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Quick Answer — The twenty errors below are the ones we watch newcomers make, year after year, from the arrivals hall onward: changing money badly, treating the dinar like a convertible currency, skipping travel insurance, assuming everything runs on card, mistaking hospitality for a sales pitch (and vice versa), dressing for the resort in the medina, and driving after dark. None is fatal; all are avoidable; each one below links to the full guide that solves it. Read this on the plane and you’ll land smarter than most second-time visitors.
Tunisia is an easy country to travel and an easy country to misread. The mistakes below aren’t ranked by embarrassment — though number 7 is hard to beat — but by roughly when in a trip they happen.
Arrival & Money
1. Changing lots of money at the airport’s worst counter. Rates vary between airport desks and improve in town. Change what you need for day one, then find a bank or use an ATM. The full strategy is in our dinar guide.
2. Forgetting the dinar is a closed currency. You can’t legally import or export it in any meaningful quantity, and you can’t exchange leftover dinars back home. Keep your exchange receipts (you may need them to convert back at departure) and spend down to near zero.
3. Assuming cards work everywhere. Cities and hotels, mostly yes; souks, louages, small restaurants, and half the countryside, no. Tunisia runs on cash. Carry small notes — the national shortage of change is real, and a 50-dinar note for a 2-dinar purchase makes no friends.
4. Skipping travel insurance because “it’s a short trip.” Routine care here is cheap enough to pay cash; the tail risk — evacuation, intensive care — is the entire point of cover. Our honest insurance guide explains what actually matters and where we’d start.
5. Landing with no data plan. Ten minutes of setup before you fly — an eSIM or a plan for a local SIM — saves the first-day scramble and the roaming bill that arrives like a second airfare.
Getting Around
6. Taking an unmetered taxi ride “on trust.” City taxis have meters (compteur); the polite word as you sit down is “compteur, s’il vous plaît.” No meter, agree the price before moving — especially at airports and stations. Context in getting around Tunisia.
7. Standing at a louage station waiting for a timetable. There isn’t one. Louages (shared vans) leave when full, which is both the system and, once you accept it, a very good system.
8. Renting a car and driving rural roads at night. The single rule every Tunisian gives visitors. Unlit everything. Plan drives to end by dusk — and read our road habits field guide before your first roundabout. If you’re comparing rentals, DiscoverCars shows deposits and insurance excess before you book; the paperwork is in our rental guide.
9. Treating Tunis as a driving city. It isn’t. Park the car (or don’t collect it yet) and use the TGM, taxis, and your feet; escape driving in the capital, enjoy it outside.
Culture & Conduct
10. Dressing for the beach everywhere. Resort zones are relaxed; medinas, mosques’ surroundings, and small towns appreciate covered shoulders and knees. It’s not law — it’s the difference between being a guest and being a spectacle.
11. Refusing every invitation on scam reflex. Yes, the medina has its hustles (our scams guide names them). But the mint tea invitation from your louage seatmate is usually exactly what it looks like: hospitality. Learn to tell the two apart; the scams guide teaches the tells.
12. Not learning ten words of Derja. “Aslema” (hello), “barcha” (a lot), “yezzi” (enough), “choukran” (thanks) — ten words change every interaction. Start with our essential phrases; go deeper with the audio phrasebook.
13. Photographing people, police, or government buildings without asking. People: ask, smile, accept a no. Police, military, presidential palaces, and some ports: just don’t — it’s the fastest route to an unpleasant afternoon.
14. Misreading Ramadan. Visiting during the holy month is rewarding — the nights are extraordinary — but daytime rhythm changes completely. Eat discreetly, book restaurants for iftar, and read our Ramadan guide before booking the dates.
15. Drinking in public because “it’s a beach country.” Alcohol is legal and sold — within a system of places, days, and discretion that surprises visitors. The rules, written and unwritten, are in our alcohol in Tunisia explainer.
Shopping & Eating
16. Paying the first price in a souk. The first price is an opening position, offered with theatre and expected to move. Counter at a fraction, keep it friendly, walk away twice. Fixed-price state artisan shops exist when you’d rather not play.
17. Under-ordering harissa caution. “Not spicy” in Tunisia is a relative concept. Calibrate on day one, not on the pre-flight dinner.
18. Eating only in hotels. The country’s best food costs pocket change and comes from grills, market stalls, and lunch counters. Start with our Tunisian food guide and eat where the queue is local.
Planning
19. Doing only the coast. The resorts are the postcard; the country is Dougga at golden hour, the ksour of the south, the chott crossing, a Tunis medina morning. Steal one of our itineraries and go inland.
20. Underestimating how much you’ll want to come back. The most common mistake on this list, and the only one with no fix. Budget for the second trip now.
From the Carthage Magazine Bookshelf
Twenty mistakes avoided — these three handle the next two hundred.
- All About Tunisia — the definitive English-language traveler’s guide. 572 pages, 27 chapters, all nine regions, every UNESCO inscription, five thematic trails — and the practical answers (visa, currency, transport, etiquette) most travelers wish they’d had on the plane. $24.99 · PDF & EPUB
- Speak Like a Local — 200+ Tunisian Arabic phrases with native audio recorded in Tunis. Mistake #12, solved permanently. $14.99 · PDF, EPUB, MP3
- The Authentic Tunisian Cookbook — sixty traditional recipes from the heart of North Africa. For when you get home and find yourself missing the food. $9.99 · PDF & EPUB
All three available as a bundle for $39.99 — guide, language, and food, delivered together.
