If you’re thinking about travelling around Tunisia by campervan or motorhome, here’s what it’s really like.
Tunisia might not be the first place that comes to mind for vanlife, but after spending almost eight weeks travelling the country in our campervan, we can say it’s a destination that will surprise you.
From ancient ruins and desert landscapes to vibrant cities and welcoming locals, Tunisia has a lot to offer. But travelling here in a motorhome or campervan is a very different experience to Europe and it does take a bit of adjusting to.
We absolutely loved touring Tunisia in our van!
Download our FREE 2-page Tunisia Road Trip Checklist HERE
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Purchasing through these links supports our work and allows us to continue bringing you travel guides, like this, for free. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a commission from qualifying sales. Thank you for your support.
Why visit Tunisa by Campervan
For us, Tunisia ticked a few important boxes.
It’s outside the Schengen area, which makes it an appealing option for long-term travellers in Europe. It’s warmer than most of Europe during the winter months, and overall, it’s a relatively affordable destination.
But beyond that, there’s a sense of wild exploration and fascination here. It’s not overrun with vanlifers, and there’s far less information available compared to other destinations. That alone makes it feel like more of an adventure.
Before You Go: Planning Tips for Your Tunisia Road Trip
Before you arrive in Tunisia, there are a few practical things worth organising in advance. The process isn’t difficult, but it’s a bit different to travelling around Europe, so it helps to know what to expect.
Documents you need
You’ll need a passport with at least 6 months validity. Many nationalities, including UK, European, US, Australia & NZ passport holders, can enter visa-free for up to 90 days. Do check the latest requirements for your passport before you travel.
When you arrive in Tunisia, you may be asked for proof of onward travel. We had booked a fully refundable and changeable ferry ticket, in case we wanted to stay longer or leave earlier. However, I did speak to a German lady travelling with her family who didn’t have a return ticket and they got in OK.
Documents for Your Vehicle
If you’re bringing your own campervan or motorhome into Tunisia, you’ll come by ferry from Italy or France. Your ferry will arrive at La Goulette, the main port of the capital city of Tunis. On arrival, you will need to temporarily import your vehicle into Tunisia
This involves completing some paperwork on arrival, which links your vehicle to your passport. Essentially, your van is “registered” as being in the country with you, and it must leave when you do.
After we passed through passport control, we drove into a large shed, where Sue was instructed to go with the vehicle documents (registration and insurance) to a series of offices and booths, where I also had to fill out an online form on my phone (thank goodness we have the Holafly eSIM which connected to the local network as soon as we got close to the port).
The online form generated a QR code, then I had to go to another office to show that, and I was then given another stamp in my passport, and a piece of paper the “Autorisation de Circulation pour un Vehicule Automobile” which we needed to carry as we were driving around the country.
You’ll return this form when you leave the country, it is stamped, and you’ll get another stamp in your passport to say that you have taken the vehicle out of the country.
Vehicle and Travel Insurance
Make sure that your vehicle is insured for Tunisia. Our German registered vehicle is insured in Germany, and Tunisia wasn’t included in our original policy. We were able to include it on the policy at no extra charge.
Travel insurance is something we wouldn’t travel without, and Tunisia is no exception. We use Covermore for our travel & medical insurance.
Make sure your policy covers you for medical expenses, travel disruptions, and any activities you’re planning while in the country.
If you’re travelling with a campervan, it’s also worth checking what’s covered in terms of your vehicle and personal belongings.
Driving in Tunisia
Driving in Tunisia is a bit of a mixed experience. On the positive side, the motorways are excellent. They’re well maintained, relatively quiet, and the tolls are super inexpensive compared to Europe.
Once you leave the motorways, though, things change.
Speed humps are everywhere! They are often unmarked and sometimes quite harsh, so you need to stay alert! We bounced over a few we weren’t expecting – OUCH! Some of the roads we drove along had a lot of rough patches and potholes. Unlike in Europe, there weren’t any warning signs for these – they just snuck up on us.
You’ll also be sharing the road with a wide mix of traffic, including pedestrians, overloaded trucks, water tankers, and lots of horse and donkey carts in rural areas.
In the south, as you head into the Sahara Desert, it’s more remote. Long stretches of road, sand blowing across the road, and strong winds can all make driving a bit more difficult.
Overall, it’s very doable, it’s just different enough and it takes a little time to adjust.
Fuel
Fuel is readily available and you’ll find fuel stations along the motorways and in larger towns and cities. Fuel is really affordable here, and surprisingly we didn’t notice a change in fuel price (diesel) from when we arrived mid February to when we left in April.
Diesel was 2.205 TD which is about €0.70 – about a third of the price it is in Europe.
Camping in Tunisia
Wild camping in Tunisia
Overnight parking in our campervan was one of our biggest surprises.
We found that wild camping is not only possible in Tunisia, its quite widely accepted, particularly outside of major cities and tourist areas. There are plenty of places where you can pull up for the night and enjoy some quiet surroundings.
We use the Park4Night app to find places to wild camp. We found beautiful places to wild camp on Djerba Island, and around some of the many Berber Ksour in the Sahara.
However, it’s quite common for police to stop by and check on you. These visits were straightforward the police would just take a photo of our car number plate (licence plate) and our passports. They also asked where we had come from and where we were heading next. It’s really just a quick check of who we were and what we were doing, but it’s something to be aware of.
We recommend you read recent reviews on the Park4Night app to know whether you can expect a police visit or to be moved on. In Sbeitla we were escorted to a nearby Hotel to stay in their carpark. For 50 Dinar! (That’s around €16 – at least it included Electricity and a water fill point).
Paid park-ups and Campsites in Tunisia
There were a couple of times where we stayed in towns, in a paid carpark overnight, El Jem, Kairouan, Monastir and even the capital Tunis. These carparks were centrally located and secure.
You will find campsites available, and while facilities can vary, they can be a good option if you need access to services like water, waste water disposal and laundry.
Safety in Tunisia
Safety is something many people are concerned about when it comes to Tunisia. We had several comments on our YouTube videos from viewers who were worried about our safety.
In reality, we felt comfortable travelling throughout the country. We visited cities, smaller towns, and remote areas, and even walked around the capital at night, and at no point did we feel unsafe.
You will notice a very visible police presence, including checkpoints on major roads. These are a normal part of travelling here. We were only stopped at checkpoints a handful of times.
We joked that it was often as if they wanted to practice their English. They would usually ask us where we are from, welcome us to Tunisia and send us on our way. Overall, Tunisia felt friendly and welcoming, and we got used the security presence quickly.
Reality of travelling Tunisia by Campervan – what the tourist brochures don’t tell you
Rubbish/Trash
Sadly, one of the things we noticed a lot in Tunisia is the rubbish everywhere. We drove through some towns that were swept very clean, but they were in the minority. From beaches, to deserts and even in some towns, there is a lot of rubbish lying around, especially plastic bottles, and the ubiquitous blue plastic bags that are used at fruit & vegetable markets.
You will find large skip bins along the road side, so we always found it quite easy to dispose of our rubbish. In a few places we found plastic bottle collection points, which was particularly helpful after we’d done a beach clean up around our campsite on Djerba Island!
Stray dogs and cats
Yes, this is another big issue. There are stray cats in all the towns, and lots of stray dogs roaming the countryside. The cats seem to be quite well looked after by locals, but we saw a LOT of very skinny dogs.
Most of the dogs we encountered seemed very wary of people. We always carry dog food in the van to feed stray dogs, and in Tunisia more than anywhere the dogs wouldn’t come up to us. They did really appreciate the food though!
Best time to travel Tunisia by motorhome
Tunisia is beautiful in the late winter and early spring. We visited from mid-February until mid-April. We had a few chilly days when we were far inland (especially around Sbeitla and Dougga) but most of the time the weather was really pleasant.
Summers get very hot here, which would make campervan travel quite unpleasant.
Tunisia by Campervan – Essential Information
Shopping for Groceries
We found it easy to shop for the groceries that we needed. There are local markets, small shops, and supermarkets in most towns and cities. However, there were were some foods that we were unable to get. The range is a lot smaller than Europe.
Having been a French colony, there are some imported French foodstuffs that are readily available, but other things we never saw.
Fresh produce is widely available, although it tended to be seasonal. Some winter vegetables (eg cauliflower, red onions), that we found early on, we couldn’t find later.
We joked about the “daily hunt” for bread. In many places, bakeries did not have a big sign out the front, rather, they were like little holes in the wall. The bread here is CHEAP though. We were buying baguettes for between 200 – 250 millimes – that’s around €0.06 or 10c Australian!
Eating out
If you’re travelling by campervan you’ll probably be like us, eating most meals in the campervan, with the odd restaurant meal or takeaway. We arrived in Tunisia just before Ramadan, which meant for the first four weeks, daily life was quite different.
During the day, all the cafes and restaurants were closed (except a couple of tourist restaurants). But after sunset, everything comes alive again, with busy restaurants opening in the evenings. The supermarkets and fresh produce markets remained open throughout Ramadan.
Drinking Water
You’ll find various water filling points around the country, town water, wells and springs (even in the desert!). We would fill our campervan water tanks with this water, but didn’t drink it or use it for tea/coffee. In most places it was quite salty, so we suspect it may have come from desalination plants.
Bottled water is readily available in supermarkets, so we kept a good stock on hand.
Currency
The currency here is the Tunisian Dinar (TD). What’s interesting about this currency, is that unlike Euros, Dollars or Pounds, it is divided into 1,000 millimes, rather than 100 cents or pence. That took a bit of getting used to! You’ll see prices written in the thousands. So, 8,000 is 8 Dinar. 4,490 TD is 4 and a half dinar.
We would recommend brushing up on your French numbers before you come. Market stall holders will tell you the price in French, but they very rarely write it down, or show you on a calculator like we became used to in places like Albania. You can find ATMs in cities and large towns but many of them have a withdrawal limit of 200 – 400 dinar per transaction. We were charged a 10 dinar fee per transaction at every ATM we used.
Budgeting and costs
Tunisia is definitely an affordable destination for campervan travel, especially compared to Europe. We spent 53 nights in the country, and free camped 38 nights, 8 nights in paid carparks and 7 nights in campsites.
Including the cost of ferries to and from Tunisia, and the additional travel/health insurance policy we needed to take out, we spent around €320 per week here.
Tunisia is very much a cash based economy. The only places we were able to pay by card were in some supermarkets and fuel stations.
Phone and Internet
We found that mobile data was generally good in cities and towns, although coverage can be more limited in remote desert areas. Having said that, there were only a couple of places where we were completely out of range.
Using the Holafly eSIM was particularly convenient for us, especially when we needed data immediately on arrival for the vehicle entry process.
We were unsure whether our Starlink would work here in Tunisia, but we had no problems connecting every couple of days.
Watch our Tunisia by Campervan video
We cover all these points, and more, in our Tunisia by Campervan video on our YouTube channel. You’ll also find our travel vlogs from our time in Tunisia in this playlist.
Final thoughts
Vanlife in Tunisia isn’t as straightforward as it is in Europe. But for us, that was part of the attraction – the adventure! It requires a bit more flexibility, awareness, and patience.
But in return, you’ll get a unique and rewarding travel experience. You’ll see completely different sights and meet people who are genuinely welcoming. Don’t forget to download our free Tunisia Road Trip Checklist to help you plan your own trip.
If you’re looking for something a little different, perhaps you’ve already spent a winter in your van in Morocco or Türkiye, Tunisia is well worth considering.
Found this Tunisia by Campervan guide helpful? Please Contact Us if you have any questions about it.
Why not Buy us a Coffee to say thanks.