Renting a Holiday Apartment in Tunis: Prices, Areas and How to Book Direct
We rent out a one-bedroom apartment in Aïn Zaghouan Nord, and the questions we get before booking are almost always the same three: what should this cost, which part of Tunis should I be in, and how do I pay for it without something going wrong. So here it is written down: what apartment rentals in Tunis look like, what you should expect to pay, and why booking direct works out better for both sides.
The three kinds of apartment you'll find in Tunis
Tunisian listings use their own shorthand, and it helps to know it before you start browsing. Apartments are described as S+1, S+2, S+3 and so on: the number is bedrooms, and the "S" (salon) is the living room. So an S+1 is a one-bedroom with a proper living area — ours is an S+1 — and an S+2 is a two-bedroom. A studio is just a studio.
Beyond the notation, there are three genuinely different markets:
- Holiday lets (location courte durée) — furnished, cleaned, night-by-night or week-by-week. This is what almost every visitor wants, and it's what you'll find on the booking platforms and on direct-booking sites like ours.
- Furnished monthly rentals — the same apartments, but rented for a month or more at a much lower nightly rate. If you're working remotely, house-hunting, or here for family reasons, this is the sweet spot and it's badly under-advertised.
- Long unfurnished leases — the local market, usually a year, quoted in dinars per month, almost always found through a neighbourhood agent or word of mouth rather than online. Landlords typically want several months up front. Not realistic for a holiday.
What you should expect to pay
Prices move a lot with season and area, so treat these as broad bands rather than quotes. Summer — roughly late June through August — is when the whole coast fills up with Tunisian families and the diaspora coming home, and rates in the northern suburbs can comfortably double. Shoulder season (April–June, September–October) is the best value and, honestly, the nicest weather.
| Stay type | Typical range (approx.) | What that usually gets you |
|---|---|---|
| Budget short stay, city or inland suburb | Lower end | Older building, basic furnishing, often no lift or AC in every room |
| Well-equipped one-bedroom, northern suburbs, off-peak | Mid range | Air conditioning, fast Wi-Fi, equipped kitchen, secure building |
| Same apartment, July–August | Roughly double off-peak | Same apartment, peak-season pricing, minimum-stay rules common |
| Monthly (28+ nights) | Steep discount per night | Best value by far; ask directly, it's rarely advertised |
Two things to budget for beyond the nightly rate: a cleaning fee (one-off, charged nearly everywhere) and, on the platforms, a guest service fee that typically adds something in the low-to-mid teens as a percentage of your total. That second one is the single biggest reason a direct booking comes out cheaper — it simply doesn't exist.
Which area to rent in
This matters more in Tunis than in most cities, because the good beaches, the ruins and the airport are all in the north while the Medina and the museums are in the centre, and a badly chosen base means an hour of taxis a day. We wrote a full breakdown in our guide to where to stay in Tunis, but the short version: La Marsa for an all-round first visit, Gammarth for beach-and-hotel comfort, Sidi Bou Saïd for a short romantic stay, and Aïn Zaghouan Nord if you want a quiet residential base with everything within about fifteen minutes — Carthage and La Marsa beach around ten minutes away, Sidi Bou Saïd around fifteen, and the airport ten to fifteen.
What to check before you commit
Nobody sends us this list, so here it is. Ask before you pay, not after.
- Air conditioning, and in which rooms. "Climatisé" sometimes means one unit in the living room. In July that matters enormously.
- Wi-Fi, actually tested. Ask for a speed screenshot if you plan to work.
- Water and power. Brief supply interruptions happen in some suburbs during the hottest weeks. A good host will tell you honestly whether the building has a rooftop tank.
- Lift and floor. Fourth floor with no lift is a real possibility and rarely mentioned.
- Total price in writing. Nightly rate, cleaning fee, any extra-guest fee, deposit, and what's refundable.
- Who meets you, and when. Late flights are normal here; confirm someone will actually be there.
- Passport. Hosts are expected to record guests' ID. Being asked for a passport copy is routine, not a red flag.
Paying, deposits and the dinar
The Tunisian dinar is a closed currency: you can't buy it before you arrive, and you can't take it out with you. Practically, that means you should pay for the apartment itself by card, in advance, in a currency you already hold — and bring or withdraw dinars for daily life. Card acceptance is fine in supermarkets and larger restaurants and patchy everywhere else, so keep cash for taxis, cafés, market stalls and the greengrocer. On that note: taxis here are metered and cheap when the meter is running, and there's a whole set of local rules worth knowing — we covered them in taxi prices in Tunisia and in our guide to getting in from Tunis-Carthage airport.
Be wary of any host who wants the full amount by bank transfer or cash to a stranger before you've seen a confirmation. A legitimate direct booking still gives you a proper confirmation, a named contact, a fixed address and a card receipt.
Why we ask people to book direct
We list on the platforms too, and we're glad they exist — they're how most people find us. But the same apartment on the same dates costs you less when you book it here, because there's no platform service fee on top and we pass part of what we'd otherwise pay in commission straight back to you: a direct discount on every stay, a bigger one from a week, and the largest on stays of 28 nights or more. You also talk to us directly before you arrive, which is how an airport pickup gets arranged for the right hour and the fridge isn't empty.
Our apartment is an S+1 in Aïn Zaghouan Nord: ten to fifteen minutes from the airport, about ten from the beach at La Marsa, quiet street, real air conditioning, working Wi-Fi, and us on the other end of the phone. If those are the dates you're looking at, have a look at what's free.