Tunis holds the largest Roman mosaic collection on earth, a palace where a French baron catalogued Arab music, and Hafsid stucco cut by Andalusian refugees. Three days of museums, ceramic zaouias, galleries and live malouf across the medina and the Ville Nouvelle.
The world's densest collection of Roman mosaics, laid out inside a 15th-century Hafsid palace: the Virgil portrait from Sousse, the Triumph of Neptune, and whole floors lifted from Dougga. Reopened September 2023.
Jean-Émile Resplandy's 1902 art nouveau confection in white stucco, known locally as the wedding cake, anchors Avenue Habib Bourguiba. The 1,350-seat hall opens before performances; the facade rewards a slow circuit.
The restored 1860s palace of reformer Kheireddine Pasha, now the city museum: Italianate marble staircases, painted wooden ceilings and rotating exhibits tracing how Tunis grew from its 698 AD founding outward.
The 1897 cathedral mixes Byzantine, Gothic and Moorish detail on one front, facing the Ibn Khaldoun statue. Around it stand the 1930s art deco blocks that made colonial Tunis a catalogue of European styles.
Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger built this cliffside palace in 1912 and wrote a six-volume study of Arab music inside it. His instrument collection, painted salons and a concert hall overlook the Gulf of Tunis.
Reached by the blue staircase at the top of the village, this 18th-century café keeps its reed mats and low benches. Klee, Macke and Moilliet sketched here in April 1914 during the trip that changed their palettes.
A lived-in 18th-century family house opened to visitors: tiled courtyards, a working hammam, mannequins in wedding dress and a roof terrace that frames the whole white-and-blue village against the sea.
Tunisia's largest arts complex, opened 2018 on Avenue Mohamed V: an 1,800-seat opera house, the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, cinemas and rehearsal studios for the national ballet and symphony.
A 15th-century tomb-and-school complex named for a ceramicist from Andalusia, now the national ceramics museum. Green-tiled cupolas, Qallaline panels and Nabeul ware fill rooms almost nobody else is in.
The 1891 covered market on Rue Charles de Gaulle: fish laid on ice under iron trusses, harissa sold by weight, pyramids of olives and preserved lemons. Traders shut down around 14:00, earlier on Sundays.
An 18th-century merchant's palace off Rue Sidi Kassem, arranged as domestic scenes: bridal chambers, embroidery, jewellery and the chechia-maker's tools, set around a marble courtyard with a working fountain.
Vaulted 17th-century room built over three saints' tombs, with mat-covered platforms and mint tea served with pine nuts. Malouf players — the Andalusian suite tradition — perform most evenings upstairs.