Sfax Medina

The medina of Sfax sits behind walls first built in the ninth century under the Aghlabids and largely rebuilt since, and it is unlike Tunis or Sousse in one important respect: almost nobody visits it. It functions as the working market quarter of an industrial port city, with souks for cloth, spices, metalwork and produce serving local people rather than tourists. The Great Mosque of 849 stands at its centre and the Dar Jellouli museum occupies a merchant house.

What you actually see

• The walls - the ninth-century Aghlabid circuit still enclosing the quarter.
• The Great Mosque - founded in 849, with a stepped minaret.
• The working souks - markets serving the city rather than visitors.
• Dar Jellouli - a seventeenth-century merchant house holding a folk arts museum.

When to go

October to May is comfortable; summer on this coast is hot and humid. Mornings are when the souks are busiest. Friday afternoons are quiet.

Honest expectations

There is very little set up for visitors: no signage, few guides and almost no tourist facilities. The medina is workaday and parts are run down. The mosque interior is closed to non-Muslims.

Nearby

The Kerkennah Islands are offshore, and El Jem is north.