La Goulette, Tunis

Has anyone visited Tunis lately? I've browsed all the posts but none are more current than 2011 and may no longer be valid or may have just preceded or just followed the revolution.

The many posts I read are very conflicting and it's impossible to determine which are accurate.

I will be in Tunis next month and am trying to avoid the ship's shore excursion because we don't like the big bus tours with 48 passengers and being herded around like cattle. We also don't care much about shopping which the ship excursions typically focus upon.

It would be great to get some up to date information about the TGM (metro), taxis and the sites: Carthage, Sidi Abu Said and the Medina in Tunis.

Are Euros accepted at the sites and museums? Will taxi drivers accept Euros? Does any place accept credit cards? Is there an ATM (Bankomat) machine in the cruise ship terminal? Is the Medina worth visiting if you don't want to shop? Is Sidi Abu Said just a nightmare of vendors hassling visitors? These are the kinds of things I would love to hear about. Thanks!

Has anyone visited Tunis lately? I've browsed all the posts but none are more current than 2011 and may no longer be valid or may have just preceded or just followed the revolution.

 

Is Sidi Abu Said just a nightmare of vendors hassling visitors? These are the kinds of things I would love to hear about. Thanks!

Being there in July 2011 I had the same dilemma. Much though it pained me I took a ship's tour called 'Carthage and Sidi Bou Said' (or similar) and it looked like this

[YOUTUBE]d5KJCAV9uks[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]YZ5OQfUMAco[/YOUTUBE]

In the event the guide was very good, which was just as well in Carthage because there's relatively little there in terms of ruins and the explanation and chance to question was invaluable. So I enjoyed that part of the tour.

From memory the tour cost $49 pp, so not a fortune in absolute terms. We also saw the city's amphitheatre and cisterns and passed the North African American cemetery - I wanted to spend 5 mins in there but they would do that :mad:

To make the tour the requisite length we spent an hour at SBS. It was not a nightmare of vendors hassling us, as we just browsed without hassle and bought a couple of tiles, but we were only shown the main shopping street. A chance to see the marina and beach area would have been welcome, as that is surely what attracts the visitors. SBS is not at all a bad place, but neither is it anything that special.

So all in all I would give that tour 7/10. In the end we are only talking about the difference between the cost of a ship tour and the fees for taxis, train and entrance to the site, and for us, for once, the ease of being ferried around and having guide was worth it. All the best with whatever you decide, Tony.

I visited Tunisia last fall (November) for two weeks, and the year before that, I was on a cruise that made two stops in Tunisia (La Goulette for Tunis, and Sousse).

In regards to euros vs. dinar, I believe you DO need to use the official currency for things like museum entries (e.g., to the Bardo, the Carthage site, etc.). I don't recall specifically, but I am pretty sure there is an ATM/Bancomat at the La Goulette port facility. I know taxis departing from the port will take euros, and there is a sign at the taxi area showing the standard fares.

I would not recommend the medina area if you are not a shopper. I didn't find it all that scenic compared with other medinas and bazaars I've visited (e.g., Cairo, Kairouan). Sidi bou Said is worth about a 10-minute photo stop, at most. The rest is shopping. My favorite sites at Tunis are the Carthage ruins (and the nice, small museum behind, which not all tours take the time to visit), the Bardo Museum, and the Antonine Baths.

We did an organized, non ship based, tour in Tunisia last fall. The souk is a very typical market with people enticing you in and being what some consider aggressive. But again, this is a typical souk. I enjoy the atmosphere, the exchanges and the browsing. Many do not. We liked Abu Sidi Said, very pretty. The town, though, seems very tourist geared and many, many shops that offer the same typical stuff from stall to store across the town.

Taxis accept both euros and dinar. The museums accept dinar only. There did not used to be an ATM in the terminal but that could have changed. We walked into town and got our dinars from an ATM. There is also a tram stop right next to where the cruise ship docks so it is very easy to take that to Carthage and Sidi Bu Said.

Thank you for all of your great information, I appreciate it.

Kirk, you said you walked "to town" to use an ATM. I assume you mean the town of La Goulette? Is it that close to the port that it's an easy walk? This is new information for me. If it's that close then my Dinar problems are solved.

In response to everyone else, I appreciate the advice and the videos! The cost of the ship's shore excursion is not the reason why I don't want to take theirs. It's because the ship's shore excursion will be on a bus with 45 other passengers crawling on & off the bus slowly and trundling slowly from spot to spot. It drives me nuts. I read that our ship's shore excursion to Carthage stops at only one of the sights, the baths, and then on to shopping. That is their main focus. There are too many great sights to see to waste time on shopping.

Thank you for all of your great information, I appreciate it.

 

Kirk, you said you walked "to town" to use an ATM. I assume you mean the town of La Goulette? Is it that close to the port that it's an easy walk? This is new information for me. If it's that close then my Dinar problems are solved.

 

I don't think it's walkable from the port into Tunis. I just checked and it is supposed to be 8 miles.

Perhaps Kirk meant you could walk into the little suburb of La Goulette, next to the port. But in the new port complex (which you HAVE to go through to exit anyway), I'm pretty sure there is at least one bank ATM.

More info on the port area: http://www.goulettevillageharbor.com/index.php?f=port&lang=en&id=2

If you want to see several sites on your own, taxis are not that expensive and certain "standard" prices are fixed and posted on a board in euro and dinars, IIRC.