Things to do in Monastir
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Monastir
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is the sightseeing season, warming from the high teens to the mid twenties, with golf in its prime.
June is the favourite month: sea properly warm, everything open, peak crowds and prices not yet arrived.
High summer: highs beyond 30 degrees, warmest sea, busiest beaches, and the Monastir and El Jem festivals.
Autumn keeps the warm sea with fewer crowds; October turns cooler and brings the year's heaviest rain late in the month.
Winter is mild, quiet and cheap, with highs in the mid teens, more rain and a sea too cold for most visitors.
What's on
- International Festival of Monastir July to August, dates vary
Summer music, theatre and performance in and around the Ribat, the town's main cultural festival.
- El Jem International Symphonic Music Festival July to early August, dates vary
Classical concerts inside the Roman amphitheatre at El Jem, an hour from Monastir, worth planning a stay around.
- Ramadan Starts February in the 2027 cycle, dates vary by year
Town cafes run reduced daytime hours; hotel restaurants serve guests and marina evenings fill after iftar.
Best things to do in Monastir
Ribat of Monastir
A fortress monastery founded in 796, with an Islamic arts museum and a watchtower giving the best view in town.
Bourguiba Mausoleum
A gilded dome and twin minarets over the tomb of Tunisia's first president, reached by a long ceremonial avenue.
Medina of Monastir
A small walled old town of ramparts and historic gates, best at its older rear lanes, good for an hour of wandering.
Hanafi Mosque of Bourguiba
Monastir's grand 1963 mosque, with pink marble columns and a golden mosaic mihrab, holding up to a thousand people.
Great Mosque of Monastir
A 9th century mosque rebuilt in the 11th, austere and historic, completing the oldest cluster beside the Ribat.
Musee Habib Bourguiba
Bourguiba's own summer palace at Skanes, displaying his furniture, photographs and personal effects where he used them.
Monastir Museum of Folk Arts and Traditions
A small house museum of Sahel costume and jewellery, best on embroidered wedding garments, in 30 shaded minutes.
Marina Cap Monastir
The town's evening promenade, fishing boats and cafes under the lit Ribat, and the place to compare Kuriat boat trips.
Where to stay in Monastir
Skanes
beach, family and golf trips
The resort strip: beach frontage, pools, thalasso spas, both golf courses nearby and the Bourguiba museum, a taxi from the sights.
Marina and Old Town
sightseeing, short stays and low budgets
The Ribat, medina, mausoleum and marina on foot, real town restaurants and cafes, and the metro and louages at hand.
Think twice about
- Tourist road beyond the Skanes cluster
Isolated properties there depend on hotel transport for beach, town and sights, with neither strip walkability nor town life.
Best restaurants in Monastir
Restaurant Le Pirate
The town's proven seafood splurge by the fishing port, with dorade and sea bass ordered by weight and grilled.
Le Chandelier
The marina's dressed up restaurant lounge, Mediterranean plates and cocktails at sunset over the boats.
Dar Chraka
The town's traditional table for brik, ojja with merguez and couscous, the proper Tunisian lunch of a sightseeing day.
Marina The Captain
A reliable marina seafood terrace over the boats, practised with big tables sharing whole fish and mixed grills.
Oriento
Levantine mezze and grills at the marina, maqluba, kibbeh and fattoush, the change of pace after days of Tunisian food.
Cafe et Restaurant El Grotte
An inexpensive local cafe restaurant on the Karaia road, simple plates and near free coffee for a beach day lunch.
Café & Resto Marrakech
A Moroccan cafe at the marina, tajines and bastilla at cheap prices in the same harbour light as the splurge rooms.
Papadam Food Monastir
Loaded Tunisian fast food sandwiches, burgers and pizza on Avenue 14 Janvier, how young Monastir eats at lunch.
Outdoor things to do in Monastir
Qaraiya Beach
The town beach below the corniche, white sand and the Ribat as backdrop, busiest and liveliest in high season.
Skanes Beach
A long, shallow, sandy resort beach, gentle enough for small children, with groomed hotel sections along the strip.
Bateau Pirate Barberousse Monastir
A full day pirate boat to the Kuriat Islands with music, games, a swim stop and soft drinks, loud in the best way.
Kuriat Islands
Protected low islands reached by private boat, with shipwreck snorkelling, clear water, lunch and nesting sea turtles.
Palm Links Golf Course
An 18 hole links and parkland course opposite the Skanes hotels, the easy round to fit inside a beach holiday.
Flamingo Golf Course
The championship 18 holes above the coast, scenic and demanding, with a clubhouse terrace over olive groves and sea.
Amphitheatre of El Jem
Africa's largest Roman monument, a near intact amphitheatre an hour from Monastir, without Rome's queues or prices.
Skifa Kahla
Mahdia's massive Fatimid gate, a vaulted passage into a white old town and blue fishing harbour down the coast.
Best hotels in Monastir
Royal Thalassa Monastir
The established Skanes five star, built around a serious thalasso centre, with a private beach and indoor pools.
Hilton Skanes Monastir Beach Resort
Opened in 2023, the strip's newest resort, with three pools, a saltwater indoor pool, thalasso spa and strong service.
Iberostar Selection Kuriat Palace
A five star resort that often prices mid range locally, praised for cleanliness, food and staff, the value pick.
Sahara Beach Aquapark Resort
A big family village resort of pools, slides and kids clubs on the beach, the child happiness per dinar champion.
Marina Cap Monastir- Appart'Hotel
Kitchenette apartments on the marina, ten minutes on foot from the Ribat, the best located budget base in town.
Hotel Mezri
A simple, low priced town hotel with a pool, for travellers who want the medina and louages, not a resort, outside.
Is Monastir expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TND 120 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TND 280 a person |
| Splurge | TND 650 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Bateau Pirate Barberousse Monastir: a few days ahead
- Kuriat Islands: a few days ahead
- Palm Links Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Flamingo Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Great Mosque of Kairouan: a few days ahead
- Royal Thalassa Monastir: weeks ahead
- Hilton Skanes Monastir Beach Resort: weeks ahead
- Iberostar Selection Kuriat Palace: weeks ahead
- Book Skanes hotels weeks ahead for July, August and school holidays.
- Book golf tee times days ahead in spring and autumn, and the private Kuriat boat days ahead in summer.
- Book El Jem festival concert tickets ahead; almost everything else in Monastir is walk up.
Is Monastir safe?
- Avoid demonstrations and keep up with local media; a countrywide state of emergency remains in effect.
- Harassment reports increase in summer, in busy public places at night and on quieter beaches and parks by day; use hotel-arranged taxis after dark.
- Watch for pickpockets in crowded souks, keep passport copies on you, and use hotel taxis after dark. Ambulance is 190.
Monastir travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Agree the total before fish by weight, a taxi ride or a boat trip is confirmed.
- In the medinas, haggle friendly and low; the first price is never the price.
- Check which airport a booking uses: Monastir airport is ten minutes away, Enfidha is about 45.
Getting around Monastir: public transport and more
- Walk the old town cluster: Ribat, medina, mausoleum and marina are minutes apart.
- Use yellow metered taxis for Skanes, the Bourguiba museum and the airport, meter on or price agreed first.
- Ride the Sahel metro to Sousse and Mahdia, and louages from their destination stations to El Jem and Kairouan.
Who Monastir suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Monastir your trip
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