Getting around Tunisia is easier and far cheaper than most first-time visitors expect. Shared “louage” minibuses and a north–south train line connect the main towns for a few dinars; yellow taxis are cheap if you insist on the meter; and a hire car opens up the south. There is no Uber, and Bolt left in May 2025, so apps matter less than knowing how the local system works.
By the Tunisia Tourism Guide team — written from the road, last updated 11 June 2026. Prices are in Tunisian dinar (TND) with rough pound conversions at roughly £1 ≈ 3.9 TND. The dinar is a closed currency you can only get in-country, so treat every conversion as a guide, not a guarantee.
I have arrived into all four of Tunisia’s tourist airports, queued for a louage at Tunis’s Moncef Bey at seven in the morning, taken the train down the coast with a cabin full of commuters and their shopping, and white-knuckled a hire car through a roundabout in Sousse where right of way is clearly a matter of opinion. This is the guide I wish I had been handed at arrivals: how to get to Tunisia from the UK, and then how to actually get around it once you land, with honest prices, the things nobody tells you, and the few traps worth dodging.
Here is the reassuring headline. Tunisia is small — roughly the size of England and Wales — and the bits you will want to see are mostly strung along the eastern coast, an easy run apart. Public transport is genuinely useful, costs almost nothing, and is used by everyone. You do not need to hire a car to have a good holiday here, though for the desert and the deep south it helps. Let’s get into it.
How getting around Tunisia actually works
Three things shape every journey you will take, so it is worth understanding them before you book anything.
It is a coastal country with an interior. The tourist heartland — Tunis, Hammamet, Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia, Sfax — runs down the east coast and is linked by a motorway, a railway and a constant stream of louages. Travel along that spine is quick and frequent. Strike inland or south (Kairouan, Tozeur, the Sahara, the Roman ruins, Djerba) and journeys get longer, the public transport thins out, and a hire car or an organised tour starts to make sense. Our Tunisia itinerary guide shows how these routes actually string together over five, seven or ten days.
It runs on cash, and the cash is local. Louages, taxis, train tickets, ferry fares, motorway tolls and most car-hire deposits all expect Tunisian dinar in hand. The dinar cannot legally be taken out of the country and is not sold abroad, so you get it from an ATM or exchange desk once you land. Keep a pocket of small notes and coins — drivers rarely have change for a 50, and “I have no change” is a time-honoured way to round a fare up. There is more on the closed-currency rules and how much cash to carry in our Tunisia travel tips.
It is slower than the map suggests. Distances look tiny to anyone used to driving in Britain, but single-track railways, towns that swallow the main road, livestock, speed bumps and the general unhurriedness of things mean you should add a generous margin. A line on the map that looks like an hour can be two. Plan for it and you will never feel rushed; ignore it and you will miss a train.
Getting to Tunisia from the UK
Almost every British visitor flies, and the flight is short — about three hours from London, a little more from the north. The single most useful thing to sort out before you book is which airport you are flying into, because it quietly decides your whole transfer.
Which airport will you land at?
Tunisia has four airports that matter to UK travellers, and they serve completely different trips:
- Enfidha–Hammamet (NBE) — the big charter and budget gateway, purpose-built between Hammamet and Sousse. If you have booked a package to the Hammamet or Sousse coast, you are almost certainly landing here. It feels enormous and half-empty, which it is.
- Djerba–Zarzis (DJE) — the island’s own airport, the second main package gateway, handy for the southern beach resorts and a springboard for the desert.
- Monastir Habib Bourguiba (MIR) — the original Sahel holiday airport, right on the coast near Sousse and Monastir. Once the busiest UK charter airport, now quieter, but still used by tour operators and brilliantly connected to the Sahel Metro.
- Tunis–Carthage (TUN) — the national hub and the one for scheduled airlines, city breaks, and anyone heading to the capital, Carthage or the north.
Inland airports at Tozeur–Nefta (TOE), Sfax, Gafsa and Tabarka exist but have no UK flights — you reach them on a domestic hop from Tunis (more on that below). If you are still deciding where to base yourself, our guide to where to stay in Tunisia pairs each resort area with its nearest airport.
Flights from the UK
easyJet is the workhorse for independent travellers, flying to Enfidha from a long list of UK airports — among them Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast. Note the destination: easyJet serves Enfidha, not Tunis, so it suits a coast holiday rather than a city break. easyJet has also been adding Djerba from Luton and Manchester for the 2026 season, but treat those as seasonal additions and check dates rather than assuming year-round service.
TUI is the main UK holiday operator, with flights and packages into both Enfidha and Djerba from airports across Britain. If you are booking a hotel-plus-flights deal to the beach, it is most likely on a TUI plane with a coach transfer included.
For the capital, Tunisair (the national carrier) and Nouvelair fly direct to Tunis–Carthage from London. Between them there are several flights a week from Gatwick and a couple a week from Heathrow; the hop is about two hours forty-five. These are the flights to look at for a Tunis city break or a north-of-the-country trip.
One myth worth killing because it still circulates: Jet2 does not fly to Tunisia. It pulled out years ago and both Enfidha and Monastir sit on its “terminated” list, so do not plan around a Jet2 route that no longer exists. If you have flown Jet2 to the Canaries and assumed Tunisia is on the same map, it is not.
Arriving by ferry
You can reach Tunisia by sea, though for most UK travellers it only makes sense if you are bringing a car or simply love a long crossing. Car ferries run to La Goulette, the port of Tunis, from Marseille (with CTN, the Tunisian state line, and Corsica Linea) and from the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia, Palermo and Salerno (GNV and Grimaldi Lines). Crossings from France and northern Italy run around 22 to 24 hours; sailings from Sicily are shorter. It is a two-leg journey from Britain and rarely cheaper than flying, but if you want your own vehicle for a Cap Bon or northern road trip, this is how it is done.
From the airport to your resort
This is the part the big guidebooks skip, and it is exactly where a first-timer can lose half an hour and a fistful of dinar. If you are on a package, a coach transfer is usually included — find your rep, find the right coach, and accept that it may tour two or three other hotels before yours. If you are independent, or your transfer times do not suit, here is what each airport actually involves.
Two rules apply everywhere. Airport taxi drivers will often not use the meter and will quote a flat price instead, so agree the fare before you get in. And a small, legitimate airport pick-up surcharge (around 4.5 TND at Enfidha) plus a dinar or so per large bag is normal — that is not a scam, it is the tariff.
Enfidha (NBE)
The airport sits roughly 40 km from Hammamet and about 50 km from Sousse, both around 45 minutes away on a good road. A private taxi to Hammamet or Yasmine Hammamet runs roughly 40–65 TND (about £10–17); to Sousse, budget around 70 TND (about £18), sometimes more for a pre-booked private car. Pre-booked transfer companies wait in arrivals with name boards if you would rather fix the price online in advance. Our Hammamet travel guide and Sousse guide cover where you will actually be staying at the other end.
Monastir (MIR)
Monastir’s airport has a real trick up its sleeve: the Sahel Metro (a coastal commuter train, covered below) calls right at the airport, so for a few dinars you can ride into Monastir or up to Sousse without a taxi at all. If you prefer a cab, Sousse is about 20 km / 30 minutes for roughly 30–50 TND (about £8–13), and central Monastir is a short hop.
Djerba (DJE)
Djerba’s airport is close to everything on the island — about 8 km from Houmt Souk, the main town. A taxi into Houmt Souk is roughly 15–30 TND including the airport surcharge; the eastern resort strip around Midoun is a little further, perhaps 15–25 TND by day and more after dark, when the night tariff applies. One thing to know in advance: the Yassir ride app does not operate on Djerba, so it is taxis or your hotel transfer here. Plan the rest of your island time with our Djerba travel guide.
Tunis–Carthage (TUN)
The capital’s airport is unusually close to the city — about 8 km out. A metered taxi into central Tunis should be 15–30 TND, depending on traffic and time of day, with the standard +50% night surcharge after about 9pm. Insist on the meter (“compteur, s’il vous plaît“); if a driver refuses, the next one will agree. There is no rail link from the airport itself, but once you are in the city the light-rail and the TGM take over — see the Tunis section below, and our full Tunis travel guide.
The louage: Tunisia’s real transport network
If you learn one thing from this guide, make it the louage. These white shared taxis — usually eight- or nine-seat minibuses — are how Tunisians actually move between towns, and once you understand them they become the most useful tool in your kit: cheap, frequent, and going almost everywhere the train and bus do not.
How louages work
Every town has a station de louage, a yard where vehicles line up by destination. You find the one going your way (someone will point you to it the moment you look lost), take a seat, and wait until it fills. There is no timetable: the louage leaves when the last seat is sold, which on a busy route like Tunis–Sousse means a few minutes, and on a quiet rural run might mean the better part of an hour. Fares are fixed and posted — you are not haggling, you pay the same flat rate as the grandmother beside you — and it is cash only, ideally in small notes.
A few hard-won tips. Travel in the morning, when departures are most frequent and you are not left waiting for a half-empty vehicle in the afternoon heat. Keep your bag with you or watch it go into the boot. And do not expect seatbelts in the back or a leisurely pace up front — louage drivers are professionals in a hurry. It is an experience as much as a transfer, and a genuinely good way to feel the country rather than glide over it.
The colour-stripe code, explained
Here is the detail half the internet gets wrong. Louages wear a coloured stripe down the side, and the colour tells you how far the vehicle is allowed to roam:
- Red stripe — long-distance. These run between governorates (Tunisia’s regions), the workhorses for inter-city trips like Tunis to Sousse or Kairouan to Sfax. This is the stripe you will use most.
- Blue stripe — regional. Shorter hops within a region or between neighbouring towns.
- Yellow stripe — rural and local. Short runs out to villages within a single governorate.
You do not need to memorise this — you will be directed to the right vehicle — but it explains why the yard is organised the way it is, and why a “louage to Sousse” and a “louage to the next village” sit in different rows. Ignore the older guides that tell you the colours mean compass directions; they mean administrative range.
Tunis’s louage stations
The capital has the wrinkle of three main louage stations, each pointing a different way, and turning up at the wrong one costs you a cross-city taxi. As a rule of thumb:
- Bab Saadoun (Gare routière du Nord) — the north and northwest: Bizerte, Béja, Jendouba, Tabarka and Téboursouk (for the Roman ruins at Dougga).
- Moncef Bey — the Sahel and the south: Sousse, Monastir, Kairouan, El Jem, Sfax, Gabès and onward.
- Bab Alioua — the Cap Bon peninsula: Hammamet, Nabeul, Kelibia and Zaghouan.
Station assignments shift over time and locals sometimes use them loosely, so if in doubt, tell a taxi driver your destination rather than a station name and let them drop you at the right yard. For reaching the ancient sites specifically, our guide to Roman ruins in Tunisia notes which are a straightforward louage ride and which really need a car or tour.
Are louages safe?
This is the question I get asked most, usually because someone has read an alarming line lifted from a foreign government website. The honest answer: louages are used by millions of ordinary Tunisians, including women travelling alone, every single day, and the overwhelming experience is uneventful. The real risks are mundane — a fast driver, no rear seatbelt, a cramped couple of hours — rather than sinister. The British Foreign Office (FCDO) does not warn against using them.
If you are a solo traveller or a woman travelling alone and want to feel more comfortable, a couple of small moves help: sit where you like rather than being squeezed into a middle seat (you can wait for the next vehicle), keep valuables on your person, and travel in daylight. For the bigger safety picture — areas to avoid, the current FCDO advice, scams — see our honest, date-stamped guide to whether Tunisia is safe.
Trains in Tunisia (SNCFT)
Tunisia’s railways, run by SNCFT, are a lovely, slightly creaky way to travel the coast — comfortable, scenic in patches, and so cheap it feels like a mistake. They will not get you everywhere, but on the routes they serve they are my preferred way to move.
The network is essentially one north–south spine: from Tunis down through Bir Bou Rekba (the junction for Hammamet and Nabeul), Sousse, El Jem (yes, the train drops you near that colossal amphitheatre), Sfax and on to Gabès. A separate branch from Sousse runs to Monastir and Mahdia — that is the Sahel Metro, covered below — and another line heads north from Tunis to Bizerte. Worth knowing: there is no train to Kairouan, so for the holy city you take a louage or bus.
Trains come in first and second class (the old “confort” carriages are now simply sold as first). Second class is perfectly fine for a short hop and puts you among everyday life; first class buys you a bit more space and calm on a longer run, for not much more money. Here is a rough guide to the main journeys, in second class unless noted — bear in mind SNCFT no longer publishes fares online, so treat these as approximate:
| Route | Approx. fare (2nd class) | Journey time | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tunis → Sousse | around 8 TND (~£2) | ~2h10–2h30 | ~6–7 a day |
| Tunis → El Jem | around 10–11 TND (~£3) | ~3h30 | several a day |
| Tunis → Sfax | around 12 TND (~£3) | ~4h15 | ~6 a day |
| Tunis → Gabès | around 18 TND (~£4.50) | ~7h | limited |
| Tunis → Bizerte | a few dinar | ~2h50 | ~1–2 a day |
Buy tickets at the station ticket window — bookings open only a few days ahead and there is no proper online sales system, though a couple of third-party agencies sell the main inter-city pairs. Just turn up, queue, and ask; it is rarely a problem outside the holiday rush. Return tickets shave a little off two singles and children travel cheaply.
Two caveats from experience. Much of the network is single-track, so delays happen — never plan a tight connection to a flight on a train. And the FCDO’s measured line is worth repeating: “Rail travel is generally safe, although safety standards tend to be lower than in the UK. There is a risk of petty crime on trains.” (FCDO travel advice, updated 23 February 2026.) In practice that means keep an eye on your bag, as you would anywhere.
Tunisia also has a celebrated tourist train, the Lézard Rouge (“Red Lizard”), a restored bey-era carriage set that winds through the Selja Gorge from Metlaoui in the southwest. It relaunched in May 2025 after years of stop-start operation, which is exactly why I would not build a trip around it: confirm directly with SNCFT that it is running before you make the journey out there, rather than turning up on faith.
Intercity buses (SNTRI and regional lines)
For longer hauls and the routes louages serve thinly, the national coach company SNTRI is your friend. Its air-conditioned “grandes lignes” coaches link Tunis with towns all over the country, including overnight services down to Douz and Tozeur that save you a hotel night on the way to the desert — useful planning fuel for our Tunisian Sahara guide. Fares are low (often a touch cheaper than a louage on a long route), and you buy at the bus station; schedules and routes are on the SNTRI website.
Each governorate also has its own regional bus company (an SRT) running shorter local routes, and there is a tangle of private minibuses in some areas. For a visitor, the simple hierarchy is: louage for speed and frequency, train for comfort on the coast, SNTRI coach for the long overnight hauls. Buses leave from stations on the edge of town, so factor a short taxi to reach them.
Taxis and ride-hailing
Within and around towns, taxis are cheap, plentiful and — with one habit on your part — easy. The habit is the meter.
Yellow metered taxis
Tunisia’s city taxis are yellow, metered and inexpensive. The flagfall is small (around half a dinar) and the running rate is roughly half a dinar to a dinar per kilometre, which means most hops across a town cost only a few dinar — genuinely a couple of pounds. The golden rule: make sure the meter (“compteur”) is running. The most common way visitors overpay is a driver who “forgets” to switch it on and then names a tourist price at the end. A polite “compteur, s’il vous plaît” as you get in solves it; if the driver refuses, wave them off and take the next one.
After dark a +50% night tariff is legitimate, running roughly from 9pm to 5 or 6am — the meter switches to “Tarif 2” and that is correct, not a con. Small extras for luggage are normal too. From airports, where meters are routinely “broken”, agree the fare first instead. For city sightseeing, hiring a taxi by the hour or half-day is cheap and saves the repeated negotiation.
Ride-hailing in 2026: what actually works
This is where most guides are out of date, so let me be precise as of June 2026. There is no Uber in Tunisia, and there never really has been. Bolt, which many older articles still recommend, withdrew from the country in May 2025 and no longer operates. Forget both.
What does work is a smaller set of local apps, and only in certain places:
- Yassir — the most useful, an Algerian app strong in Greater Tunis and parts of Sousse. It gives you an upfront price and spares you the meter dance. Crucially, it does not cover Djerba or most resort areas, so do not count on it outside the big cities.
- inDrive — works in Tunis, Sousse and Hammamet on a negotiate-the-fare model; cash only. Handy as a backup where Yassir is thin.
- Heetch — present in the capital, another fallback.
The practical takeaway: in Tunis, an app like Yassir is great. Everywhere else, assume you are using a yellow metered taxi and behave accordingly. Do not arrive on Djerba or in Hammamet expecting to tap a phone for a ride.
Grands taxis vs louages
One point of confusion for anyone who has travelled in Morocco: Tunisia’s long-distance shared vehicle is the louage, not the “grand taxi”. You will occasionally see inter-city shared cars described as grands taxis, and you can sometimes charter a taxi for a longer trip if you negotiate, but for getting between towns the louage is the system. Inside a town, it is the yellow metered petit taxi. Keep those two straight and you have the whole picture.
Getting around the cities
Three city networks are worth a visitor’s attention, all cheap and all easy once you know what they are.
Tunis: the métro léger and city buses
Despite the name, the Métro léger de Tunis is a surface tram, not an underground — a six-line, sixty-odd-station network run by TRANSTU that trundles across the capital for well under a dinar a ride. For visitors its most useful job is reaching the Bardo Museum (Line 4), home to the world-class Roman mosaics, without a taxi. City buses fill the gaps but are harder to fathom as a short-stay visitor; honestly, between the tram, the TGM and cheap taxis you rarely need them. Everything you would actually ride the tram to see is in our Tunis travel guide.
The TGM: Tunis, Carthage, Sidi Bou Saïd and La Marsa
The TGM — the Tunis–Goulette–Marsa light railway — is the single best-value sightseeing ride in the country. For the price of a coffee (under 1.5 TND) it runs from Tunis Marine station out along the lagoon to La Goulette, then up the coast through the ruins of Carthage and the blue-and-white village of Sidi Bou Saïd to La Marsa. It goes roughly every ten to twenty minutes from early morning until past midnight, and it is how locals and savvy visitors alike do a Carthage-and-Sidi-Bou-Saïd day. Full service resumed in February 2026 after engineering works; short closures occasionally recur with a replacement bus (the 347) shadowing the route, so just check it is running on the day. It is a highlight of any list of things to do in Tunisia.
The Sahel Metro: Sousse, Monastir and Mahdia
Down on the Sahel coast, the Metro du Sahel is a proper gift for resort holidaymakers and one almost no guidebook explains. It is a coastal commuter train linking Sousse (from the Bab Jedid station) through Monastir — calling at Monastir airport — and on to Mahdia. Trains run roughly every 40 minutes from around 5am to 10pm and cost only two or three dinar, which makes day-tripping between the Sahel towns absurdly easy and cheap. It resumed full service in May 2026 after works, so it is up and running. If you are basing yourself anywhere along this coast, read it alongside our Sousse and the Sahel guide — the metro turns three separate towns into one easy holiday patch.
Hiring a car and driving yourself
You do not need a hire car for a coast holiday — the louage, train and taxi cover it comfortably — but for the Cap Bon peninsula, the northwest, and above all the south and the desert, your own wheels transform what is possible. I have driven here several times; it is rewarding and occasionally hair-raising in equal measure. Here is what to know.
Licence and paperwork
The official position is unambiguous, and I will quote it because the rules are quoted wrongly all over the web. The FCDO states: “You can drive in Tunisia for up to one year with a 1968 international driving permit (IDP) and your UK driving licence. You cannot buy an IDP outside the UK, so get one before you travel. You also need to carry a green card to prove you have the minimum insurance cover.” (FCDO travel advice, updated 23 February 2026.)
In plain terms: bring your UK photocard licence and a 1968 IDP, which you buy over the counter at a UK Post Office for a few pounds before you fly — you cannot get one once you have left. Make sure the hire company’s green card insurance document is in the car. You will also need a credit card for the deposit and to be over the minimum age (usually 21, with a young-driver surcharge under 25). All the major firms — Europcar, Hertz, Avis and local outfits — operate at the airports, with economy cars from roughly 85–140 TND a day (about £22–36), more in peak season.
Rules of the road, fuel and tolls
Tunisians drive on the right. Speed limits are broadly 50 km/h in towns, 90 on the open road and 110 on the motorway, and the drink-drive limit is stricter than in England. Petrol costs around 2.5 TND a litre and diesel around 2.2 TND (roughly 60–65p) — government-fixed and cheap by UK standards. The A1 motorway runs down the coast from Tunis past Sousse towards Sfax and is the fast, easy spine for self-drivers; tolls are modest, just a few dinar per section, and cash only, so keep coins in the door pocket.
The honest part. Driving standards take adjusting to, and again the FCDO puts it well: “Driving standards can be low. Vehicles entering roundabouts or junctions do not always follow the established right of way. Lane discipline can be poor… Pedestrians tend to walk on the roads and they have the right of way.” It also warns that “Driving at night can be hazardous outside towns, due to unlit roads, vehicles without lights and livestock on the road” and to “be careful when approaching sand drifts on roads” in the south. My own rules of thumb: do not drive at night outside towns, treat roundabouts as a negotiation, expect the unannounced speed bump, and approach the occasional police or military checkpoint slowly with your documents ready, as the FCDO advises.
When a car is worth it (and when it isn’t)
Hire a car for the south — Djerba, Tozeur, Matmata and the ksour country reward the freedom, though for the soft-sand tracks out to Ksar Ghilane or the dunes you want a 4×4 or, better, a guided tour. Hire one for Cap Bon or the northwest, where public transport is thin and the scenery is the point. Skip it in the cities, where parking is a headache and taxis are cheaper than the aggravation, and skip it for a simple beach week, where you will barely move the car. If the idea of Tunisian roundabouts fills you with dread, an organised excursion or private driver gets you to the same places with someone else at the wheel.
Domestic flights
For one or two long journeys, flying internally is a sanity-saver. Tunisair Express runs the domestic network from Tunis, and the route that earns its keep for visitors is Tunis–Djerba: about 55 minutes in the air versus a five-hour-plus drive or louage chain down the coast. There are several a day. Tunis–Tozeur (about an hour) is the other one to know if you are heading to the desert and short on time, though it runs only a few times a week, so book ahead. Tunisair Express also links Sfax, Gabès, Gafsa and Tabarka.
Fares vary with season and how far ahead you book, but a domestic hop typically lands somewhere around 80–180 TND (roughly £20–45) one way. It is worth it specifically for Djerba and Tozeur, where the alternative is most of a day on the road; for the short coastal distances (Tunis to Sousse, say) the train or louage wins on both time and cost once you factor in getting to and from airports. If the desert is your goal, weigh this up against the overnight coach in our Sahara guide.
Ferries within Tunisia
Two short domestic ferries are worth a visitor’s notice. The first connects the mainland to Djerba: the Jorf–Ajim ferry, a roll-on roll-off boat that crosses in about 15–20 minutes and runs frequently through the day. It is free for foot passengers and costs only a token fee for cars — confirm the exact car fare locally, as published figures are unreliable, and brace for a queue of up to an hour in peak summer. (Most package travellers fly straight into Djerba’s airport and never need it, but it is the scenic back door if you are driving down from the Sahel.)
The second runs from Sfax to the Kerkennah Islands, a low-key archipelago that sees few foreign visitors. The SONOTRAK ferry takes about an hour, sails several times a day (roughly hourly in summer), and costs around a dinar for foot passengers and several dinar for a car — check current times on the SONOTRAK website, and book a car place ahead in summer. Beyond these two, Tunisia’s islands and coast are reached by road, not boat.
What it all costs: a quick reference in £
Rough, real-world prices to set your expectations, converted at roughly £1 ≈ 3.9 TND (June 2026). Local fares move around and the dinar is closed-currency, so treat these as a guide for budgeting rather than a quote.
| Journey / mode | Typical price | In £ |
|---|---|---|
| City taxi hop (metered) | 2–6 TND | ~£0.50–1.50 |
| Train, Tunis → Sousse (2nd class) | ~8 TND | ~£2 |
| Louage, Tunis → Sousse | 12–13 TND | ~£3 |
| TGM, Tunis → Sidi Bou Saïd | under 1.5 TND | ~£0.35 |
| Sahel Metro, Sousse → Monastir | 2–3 TND | ~£0.60 |
| Enfidha airport → Hammamet (taxi) | 40–65 TND | ~£10–17 |
| Enfidha airport → Sousse (taxi) | ~70 TND | ~£18 |
| Hire car (economy, per day) | 85–140 TND | ~£22–36 |
| Petrol (per litre) | ~2.5 TND | ~£0.64 |
| Domestic flight, Tunis → Djerba | 80–180 TND | ~£20–45 |
Distances and drive times between the main hubs
Road distances are reliable; drive times are realistic estimates that assume daylight and no major hold-ups — pad them if you are setting off late or heading into a town at rush hour.
| Route | Distance | Approx. drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Tunis → Hammamet | ~65 km | ~1h |
| Tunis → Sousse (A1) | ~140 km | ~1h45–2h |
| Tunis → Kairouan | ~160 km | ~2h |
| Hammamet → Sousse | ~80 km | ~1h |
| Sousse → Sfax (A1) | ~130 km | ~1h30 |
| Tunis → Tabarka | ~175 km | ~2h30 |
| Sousse → Tozeur | ~320 km | ~4h–4h30 |
| Sousse → Djerba | ~350 km | ~4h30–5h (+ ferry) |
| Djerba → Tozeur | ~310 km | ~4h |
| Enfidha airport → Hammamet | ~40 km | ~45 min |
The two things this table teaches: the coastal hops are short and easy, and anything involving the deep south (Tozeur, Djerba) is a half-day commitment by road — which is exactly when a domestic flight or an overnight coach starts to look clever.
Which option should you choose?
Pulling it all together, here is how I would pick, depending on the trip you are on:
- Resort-based beach holiday (Hammamet, Sousse, Monastir, Djerba). You barely need to plan transport at all. Your package coach handles the airport; taxis, the Sahel Metro and the odd organised excursion handle the rest. Don’t bother with a hire car.
- Independent coastal trip (Tunis down to Sfax, with stops). Live on the train and louages. They are cheap, frequent and link every town you will want — Tunis, Hammamet, Sousse, El Jem, Sfax. Add the TGM in the capital and you have a complete, almost free, transport system.
- The south and the desert (Tozeur, Matmata, Ksar Ghilane, the dunes). Fly or take the overnight coach to cut the distance, then a hire car or a guided 4×4 tour on the ground. This is the one trip where wheels really matter.
- City break in Tunis and the north. Fly into Tunis–Carthage, use the TGM and métro léger plus cheap taxis and the Yassir app, and take a louage or tour out to Dougga or Cap Bon.
- Solo or budget traveller. The louage network is your best friend — sociable, dirt cheap, and the fastest way to feel you are actually in Tunisia rather than passing through it.
For the bigger picture of where these journeys lead and how many days to give each, our Tunisia itinerary plans and our overview of the best time to visit are the natural next reads.
Getting around Tunisia: frequently asked questions
Is it easy to get around Tunisia?
Yes, easier than most first-timers expect. The coastal towns are linked by cheap, frequent louages, a train line and a motorway, and taxis are inexpensive everywhere. The interior and the south take more planning, but for a coast holiday you can get around comfortably without ever hiring a car.
Does Tunisia have Uber or Bolt?
No. Uber has never operated in Tunisia, and Bolt withdrew in May 2025. The working ride-hailing apps in 2026 are Yassir (mainly Greater Tunis and parts of Sousse), inDrive (Tunis, Sousse and Hammamet, cash only) and Heetch. Outside the big cities, use a yellow metered taxi instead — and note none of these apps cover Djerba.
How much is a taxi in Tunisia?
Very little by UK standards. City taxis are metered, with a small flagfall and a rate of roughly half a dinar to a dinar per kilometre, so most hops cost only a couple of pounds. A +50% night tariff applies from about 9pm to 5–6am. Always make sure the meter is running, or agree the fare first at airports.
Is there a train in Tunisia?
Yes. SNCFT runs a north–south line from Tunis through Sousse, El Jem and Sfax to Gabès, plus a northern line to Bizerte and the Sahel Metro between Sousse, Monastir and Mahdia. Trains are cheap and comfortable but can be delayed on single-track sections, and there is no train to Kairouan.
Can you drive in Tunisia on a UK licence?
You can drive for up to a year with your UK photocard licence plus a 1968 International Driving Permit, which you must buy at a UK Post Office before you travel. You also need the hire car’s green-card insurance document. Tunisians drive on the right; avoid driving at night outside towns.
What’s the cheapest way to travel around Tunisia?
The louage (shared minibus) is usually the cheapest and most frequent option between towns, closely matched by second-class trains on the coast and SNTRI coaches on long routes. All three cost only a few dinar for journeys that would be many pounds at home.
How do you get from Tunis airport to the city centre?
By taxi — it is only about 8 km. Insist on the meter; expect roughly 15–30 TND depending on traffic, with a +50% surcharge after about 9pm. There is no direct rail link from the airport, but once in the city the TGM and the light-rail tram take over.
How long is the flight to Tunisia from the UK?
About three hours from London to the coastal airports (Enfidha, Djerba), and around two hours forty-five direct to Tunis. Flights from northern UK airports are a little longer. easyJet, TUI, Tunisair and Nouvelair all serve Tunisia; Jet2 does not.
A final word
Getting around Tunisia is part of the holiday, not an obstacle to it. The louage yard at dawn, the rattle of the coastal train, the TGM gliding past Carthage, the cheap yellow taxi that takes you home for the price of a sandwich — these are the small, ordinary scenes that make a place feel real. Travel the way Tunisians do, keep a pocket of small dinar, insist on the meter, and you will move around this country cheaply, safely and with a grin. Wherever you are headed next, our guide to the best things to do in Tunisia and our essential travel tips will see you right.
Photo credits
All images are used under their respective Creative Commons or public-domain licences via Wikimedia Commons. Credits are listed in each image caption and below. We are grateful to the photographers who share their work freely.
- Louage at Monastir: photo by Wael Ghabara, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- SNCFT train at Sousse station: photo by Sermal, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Yellow taxi in Sidi Bou Said: photo by Rene Cortin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Tunis metro leger tram line: photo by Ma7Mix, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Motorway near Grombalia: photo by enteromorphe, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Tunisair Airbus A320: photo by AlfvanBeem, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Now that you can get anywhere, some destinations for the ticket: the beaches, the souks and hammams, the Star Wars sets, and everything worth eating along the way.