Best of Tunisia

Optional Star Wars trip driving over vertiginous dunes to Mos Eisley and then to Skywalker ranch entrance across damp salt flats. Amazing. Worth the £50. Packed a lightsabre!! Unforgettable. Drive across Chott El Jerid salt flats, otherworldly. Tamezret Amazigh village visit and seeing the cave dwellings in Matamata interesting and would have liked more. Disappointed that the overnight stay in a cave hotel has been dropped On route additions : Visit to Hotel Sidi Idriss , used in Star Wars filming , pink flamingos , War Cemeteries and lunch at Tour Leader's home and meeting Mum And Dad. Thank you Mohamed's Mum!! Legend! Sufficient elements to make a moderate pace 14 day tour, rather than 8 full days(two of the 10 days eaten away for flights).Plenty of varied historical sites , Monastir Castle , Dougga , Kairouan , Bardot Museum (wonderful collection) of mosaics and the Sahara desert to explore. Extremely disappointing desert camp, three hour drive in cramped 4 x 4 to a camp shared with a large group of raucous French students, meal (4 course) inappropriate, boring and bland. This should have been a main highlight of the tour! Was not peaceful ,stargazing Saharan night! Included meals (3 course European style)would be better dropped as all were in areas where there were a choice of eateries ,and cuisine, within walking distance. Hotels lacked homey feel as all largish ,tourist style. All beds huge and too soft (I only use 18 inches!) Breakfasts European style (Danone yoghurts, none locally produced) with some more local additions(Dates ,Sorghum porridge ,halva,) Price of these more upmarket hotel paid for but arrived too late to use swimming pools(some had spas, saunas and gyms) .Tozeur hotel full of noisy ,large ,student group ,breakfast poor and coffee only instant type. Visit to Dougga better to be placed earlier to remove geographical dog leg and time thereof. This should be a 5 star tour but needs itinerary adjustment

Mohammed, the Tunisian leader, went out of his way to ensure everyone felt included and was enjoying the holiday

Great trip - Roman ruins, markets, medinas, film sets, desert, town. Well paced and well balanced. Great local guide and driver.

Excellent varied itinerary from the Mediterranean to the Sahara desert. Lovely old towns and stunning Roman ruins. Fresh baked flat breads, dates, oranges and sweet meats. Welcoming locals. Hotels mostly good. Warm and sunny but not hot in February. Need a smart phone to stay in touch with guide and group.

Exceeded expectations!

A good trip (although the least said about Tunisair the better!) with a lot packed into ten days. The latter half of the trip did feel like a work in progress - the overnight in the cave hotel wasn't at a natural break in the itinerary (followed by a very long and rushed day) and the "obvious" optional to fill the free day at Hammamet meant more driving but well worth the effort to Dougga. Three hours of driving each way to stay in a semi-permanent camp shared with other tourists seemed a lot of effort for what is was.

At the welcome meeting, the information sheet with our names, birthdates and insurance information should NOT be passed around the table for all to view. Other tour groups do this more privately. In Carthage we went to see the cemetery of dead children and 2 ponds/bodies of water but we did NOT go to the lovely Carthage Roman Theater because it was not on the Explore itinerary. Why is it not? Sousse would be a good place to spend a night. The vehicle we used was excellent but onboard electronic charging ports would be nicer Mohammed was great! Always a smile and trying to help each of us. On the last day, he saw each of us off to our airport shuttle cars, even at 02:00 am!!!

Mohammed was a great guide. Very friendly, professional and evidently proud to show visitors around his country. To the extent he invited us to his family home where his mother prepared a lovely meal for the group who chose the Dougga option. The whole group got on and enjoyed each other's company, and as an ex tour leader myself I understand this is a compliment to their ability to support engagement and socialisation through a relaxed and well organised environment. The trip packed in a lot of highlights that prior to the tour I wasn't aware about. Highlights were the desert camp, Sidi Bou Said, Tozeur and the theatre at El Djem Also the optional day trip to the Roman settlement at Dougga, which I believe is to be included in future itineraries from 2025.

This was quite a busy tour that enables you to see a lot of Tunisia in a short space of time. A nice mix of cultural visits, walking tours through medinas and opportunities to sample different foods. Highlights included driving over the sand dunes to the desert camp, climbing the sand dune behind the camp for sunset, chatting to the group over drinks before dinner, then being blown away by the amazing stargazing. Our guide Mohamed looked after us well. He even cooked us a delicious barbecue lunch in the desert, which was very popular with those that did the optional Star Wars trip. Be warned - you might find yourself taking excessive numbers of photographs of doors (or maybe that was just me...!). All in all, a very enjoyable trip, with excellent company and Tour Leader.

This was an excellent tour in all ways. There is so much to see in Tunisia in such a short period of time but the trip made the most of the days we had there. Highlights were our visit to Kairouan and the night in the desert. I did not do the Star Wars site visit but heard it was excellent. Mohamed was a superb guide, knowledgeable, efficient and so very helpful. In summary, a real star.

A trip with many highlights including staying overnight in the desert, visiting Star Wars filming locations and Roman sites of interest. Sadly a disorganised guide, poor choice of eating places and a poor choice of hotels on Explores part. Itinerary is listed as moderate but there is a lot of travelling and if you really want to make the most of it by doing the optional trips then the trip is really full on. One of the optional trips to Dougga should really be included as standard with an extra day added to the length of the trip.

This was a good tour which showed the variety of histories of Tunisia, and diverse flora. The tour leader did his best, but some questions asked remained unanswered. The accommodation was good however the hotel in Hammamet had families with young families staying. This was not a good mix with "Explorers"

Ended up being a bit of a whistle stop tour in the end. We seemed to spend a lot of time on the bus each day and then being rushed through when we reached a site in order to get to the next one, not really enough time to absorb where we were or take in detail. Some bits were good like El Jem and the desert trip and camp, others were rushed or unexplained. We often had lunch in a restaurant which meant waiting ages for food to be prepared and then another restaurant in the evening which was too much for me. in one lunch time restaurant my meal was one of the last to arrive then he decided it was time to go and rushed us off. I had to leave half of it after waiting all that time. Lunch on the go or snack would allow more time to see the places. Leader tried at times and provided some extras and sorted some problems, other times he was just poor. He often started talking while people were still arriving at a spot or talked to one side and then the other so you never really got the whole story. Sometimes he just didn't seem to know much, especially in the outdoors. As for general instructions often people didn't know what was going on and had to ask others. For the farewell meal we were taken to a small restaurant with only 2 staff. Although they tried hard to provide everything, bless them, meals and drinks turned up randomly with some finishing ages before others' meals arrived while the leader switched off with his phone, not really suitable. Anyway, he did get us round and we saw a lot but, as a veteran of a number of Explore trips over the years, I felt the general standards were well below what I've come to expect from Explore.

A great insight into all Tunisia has to offer, historic sites, culture, local food, cave hotel, drive and sleep in the Sahara. A full itinerary, some long drives but well worth it. Mohamed was a very informative guide who endevoured to ensure we all enjoyed our trip.

Best of Tunisia was a great way to find out about the history of this interesting country and to experience the current way of life. The itinerary was varied and comprehensive, our guide, Mohamed was passionate about his country and spared no effort to ensure that we enjoyed the trip. The weather was mild and sunny, so October was a good time to be there. The group of 14 was friendly, mostly English, and consisted of co-operative and experienced travellers

A great trip, loved the 4x4's into the desert and staying there overnight! Mohammad was a great informative guide! A jam packed itinerary!