Hammamet was Tunisia’s first proper beach resort, and after sixty years it still knows exactly what it is doing. Long stretches of soft sand, gardens heavy with jasmine, a walled medina with its feet in the sea — and Enfidha airport forty minutes up the road, which is where your flight will most likely land. It is an unhurried sort of place. Here is what to do, where to stay and where to eat well.
Why come to Hammamet?
If you want the sea warm and the days simple, this is the place. The beaches are among the best in the country, the water stays swimmable from May right through October, and there are more hotels with a spa than you could work your way through in a lifetime. People come to do very little, and Hammamet is good at that. But there is a medina to wander, Cap Bon to explore, and a pace that suits families as well as couples. If it is your first trip to Tunisia, start here.
What to do in Hammamet
The beaches
Kilometres of fine sand shelving gently into the sea — no shingle, no sudden drop, nothing to catch you out. Hotels and beach bars line most of it. The stretch north of the medina is the quieter end if you would rather read than be sold a jet ski.
The medina and the Spanish fort
The old medina sits inside its ramparts right at the water’s edge, and the 15th-century kasbah looks straight out to sea. It is small — you can walk the lot in an hour — but go up on the walls at the end of the afternoon, when the light softens and the fishing boats come back in. It is the prettiest thing on this coast.
Yasmine Hammamet
A few kilometres south, the modern resort gathers the marina, the big hotels, most of the thalasso centres and the Médina Mediterranea complex. This is where the evening happens — dinner, a wander, a drink by the boats — before you head back to a quiet beach in the morning.
Thalassotherapy and spas
Hammamet is the thalasso capital of Tunisia, and treatments cost a fraction of what you would pay at home. Seawater therapy, massage, hammam, proper fitness programmes — and all of it open through the winter. Which is rather the point: while the rain is doing its work back home, you can be floating in heated seawater for the price of a night out.
Golf
Two good courses among the orange groves, playable all winter. If you have ever squelched round a waterlogged fairway in February, you will understand the appeal. Green fees are modest.
Where to stay in Hammamet
The widest choice of hotels in Tunisia, from big beachfront resorts with their own thalasso centre to smaller, quieter places near the medina. Book early for July and August — everybody has the same idea. 👉 Browse our selection of hotels in Hammamet.
Where to eat in Hammamet
Grilled fish facing the water, generous Tunisian home cooking, and plenty of international kitchens around the marina. Order a brik to start — crisp pastry with a runny egg inside, and yes, it will go down your chin, everybody’s does. Finish with mint tea and pine nuts. 👉 Our favourite restaurants in Hammamet.
Days out from Hammamet
- Nabeul — pottery town, fifteen minutes away, with a big market on Fridays.
- Cap Bon — Kelibia, the vineyards and a string of fishing villages.
- Tunis — the capital and its UNESCO medina, about an hour by road. See our guide to visiting Tunis.
- Carthage and Sidi Bou Saïd — the ancient site and the blue-and-white village, comfortably done in a day.
Practical bits
- Getting there: Enfidha-Hammamet is about 40 minutes away and takes most UK flights; Tunis-Carthage is roughly an hour.
- When to go: May to October for swimming. The thalasso centres and the golf run all year, and winter days are mild.
- How long: a week is about right — beach, spa, and a couple of days out.
- Money: the dinar is a closed currency. You cannot buy it before you travel and you cannot bring it home, so change some on arrival and keep cash for the souks.
- Entry rules: worth a quick check with the Foreign Office before you book, as these things move.
Questions people ask
How far is Hammamet from Enfidha airport?
About 40 kilometres — 35 to 45 minutes. Most hotels will arrange a transfer, and taxis are cheap enough that it hardly matters.
Is Hammamet good with children?
Very. The beaches shelve gently, distances are short, the welcome is warm, and a great many hotels have a kids’ club and more than one pool. It is the most family-minded resort in the country.
Is it worth coming in winter?
For swimming, no. For everything else, yes — the spas and golf courses stay open, the days are mild, the crowds have gone and the prices drop a long way.
Hammamet or Sousse?
Hammamet is greener, quieter, and the better bet for spas and golf. Sousse has the bigger old town and rather more going on after dark. Both have fine beaches. Hammamet is the gentler of the two.