Fast air-conditioned railcar with Express Class seating. These operate the trains shown as 'Ex' in the timetable below.. |
Getting around Tunisia by train
The Tunisian Railways (SNCFT) are the best way to travel between Tunis, Sousse, El Jem, Sfax and Gabès. There is also a branch line from Sousse to Monastir & Mahdia, and several other routes. Trains are comfortable and air-conditioned.
Tunis - Sousse - Monastir - El Jem - Sfax - Gabès
Bizerte, Kalaâ Kasbah, Kairouan
International train & ferry links
On other pages
London to Tunisia by train+ferry in
just 48 hours
Useful country information
Tunis to Carthage & Marsa
A standard-gauge light railway called the TGM (Tunis-La Goulette-Marsa) links Tunis city centre, La Goulette (for the ferry terminal to Marseille and Genoa), Carthage (for the ancient ruins & Byrsa Hill) and Marsa Plage. Departures are at frequent intervals from 04:00-00:50 and the fare about 1.25 dinars in 1st class (£0.50) or 0.8 dinars (UK £0.30). The TGM is run by Tunis Transport Authority Transtu, www.transtu.tn.
Tunis to Sousse, Sfax, Gabès
Tunisian trains have 3 classes of accommodation: 2nd class, 1st class and Classe Confort, although modern railcars delivered in 2008 have just one class, called Express. 2nd class is perfectly adequate, 1st class very comfortable. Classe Confort is very similar to 1st class, but with even more space, as seats are arranged 2+1 rather than 2+2 across the car width, see the photos below. The overnight trains have no sleeping berths, just seats.
Check the latest train times at the SNCFT website, www.sncft.com.tn - click the UK flag, the English version finally works!
x = regular electric trains link Sousse Bab Jedid station (13-minute 1km walk from Sousse Ville) with Monastir & Mahdia every half-hour or so through the day.
C12 = Air-conditioned rapide with Classe Confort and 1st & 2nd class seats, see the photos below.
Ex = Modern air-conditioned express railcar with Express Class seating, see the photos below.
Au = Autorail = railcar with 1st & 2nd class.
Sousse Ville is in central Sousse.
Sousse Kalaâ Séghira is 7.6 km (4.8 miles) west of Sousse, easily reached from Sousse by louage (shared taxi), see map showing station.
Bir Bou Rekba is 5.7 km (3.5 miles) from the popular resort town of Hammamet, see map showing station.
How to check the latest train times
The SNCFT (Tunisian Railways) website is www.sncft.com.tn. Click the UK flag for English. There's a journey planner on their home page, or click TRAVELLER TRANSPORT then Train schedules to get timetable in .pdf form for all the main routes.
How much does it cost?
£1 = approx 3.8 Dinars. €1 = 3.1 Dinars.
Children aged 0 to 3 travel free, children 4 to 9 travel at 75% of the adult fare, children 10 and over pay full fare.
Return tickets are available with a discount of 15% over the cost of two one-way tickets, good for up to 10 days.
It has not been possible to update these prices as fares are no longer shown on the SNCFT website. Use as a rough guide only.
How to buy tickets
Tickets between principle stations (Tunis, Sousse, Sfax, Gabès) can be booked online through reliable agency Bookaway, www.bookaway.com
Alternatively, it's easy to book Tunisian rail tickets at the station in Tunis. Bookings only open 3 days in advance, so don't worry about pre-booking before you get to Tunisia, there's no need and it's not possible online.
What are the trains like?
The express railcars...
Other train routes...
Tunis to Bizerte
98km, journey time 2h50, 2nd class only. Departures from Tunis at 16:35 weekends, 17:45 weekdays. Departures from Bizerte at 05:00 Monday-Saturday, 06:00 Sundays & holidays. See www.sncft.com.tn.
Tunis to Kalaâ Kasbah
A train leaves Tunis at 06:35 daily arriving at Kalaâ Kasbah 11:47. Returning, a train leaves Kalaâ Kasbah at 13:10 arriving Tunis 18:25. See www.sncft.com.tn.
Kairouan
There is no railway station at Kairouan, but regular SNTRI buses run from Sousse to Kairouan taking 1½ hours, and from Tunis to Kairouan every hour taking 2¼ hours. There are also shared taxis (louages) from Sousse to Kairouan about every 30 minutes throughout the day.
Railpasses: Carte Bleue
Tunisian Railways offer an excellent Carte Bleue railpass for 7, 15 or 21 days for unlimited travel in 1st class, 2nd class or classe confort.
Prices for a 7-day pass are around 40 dinars 2nd class, 56 dinar 1st class, 60 dinar classe confort. Prices for a 15-day pass are twice the 7-day price, 21-day prices are three times the 7-day price. However, latest prices do not appear on the SNCFT website, so feedback would be appreciated.
Although the pass gives you unlimited travel, you still need to pay a small air-conditioning supplement for travel on any air-conditioned train, which means almost all the long-distance ones. In 2nd class the supplement is 0.7 dinar for up to 100km, 0.9 dinar for 101-160km, 1.4 dinar for 161-300km and 1.8 dinar for over 300km. Just pay this supplement at the ticket office before making each journey using the pass.
Carte Bleue railpasses can be bought at Tunisian railway stations. Officially, you need a passport-sized photo to buy these railpasses, but reports suggest that a passport is sufficient as they then write your passport number over the photo square. Feedback appreciated! The pass covers all mainline SNCFT trains, but not the Tunis-Carthage TGM light railway or the Tunis tram system.
Lézard Rouge tourist train
A privately-run tourist train called the Lézard Rouge runs from Metlaoui to the Gorges de Selja, a 40 minute, 43 km ride through spectacular scenery.
It runs from 1 May to 30 September, daily except Saturdays, departing Metlaoui at 10:00 on Tues, Thurs & Sun or 10:30 on Mon, Wed & Fri, arriving at Gorges de Selja 40 minutes later, departing Gorges de Selja after a 20 minute stop and arriving Metlaoui 45 minutes later, total trip length around 1h45.
The fare is 20 dinar for adults, 12.50 dinars for children under 10, children under 4 free.
For information go to www.sncft.com.tn, click the UK flag for English then Idea of Discovery at the top then Products then Lézard rouge. Now repeat this process in the French version of their site to get to the French language page for the Lézard rouge as this has much more useful information including departure times!
Update: In spite of the info on the SNCFT website, it's reported that the Lézard Rouge is not in fact operating at the moment. Further feedbackalways appreciated.
International links
Ferries from Tunisia to Europe
Comfortable cruise ferries link Tunis with Marseille & Genoa (several weekly) and Tunis with Sicily (once per week). See the London to Tunisia page.
Tunisia to/from Algeria
The border is open and a train service between Tunis and Annaba in Algeria is being restored from August 2024, for details see the Algeria page.
For train travel in Algeria, see the Algeria page.
Tunisia to/from Morocco
Although the French colonial government built a railway from Tunis through Algeria to Morocco, trains no longer operate across the borders, only within each country. See www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice for travel advice on Algeria. The border between Algeria & Morocco is currently closed, so it's not possible to travel overland between Tunisia and Morocco. But you can take a train several times a day from Tunis to Ghardimadou which is the closest town to the Algerian border
Tunisia to/from Libya & Egypt
Although the border is open and there are bus services (but no trains) across Libya from the Tunisian border to the Egyptian border, the Libyan government does not grant visas to independent travellers, only to visitors on organised tours or whose travel is organised by a recognised Libyan tour agency.
Hotels in Tunisia
Personal recommendation...
The Hôtel Majestic on the main Avenue de Paris in Tunis has the best French colonial facade in town and is a great place to stay, see www.booking.com/hotel/tn/majestic.en.html. It was closed for refurbishment for a while, but has now reopened in 2011. It's comfortable and central, and rooms with en suite facilities cost around £20 per night.
Guidebooks
You
should take a good guidebook. For the independent
traveller this means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough
Guide. I personally prefer the layout of the Lonely
Planets, but others prefer the Rough Guides. Both
provide excellent practical information and historical
background. You won't regret buying one!
Click the images to buy online at Amazon.co.uk
The European Rail Timetable has train, bus and ferry times for every country in Europe, It costs around £15.99 from www.europeanrailtimetable.eu.
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Travel insurance & VPN
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Always take out travel insurance
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover cancellation and loss of cash and belongings, up to a sensible limit. An annual multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip policies even for just 2 or 3 trips a year, I have an annual policy with Staysure.co.uk myself. Here are some suggested insurers. Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these links.
www.staysure.co.uk
offers enhanced Covid-19 protection & gets 4.7 out of 5 on
Trustpilot.
www.columbusdirect.com
is also a well-know brand.
If you live in the USA try
Travel Guard USA.
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Get an eSIM with mobile data package
Don't rely on WiFi, download an eSIM with a mobile data package for the country you're visiting and stay connected. Most newer mobile phones can download a virtual SIM card so you don't need to buy a physical SIM, including iPhone 11 & later, see device compatibility list. Maya.net is a reliable eSIM data retailer with a 4.5 out of 5 Trustpilot rating and a range of packages including unlimited data.
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Get a Curve card for foreign travel
Most banks give you a poor exchange rate, then add a foreign transaction fee on top. A Curve MasterCard means no foreign transaction fees and gives you the mid-market exchange rate, at least up to a certain limit, £500 per month at time of writing. The money you spend on your Curve card goes straight onto one of your existing debit or credit cards.
How it works: 1. Download the Curve app for iPhone or Android. 2. Enter your details & they'll send you a Curve MasterCard - they send to the UK and most European addresses. 3. Link your existing credit & debit cards to the app, you can link up to two cards with the free version of Curve, I link my normal debit card and my normal credit card. 4. Now use the Curve MasterCard to buy things online or in person or take cash from ATMs, exactly like a normal MasterCard. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance in your own currency onto whichever debit or credit card is currently selected in the Curve app. You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction.
I have a Curve Blue card myself, it means I can buy a coffee on a foreign station on a card without being stung by fees and lousy exchange rates, just by tapping the Curve card on their card reader. The money goes through Curve to my normal debit card and is taken directly from my account (in fact I have the Curve card set up as payment card on Apple Pay on my iPhone, so can double-click my phone, let it do Face ID then tap the reader with the phone - even easier than digging a card out). I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I recommend it here because I think it's great. See details, download the app and get a Curve card, they'll give you £5 cashback through that link.
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Get a VPN for safe browsing. Why you need a VPN
When you're travelling you often use free WiFi in public places which may not be secure. A VPN encrypts your connection so it's always secure, even on unsecured WiFi. It also means you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geoblocking which a surprising number of websites apply. See VPNs & why you need one explained. ExpressVPN is a best buy with a 4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot ranking which I use myself - I've signed up as an ExpressVPN affiliate, and if you go with expressvpn.com using the links on this page, you should see a special deal, 3 months free with an annual subscription. I get a small commission to help support this site.
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Carry an Anker powerbank
Tickets, reservations, vaccination records and Interrail or Eurail passes are often held digitally on your mobile phone, so it's vital to keep it charged. I always carry an Anker powerbank which can recharge my phone several times over if I can't get to a power outlet. Buy from Amazon.co.uk or from buy from Amazon.com.