8 Days Tunisia Essential Discovery Private Tour

We toured all over from Tunis, Carthage, Sidi Bou Said, Dougga, Berber villages, Star Wars Village and sites, The English Patient desert sites, camel ride in Sahara, and many more cultural experiences. Our guide was an exceptional proud Tunisian / Berber woman by the name of Bouthenia. She was a wealth of knowledge and very kind.

This was the most perfectly organised and implemented tour I have done. My wife and I are in our late 50s and not in the most athletic of condition. We loved it. So what do you actually get? 7 nights at good quality 4* hotels around the country. Breakfast and dinner buffet meals. Lunch on the road. Skilled drivers of comfortable modern landcruisers. Expert tour guide who knows his own country and wants to explain it to you. Entry fees to sites. Excellent range of historical, cultural and geographical experiences. There are some serious WTF moments in this tour! For me the tophet of Carthage, the Bardo Museum, Dougga’s THIS.IS.ROME. temple of the Capitoline Trinity, the Kairouan mosque, the sunset in the Saharan desert (yes, its worth the 4 hour trip through the sand dunes.), the alien landscapes just…yes. Now the downside points: 1. This requires a lot of walking and an element of fitness to enjoy. You don’t have to be an athlete but there are lots of steps. A fat, white guy managed it. 2. The drive into the desert is also challenging. 3. If you are a pale white guy like me, beware the sun. You must wear a hat. Screen up. 4. The food is plentiful and good quality but your gut bacteria may not be friendly with the locals. Bring Imodium or equivalent. I lasted until Day 5 before too much harissa intake got me (and i like spice). 5. Drinks are extra, payable at the hotel. There is a sort of beer, Celtia, available and some very good red wines, (e.g. Mago) but we mostly stuck with bottled water. This is an Islamic culture and not all restaurants have alcohol. Oddly, diet drinks are also rare. The water is fine. 6. Information Overload! To me this was completely new. A strange alien world. By the time you’re standing on a sand dune that you have previously only seen in Nat Geo images, well, your head will be so full of data that you will feel stunned. I am quite serious. This is a fully immersive experience. 7. The insects bite. Make sure you have repellant and antihistamines. As long as you do, you will be fine. General recommendation: It’s ok. You don’t have to buy a carpet unless you want to. ;-) There are shopping opportunities along the way but not high pressure ones. Tipping is welcome and reasonable. The general principle of giving to non-aggressive beggars is also a nice thing to do and appreciated by the locals. Horde your small notes and coins. This is an Islamic culture. Their culture, their rules. Dress modestly where needed. My wife kept a headscarf in her handbag so we could visit some of the special places. Their beliefs and opinions won’t necessarily match yours but that’s why you’re here isn’t it? They’re nice people. If you don’t speak Arabic, touch up on your French. Very useful. I cannot praise Saharan Sky highly enough for this experience.

As an avid independent traveller for over 35 years, I was impressed with the exceptional variety of cultural and culinary experiences, as well as the physical adventures, we had on this tour of Tunisia. Our tour leader Mustapha was intelligent, witty, well-connected and clearly well-respected by all the locals we interacted with on our trip. He taught us all so much, and facilitated some extraordinary experiences that will stay with me for life. My fellow travellers were a wide spectrum of ages, but of similar mindset, values and physical capability...which provided an abundance of good natured banter and laughs...and hopefully some enduring friendships. I cannot recommend this trip highly enough.

We have just completed the Tunisia tour with Karim. He was a fantastic leader and his passion and knowledge of Tunisia was outstanding. Wonderful trip and would definitely recommend to anyone considering travelling to Tunisia.

Tour very well managed for time, information and knowledge offered. Personnel enthusiastic and personable. Hotels clean and food great. We suggest a handout be given to each guest on the first day, include contacts of guides and guests, a map, information on customs, tipping etc., a page of common arabic words and phrases visitors could use. Thanks Brian and Maria

The whole trip was really amazing. The tour guide, Jamel, was incredible to us. His timing and the knowledge he shared was really spot on! In terms of the hotel and transportation was also very good. A smooth journey from the start until the end. I can't think of any bad things that happened during the trip. It was 10/10, honest. If you are considering to choose this package, you should, nothing to lose. Jamel really made the trip 20 times better. So cheers to him

I was a bit nervous yet had high expectations about this tour before it had started. I was sure I would love Tunisia and I was very happy to have found a tour that has such a packed itinerary as I wanted to see as much as possible. Our group had a wide age range starting from teenagers and going up to people in their 80s and we all became friends by the end of the tour all having loved the tour. The hotels turned out a lot nicer than I had expected and so were their provided breakfasts, lunch and dinner. The bus was comfy, had even disco lights in it! Too bad we only discovered that on our last night of the tour when all the females of the group had a dance in the bus in Tunis. Our driver Yousseph was very funny, friendly and helpful, a very sincere person, and of course a fantastic driver. All the places we were visiting during the tour were really inspiring, felt surreal and gave me goosebumps, especially the whole desert experience that was a highlight to most of people in our group. And even though everything seemed really great on the tour our tour guide Ismail made it a lot more fun, exciting and safe. He is a real asset of saharansky and has got a wonderful personality. Ismail helped whenever and wherever was needed, even helped me shopping when my luggage went missing on my way to Tunisia. He perfectly knew how to make us all laugh, feel great and encouraged the group getting to know each other. He was really smart, intelligent and well educated, always had plenty of history and current affairs facts to tell us and he supported these facts with stories about his life, his family and friends' lives that gave us more understanding about life in Tunisia. Ismail has a real skill of combining the perfect amount of information he gives about Tunisia's history, lifestyle of Tunisians and just having fun with the group and making jokes. Every group that gets him as their guide must be truly lucky! All in all Tunisia and this tour hugely exceeded my expectations and this tour will be a really cherished memory.

The tour far exceeded our expectations. We went with some trepidation and having a number of anxieties around safety - these were all dispelled (after the two hour wait in a queue at Tunis airport!!) when we were met by our driver for the week "Smiley" - and he lived up to his name - fabulous kind and happy person who took care of us through the 8 days. Our host Yassin was brilliant - he was so passionate about Tunisia, very knowledgeable, genuinely wanting to help us to have a great time - couldn't have got anyone better. The places we visited were fantastic and whilst there was alot of travelling (suggest people bring earphones/music and books to read) the van was comfortable, the hotels were great - especially those with swimming pools - all of the other tour guides that we encountered were again very knowledgeable and made sure that we were well looked after - all in all an absolutely fantastic experience with a a great CEO, Smiley the driver and the group that we were with - highlights were the Sahara overnight, Tunis Medina and the El Jem - would strongly recommend this tour - thanks so much - Kate & Vaughan