You can certainly rent a car and drive yourselves. I did this (years ago) with no problem. I am unable to help with your other questions but I did notice $1400 flights on Alitalia from JFK to Tunis via Italy.

(1) When I visited, which was several years ago, before the escalation if fuel, I paid around US$700 from JFK (but I visited in low season (December), not Summer, when fares across the ocean are higher).

(2) I relied on public transport (train around Tunis to Carthage and Sibi Bou Said, and also train to El Jem), and then louages (shared taxis). The louages are cheap and frequent, and the driver can navigate much better than I could have in a rental car.

I used my Lonely Planet to visit the sites, and I don't recall any on-site guides, but then again, I visited in December, when I had the sites to myself. In Summer, there may be more visitors, and there may be guides. The only tricky site is Carthage, which is spread out, but the other UNESCO sites I visited (the Tunis medina, El Jem and Sousse) were very easy to visit w/o a guide. But, if you want more in-depth commentary, you may want to arrange for a guide.

Tunis is a great country, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. I visited several years ago, but I posted a trip report, with some photos, but it may be buried and tricky to find.

Michael

Thank you both so very much -- we are taking today and tonight to re-run some numbers and options.

The fuel costs are particularly painful -- thank you again. I will post again once we've made our go / no go decision!

I hope they crunch in the direction of Africa -- Tunis is a beautiful place. The second language is French, so you should brush up on your French if you have any.

I would encourage you to try and make it work...it is a beautiful and interesting country and honestly cheap compared to Europe...local transportation i.e. train and louges (sp) are there and pretty reliable. Avoid stopping in France as I simply could not believe how much our dollar did not buy. Good luck

Greetings! Thanks to all for the postings and information.

We are booked for a full week across Tunisia - not a beach vacation -- our goal is to visit smaller sites and towns and avoid the resort crowd.

I am wondering if anyone has any leads on coordinating a driver for a day.

I would want to leave from Tunis and have the flexibility of a driver to visit some of the sites in the north western part of the country. I have read that trains and public transport are reliable but would be challenging based on the proximity of sites but the amount of time of travel between them when trying to make it back to Tunis for the first 3 nights.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a driver / guide service that would pick us up, take us to sights and be a guide (English preferred, as I'm the only one who speaks French).

Ekscrunchy, apparently you referred my mother to some guides in preparation for her trip to China -- those arrangements were perfect, apparently. I would be looking for something similar.

Also, any recommendations on a company to use if we want to travel down for a 1 night camel ride overnight trip? Not too touristy feeling, though that might be part of the deal for a single night excursion.

Thank you very much for your help in advance!