Tunisia Guide
Jerba and the southeast coast
The island of Jerba, joined to the mainland by a causeway since before Roman times, perches at the southern end of the Gulf of Gabès, enclosing the smaller Gulf of Bou Grara between island and mainland. To the southeast, the coast dips past the modern town of Zarzis and the Bahiret el Biban lagoon before disappearing over the border into Libya. This sun-soaked corner of Tunisia boasts some of the finest beaches in the Mediterranean, though the best have largely been swamped by package hotels.
Highlights
1 Fondouk hotels, Houmt Souk Your chance to stay in an ancient caravanserai, once an inn, stable and warehouse where merchants both slept and stored their goods.
2 Sidi Mahares kilometres of golden sand carpeted with wall-to-wall lobster-coloured European flesh, plus parascending, water-skiing and other beach holiday amusements.
3 Djerba Explore An excellent museum of Islamic art, an educational exposition of Jerban crafts and agriculture, and the most crocodiles you've ever seen in your life, all rolled into one.
4 Fadloune Mosque This strange, squat, whitewashed building, so typical of Jerba's fort-like little mosques, is now disused and open to the public.
5 El Ghriba Synagogue Host to a springtime pilgrimage, and spiritual centre for the oldest Jewish community in the Arab world.
6 Boulbaba Museum This pink stone medersa, in Gabès, belongs to a mosque dedicated to Mohammed's barber, with ancient artefacts and a lovely little garden.