How To Rent A Car In Tunisia: A Complete Guide To Safety, Prices, And More
Should I Rent A Car In Tunisia?
Tunisia can easily turn into one of your favorite places to explore if you know where to go and how to get there efficiently. Before spending twenty some days there with my partner, we couldn’t decide if getting a rental car in Tunisia was the right move or not. On one hand it’s an added cost and risk, but on the other it offered the promise more freedom and flexibility. In the end we found it not only worth it to rent a car in Tunisia but necessary (for us) to see all of the epic things on our Tunisian bucket list.
If you’ve traveled to Tunisia to stick to the cities and main tourists attractions, you can absolutely get by without a car by relying on public transport (or hitchhiking!). But if you’re there to see the fantastic ruins, troglodyte homes, Star Wars film locations and oases on your own terms, you’ll need to rent a car. Many of these sites lay off the beaten path in remote locations that the louage skips over. Besides, renting a car in Tunisia is fairly safe, very affordable, and a whole lot of fun.
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Where To Rent A Car In Tunisia
Some of the top places to rent a car in Tunisia are Sousse and Monestir. For those flying into Tunis you may be surprised to see the capital city not on the list, but that’s because it’s such a chaotic place to drive. Sure, if you’re an excellent (or maybe just fearless?) driver who is resistant to anxiety and able to keep your calm, you can consider renting a car in Tunis. (There are so many incredible things to do there without a rental car!) If you’re someone who succumbs to basic human worries and hails from a country with stricter road rules, consider renting from Sousse or Monestir.
Rent A Car In Monestir, Tunisia
We decided to rent a car in Monestir, Tunisia due to the more relaxed pace and layout of the beach-side city. After seeing all there was to see in Tunis, Carthage, and Sidi Bou Saïd we took a louage down to Monestir. A “louage” is an inexpensive van transport that sits around nine people and can be found almost anywhere in the country. Our louage ride from Tunis to Monestir took around two hours and costed $4.21 USD per person. Though the louage station experience was quite hectic, once on board it was an easy and safe ride.
Once in Monestir you can reach the airport to pick up the rental by taxi, metro, or Bolt (similar to an Uber). We took the metro from right outside the Monestir Media and the twenty minute ride costed a whopping $0.31 USD per person. The only tourists onboard, the metro felt safe overall and we found our stop by asking friendly locals and following others lugging suitcases.
Rent A Car In Tunisia On The Cheap
The airport in Monestir is home to a variety of car rental services, but we knew that heading out to the desert on our own created the need for a reliable vehicle. Still on a budget and not wanting anything too big, we were able to use DiscoverCars to find a four door car for $35.79 USD a day (full insurance coverage included), coming to $322.14 USD total for our nine day rental period. I highly recommend browsing the DiscoverCars website for yourself to compare car deals and providers. There you’ll also be able to read rental car reviews from real people and find a vehicle that fits your needs. To keep costs low, return the rental to the same location that you picked it up from, or else you’ll have to pay an additional one-way fee.
What Type Of Car To Rent In Tunisia
In general, it’s important to know that renting an automatic will always be more expensive than a stick shift, so opt for a manual if you’re able to. Otherwise a standard four door vehicle will do; our small vehicle was easily able to handle our sandy-road desert excursion. Going 4X4ing deep in the Sahara is a different story — you’ll want to rent a different vehicle, four wheeler, or buggy in your destination or join a guided tour.
How To Rent A Car In Tunisia – What To Know Ahead Of Time
Renting a car in Tunisia from an airport is generally a good idea if you don’t speak Tunisian or French, considering English and other languages are not prominent in outside areas. Even then we experienced miscommunication with the rental car worker that could have resulted in fines and fees, but thankfully did not.
Wash, Vacuum, And Fill Up Your Rental Car Upon Return
Before pulling out of the airport parking lot we asked the rental worker if we needed to wash and vacuum the car before returning it. She spoke some English, but it seemed like she might not understand the question, so we asked it in a few different ways, demonstrating with our hands. Each time that we asked she replied with a firm “no,” so we figured no washing or vacuuming was necessary. When we returned to Monestir with the rental car the first thing that same woman asked was if we had washed and vacuumed the car. When we replied that we had not, she looked upset. When she laid eyes on the car covered in dust and bugs — natural proof of our desert adventure — the disappointment shot through the roof. She inspected the car and found no real issues, but she shook her head with a sour scour the entire time.
Once back in the office, she told us that she’d have to charge us a fee for not washing the car (!!!) and for not returning it with the right amount of gas, even though it was only a tiny notch off. Luckily the credit card reader wasn’t working so she gave up on trying to charge the extra fees. Lesson learned: In Tunisia, always wash and vacuum the car before returning it and make sure the gas is filled to exactly the same level it was at when you picked it up in the first place.
Document The Rental Car Thoroughly At Pickup
Be sure to take photos and even a video of the rental vehicle, inside and out, before pulling out of the parking lot with it. You want to make sure that you have any scratches, dings, or imperfections on the car documented and that the rental company makes note of them as well.
In Morocco I heard stories of people coming back with already-had scratches on the car just to be charged for them because they weren’t documented sufficiently. It’s also important to get really clear on what type of fuel the vehicle takes; putting in the wrong type can be a thousand dollar or more mistake. In Tunisia it’s most likely that the car takes “essonse,” but better to check before you go.
Is It Safe To Rent A Car In Tunisia?
It felt very safe to rent a car in Tunisia. Unlike Morocco, we were never worried that the car was going to get damaged or broken into since we avoided driving in places like Tunis. The bigger cities require more attention and focus: expect cars to drive in the center of the road, straddling the middle line; pull out from side streets with no warning; and speed on past you if you’re going to slow. The multi-lane traffic circles can be especially busy with children playing by the street, locals casually stepping in front of cars, and drivers making swift moves with no turn signal to light the way. Expect people to always be in the street and it’ll make your driving experience easier.
Once we got into the slower moving, desert parts of the country things were different. There were a lot less people to watch out for in between cities, though occasionally you might slow down to let a heard of goats cross the street. More than anything be aware of speed bumps — they’re all over the place and could do some damage if hit too fast.
Road Conditions In Tunisia
Most of the roads that we traversed in Tunisia were in excellent condition, unlike the High Atlas Mountain roads in Morocco. The highways were well kept and the wide desert roads were just as nice. Occasionally you would catch the wind sweeping the sand over the road, giving it the illusion of something much smaller and mysterious, but we just slowed down a bit before continuing on as usual. The only times the roads felt questionable was when we drove down unpaved sand roads to reach our accommodation for the night, but even those were manageable without four wheel drive. Go at your own pace, follow traffic laws, and get most of your driving done in the daytime.
Paying Tolls In Tunisia
Our most favorite places to drive were in the desert and on the highways, which you can take to reach said desert. The highways are straight-forward and easy to follow, though you’ll run into the occasional toll booth along the way. Keep some change on you so that you’re able to pay quickly and easily. If you don’t understand how much the attendant is asking for, you can do what we did and offer a hand filled with coins, letting them take what they need. Our tolls ran anywhere from $0.30 to a couple bucks along the way. The exchanges were so fast and so small it was hard to keep track!
Police Stops In Tunisia
During our nine days of driving in Tunisia we only got pulled over once. And it wasn’t personal — the police were pulling over almost everyone who passed by. Although nervous at first, we immediately relaxed when we realized that most of their police stops seem like an opportunity to say “hi” and spend some time chatting. The police officer asked us where we were from, flashed us a smile, and sent us on our way. While driving in Tunisia you could be asked for your drivers license, passport, or international drivers license, though we were never asked for any documentation outside of car pickup. (Even then we didn’t have to present an international drivers license, though officially you’re supposed to.)
Gas In Tunisia
Gas stations are prevalent in cities, but once you reach the desert areas they become sparse. Your best bet is to fill up as often as possible, reducing the chance that you’ll run out of gas along the way. If you get really desperate, you’ll see a bunch of roadside stands where it looks like people are unofficially funneling gas into cars by hand. That’s because they are! These small stations are quite common and less expensive than formal gas stations. We used two of them during our time in Tunisia and had no issues, though we learned that the gas could be smuggled from across neighboring boarders.
Using An eSIM For Maps In Tunisia
For road tripping in Tunisia we used Yesim, a highly rated, affordable global eSIM card provider. We needed the service so that we could use Google Maps during our road trip, and it led us in the right direction most of the time. If you don’t purchase any local data, the Maps.me app is a great free resource that allows you to download large maps and use them offline, though I would recommend spending the money on an eSIM.
Enjoy An Epic Tunisian Road Trip
Looking back we can’t imagine spending so much time in Tunisia without renting a car. We would have missed the things that excite us most: ancient kasars, beautifully crumbling ruins, lush oases, and the warmth and expansive hospitality of the desert people. Though I’m quite the penny pincher myself, a few hundred bucks was more than worth it to go on a road trip adventure of a lifetime. Tunisia is absolutely one of the best places to roadtrip, transporting you to a time, place, and pace that’s often unheard of in our busy modern lives.
