Travel Agents or Tour Guides for Tunisia
 

We're planning our first visit to Tunisia and hopefully Libya (if it opens up to Americans again) in mid August to early September. Could anyone recommend agents/guides to help us with the Tunisia portion? We have no problem working with agents located in Tunisia (as opposed to US, UK, etc.); for most of our holidays, we've used agents in-country. Price range is moderate; we're more interested in what we do and see than high-end western style hotels - just well-located, clean safe accommodations. Public transport is fine if that's workable. Also, how high is the level of harassment by local touts?
Thanks for your help.

With what do you need help in Tunisia? I visited last December, and I booked hotels directly via the Interet, and made travel arrangements while there. I posted a trip report that you can find by doing a search for "Tunisia" -- disappointingly, there are not many posts, and its an amazing destination. The level of harassment was ZERO -- and I have traveled extensively in North Africa and the Middle East (on a scale of 1-to-100, for sake of comparison, I would rank Morocco as 100, Turkish carpet dealers as 25 and Tunisia as 0). I relied exclusively on public transport, as I prefer to do wherever I travel, and its very, very easy.

Can't comment on Tunisia, but from a friend who visited Libya about 2-years ago -

Touts - 0; Tourists - 50

Very interesting country, great sites, but not yet up to welcoming tourists outside the capitol city where the hotels were fine to excellent. Outside, more in line with "state-run" - though I'm sure there are gems to be found as there are in so many countries.

They traveled with a group out of the UK.

Thanks for the help. It really is too bad that there are so few Tunisia posts. Maybe we can change that - and if we can get our visas, I can add to the Libya info too.
Thit Cho - your trip report was great. Would I be able to email you directly for more information? If you don't want to post your email address, you can mail me at [email protected] and let me know.
Thanks again.

Feel free to email me at thit_cho AT yahoo DOT com

But, I am leaving tomorrow for South Africa and Lesotho, and while I do intend to check emails, I'm not sure how frequently I will have computer access. But I will be checking emails today and tomorrow (at least until just prior to departure).

I visited Tunisia about 4 years ago and arranged everything on my own as well. I had a great time and agree with thit cho concerning the level of harassement, it really is nothing compared to Morocco, Turkey or Egypt. Shopkeepers will ask you to come look at their shop but a friendly no thanks and that ends it with a smile on their part. Transportation by train or shared taxi is very simple and people are glad to help you out if you have any questions.

I have a trip report at :
http://www.advweb.com/kelly/tunisia/index.shtml

Have a great trip, I hope you will get to go to Libya as well!

I traveled last November to Tunisia through a company located in Boston called Italian Exclusive Vacations. The owner formally worked for Donna Franca and closly associated with Italia airlines. The tour was wonderful and we hated to leave.