Is insurance required and if yes, where does one obtain car insurance?

There will be an office in the port as you get off the boat.
Queue > Police > Customs (TVIP) > change money > buy insurance > drive out.

Send us an update as I've not done it for years.

Tom:

Yes, your American driver licence will be sufficient to allow you to drive in Tunisia, but don't expect to find anyone there who is familiar with a Texas DL, or knows how to read the (English language) fine print on it. Hence, you need an IDP.

An International Driving Permit (IDP) is a translation of your home driver licence into numerous different languages, including French and Arabic, both of which are spoken in Tunisia.

For sure, spend the $20 at an AAA office (or via their website) to get an IDP. You can get away without it in places like Canada, the UK, maybe even Germany or Switzerland, but it would be imprudent to visit "lesser developed countries" such as Tunisia without an official translation of your home driver licence - and that is exactly what an IDP is, it is an internationally recognized and accepted translation of your home driver licence.

Michael

Little to be lost getting an IDP I suppose (I'd get one for trans-continental), but in all my years of travel in North Africa no cop/etc has ever asked to see my driving license like they do when hiring a vehicle or back home when you get pulled.

In North Africa your passport's entry stamp + temporary vehicle import permit (TVIP) and maybe border insurance are what counts, and are all recognised by locals.

you are good to go with your Texas DL, cops in Tunisia have seen it many times as a lot of Tunisians living in the US and holding a US DL are coming back every summer and they do drive with it.

have a nice trip

Very interesting thread!
I often take vacation around Christmas/New year and looking for interesting places where to I can bring and ride my motorcycle in nice weather for 2-3 weeks without spending a fortune. I have been in southern Spain a few times and to Morocco two times with beautiful riding weather so far. I love Morocco! Now I am thinking about Tunisia next Christmas if it is safe enough. Is Tunisia similar to Morocco or does it have their own culture and traditions?
I really hope that more of North Africa will open up for motorcycle vacations.

Anders.J

Hi,

"Now I am thinking about Tunisia next Christmas if it is safe enough. Is Tunisia similar to Morocco or does it have their own culture and traditions? "

Yes Tunisia is safe enough to travel, just don't go near Algerian border near Kasserine (se map: https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/co...isie/#securite)
I've been there October 2016 without any problem and since the situation had improved.
Tunisia is different than Morocco but both are North Africa countries!
Have a nice trip,
RR.

Remember Ben Guerdane just before the Libyan border?

Interesting article

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ben-g...-moncef-kartas

Hi Anders:

Your thoughts - and your travel experiences in Morocco - are identical to mine. I just finished a month in Morocco in February 2019, and would like to go to Tunisia during the 2019 - 2020 winter.

I've spent a lot of time in Algeria and Libya for work, back in the early 2000s. From that experience I can say that Tunisian culture (and North African culture in general) is similar to Moroccan culture to the same extent that (for example) Swedish culture is similar to Norwegian or Finnish culture, or Canadian culture is similar to American culture. There are broad similarities, but also nuanced differences.

Personally, I suspect that Tunisia is a safe place to visit as a solo rider as long as one exercises good judgement. That's not unlike saying that New York City is a safe place to visit as long as one exercises good judgement.

As you know, Morocco is pretty well policed - the government there is very stable, and the national police and military do a heck of a good job of keeping the place secure for visitors. Tunisia is still in flux, and not as well organized or policed as Morocco - but I believe the Tunisians are trying their best to keep the country secure.

Both the UK and USA foreign offices publish periodically updated maps showing where it is and is not recommended to visit in Tunisia. I think that the USA also publishes maps showing where it is and is not recommended to visit in the cities of New York and Los Angeles as well, if you get my drift.

Maybe our paths might cross next winter.

Michael

Interesting!
RR.

I am taking a group to Tunisia in late October, 5 vehicles. Will write a thorough debrief after for those interested. I have read the previous reports here and will just update what the current situation is at that point.

Hi there
I know the thread is old, but I feel it is better to use this than to open a new one.

I plan to ride my BMW F650GS (2006) from Switzerland to Tunisia (ferry Genova- Tunis) and tour Tunisia in October 2021.

Tunisia is basically composed of 3 zones. The northern coast with more than 600 mm rain a year, blue forests, hills and many roman ruins. The middle part with 300-600 mm rain, where the olive trees are planted at the double distance, with many Berber and Arabic vestiges. The south with very low rain, salt lakes (Chot el Jerid is the largest in Africa), palmy oasis, sandy dunes, rocky hills, dry rivers and generous people.

I would like to tour the country counterclockwise using roads, small trails and off-road parts. We could also take a guide to go south to the Grand Erg.

I speak French and a tiny bit of Arabic, and know the country since my mother lived in the south for 10 years. But it will be my first trip by motorbike there.

I am used to couchsurfing and to camp or use smaller hostels. I have already email contact with 16 motorcycling clubs and got tips and offers to ride a bit together.

According to the swiss embassy, the security situation is still similar with the one posted previously in this thread. Don't go to close to the Libyan border, nor at some spots of the Algerian one, or you might be kidnapped. Curiously none of my local contact mentioned that, but of course I don't want to try free holidays in Libya.

I am vaccinated against Covid19. The situation is tensed, since oxygen supplied started to fail in the country, having 200 death per day for 11 millions inhabitants by mid July. The peak seemed to be attained around the 20th of July but as you know nothing is constant and there could always be a new variant. I am monitoring the situation.

The country is not shutting its borders - since tourism is a vital industry - but some bigger cities are not visitable. So not a perfect situation but good enough in my opinion for vaccinated, cautious, assistance insurance holding, bikers that will not always mix with people.

I am still flexible with the dates and itinerary.

It would be nice to have one ore more companions during the whole trip or only for the wilder south part. We could also have a guide for a tour in the real desert.

Please join or share your experience with me.

One thing to be sure of - that your country, I assume Switzerland, does not say "Do not go to Tunisia" or similar in their country information. If they do, your assistance insurance is INVALID.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Our group had been hoping for a return to Tunisia in Oct 2021. The only reason we have put it off until next year is due to UK putting Tunisia on its 'red' list, meaning two weeks mandatory lock down on return. You will be fine in Tunisia. Many more Tunisians speak decent English than you would expect. Head to Douz which is the gateway to the Grand Erg and very traveller friendly. Even better is Ksar Ghilane oasis. Tiny place but cheap accommodations, swimming in the spring pool and even cold at the cafe. If you want some local support, speak to Ilyes at SaharanSky.

Before you get too far along making plans to visit Tunisia, let me tell you about my experience there last week - it was not at all pleasant.

I entered Tunisia with my Canadian-registered motorcycle, by ferry in March of 2020, before the COVID pandemic began. By April of 2020, COVID had been declared a pandemic, all ferry services to or from Tunisia had been cancelled, and air services had been severely curtailed.

I left Tunisia on April 5 2020, on the one and only repatriation flight that ever operated between Tunisia and Canada. I left my motorcycle in storage in Tunisia - there was no way to export it from Tunisia for any price. The Tunisian government announced that it would grant exceptions to its normal policy that tourists had to take their vehicle out with them when they left.

I returned to Tunisia September 9th 2021 to pick up the motorcycle. Tunisian Customs advised me that I had to pay a penalty of 1,700 dinars (€520, USD $600) because I had left the motorcycle in the country for 17 months. The customs officials were very polite and courteous, and almost apologetic about this... they said that I could appeal the fine, but that the appeal would take several weeks, and I could not take the motorcycle out of the country prior to the appeal. So, I paid the 1,700 dinar fine.

I arrived at the Tunis ferry terminal the next day to catch a ferry from Tunis to Italy. The Customs officials at the port told me that I had to pay an additional fine of 2,200 dinars (€700, USD $800) before I could leave, because my 'circulation permit' that allowed operation of the Canadian-plated motorcycle in Tunisia had expired in May 2020. I explained that the motorcycle had not been used since I left in April of 2020, it had been in storage until yesterday, and I also explained that I had already paid a fine to Customs of 1,700 dinars.

That made no difference, I was told - the 1,700 dinar fine was for a different form of customs violation than the 2,200 dinar fine. I had no choice but to pay the 2,200 dinar fine because the ferry was leaving in 2 hours, and Customs advised me that they would be obliged to seize the motorcycle if I did not pay. So I paid up, getting the money from an ATM that was conveniently located right beside the customs office.

I have no doubt that in each case, the fine was paid to the government, there was no hanky-panky on the part of any of the Customs officials - numerous forms were filled out, official receipts were computer-generated, etc.

So, in short, it cost me 3,900 dinars - about €1,220 or USD $1,400 - to buy back my own motorcycle from the Tunisian government, even though it was impossible for me to have exported it when I left in April 2020, and impossible for me to return to Tunisia prior to September 2021 (the latter being because of Tunisian regulations about entry into the country during the COVID pandemic).

I am very sad and disappointed about the above fines. I'm not the only person who had to leave a vehicle behind when they evacuated at the start of the pandemic - the Customs people told me that there were over 1,000 vehicles left behind in similar circumstances, mostly by French citizens. The government of Tunisia could easily have issued instructions to Customs to waive penalties for people who left during the first stages of the pandemic, but instead, the government has chosen to extract as much money as possible from those visitors.

For the above reasons, I don't recommend that fellow travelers visit Tunisia. The government will simply treat you as a cash dispenser if they have the opportunity to do so.

Michael