Do you know, where Tunisia really is? It’s neither close to Indonesia nor Malaysia. The reason, why I am telling this, is because whenever I mentioned about my trip to Tunisia to some of my friends and family members they all looked very confused and were like is this another name for Indonesia/Malaysia. Even the guy sitting at Immigration counter, New Delhi International airport made some weird face and said “God knows, where is this place? Never even heard about it”. So yeah, Tunisia is not a very popular travel Destination for Indians.
Tunisia is a North African country which has a coastline around the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and famous for their ancient Roman historical sites. The largest hot desert of the world, Sahara Desert also passes through this beautiful country.
Berber Village, Chenini, Sahara Desert
This country was not really in my list of countries to travel until one of Leticia’s friend from Germany, decided to get married in Tunisia. In fact, it’s because of him that we planned to travel Tunisia as she hasn’t met him for more than a decade. But, of course being an Indian it’s not easy to travel as we need a visa for almost all countries in the world for which you need to plan well in advance. But somehow this trip happened and let me tell you, it’s one of my best travel experiences so far. Let us see now why Tunisia should be on your travel list if you are an Indian traveller.
- NO VISA REQUIRED– I repeat NO VISA! Whenever I started doing research about Tunisian tourist visa, I was surprised to see that INDIANS DO NOT NEED ANY VISA if you are just travelling for tourism purpose for 90 days. C’mon, this rarely happens. Even Thailand, which is very popular among Indians because of the easy visa process and beaches, requires the visa on arrival. But in Tunisia, all you need is a valid passport and you are good to go there. This definitely made me more excited about the country.
- SPICY FAST FOOD- Tunisian fast food is very delicious and spicy which will not make you miss spicy flavours from India. One type of chilli sauce called Harissa, which is extremely spicy and makes the food taste amazing is one of the popular spices. Malfouf and Libanais are most popular street food over there and the fast food is mostly under 200 bucks.
Libanais with some fries
- A Heaven for travel Bloggers & Nature enthusiasts- Tunisia is not a very big country but still has a lot to offer. From enjoying magnificent blue Mediterranean beaches to nights capturing stars in the Sahara Desert. The beauty of Sidi Bou Saiid, the blue city near the sea coast could be compared to Santorini, Greece. Once you rent a car in Tunis, while doing road trip, there are several spots which are breathtaking and perfect for taking pictures.
Carthage Archeological Site
- Locals love India- One day while I was doing sightseeing, in one of the shops I heard Bollywood song playing, I stopped by and I asked about it, the shop owner was super happy to know that I am an Indian and he started telling me how much he loves Bollywood movies and our actors. Several such incidents happened during the whole trip which made me feel like home. Tunisians are extremely sweet and very good hosts. They are extremely helpful and it’s safe to say, if you are travelling solo, you would end up making a lot of Tunisian friends.
Fethi, who helped us with later part of the trip
- Budget-Friendly- When I was planning the trip, after visa the second thing we like to do is to define budget and check prices for several things like Hotels, transportation, food bills etc. Travelling to Tunisia is not very cheap but definitely much better than travelling any of the European countries or even some Asian countries. Transportation is extremely cheap, sometimes while taking a taxi, it happened that I paid almost same as I would pay in India or even less for the same kilometres. You can easily travel to Tunisia for 7-10 days in a budget of 80-90K if you plan your trip well in advance using some money-saving techniques, like booking hotels and flights well in advance and choosing dates wisely.
Beautiful view of Mediterranean Sea, Sidi Bou Saiid
To know more about our trip to Tunisia you can always check other blogs and you can always write to us for any help/tips you need to plan your trip to Tunisia at happeetravelers@gmail.com
