Sousse, in Tunisia, is a little laid back town with a lively street life. Located 40 miles south of Hammamet on the coast, it offers a beach, a sea front promenade, restaurants, cafes and shops along with hotels and some self catering accommodation. The town is particularly lively around the Avenue Habib Bourguiba. Sousse offers a great variety of restaurants serving all types of cuisine including Tunisian, French, Lebanese, International and some of the freshest seafood dishes available.
Sousse-Nord is a purpose built leisure complex which has a marina and golf course, hotels and holiday apartments.
Sousse’s Boujaffar Beach, backed by high-rise hotels, is a lovely long wide stretch of sand which runs alongside the town’s central promenade and is dotted with restaurants and cafes. The calm warm waters here, along with a variety of water sports including scuba diving, snorkelling and paragliding, are perfect for the whole family to enjoy. Some of the beaches in front of the hotels have sun loungers and parasols for hire if you are not a guest.
Sousse has many cultural attractions including the Great Mosque, the 8th century ribat (fortification), the Christian catacombs that date back to the 3rd century AD, the UNESCO World Heritage Medina and the privately owned Museum Dar Essid which is located in a traditional home (dar). The Medina is one of the finest old city shopping centres in Tunisia. Situated underneath the town’s fort, the covered alleyways of the Medina offer an eye-opening shopping experience. Selling everything from carpets and leather goods to antiques, the vendors will never expect you to accept their first price but to haggle for a price that suits you both. Don’t be shy when haggling as it is expected and adds to the experience of visiting Tunisia. Another great experience not to be missed is a visit to a traditional Tunisian bathhouse (Hammam). Here you can totally relax in the steam rooms and even have a massage and haircut.
Exploring Tunisia is easy when using Sousse as a base. You can take the train from the town up the coast to Tunis or south to Mahdia and Monastir and even as far as the desert town of Gabes which has an amazing oasis.
The resort offers a variety of both land and water based sports. You can enjoy a round of golf at the 36-hole championship course at Port El Kantaoui, take a trip out to sea for some dolphin-spotting or visit the Acqua Palace at Port El Kantaoui for a day of splashing around on the whirlpools, slides and chutes.
Sousse has plenty of lively nightlife on offer with some of the best live music venues, nightclubs and bars in Tunisia. The resort is also home to one of Tunisia’s biggest casinos, the Casino Caraibe.
April, May and June are regarded as the best times to visit Sousse. Good deals can be found for dates throughout the year although if you want to take a dip in the sea, Easter is not the best time as the water is usually too cold for bathing. Sousse is busiest in July and August when daytime temperatures are around 30C, rarely dropping below the low 20s at night. However the sea breezes do help to cool the high humidity levels.
