Christmas 2025 in Tunisia

We booked this trip to Tunisia in November via Tui. We managed to bag ourselves a great deal on Black Friday. 

Like Morocco, Tunisia was never really on my radar of countries I'd like to visit with specific locations I'm interested in. One of the main reasons for booking the trip is we thought the weather would be a bit nicer than back home in the UK and we got a great deal. 

We booked online via TUI but first if you have not signed up then head over to Top Cash Back and sign up to received cashback. 

If you're new to cashback websites then the concept is simple, If you're buying something online then register with TCB and before you make any purchase check the top cashback website to see if they list the retailer and if they offer any cashback. If you can't find the retailer then its no great loss. If like me you find a retailer like I found TUI and clicked on the link bagging myself over £18 in cashback from Tui. Paid quickly just 2 weeks after returning form our holiday. Sign up today to Top Cash Back. 

Now onto Tunisia. 

As mentioned above, this was not a major exploring trip but more of a relaxed trip with an excursion thrown in for good luck to chill out over the festive period. 

We got a great deal at a Tui Blue hotel located in Sousse.

During our week we did just one main excursion to the Great Mosque and El Jem for the Colosseum. We booked via get your guide at a cost of £64 each. 

What did we think of the trip?

The trip was well organised. The day before we was given the details of pick up from our hotel at 7.20. The coach arrived around 15 minutes late and was pretty full. Our tour guide explained there was traffic which caused the delay. We moved onto another few hotels picking up some more guests. The coach was full by the time we headed to our first destination. 

It took over 1 hour to get to the first

First stop: The Barber’s Mosque, known as the Mausoleum of Sidi Sahbi, Located just outside of the Medina in the city of Kairouan. 

This Mosque was quite small and featured lots of mosaics all over the building. It didn't take long to head to the next stop. 

Second stop: The Great Mosque, located inside the Medina in Kairouan.

It took around 10 minutes to get to the Great Mosque.

The Great Mosque is huge. It is the largest mosque in Tunisia and one of the oldest and most significant Islamic monuments in North Africa. We were inside the Great Mosque for around 30-40 minutes.

As non Muslim's we was not allowed into the  actual prayer room but due to the size of the main room we didn't need to go inside, we had a full view inside. Once we finished inside the Mosque we took a walk through the streets within the Medina back to the coach. 

We then travelled for again for around 1hr 20 minutes to just outside of El-Jem and stopped at a hotel for a buffet lunch. Not for others: If you are located near the back of the coach expect most of the food to be gone and what is left to be barely warm. We were not impressed with the food.

Back on the coach and another 20 minutes up the road into El-DJem.

Third Stop: El Djem Archaeological Museum. We stopped here for around 30-40 minutes and explored the grounds of this Archaeological site. Featuring many mosaics we was both surprised how interesting the Archaeological Museum is. 

Fourth Stop: Amphitheatre (Colosseum) This Amphitheatre in El Jem was the main reason we booked this trip. 

El Jem or El Djem (known as both) boasts one of the best preserved Roman stone ruins in the world. Known locally as the Tunisian Colosseum the Amphitheatre is only beaten in size by the actual Colosseum in Rome. 

We spent around just over an hour in the Amphitheatre and that is all the time needed to explore all areas. 

We headed back to the coach and started the long journey back, over 1 hour more. 

Verdict: Unless you have a great interest in visiting the Mosques then personally I would have chosen a different trip. There are other trips available for half day visiting just El Jem and for me this would have been enough. 

The Mosques whilst interesting and different in my opinion are not worth travelling almost almost 3 hours for. 

I speak for both of us when I say we 100% recommend the Colosseum in El Djem. 

Tunisia - Sousse

Our hotel was perfectly located along the beach front so we could walk out of the hotel directly onto the beach.

Port El Kantaoui was approximately 3 miles in one direction and the Medina was just over 3 miles in the other direction. 

On the day we arrived we brought the typical UK weather with us as it was wet and windy all day. The wind and the rain caused lots of rubbish to be washed up on the beach meaning it was a bit of a mess. The following day we walked along the beach towards the Medina  but due to the rubbish on the beach and a clean up operation we turned round and headed back towards the hotel. 

Heading along the beach to the port there was some construction going on and behind the construction the beach comes to an end so the only way to walk to the port from Tui Blue Scheherazade is to walk is along the main road in front of the hotel. 

The walk along the main road took us just under 1 hour. We looked around the port, took a few selfies and after being harassed by every single boat trip, restaurant and souvenir shops we headed back out of the port and back towards our hotel. The walk to the port and back is a little grubby. The streets are surrounding area's are dirty. There's no real care taken and even the local shops and restaurants along this route didn't look clean with many closed down.  

Two days later left the hotel and this time headed in the opposite direction towards the Medina. This route is much nicer, the rubbish is down to a minimum and the bars and restaurants we passed all looked good. 

We stopped at a bar that had a roof top bar. It was quiet and we was the only ones in the bar. It was too cold to stay outside so we had to have some drinks inside the bar once we got to the roof. 

The Medina reminded me of the souks in Marrakech, small and grubby over crowded but surprisingly we never got hassled as much as I expected to be. 

We walked up to the castle but it was closed with no details on opening time or days so we walked back to the Medina before stopping off for some drinks and walking back to the hotel. 

Tunisia is not known for the Alcohol and most shops do not sell alcoholic drinks. I did a quick search online and found a shop around 25 minutes from our hotel that sold alcohol. 

On route back I let the others continue to the hotel and I detoured to find the shop so I could buy a bottle of prosecco for Christmas day. 

During the time I passed all walks of life. I made my way to the shop, got a bottle of bubbles for the following Christmas day and made it back to the hotel in one piece.

Christmas Eve in the hotel was amazing, The staff put on a Christmas market providing several different foods and drinks including mulled wine, Irish coffee, hot chocolates , shakes and much more. Later in the evening  they held a cocktail event in reception before the grand gala Christmas dinner. It was a night to remember. The food, the staff, the atmosphere was amazing.

Verdict: Unfortunately we never had the best weather during our time in Tunisia, no chilling out around the pool for us but I can imagine during the summer months or any other month when the sun is out then this place would be a lot nicer. The beach goes one for miles so enjoy some lovely walks up the beach. The hotel as mentioned was a class act and hard to follow.

Outside of the hotel the Colosseum and Archaeological Museum in El Jem are both worth the visit and I would recommend spending some time exploring them. 

Unfortunately my impression of Tunisia as a country is pretty disappointing though due to the local area's and how dirty everywhere is. Tunisia is a big country with lots of open space, unfortunately to many Tunisian's seem to think open space means an open dustbin and there was literally rubbish piled up everywhere.

I don't understand how they don't have a massive vermin problem with the amount of rubbish dumped all over the place. 

Every time we left the hotel we witnessed people throwing rubbish on the floor like it was bin. 

Tunisia has the potential to be a really great destination. It's a great shame the people of Tunisia don't understand this and continue to live the way they do.