Great tunisia holidays Literature

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1. Berrio says

   This is one of the few guide books I have read and not had to buy others for the same country by other authors/publishers. A guide book is just that – a “guide”, and nothing should be considered set in stone. The content is wide-ranging, appears to be thorough, and covers most of the places I will be visiting in the fall. I am wearing the pages thin from constant reading, and still find it very interesting and informative. Great book!

   December 31, 2009, 9:40 pm
2. Haig says

   All in all, I was very happy with this guide. It was the right size (not too thick, not too sparse), was very informative, and had great maps. I even liked the recommended routes (since Tunisia is small, it’s very possible to “do” the whole country in a month), if one can “do” a country at all without living there.

   Two recommendations I had for them. The first is that I did miss the recommended itineraries if you have 4 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, etc. It would have helped.

   The second and more important issue I had was with the authors. Yes, they had a token female author but she reviewed the more women-friendly places such as Sidi Bou Said. The amount of harassment we received wasn’t surprising, as I didn’t solely rely on Lonely Planet and read up on those issues; but it really wore us down over the three weeks (I was traveling with a female friend and we are both attractive women in our 20s and 30s.)

   My friend and I found ourselves in hysterics when the male author
   recommended that we sit down with men in a cafe and talk to them about their lives. Yeah right!! I come from Turkey, so I am in no way ignorant about Muslim tradition (although North African culture is obviously different than Turkish), but nearly every single man we talked to hit on us.

   That’s ok, that’s life. But I was infuriated to read that covering our heads would invite ridicule, because finally, in our last week, I started covering my head in Jerba and I felt an IMMEDIATELY positive difference. Yes, if I had been a tall blonde perhaps the reception wouldn’t have been the same, but is Lonely Planet only geared towards men and tall blonde women? What about Mediterranean types like myself who can easily pass as native Tunisians? I wish I had known beforehand and would have covered up the whole time (by the way, we dressed EXTREMELY modestly and after seeing how some tourist women acted in Tunisia, we are definitely sympathetic to the stereotypes the men have there towards women like us).

   Tunisia is a great place to visit and I still have to admit that this is a good guide but ladies, read up on your own. Or should I write my own guide for women?

   January 1, 2010, 3:41 am
3. Qazi says

   It’s light and compact and has some useful maps. We used the hotel suggestions but in most cases the ratings were off, if it says 3 stars assume 1.5-2 stars. Take ear plugs. Almost all of the hotels were in noisy areas. Many of the suggested eating places were also off the mark. Extensive menus would be met with three or four options available. The guides to sights and towns to visit were very good. We used the walking tours and maps to navigate through the country quite comfortably. Assume you’ll be ripped off by every taxi driver and you’ll be ok. It’s still very inexpensive to travel in Tunisia. And this book is very handy to have along for the ride.

   January 1, 2010, 9:23 am
4. Slemons says

   Not too many detailed travel books for travellers to Tunisia – a hidden gem in North Africa. Have not been there in decades, but am planning a trip with three other girlfriends next year and I was so happy that Lonely Planet had a new ‘Bible’ on Tunisia. They have done their usual super job with it’s Tunisia 2007 Edition. We want to avoid travelling there with a group tour and with LP one can plan their trip completely — know where your small hotel will be located within the cities or with a view; and, as always, complete coverage of historical sites & the really great beaches. I also love the layout of LP — it’s so easy to read & find information! Most of the other travel books are much heavier and the reading layout is annoying!

   January 1, 2010, 4:03 pm
5. Eggleton says

   This guide is all about restaurants, patisseries, cafes… The description of the sights is often poor. The writter is unable to give you a good visualization of the places to visit. Hotels descriptions are also poor and detailess. So, if your intention is to stuff yourself with food this is your guide, for sure. But if you are interested in places to visit, forget it.

   January 1, 2010, 9:57 pm
6. Dreyfus says

   tunisia was lonely by night thats when i read the book it was good .

   January 2, 2010, 3:41 am
7. Nunez says

   To my regret, I must say that I have not come across any Lonely Planet guidebook as poor as this one – and indeed, I have quite a substantial collection of them, which I have used worldwide. The book surely manages to cover a great deal about Tunisia’s culture and society, the country’s arts, etc., with plenty of historical facts and data, filled with rich information and thrilling anecdotes, all written in good prose and well edited. Indeed, it is a good introductory book about Tunisia, nice for the armchair traveller, and useful for those wishing to grab bits of pieces and data in a rush in order to know the basics about this beautiful country. Yet, as a guidebook, which is supposed to help the visitor in getting around the place in comfort and style, this book features rather poorly. When I found myself looking for a hotel in Tunis (and that should be quite a primary task for this kind of publication !), I discovered that the guidebook makes no mention whatsoever of most top-hotels, such as the Hilton, the Radisson, and the Best Western. The coverage on places to stay is extremely poor, not even enabling one to know which part of the city to head to for different budgets. As for restaurants, the situation was even worse. Needless to say, the book did not help in finding any entertainment in the daytime or at night, suffice it to say that no mention is made as regards the role of renowned entertainment spots like Hammamet or Soussa for Tunis-based travellers and locals. Information on basic things such as changing money was simply not there either, thus leaving the visitor unaware of the simple fact that, in order to change local currency back into foreign currency, an exchange receipt of ATM receipt must be produced… The information on visas is accurate, but the author misses out mentioning the fact that most nationals do not need a visa to start with ! All in all, the author has put together a nice book about Tunisia, but not so useful for those visiting Tunisia – which is very different. As such, you may well wish to buy it in order to get a feeling of the country, but not bother taking it with you once you go.

   January 2, 2010, 10:01 am
8. Munsey says

   I’m so glad I took this book to Tunisia with me. My friend had another travel guide, but we ended up using this one most of the time. We used it to read about the history of the El Jem coliseum when we visited. We used the maps to find our way out of the Medina in Sousse. We found a charming French hotel in Tunis with it. We even avoided a carpet tout scam in Kairouan because of it! It was a great resource.

   January 2, 2010, 3:35 pm
9. Moreno says

   This is the worst of many LP guidebooks we have purchased. We were wondering if the author actually went to Tunisia! Much of the information was dead wrong, especially about the transportation and hotel recommendations. This misinformation put us into quite a potentially dangerous yet miserable predicament in Sfax, where we were stranded. The are no reliable transportation connections to the south (to the Sahara), which is completely contrary to the information in this book! We are seasoned travelers and eventually negotiated our way out of the situations we planned in advance using this guidebook (Hammamet, by the way Mr. Willett, was incredibly wonderful!). We felt this book was a complete waste of money and nearly cost us having a great holiday in Tunisia. A great country to visit, “Morocco light”, but you are better off without this book.

   January 2, 2010, 10:02 pm

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