Arriving from Dougga aboard Wilson, I reached Sbeïtla in the early afternoon, after stopping in Makhtar. As in Dougga, I was greeted by a charming tourist police officer who told me where to buy my ticket for the museum and the ruins and where to sleep safely, in the parking lot of the Sufetula Hotel from where there is a beautiful view of the site. I waited until late afternoon before daring to show my nose under the relentless Tunisian summer sun, starting with the archaeological museum.

The museum is located just across from the entrance. Don't miss it, as it contains some very beautiful antique pieces, including a beautiful round altar table and engraved steles with very expressive funerary effigies.

By its vast extent and the relatively good condition of the buildings, the site would deserve to be listed, but hey, who am I to think that because ultimately it is only a question of personal taste, but still, walking alone in the shadow of the Arch of Diocletian, trampling the tall grass among the ancient houses, the olive oil presses, in the forum and the Capitol, when the sun sets on the horizon, is a pure delight. In summer, the stone acquires at that time an incomparable blond shine. The site is different from Dougga and to a lesser extent from Makhtar because it is completely flat and the wadi that borders it to the east is barely visible. And when you think that two millennia ago, several …

Sbeïtla is located slightly south of the center of northern Tunisia, as the countries map visually divides in two by the vast salt pan of Chott el Jerid. It’s on the north-south line between Dougga and Chott el Jerid some 100 km southwest of Kairouan. It’s a large roman remain with some near complete structures and a lot of lower structures. In total it shows the size of this once great city.

Arriving just an hour before closing time and even at Ramadan we weren’t very popular neither at the ticket counter nor the gate. The counter had practically been closed already, but er got tickets, and at the gate they told us that we couldn’t do it within the hour. Thus, we hasted along not really knowing which direction to take. Soon we had an uninvited “guide” with us speaking only a few words of English. After telling him a couple of times we could do this by ourselves we gave that up. He hasted along with us saying “mill, olive press, bathtub, fountain, church” and so he continued. After a while we had to admit he was in fact informative in his short language way. Arriving at the more complete structures he could tell us “Jupiter, Juno, Minerva”. In addition to these bigger structures the mosaic floors and mosaic bathtubs are impressive. And of course, the arc is great! It might be an entrance, but it might not?In the end we had to admit our hasty guide …

Sufetula ruins are quite big and some highlights as pictured but overall I found they aren't unique enough to be inscribed. Haven't we got enough Roman ruins already, better, more unique and really worth visiting.

The ticket office is across the entrance by the way, so if you just walk in they'll follow you to buy a ticket. Somehow they only do this to foreign guests which seems a little discriminating, and while I don't care about the difference in entrance ticket price the fact they can just waltz in but I get chased after with a buggy because there was nobody at the entrance made me feel like I dislike the place too...

And seeing that I spent most of the review ranting about something else I'll say that the arch is quite nice and you can see plus take pictures of it from outside the walls, but seeing that you came all the way I suppose you are entering the site proper.