The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
FIVE TEMPTING TUNISIAN HOLIDAYS
HAMMAMET
The holidays mentioned in the introduction to this piece are a seven-night, all-inclusive stay at the five-star AQI Manar hotel, from £527pp – or a getaway of the same length and board rate at the three-star AQI Venus Beach, from £387pp. Both breaks involve a flight from Gatwick on October 7, via Tui (020 3451 2688; tui.co.uk).
SOUSSE
Tunisia’s third-biggest city is much more than a beach destination. It still boasts extensive medieval fortifications, and its medina is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. That said, it has a broad selection of luxury waterfront hotels, too. A seven-night, all-inclusive stay at the five-star Sousse Pearl Marriott Resort & Spa, flying from Bristol on October 6, costs from £708pp, via easyJet Holidays (0330 551 5165; easyjet.com/holidays).
MONASTIR
Just 12 miles south of Sousse, Monastir plays a similarly relaxing game, with properties such as the four-star Hotel Liberty Resort, which overlooks the Mediterranean from the district of Skanes – a narrow isthmus, now largely devoted to holiday accommodation, due east of the city. A seven-night, all-inclusive stay, flying from Manchester on October 11, starts at £445pp, through On The Beach
(0871 474 3000; onthebeach.co.uk).
DJERBA
Gleaming just offshore in the Gulf of Gabes, near the southerly city of Sfax, the island of Djerba has quite a history. Greek mythologists posit it as the Island of the Lotus-Eaters, visited by Odysseus in The Odyssey; it spent the best part of a century as part of the kingdom of Sicily; and it displays its medieval battle scars in the 14th-century Borj el Kebir fortress. Nowadays, it is a popular sunspot for French and German tourists, and while you cannot fly there directly from the UK, the quality of its hotels makes the journey worthwhile. A one-week holiday in the five-star Hasdrubal Prestige Thalassa & Spa, flying from London Heathrow via Frankfurt on October 15, costs from £2,026pp, via Expedia (020 3024 8211; expedia.co.uk).
ROMAN TUNISIA
The country’s ancient past shines most brightly in Tunis and El Djem. Jules Verne (020 3811 6201; vjv.com) includes both in its Grand Tour of Tunisia – a 10-night group tour that also peers at the past in Dougga, Kerkouane, Tabarka, Hammamet and Tozeur. The next departure will be on November 4, from £1,545pp, including flights.