It is possible for anyone to visit Tunisia, regardless of financial means. While your budget may be limited, you will still have an excellent experience in Tunisia.
The inexpensive cost of living in Tunisia is a major draw for travelers. This applies to everything from eating out, drinking, getting around, and participating in adventurous activities. Everything you do in Tunisia is going to be cheaper than if you were to go to a comparable European or North American destination.
What Things Cost in Tunisia: A Traveler’s Guide
Any visitor planning a trip to Tunisia is curious about the costs associated with typical tourist activities. Well, we’ve got you covered!
Suggested Read: Tunisia’s Currency – Tunisian Dinar | TND, Notes, Coins, Exchange Rate
Food in Tunisia
Street Food
As for food, within TND 5 you can have a meal in a local fast food joint, which offer Mlaoui, Chapatie, Malfouf, etc. A grilled chicken or turkey sandwich (sandwich escalope) with cheese and lots of veggies at a Tunisian sandwich shop outside of the tourist area of town will cost only TND 4.
Suggested Read: Top 10 Tunisian Street Foods
For sure, the most popular tourist destinations in major cities are a bit more pricy. However, it will not be difficult to find a pleasant joint that suits your budget.
Cooking your own food is also an option if you want to save money. The markets in Tunisia are full with fresh, delectable foodstuffs, and they’re all reasonably priced.
Restaurant Food
If you dine in a resort or hotel restaurant, you’ll pay far more than if you eat at a local eatery. Well, to put things into perspective, and as a general tip: A fancier restaurant doesn’t improve the food’s flavor in any way at all.
Paying TND 50 for a plate of food means you’re getting two things: the experience and a little bit of comfort that the vegetables have been well washed.
Expensive Restaurants
A plate of lamb couscous costs about TND 45 in a traditional Tunisian restaurant in the medina. Salads cost TND 20, starters TND 32, and dinner plates TND 46 at a restaurant in a 4-Star hotel in Hammamet.
In a fancier Tunisian café, a hearty breakfast of coffee, cold meats and cheeses, and an abundance of pastries is the order of the day. About TND 22 will be the cost.
Similar Read: Top 10 Foods to Eat in Tunisia
Foreign Restaurant
Tunisians tend to consume exclusively Tunisian food and avoid experimenting with other cuisines. Only a few truly “international” restaurants may be found here. As a result, they tend to be more costly.
If you’re looking for superb Sushi in a Mediterranean city, Tunis is the place to go. For roughly TND 65, you may have a two-person Sushi box and soup at Go Sushi or Benkay, which are two popular restaurants in the city.
Drinks
It may surprise you to hear that even though Tunisia is a Muslim-majority country, they consume quite a bit of alcohol. Tunisians are the heaviest alcohol drinkers in the Maghreb region, says a 2016 report published by the World Health Organization (WHO).
If you plan to buy and drink alcohol on your trip, you should give this article a read: Alcohol in Tunisia.
Drinks in Restaurants
Wine & Champagne
Bottles of wine are available from several different countries. A bottle of local Tunisian wine is as little as TND 50. Most bottles from the US, Spain, Italy and Germany were in the TND 120 to 500 range. A few bottles went over TND 1000, and the most expensive you may come across is TND 2,500.
Bottles of Champagne ranged from TND 300 to TND 1,500.
Beer & Liquor
A can of Heineken or the Tunisian brand Celtia at a bar in Gammarth is TND 8. To give you an idea of the markup, the same drink costs TND 3 in a store.
Liquors are sold by the glass and the bottle. They cost between 10 and 80 TND.
Drinks in Stores
Beer
Supermarkets that carry alcohol keep a ton of beer in stock, but from only a few brands. Celtia is the most widely consumed brand in Tunisia. It’s a pale lager made in Tunis with a 5% ABV. There are a few Tunisian brands available, as well as some European imports.
6 pack of 24cl cans imported brand costs around 15 TND. 6 pack of 24cl cans local brand costs about 11 TND.
Wine
Tunisia has produced wine for thousands of years, and today there are tens of thousands of acres of vineyards in the country. In supermarkets, you can find many Tunisian-made wines, as well as many imports. Wine prices range from 10 to 90 TND.
Coffee
The price of an espresso varies from TND 1 and TND 6, depending on the venue. If you obtain something blended with milk and sugar, it will cost approximately TND 9 in a nice place.
Cappuccinos and lattés are served in the majority of cafes. Additionally, the majority of coffee beverages are only available in one size. There are a few exceptions, such as Cosmitto’s, a small coffee business that produces excellent frozen coffee drinks.
Hotels
This really depends on your preferences, if you’re budget is limited to under $50, for $45 or so, you can get a room just a block off of the main Avenue Habib Bourguiba in downtown Tunis.
Alternatively, for $40, you can stay a few blocks from the beach in Hammamet. However, we’d say you can have peace that your room will be clean and “as advertised” in the $50-$100 range.
If you spend over $100 per night you can stay at a resort hotel located on beach in a popular tourist area like Hammamet or Sousse. With over $100, you should certainly expect an Air-Conditioned room, very clean sheets and towels, pleasant views from your room, a working TV, and plenty of other services.
If you spend over $200 for a single room, you’re likely going to have a special experience. There are also some luxury hotels along the beach that go up to $300-$400 per night.
Airbnb
Tunisia has a lot of great Airbnbs where you can really soak up the charming Tunisian culture and hospitality. Prices range from $40 per night for a single room in a flat to more than $300 per night for an entire house.
When it comes to the actual accommodation, you get the same value as you would in the United States or Europe. However, you may find Airbnbs in more convenient, tourist-friendly places and you’re not paying as much for the location as you would outside of Tunisia.
Car Rentals
Short Answer: Around TND 150 ($53, GBP 40, EUR 44) per day.
Suggested Read: How to Rent a Car in Tunisia
If you’re entering Tunisia through the Tunis-Carthage Airport and you want a car right away, there are plenty of rental options right there at the Airport. TND 150 is the cheapest option you can find if you’re driving it away from the Airport.
From the Airport you can rent from one of the companies that are located there, or you can find another company in Tunis and arrange a “meet and greet” where they bring the car to you.
It’s more affordable to rent from a smaller company away from the Airport, although you will have less of a selection and they may not speak English.
Public Transportation
For tourists, public transportation is super affordable.
We have a complete and comprehensive article on How to Get Around in Tunisia. If there’s any chance you’ll take public transportation in Tunisia, you should check it out!
A taxi ride in a normal, metered taxi from one side of Tunis to the other will cost between TND 10 and TND 20, depending on traffic. But if you’re just going from one neighborhood to another it could be less than TND 8.
A slightly more expensive option is to use Bolt. Bolt will cost roughly twice the amount of a regular taxi, which is still not that expensive. Bolt works like Uber or Lyft, except you pay in cash.
Louages and trains are around the same price. If you’re planning to move around cities, head out to this guide: Public Transport in Tunisian Cities.
Gasoline
The current price of gasoline in Tunisia is TND 2.2 per Liter. That’s about TND 7.80 per Gallon.
If you’re planning to drive a rental car from Tunis to Djerba and back again. That’s a 7 hour drive each way, with a total of 520 km. The car may get around 50 MPG since most rental cars in Tunisia are relatively fuel efficient. At that fuel efficiency you’ll spend TND 90.
Groceries
A 1-liter box of milk is around TND 1.3. A dozen eggs is around TND 5. A baguette bread is only 200 millime, one-fifth of a dinar. Tomatoes and potatoes are less than TND 3 for a kilo.
If you stay in a place with a kitchen while in Tunisia, you can prepare your own meals with fresh meat and vegetables for a very reasonable price.
Many fruits and vegetables are not available all year. If you purchase strawberries, watermelon, or cantaloupe when they are just coming into season or are about to go out of season, they can become significantly more expensive.
The current price of ground beef is roughly TND 31. Chicken is far less expensive, costing roughly TND 14 per kilo. Turkey breast is the least expensive white meat option.
Doctor’s Visit
If you get sick or injured on your visit to Tunisia, you can get relatively affordable treatment in a private clinic. It could cost you as little as TND 60 paying cash without any kind of insurance.
Museum / Historical Sites Entry
Short answer: TND 8-20
The entry fee to the Carthage Museum is TND 15. If you’re going to tour Carthage you can’t miss this place. The museum is located on the grounds of a big church (the St. Louis Bascillica), which is itself on top of the famous Byrsa Hill. With the cost of admission, you can tour the outside area that has remains of an ancient Phoenician village, as well as some Romain ruins on top of that.
The entry fee for the Bardo Museum is TND 12. You can easily spend an hour or a few hours at the Bardo museum, even if you’re not that into history. It’s located in the Bardo neighborhood of Tunis, the capital city.
Tunisia’s historical sites can be visited without a tour guide for a very reasonable price. You should indeed pay in cash at these locations.
Hopefully, this article has given you enough information about the cost of living in Tunisia and has provided you with sufficient information to decide what type of holiday you may expect in Tunisia based on your budget.
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