Hammamet Holidays

Hammamet is known as Tunisia’s number-one beach town. It became popular in the Twenties with European artists and writers, and since then everyone from Wallis Simpson to Sophia Loren has visited its golden shores. Hammamet’s all geared up for holidays spent sunning yourself on the sands but, at the same time, it’s also managed to hold on to that Moorish mystique which made it so popular in the first place.

A big part of Hammamet’s appeal is the 10-kilometre-long beach of talc-soft sand that curls around the Cap-Bon peninsula. Thanks to the calm Mediterranean Sea, the beach has bona fide family credentials and there are plenty of watersports centres offering reasonably priced rides.

Jutting from the coastline is Hammamet’s medina. Inside its Medieval ramparts is a maze of alleyways, home to the chaotic souks filled with rug sellers, spice markets, hammams and ornate riads. North Africa’s oldest mosque, the Great Mosque, is here, as is the Kasbah, where you get widescreen sea views from the top.

Outside the medina is the new town, where pedestrianised streets and boulevards pack in authentic seafood restaurants and lively bars. And if you want to party late into the night, on the outskirts of town you’ll find some of the best clubs this side of Ibiza.