Mahdia
Mahdia is a town on the Sahel coast, built on a narrow cape that runs out into the sea. The old quarter fills the point, entered through one deep vaulted gate in the wall across the neck, and beyond the houses the ground ends at a lighthouse above the water.

- Time to allow
- One night
- Region
- The Sahel
Visiting Mahdia
The cape was chosen because it could be shut. A wall was thrown across the narrow neck and a single gate left in it, a vaulted passage deep enough to be a tunnel, and everything on the seaward side of that gate is the old town. The lanes inside are white and narrow, the square in front of the great mosque is the one open space, and a fort stands at the far end above the rocks.
Mahdia still works as a fishing port, and the boats come into the harbour on the north side of the neck. The beaches run away south of the town, which is the other reason to stop. The old quarter is small enough to walk end to end, and that walk finishes at the lighthouse with the sea on three sides.
What to see
- The deep vaulted gate through the town wall
- The old quarter out on the cape
- The fort above the rocks at the point
- The fishing harbour
- The beaches south of the town
Along the way in the Sahel
The olive coast: Sousse, Monastir, and the best preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world.
Start with Mahdia.
Tell us it belongs on your route and we shape the rest around your dates. We reply within one business day, US Eastern time. After a twenty minute call, a day by day proposal follows within 48 hours, with the hotels named and a firm price per person.
Starting takes two minutes. We ask for your rough dates, who is travelling and where to reply, and nothing about payment or passports.
Straight to our team in Tunisia.
Your dates, your pace and the budget, in twenty minutes.
The planning guide is free, and it asks for an email address and nothing else. It covers safety in plain terms, when to go, what it costs, getting there from the United States and one sample itinerary.
We reply within one business day, US Eastern time.
