Historical places you must visit in Tunisia

The walls of the mighty Roman amphitheatre of El Djem dwarf the surrounding modern town.

This incredibly well-preserved Roman relic is Tunisia's big sightseeing highlight, one of the most popular things to do on day trips from the coastal resorts, and one of the best examples of amphitheatre architecture left standing in the world.

The monumental bulk of the walls is a reminder of Rome's once-mighty grip across North Africa.

You can still walk the corridors under the arena, just like the gladiators did. Or, climb up to the top seating tiers and sit staring across the arena, imagining the battles that took place below.

Carthage

Antoine Baths at Carthage

Once Rome's major rival, Carthage was the city of the seafaring Phoenicians forever memorialized in the Punic Wars.

The atmospheric ruins of this ancient town now sit beside the sea amid the suburbs of Tunis, a warning that even the greatest cities can be reduced to rubble.

The ruins are extensive but spread out, and if you've been lucky enough to visit ancient city sites such as Ephesus in Turkey or Volubilis in? Morocco, which are well-preserved, Carthage can seem quite underwhelming at first.

But these UNESCO World-Heritage-listed remnants are hugely important historically, and any tourist interested in North Africa's ancient past shouldn't miss a visit here.

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Tunisia has no shortage of Roman ruins, but Bulla Regia near Tabarka is the country's most interesting and intriguing site.

Here, the Roman inhabitants coped with the harsh summer climate by ingeniously building their villas underground, which has left the city houses incredibly well preserved today.

For history lovers, this is a unique opportunity to walk through actual Roman houses, with their walls still intact, and with some of the expansive floor mosaics still in situ. It's a glimpse of the residential life of the ancient world that you often don't see.

Easily reached on a day trip from both the Tunisian capital of Tunis and the northern beach town of Tabarka, Dougga is one of the most important Roman sites in North Africa.

The site is feted by travellers both for the well-preserved state of its main monuments and its tranquil rural setting amid rolling countryside.

It may seem far off the main routes today, but this expansive, hilltop site was once a thriving town, first settled in the 6th century BCE and today containing remnants leftover from all its major historical eras, from Berber and Punic to Roman and Byzantine.

The Roman-era ruins here are the grandest of Dougga's monuments.

Come here to admire the Roman Theater, Forum, and numerous temples with their pillars still raised in place but don't forget to also explore the numerous bath complexes and remains of villas.

This Berber village, with its troglodyte housing, was made famous when one of the dwellings (the Hotel Sidi Driss) was used as a location during the filming of the original Star Wars movie.

Matmata's traditional troglodyte-style housing is its main attraction. To escape the extreme heat of the area's arid plateau, locals dug deep into the ground, excavating a large circular pit below the surface, which would act as a courtyard, and then burrowed into the pit walls to hollow out cave rooms for their living spaces.

Today, some of the houses are open for visits and/or provide accommodation for travellers who want to experience a night of cave-living.

?Enfidaville War Cemetery

Enfidaville War Cemetery in Tunisia is a World War Two Commonwealth cemetery housing the graves of 1,551 soldiers who died in the course of the North Africa Campaign, particularly the Tunisia Campaign. Of these graves, 88 are unidentified.

The Tunisia Campaign was fought between Allied and Axis forces from 1942 to 1943.. The area in which the Enfidaville War Cemetery is located and the surrounding area of Tarkouna saw particularly fierce fighting near the end of this campaign, with most of those buried there having perished in the period of March to May 1943.