Land at Tunis-Carthage (TUN), and here’s the first thing to nail: get dinars at an airport ATM or exchange counter, because the TND is a closed currency, you cannot buy it before you land, and no home bank will sell it to you. Keep the exchange receipt for reconverting leftover cash on departure. Two focused days here is honestly a Tunis city-and-suburbs trip, not “Tunisia,” and that’s the right way to frame it: Day 1 works the capital itself, Day 2 rides the TGM light rail out to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said.

Three days in Tunisia is Tunis plus one genuinely different day out, not a lap of the whole country, and that’s plenty to get hooked. Day one is Tunis Medina and the Bardo’s mosaics, day two rides the TGM out to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said, and day three pushes inland to Kairouan’s Great Mosque, roughly two hours away by louage. Bring cash smarts too: the dinar (TND) is a closed, non-convertible currency, so you buy it after you land, never before.

Four days is the honest floor for a real Tunisia trip, and this loop keeps it real: Tunis and its Bardo mosaics, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said by tram, Kairouan’s Great Mosque inland, then a relocation south to the Sousse-Monastir coast on the rail line and the Sahel Metro. The dinar is a closed currency, so you buy it on arrival, not before. The whole route sits outside every Level-4 zone on the current advisory.

Five days is the sweet spot for a first Tunisia trip: enough runway to actually leave Tunis and hit either the desert or the islands, not just skim the capital. Days one and two work Tunis itself and the Bardo’s mosaics, then Carthage’s scattered ruins and Sidi Bou Said’s clifftop cafes. Day three pushes inland to Kairouan’s Great Mosque. Day four relocates the whole trip to the Sousse and Monastir coast.

Six days runs almost the whole Tunisia loop for a first trip: Tunis and the Bardo up north, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said by tram, Kairouan’s Great Mosque inland, the Sousse-Monastir coast, then south over the causeway to Djerba with a Matmata stop, finishing in Tozeur’s dunes and the Star Wars cluster. Land at Tunis-Carthage (TUN) and change cash only after you land, the dinar is a closed, non-convertible currency, roughly 2.

Seven days is the honest minimum for the whole Tunisia loop, and this version does it properly instead of picking a lane: Tunis and Carthage up north, Kairouan and El Jem in the centre, then the full southern arc, Djerba’s causeway, Matmata, Douz, and Tozeur’s Star Wars sets, before flying the last leg home instead of retracing a 6-7 hour drive. The dinar (TND) is a closed, non-convertible currency, so you buy it after you land, never before.