• Tunisia Guide

  • Introduction to Tunisia
  • Weather
  • Things not to miss
  • Entry requirements
  • Money
  • Getting around
  • Public holidays

• Explore Tunisia

  • Tunis
  • Around Tunis
  • Hammamet and Cap Bon
  • Bizerte and the north
  • Kairouan and the Sahel
  • The Tell
  • The Jerid
  • Jerba and the southeast coast
  • The far south

• Cities

  • Kairouan
    
  • Tunis
    

Tunisia Guide

Kairouan and the Sahel

Kairouan

• Accommodation
• Eating
• Drinking

"What a Hell of a place to put a Holy City," wrote The Times' military correspondent of KAIROUAN in 1939. In midsummer, when the town bakes like a brick on its barren plain, it's hard to disagree. But Tunisia's oldest Arab city and Islam's fourth most holy centre – after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem – is an exceptionally rewarding place. The whole city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Tunisia's spiritual centre.