Travel info for visiting Sidi Bou Said in Tunisia

Based about twenty kilometres north of Tunis, Sidi Bou Said is a charming village nestled on a small hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It is named after an ancient Muslim religious figure who lived in the village in the 13th century (the saint Sidi Bou Said). More recently, the village has earned the nickname “the balcony overlooking the Mediterranean” or “the city of blue and white” because of the brightness of its whitewashed houses. These are adorned with beautiful blue wooden doors and shutters in the colours of the Mediterranean. With its white domes, this Tunisian destination compares perfectly with the perched villages of the Greek island of Santorini.

The foundation of the village of Sidi Bou Said dates back about a thousand years. It was built under the imperial Berber dynasty of the Almoravid in the 11th and 12th centuries as an observation post and advance guard. During this medieval period, the Moorish empire ruled over a large part of the Maghreb, the Sahel and the Iberian Peninsula. Watchtowers and defensive walls were erected to protect the Gulf of Tunis from outside attacks. In the 13th century, Sidi Bou Said became a place of spirituality of Sufism (esoteric, mystical, spiritual and initiatory current of the Muslim world) embodied by the saint Sidi Bou Said (from his full name Abu Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Al-Tamimi Al-Baji). This site is naturally a living teaching place of Islam. Attached to the historical ruins of Carthage, the village was gradually taken over by the elite of the Tunisian capital from the 17th century onwards, who built sumptuous holiday homes in Islamic-Andalusian architecture.

Sidi Bou Said is a picturesque and romantic village with a bewitching atmosphere. It includes ancient palaces and villas accessible through a labyrinth of cobbled streets and alleys that are a pleasure to explore on foot. Discovered by wealthy Europeans at the end of the 19th century, Sidi Bou Said’s rich heritage was soon threatened by the increasing urbanisation of its land. At the beginning of the 20th century, the French baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger fell in love with the place and had a sumptuous palace built in the local architectural style. He named it Ennejma Ezzhara (“Star of Venus” in Arabic) and the aristocrat contributed to the city’s classification. This Afro-Islamic cultural centre attracts many artists, writers, painters and musicians from all over the world. The notable visits of Chateaubriand, Gustave Flaubert, Paul Klee and Simone de Beauvoir have all contributed to making Sidi Bou Said a world-renowned place of inspiration.