Bulla Regia

Bulla Regia was an ordinary prosperous Roman town in the wheat country of the northwest, and what makes it extraordinary is the local answer to summer heat: its wealthier residents built a second storey of their houses below ground, cool vaulted rooms around a sunken colonnaded courtyard, and it is those underground floors that survived when everything above them fell. You walk down steps into intact rooms where the mosaics are still on the floor where they were laid, in situ rather than lifted to a museum, with the light falling from the courtyard above exactly as it was meant to. The House of the Hunt and the House of Amphitrite are the finest. Above ground there are baths, a theatre and a forum, and the site sits in open country with almost no visitors, so you are often alone in the underground rooms.

What you actually see

• The underground villas - subterranean rooms built to escape the summer heat.
• Mosaics in situ - floors still where they were laid, notably in the House of the Hunt.
• The House of Amphitrite - its sea-goddess mosaic, the best preserved on the site.
• The baths and theatre - the above-ground public buildings of the town.

When to go

October to May avoids the fierce summer of the interior, though the underground rooms stay cool year-round, which was rather the point. Mornings give the best light down the courtyard shafts. It is quiet almost whenever you go.

Honest expectations

It is a long way from the coastal resorts, two and a half hours from Tunis, and most visitors on package holidays never come, which is why it is empty. There is little interpretation on site and the guardians who offer to show you round expect a tip. Some underground rooms are gated or flooded after rain. Combining it with Dougga makes the journey worthwhile.

Nearby

Dougga's Roman city is to the southeast; Ain Draham and the Kroumirie forests are north.