Excursions from Hammamet: The Day Trips Worth Your Holiday

What are the best excursions from Hammamet?

If you only do one, make it our Tunis Carthage Sidi Bou Said excursion. It puts the capital’s medina, the ruins of Punic and Roman Carthage and the blue-and-white village that joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2026 into a single day, with only about an hour in the car each way.

If you have time for two, add El Jem, whose amphitheatre was built around 238 AD for about 35,000 spectators according to UNESCO. After that, choose by taste. Here is the shortlist we would give a friend:

• Tunis medina, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said: the classic first trip, 70 to 80 km north on the motorway.
• El Jem and Kairouan: the amphitheatre, then Kairouan, founded in 670 and a UNESCO site since 1988, with the Great Mosque that served as a model for mosques across the Maghreb.
• Dougga and Bulla Regia: what UNESCO calls the best-preserved Africo-Roman town in North Africa, plus Roman villas built with underground floors to escape the heat. A long day: about 2 h 30 each way.
• Cap Bon: Kelibia’s hilltop fortress and beaches, Kerkouane (the only Phoenician-Punic city to have survived, per UNESCO) and the cliffs of El Haouaria.
• Zaghouan and Zriba Olia: our Berber villages Zaghouan excursion, under an hour away. The Roman Temple of the Waters stands over the spring that fed Carthage through an aqueduct 132 km long including its branches, and Zriba Olia is an old Berber hill village of stone houses.
• Sousse, Monastir and Port El Kantaoui: two medinas, the Monastir ribat and a marina lunch, about an hour south.
• Friguia Park: a 36-hectare wildlife park near Bouficha, the easiest half day with children.

A rule of thumb from experience: on a one-week holiday, two full days out is plenty for most people, three if you really love history. Pick one trip north (Carthage or Cap Bon) and one south (El Jem), and keep the rest of the week for the beach.

Tunis, Carthage & Sidi Bou SaidThe souks of the medina in the morning, Roman Carthage at midday and the blue-and-white village to finish, all in one unhurried day.Full day, from €70 per carSee this day

How far are the main day trips from Hammamet, and what do they cost?

Most day trips from Hammamet mean one to two hours in the car each way; only Dougga and Bulla Regia go beyond 2 h 30. The table shows road distances from Hammamet town, realistic drive times with traffic, the starting price of a comparable coach tour per adult on Musement or easyJet Experiences, and our price for a whole private car for up to four people.

Drive times are from Hammamet town. Yasmine Hammamet changes them by 15 minutes at most either way. The motorway (A1) makes the trips to Tunis and Sousse quick; Dougga and Cap Bon use ordinary roads, so allow for lorries and village speed limits.

The two price columns are not like for like. Coach tours usually include a guide and sometimes lunch and entry tickets; our price covers the car and driver for your group only, with tickets and lunch paid on the day. Entry fees for foreign visitors went up on 1 April 2026, to 30 dinars at top-category sites and 20 at the next tier, with a further rise planned for 1 January 2027, according to Business News.

Which day trip from Hammamet suits you best?

Choose by what you will still enjoy at 3 pm in the heat, not by how many names you can tick off. History lovers get the most from El Jem and Dougga, beach people from Cap Bon, and anyone curious about daily life from the medinas of Tunis, Kairouan and Sousse.

Best for history: El Jem, Dougga or Carthage?

El Jem gives the biggest single wow: you walk the arena floor and the passages underneath it. Dougga, the heart of our Dougga Bulla Regia excursion, is the deeper visit: a whole Roman town on a hillside with a theatre, a capitol and streets you can follow for two hours, and it is usually much quieter. Carthage is more scattered and needs some imagination, but it pairs well with Sidi Bou Said.

If you can only fit one, choose El Jem with Kairouan for the contrast of Roman stone and Islamic architecture in a day of under four hours’ driving.

El Jem & KairouanThe Great Mosque of Kairouan in the morning and the Roman amphitheatre of El Jem in the afternoon: two UNESCO sites in one day.Full day, from €90 per carSee this day

Best for beaches and the sea: Cap Bon

Cap Bon is the peninsula north-east of Hammamet, and our Cap Bon excursion mixes swimming with sightseeing. You see the Punic town of Kerkouane, abandoned around 250 BC and never rebuilt, climb to Kelibia’s fortress, and stop at El Haouaria, where the coast turns to cliffs. Bring a swimsuit: there is time for a dip near Kelibia.

Cap BonA loop around the peninsula: the Punic city of Kerkouane, the Roman quarries of El Haouaria and the hot springs of Korbous, coast road most of the way.Full day, from €90 per carSee this day

Best for medinas and local life

The Tunis medina is the biggest and busiest, with souks that still serve locals. Kairouan feels more traditional and calmer. Sousse’s walled medina is easy to explore on the lighter Sousse Monastir excursion, which ends at the Port El Kantaoui marina. For a gentle first taste, Hammamet’s own medina, built in the 15th century inside 13th-century walls, needs no excursion at all: walk there in the evening.

What are the best excursions from Hammamet with kids?

With young children, keep days short and mornings busy. Friguia Park is the top pick: about 35 minutes away, with lions, elephants, giraffes and around 400 animals of 62 species, and our Friguia Park excursion runs 08:30 to 13:00, so you are back for lunch and a nap.

One thing to know: Friguia’s dolphinarium closed in 2016, even though some older hotel pages still advertise dolphin shows. The animal park itself is open.

Friguia ParkA family morning at Tunisia’s largest wildlife park, halfway between Hammamet and Sousse, back at the hotel by lunchtime.Half day, from €45 per carSee this day

Other good options with children:

• Carthageland in Yasmine Hammamet: a theme park in the Medina Mediterranea complex with dry and water rides. No excursion needed, a short taxi ride from most hotels.
• Sousse, Monastir and Port El Kantaoui: short drives between stops, the ribat tower in Monastir to climb, and a marina to finish.
• El Jem for children aged 8 and up who like gladiators: the tunnels under the arena are what they remember. Start early in summer.

A family of four in Yasmine in August is a good example. The Friguia coach listing at £28 each comes to £112 with entry; a private car costs €45 for all four, plus tickets at the gate. The cash difference is modest. The real gain is leaving when your toddler has had enough, with no hotel pickup round.

Can you do a Sahara or desert trip from Hammamet?

Not as a day trip. Douz, the gateway to the dunes, is about 490 km by road from Hammamet and Tozeur about 400 km, which is five to seven hours of driving each way without stops. Every desert trip sold in Hammamet is at least two days by coach or 4x4, and we do not sell them.

What does a two-day Sahara tour from Hammamet include?

A typical listing, such as the two-day tour on easyJet Experiences run through Musement, looks like this:

1. Day 1: early pickup, the El Jem amphitheatre, then a 4x4 run to the troglodyte village of Matmata, lunch, and on to Douz for a night in a hotel.
2. Day 2: the Chott el Jerid salt flat and the Star Wars film sets at Ong Jmel, then Kairouan’s medina on the way back north.

Prices start from £128 per person on easyJet Experiences, with the hotel, meals and 4x4 included and camel rides extra. Be honest with yourself about the distance: it is close to 1,000 km in two days, most of it on a coach.

Germany’s Auswärtiges Amt advises taking desert trips only in organised groups with local guides and staying in the tourist areas around Douz and Tozeur, and the UK FCDO lists border zones to avoid. Our guide to whether Tunisia is safe covers this in more detail.

If the desert is a lifelong wish, book the two-day tour and accept the long hours. If what you really want is the most impressive sight within reach, our El Jem Kairouan excursion gives you the amphitheatre, the first stop of every Sahara tour, and has you back at your hotel by 18:00.

How much do excursions from Hammamet cost?

Coach tours from Hammamet start at about £28 (Friguia) and run to £99 (Zaghouan and the Berber villages) per adult on Musement and easyJet Experiences, and two-day Sahara tours from £128. A private car costs from €45 to €120 for the whole vehicle with up to four people, so the private option wins as soon as you are two or three.

Four quick scenarios, using the prices above:

• A couple in Hammamet in August, Tunis, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said: £110 on the coach, or €80 by private car, that is €40 each, plus tickets and lunch.
• A family of four, El Jem and Kairouan: up to £232 on the coach at adult rates, or €90 for the car, €23 each.
• A solo traveller, Sidi Bou Said half day: the coach at £39 beats our €70 car. Take the coach.
• Seven friends, Sousse and Monastir: €130 for a car for five to eight, about €19 each.

With us there is no deposit and no hotel reception markup: you pay the driver at the end of the day, in euros or dinars. For a wider look at what trips cost across the country, see our guide to excursion prices in Tunisia.

Should you book through your hotel rep, online or with a private driver?

Book through your rep or an online platform if you travel alone or want a guide talking all day. Book a private car if you are two or more, travel with children, or want to set your own pace.

Booking with us takes a few minutes:

1. Pick your trip and group size; the price shown is for the whole car.
2. Send the request through the booking form or on WhatsApp at +216 20 319 318.
3. You get written confirmation within two hours.
4. The driver collects you at your hotel at 08:00 (08:30 for Friguia Park) and you are back by 18:00 at the latest.
5. Pay the driver at the end of the day. Cancellation is free up to 48 hours before.

Like all our Tunisia excursions, these trips are run by licensed local agencies. You can read more about how we work with local agencies.

Is it different if you stay in Yasmine Hammamet?

Hardly. Yasmine Hammamet is the purpose-built marina resort developed in the late 1990s south-west of the old town, and for pickups and prices it counts as Hammamet. Drive times change by a quarter of an hour at most.

What changes is what is on your doorstep: the marina, Carthageland and the Medina Mediterranea complex are in Yasmine itself, while the old medina and the town beaches are a taxi ride away. On a rest day, that walk along the marina is an outing in itself.

What mistakes should you avoid on a day trip from Hammamet?

Most disappointing days come from the same few errors: underestimating distances, going out at the hottest hour and comparing prices that do not compare.

• Booking a Sahara tour as if it were a day trip. It is two long days.
• Visiting El Jem or Dougga at midday in July and August. Leave at 08:00 and see the main site first. Our guide to the best time to visit Tunisia has the monthly picture.
• Comparing a per-person price with a per-car price. Multiply the coach price by your group first.
• Forgetting dinars for tickets, lunch and tips.
• Turning up at Kairouan’s Great Mosque in shorts. Cover shoulders and knees.
• Squeezing Dougga into a week with small children: it means about five hours in the car.

Going for Sidi Bou Said? Our guide to things to do in Sidi Bou Said helps you plan the hour or two you get there.

Questions people ask