From orchestras inside a 1,800-year-old Roman amphitheatre to camel races at the edge of the Sahara — here's what's worth planning a trip around.
After sunset the medinas of Tunis, Sousse and Kairouan transform: lanterns, pastry stalls, café music, families promenading until 2–3 a.m. The Festival International de la Médina runs nightly Sufi music inside historic palaces.
End of Ramadan: shops, banks and most restaurants close for 2 days. Plan transfers in advance and book restaurants that stay open.
Celebration of Berber culture: ksars, fortified granaries, traditional music, crafts and southern poetry. Combine with a Star Wars locations tour.
Course through Tunis and along the lake. International field of ~3,000 runners. Pleasant spring weather makes for great race conditions.
Major religious holiday — banks and most shops close for 2–3 days. Transport runs reduced schedules.
Andalusian classical music in a charming Moorish-Spanish village 80 km from Tunis. Worth the day trip.
Centuries-old falconry tradition celebrated with displays, competitions and sea-cliff parades on the Cap Bon peninsula.
The country's biggest cultural event: 6–8 weeks of music, theatre and dance in the 7,500-seat Roman amphitheatre. Past names include Sting, Lauryn Hill, Fairouz, Khaled, Tinariwen. Tickets 30–120 TND.
Orchestras play inside the 3rd-century Roman amphitheatre. Classical, opera and major symphonic acts under the desert sky. 4–6 concerts. Tickets 25–80 TND.
Theatre, music and dance in the open-air theatre by the sea. More intimate than Carthage and easy to combine with a beach holiday.
International ultra-trail race across the Chott El Djerid salt flats and Sahara dunes. Distances from 30 km to 100 km. Open to amateurs with prior trail experience.
Official siteThe oldest film festival in Africa and the Arab world. Screenings across Tunis cinemas, with a strong programme of African and Middle-Eastern auteur cinema.
Tunisia is the world's #2 olive oil producer. Many farms around Sfax, Mahdia and Kairouan offer mill visits and tastings during harvest.
Three days at the edge of the Sahara: camel races, Bedouin poetry contests, sloughi greyhound racing, falconry, traditional music, marriage processions and a vast market. The biggest gathering of southern tribes of the year.
Lunar dates may shift ±1 day depending on local moon sighting.
Use the Itinerary Builder to drop any of these dates into a personalised itinerary.
Build my itineraryTunisia's biggest events run between June and September: Carthage International Festival (July–August), Hammamet Festival (July), Tabarka Jazz Festival, Sousse Aoussou and the Sahara Festival of Douz in late December. Spring brings Nefta orange blossom celebrations and the Carthage Film Festival lands every other November.