Tunisia - good or bad?

[StressyMcStressFace]

Ive been looking at Tunisia for next June in Skanes/Hammamet. It looks amazing but I'm wondering is it too good to be true? We wd do b&b as I'm not into full board or AI. We prefer to do different restaurants each night and get out and about.
I'm just wondering how safe it it is really and is it a bad idea to go outside of the resort area? Our transfers are included so no problem there but what about taxis to local cities of Monastir and Sousse? I like a bit of culture and to see more than the resort.
Current Foreign Office advice is to avoid certain parts of Tunisia but resorts on north coast are generally deemed ok.
I'd be grateful for any thoughts or experiences one way or the other. Obviously the terror attack in 2015 looms large but im hoping its safer now 🤞Thanks

My personal view is if you stay in the resort you'll be fine. If you go out and you're female the men are too handsy and give way too much attention and do not back off. We went outside the resort once, DH was with me, he went to wait outside the shop, as soon as he was gone, the atmosphere changed and it was horrible. Honestly, I'd never go back. Choice between sunny Tunisia and a weekly in rainy London, I'd take London every time; it was that bad!

Loved it.
Sousse is OK but I wouldn't go again.
Loved Tunis, Carthage, El Djem, the tatouine caves.
Been to Tunisia more than once and would go again.

Been (a long time ago - 2009) and would not return or recommend.

Anything in particular that put you off? Just interested in other viewpoints

Hated it.
We prefer to get out and about and not stay in our hotel all the time but we were not comfortable at all, despite being quite well travelled. Me and my friends were grabbed despite our Husbands being 100 yards in front, we were all followed by a Police Car a couple of times and several shopkeepers shouted abuse at us when we didn't want to buy from them. Amongst the hotel staff we found only 2 or 3 that were pleasant
I have been all over Europe, to Morocco, Turkey,The Far east, Carribean etc and it was the only place I vowed never to go back to

To be fair, it was mostly the package - hotel wasn't great, beach wasn't very nice (as random old tractor was parked on it?) Felt not very safe in local market. Did a hotel-arranged tour to Tunis and Carthage. I love history but it was awful. Tunis was probably best bit - felt more cosmopolitan. To be honest just felt encamped in hotel which is not my ideal holiday!

Thanks everyone. Feeling restricted to a hotel/resort is my idea of a nightmare so it sounds like it may not be for me. I'd love to hear of more experiences if anyone cares to share!

We hated Tunisia, its the one place we would never go back to.
We stayed in a Rui hotel in Port El Kantaoui, the male workers in the restaurant would stroke your hand when you handed your plate over.
Outside the hotel was like a disaster zone and the streets looked like they had been bombed.
We went to the Port and men were literally grabbing me by the arm.
I have never felt so vulnerable. We travelled on a package holiday which had a weekly flight from our local airport, my car was parked at the airport car park. However, we hated it so much that we paid for an early flight home to another airport then paid for a taxi to collect my car.
I learned my lesson and would not holiday anywhere that I would not feel safe leaving the hotel.

@StressyMcStressFace what is it that looks amazing to you? Is it the resort itself?

Pretty much! There's a brand new resort along the coast with 5* hotels and gorgeous beaches. I should know not to be sucked in by the pretty pictures and glowing descriptions! I'm glad I've asked for objective opinions 😅

What resort is it?
I think where you go makes a big difference.

The people I know who have been to Tunisia either hated it or loved it.

Those on here who hated it seem to have had a quite different experience to the one I had.

The families I know who went:
Nan, Mum and an 8 yr old DD were at the same hotel had visited previously.
Man+woman+5yr old in AI in Port El Kantaoui - the DC hated it.

Its Hammamet or Skanes

It will most likely just be me and DH. we love a nice beach/pool, bars, restaurants, shops etc but also like to get out and and about to see nice places of interest too. A wee boat trip also doesn't go amiss ⛵️

The resorts will have restaurants and bars. Shops will be geared for tourists.
I've not been for decades but it wasn't like the UK at all, in that if you stay in a resort, there won't be modern town centre-type shops nearby.

Things I'd shop for: 13 things to buy from Tunisia- shopping guide - The Tunisian Way

I'd avoid carpets as you'll be paying for delivery and import taxes. It will be a lot more than you think.

Putting my hard hat on because I'll come under fire. Happens every time.

I love Tunisia and have friends there. I go every 12 - 18 months. Single disabled female, I am now 67 and have been going since the 1980's. I love it and I do not get hassled. And never have. It is definitely not the UK - if you want the UK with sunshine then it isn't for you. Will people try to get you into their shop to look / buy? Yes, they will. Do they do that to just about everyone including Tunisians? Yes they do. Do they know what a firm "no" means? Yes they do. I haven't been hassled, but have a seen it happen? Yes, sometimes. I can also often explain why - wondering around the streets or a busy area in skimpy clothes will get attention. It gets attention in the UK too!

I would definitely not pick Hammamet or Skanes if you want to go to Tunisia. Skanes is a purpose created resort town. Hammemet is a little better than that, but not by much (although the marina area is nice). I would pick Sousse, or if you really want somewhere with Tunisian character - Djerba. Sousse is better for getting around - from there Tunis, Sidi bou Said, El Jem etc are all easily done in a day trip. Three / four days (you can hire a car and driver to arrange if you want) and you can visit as far south as the Sahara, the Star Wars territories with the troglodyte homes, and most of the great Roman ruins. One thing I would advise though - if you go south, don't self-drive unless you are familiar with the area (get a driver and car) because whilst it doesn't happen very often (and is spectacular but also scary!) desert storms can happen and are dangerous for the unitiated driver.

If you'd like to ask anything specific, PM me. Happy to help.

@PhilippaGeorgiou , brilliant answer. Every similar thread seems to have women who have been hassled but it's not happened to me, but I was dressed fairly conservatively (no cleavage or bare shoulders etc)
I've been to Djerba and it's gorgeous.
Sousse is a bit rough but Port El Kantaoui seems very geared towards tourists.

Thanks for the very detailed response @PhilippaGeorgiou

Sousse has cleaned itself up (mostly) recently and the new(ish) mosaics museum is fab - especially since (unless it has changed very recently) one still cannot visit the Bardot in Tunis.

One of the things that has caused a lot of the mess in Tunisia has been repeated refuse collection strikes which have never been quite reconciled in terms of clean ups. It isn't a matter for tourists to get involved in, but like a lot of places (some far worse) Tunisia is not exactly a democracy. But neither is Turkey nor many other popular destinations. They are currently cracking down on union organisation. But as I said, tourists seldom notice these things and they have little impact.

When one travels it is well-advised to "note" differences but then sail gently by them. If you can't do that don't go there (still never been to South Africa, one of the few places I haven't been to!). As you point out, you can "blend in" without going fully native in most countries, just don't expect it to be like back home. Oddly, many of the British are so good at saying that about people coming here, but rubbish at applying the same approach when they go abroad.

I grew up in a beach resort in the UK, and it's quite obvious who the visitors are. In the UK, the clothes they wear and their accents aren't that different, but their behaviour usually is.

If you go to a North African resort, the clothes, language and culture are different, what is acceptable is different.

I found that the odd please and thank you in French or Arabic helps. Staff at the hotel or shop speaking to you in English might be using their third, fourth or fifth language.

Not been to Tunisia for a long time so it might have changed, but I enjoyed it.

I can see both sides. Yes, there is hassle, but a firm "no" and not engaging always sorted it. Just keep walking, if you dont want to buy from the shop, no thanks and walk away.

Yes, people stare/shout at points but some of that is cultural. No different to any other African country really. Walk around Spain or Greece or Italy and the locals look at you too, they're just a bit more covert about it😂

Parts of it can feel run down but the purpose built tourist resorts like Hammamet, Yasmine Hammamet, Sousse, feel a bit more upmarket. It's not what you're going to get in Spain but it feels more developed than other places in Africa or some Caribbean islands.

I've been with a partner and with friends as a females only holiday, couple of times with each different group, and didn't once feel unsafe. Did the touristy stuff like El Jem, Sahara, camel rides, boat trips, and also just wandered on our own. We ventured into nightclubs where there definitely weren't a lot of tourists and we all survived intact.

It is what you make it. We went before 2015 and it was cheap, great weather, and had enough to do outside of the hotel that we could go out and wander in the evenings for dinner. I remember people in our hotel then saying it wasn't safe to go out and thinking wtf, where?

I probably wouldn't go back now but that's not because it's a bad place or unsafe, just that the AI hotel type holiday isn't really our thing now. If we were looking for an AI break with the kids, I wouldn't rule it out.

We,ve been to Tunisia many times over the years, and love the country - I first went as a child in about 1965 and have been back many times since. I’m not so keen on the big resorts like Hammamet and Sousse, but I love Zarzis, Djerba, Sfax, and particularly the Kerkennah Islands. I think Tunisia is incredibly under rated in terms of food and drink, and we’ve had some wonderful meals on our trips and drunk far too much Boukkha. We’ve always found Tunisian people to be warm, friendly, and very hospitable, and we’ve made some really good friends over the years. The standard of hotels is good, and we’ve stayed in some lovely boutique hotels in the south of the country. Car hire is quite expensive, but the roads are surprisingly good and fairly quiet. I’m sure you will have a lovely time if you research wher you’re going first.

I forgot to say that the trains have always been really impressive when we’ve used them. It’s so easy to get to El Djem by train or car, so don’t waste your time and money going on an organised trip, where you will spend far longer at the compulsory carpet shop stop than at El Djem itself. You need to two or three hours there to really appreciate it. There are also many other really interesting sites isn’t the south that are easy to drive to.