Sidi Bou Saïd

Sidi Bou Saïd sits on a cliff at Cape Carthage, about 20 km from central Tunis. It grew around the shrine of the 13th-century Sufi scholar Abu Said al-Baji, whose name it carries. A 1915 decree protected its architecture and fixed the white walls and blue doors and window grilles that define it today. The upper village is largely pedestrian: cobbled lanes lead past art galleries and craft shops to the historic Café des Délices terraces, which look down on the marina and across the gulf. Late afternoon is the most pleasant time, when the light softens and day-trip groups have left.