Tunisia: The Rough Guide, Second Edition - Softcover

Morris, Peter; Jacobs, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858281393 ISBN 13: 9781858281391

Publisher: Rough Guides, 1995

Synopsis

This is a practical and up-to-date handbook to North Africa's most popular and accessible destination. As well as a realistic round-up of the best beach resorts, the most accessible mountain hikes and the most luxuriant southern oases, the book gives a detailed perspective on the country's Roman, Arab and European background, with critical appraisal of the great sights from the medinas of Tunis and Kairouan to the spectacular Roman sites of El Jem and Dougga. Features of this new edition include a comprehensive guide to the Mediterranean beach resorts, whether you're fully independent or on an organized holiday; critical listings for every town on where to stay and eat, plus transport details; maps and plans showing locations of sites, hotels and restaurants; and many boxed supplements and context articles on history and culture, women's issues; politics and society; wildlife; Islam; and books and language.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Jacobs has contributed to several Rough Guides, including West Africa, Morocco, Egypt and India. Peter Morris wrote the original edition of this book in 1985 and once played a game of football with Glen Hoddle.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Climate and seasons

Tunisia follows usual Mediterranean patterns of climate. The best time to travel, from a scenic point of view, is spring, when the south has not yet reached full heat and the north looks astonishingly fertile - above all, around the orchards and vineyards of Cap Bon. Be warned, though, that March and April are the dampest months of the year in the south and it can bucket down in the north.

Summer has mixed virtues. July and August are much the hottest months of the year - if only slightly more so than in the southern parts of Italy or Greece - and the one time you really do need to lapse into a local way of life, for example resting through the midday hours at a cafŽ or taking a siesta at your hotel. Obviously this goes above all for the deep south and the ksour (see Chapter Nine). On the more exposed beaches of the north coast, midsummer is actually a pull - some of them are only warm enough for swimming from around May until October. If you wait until autumn, you get the best of both worlds, with warm swimming and few crowds, even at the big resorts.

In winter, the north and the Tell can get distinctly cold; A·n Draham, the highest mountain town, commonly has a metre of snow, and in 1985 it even snowed at Bizerte on the Mediterranean coast. Tunis, Cap Bon and Sousse are not so much cold in winter as dull, with sporadic rains. But this is an ideal time for covering the ancient sites at leisure and then migrating south to Jerba's beaches and the Sahara.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1858281393
• ISBN 13: 9781858281391
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 464