Sousse & Monastir Private Day Trip

This private day trip follows the Sahel coast between two old port cities. In Sousse, you walk in the Medina, a UNESCO site, and climb the tower of the Ribat. In Monastir, you see the Ribat by the sea and the Bourguiba Mausoleum. Your driver picks you up at your hotel and brings you back at the end of the day. The price is fixed per vehicle.

Sousse and Monastir: Two Ribats and a Long History

Along this coast, early Muslim rulers built ribats, fortified posts for soldiers who prayed and kept watch. Sousse and Monastir still have the two best known.

Hadrumetum and Its Catacombs

Sousse began as Hadrumetum, a Phoenician port that grew into a Roman city. Christians dug catacombs under it from the end of the 1st century to the 4th. Together they hold close to 15,000 graves. The Good Shepherd catacomb, found in 1888 by a French officer, is the one open to visitors. The Virgil Mosaic of the Bardo also comes from Hadrumetum.

The Ribat of Sousse

The Ribat was founded in the late 8th century, when soldiers kept watch over this coast. A marble plaque over the tower door names the emir Ziyadat Allah I and the year 821. It is the oldest Islamic inscription on a monument in Tunisia. Upstairs, the vaulted prayer hall is the oldest one preserved in North Africa.

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The Great Mosque of Sousse

Next to the Ribat stands the Great Mosque, finished in 851 under the Aghlabid emir Abu al-Abbas Muhammad. By then, the town had outgrown the small prayer hall of the Ribat. The new mosque took its look from its neighbor, with crenellated walls and corner towers. A Kufic inscription runs around the courtyard. There is no tall minaret, only a domed tower at one corner.

The Kasbah and Its Mosaics

At the top of the Medina, the Kasbah dates from the middle of the 9th century. Its tower looks down on the old town. Since 1951, the Kasbah has housed the Archaeological Museum of Sousse. Its mosaics, found at Hadrumetum and along the coast, form the second largest collection in Tunisia, after the Bardo.

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Ruspina

Monastir stands on the site of Ruspina, a Punic and then Roman town. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar camped at Ruspina during his war in Africa. On 4 January, he fought the army of Labienus on the plain nearby. The fight went badly for Caesar, but he won the war later that year at Thapsus, down the coast.

Bourguiba's Town

Habib Bourguiba, the first president of Tunisia, was born in Monastir in 1903. The town grew fast during his three decades in power. Its airport bears his name. He died in 2000 and rests in his mausoleum, a short walk from the Ribat. Monastir still honors him as its most famous son.

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Founded in 796

Harthama ibn A'yan, the Abbasid governor, founded the Ribat of Monastir in 796. In 966 it was rebuilt as four buildings around two courtyards. Watchtowers were added over the centuries, some of them for cannons. At night, signals from its towers passed messages to the neighboring ribats. From its tower, you look over the sea and the old cemetery beside it.

Soldiers and Scholars

A ribat was both a fort and a place of prayer. The men who lived here kept watch for enemy ships and studied between their turns of guard. Today, the larger of its two prayer halls holds a small museum. Its collection shows objects of faith and old crafts from the medieval town. Many rooms open onto the inner courtyards.

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How the Day Goes

The two cities are close, so the day leaves time to walk and to sit for a coffee. You can also ask for a stop at the Monastir marina.

1. Your driver collects you at your hotel in the morning.
2. Sousse: the Ribat and its tower, then the souks of the Medina.
3. Lunch break by the sea, at a place you choose, paid on the spot.
4. Monastir: the Ribat, the Bourguiba Mausoleum and the seafront.
5. Free time at the marina if you want it.
6. Return to your hotel, door to door.

Price from Your Departure City

If your hotel is in Monastir, Sousse or Mahdia, this is one of our least expensive trips. Each price covers the whole private vehicle, the driver, fuel and tolls. It is fixed before the day, so there is no surprise at the end. A certified guide costs $50 more for the day.

Price per private vehicle, in US dollars

What Is Included

You pay one price for the vehicle and the driver. Tickets for the monuments, plus your lunch, are paid on the spot.