ten square kilometres which has been planted with some 400, 000 palms and is fed by 100 springs. After we check in to our hotel, which is quiet with tastefully decorated rooms and a swimming pool, we’ll have some time to relax then do some exploration of this very interesting and unique town. We will take a horse-drawn carriage (calesh) into the oasis. Tozeur has a fully functioning palmerie – Our local Guide Mohamed will take us for a guided tour in the oasis to learn about the date harvest and the life inside the oasis. We continue then for a visit to the local markets, and narrow lanes of the medieval town with its distinctive desert architecture. Back to Hotel, dinner After dinner, visit of the one thousand and one night museum known as Dar Cheraiet. Overnight.

• Example hotel: (El Mouradi Toz optional, payable locally ****) or a similar category, subject to availability
• Meals: dinner

DAY 3: Tozeur/ Chebika / tamerza / Mides/Chott el Jerid/ Douz After breakfast, we will drive to the Mountain Oases of Chebika, Mides & Tamerza. Located amidst the rugged outcrop of the Atlas Mountains. These date back to Roman times, when they were military outposts to control the caravan trade. In Chebika, we take a walk to see the village and source of the springs. We continue to Tamerza, where we see the waterfall. Then into Mides, to visit its oasis and its spectacular canyon – made famous in the film, The English Patient. Return to Tozeur for lunch and we’ll cross the salt lake called Chott El Jerid, the barrier between the Sahara and fertile North. If we are lucky, we may see some mirages on the horizon. Arrival to the town of Douz, also called the “Gateway of the Sahara, here you have the opportunity to shop in the local Bedouin market or take an Ultra-light airplane trip over Douz or take a camel ride in the Saharan desert. Check in at a 4 stars hotel in Douz. Dinner and overnight.

• Example hotel: (Sahara Douz 4****) or a similar category, subject to availability
• Meals: breakfast, dinner

Day 4: Douz – Matmata – Tamazret – Ksar Ghilane After breakfast, we will drive to Matmata, a Berber village of Star Wars notoriety, but more importantly, centre of the most extensive number of traditional troglodyte pit homes in the region. The landscape is barren and marked with fissures, crags and small tabletop mountains On reaching Matmata, we’ll discover a lunar landscape pocked with craters. Each of these depressions forms the courtyard for an underground dwelling sometimes as much as 5 – 10m deep. We’ll visit , one of these houses and also a Berber family. A stop in the Berber village Tamazret, and guided visit in the village and its interesting Berber museum. Lunch, then after lunch, we will travel further south into the real desert, where your accommodation will give you a taste of oasis life at Ksar Ghilane. White canvas star-shaped tents are spread through the oasis, but the authentic camping experience is tempered by the fact that the tents have solid floors, a solid-walled en-suite bathroom (including a shower), electric lights and air-conditioning (vital in early July, August). Best of all, there is a well-preserved Roman fort in the real sand-sea desert less than an hour’s camel ride away! Just visible on the skyline, this was one of the remotest outposts of the Empire. Optional camel ride to vsit the fort. The alternatives to the camel ride are horse-back or by Quad bike. The rest of the day you can spend enjoying the desert, or have a swim in the lake near to the spring of hot water. or have a walk in the oasis. Dinner and overnight.

• Example hotel: (Yadis Luxury Camp site ) or a similar category, subject to availability
• Meals: breakfast, dinner

Day 5: Ksar ghilane – Chenini -Douiret – Ksar Hdada- Toujane- Matmata From here we will travel north again along the only good access road to the oasis, passing through ksour country – these are the fortified granaries constructed by the Berbers – we will visit Chenini and douiret , the most famous and best preserved of the Berber villages in the south. We will stop as well in Ksar Hdada which was also featured in the film Star Wars episode 1 The Phantom Menace film in some of the scenes used to represent the slave quarters of Mos Espa. If time allows we will stop for a visit of the site of Mareth line, reminiscent of the circumstances of the battles in the second world war. transfer to the troglodite hotel in Matmata. Dinner and overnight in the hotel.

• Example hotel: (Diar El Barber 4*) or a similar category, subject to availability
• Meals: breakfast, dinner

DAY 6: Matmata – Gabes – El Djem – Hammamet After breakfast, we drive to the maritime oasis Gabes. visit of the spice market in Gabes oasis. Then drive To Mahres for lunch and continuation to El Jem to visit the largest and most spectacular Roman amphith eatre in North Africa and and the site of thet impressive Roman villas. a stop in the El Djem museum to contemplate the collection of mosaics found in the nearby villas. Transfer to Hammamet. Check in the hotel. Dinner and overnight.

• Example hotel: (Eden Yasmine 4*) or a similar category, subject to availability
• Meals: breakfast, dinner

DAY 7: Hammamet- Tunis Airport After breakfast, Transfer to airport for your flight back home.