Sidi Bou Saïd
A blue-and-white village on a cliff above the Gulf of Tunis.
Duration
2 hrs – 3 hrs
Best time
Early morning, or late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The village is white and blue by decree: Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger, a painter and musicologist who settled there in the early twentieth century, obtained an order in 1915 imposing those two colours on every façade. The precise blue is that of the joinery and the grilles.
It sits on a cliff above the Gulf of Tunis, and it drew Klee, Macke and Foucault. The Café des Nattes, at the top of the main street, is reached up a staircase and serves tea with pine nuts. Erlanger's house, Ennejma Ezzahra, can be visited and houses a centre for Arab music.
Getting there
TGM line from Tunis Marine, forty minutes, then a ten-minute climb on foot from the station.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
Rules on site
The village is saturated in the middle of the day, especially at weekends and on cruise-ship days. The main street is steep and cobbled.