Village de Sidi Bou Saïd
Village de Sidi Bou Saïd : Harmonie architecturale et spirituelle en Méditerranée is part of the Tentative list of Tunisia in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.
Sidi Bou Said is a Mediterranean coastal village built on a hill. It is renowned for the sanctuary of Abu Said al-Baji and its townscape of blue and white buildings.
Map of Village de Sidi Bou Saïd
Load mapThe coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.
Community Reviews
Joel on the Road
The dossier for Sidi Bou Said speaks glowingly of an important Mediterranean hilltop town, with palaces and big houses and important religious shrines and so on. The reality (at least for our visit) was a typical Mediterranean tourist village, featuring a packed main street with souvenir stalls, Nutella crepe vendors and so on.
We spent an hour or so here and honestly didn’t find much of interest. It was cold and raining steadily during our visit, so it wasn’t the sparkling jewel we had semi-expected. The highlight for us was Dar El Annabi, a restored old mansion built in the traditional style. It was interesting to wander around, a felt like a very fancy version of Dars we had stayed in elsewhere in Tunisia.
Ultimately this is a thumbs down from me. I really don’t see any OUV, and with all the blue and white painted buildings, the vibe is a smaller and less impressive version of Mykonos or Oia on Santorini (the latter is mentioned as a similar example in the dossier). Forcing inscription here feels like adding Mykonos or Santorini, simply because they are Mykonos or Santorini.
Alongside the recent inscription of Djerba, it’s hard not to conclude that “let’s get WH status for our key tourist attractions” is the current strategy.
Getting there
It’s extremely easy to access, being one stop further along the train line from Carthage Hannibal station, where most visits to the Carthage site will start. There are buses along the main road here as well. Or if you’re feeling active, you can walk along the main road from Carthage. It’s about 45 minutes and not especially interesting, though you will go past a presidential palace where serious looking men with rifles will order you to cross the road away from the walls.
Read more from Joel on the Road here.
Community Likes
Site Info
- Full Name
- Village de Sidi Bou Saïd : Harmonie architecturale et spirituelle en Méditerranée
- Country
- Tunisia
- Added
- 2024
- Nominated for
- 2026
- Type
- Cultural
- Categories
- Urban landscape - Arabic and Middle Eastern
- Link
- By ID
Site History
2024 Added to Tentative List
Site Links
Visitors
39 Community Members have visited.