Best Time to Visit Carthage & Sidi Bou Said: Weather & Heat by Month

Which time of year suits which trip

If you want	Choose	Keep in mind
The best overall balance	May	Warm in the sun at midday, at about 27°C
Cooler days for walking the ruins	April	About 22°C, with rain on about six days
A warm fall trip	October	About 27°C, more rainy days than May, and sunset around 5:45 p.m.
A tour during a summer beach holiday	June to September	About 31 to 35°C, so carry plenty of water
Mild days in winter	November to March	Rain on six to eight days a month, and short days
A tour that includes the Bardo Museum	Any day except Monday	The museum is closed on Mondays

May and October are almost the same temperature, at about 27°C, but they are different months to be out all day. In May the sun sets around 7:20 p.m. at Sidi Bou Said and it rains on about four days in the month. In October the sun sets around 5:45 p.m. and it rains on about six days. April is the cooler choice for walking, at about 22°C, with rain on about six days and the sun setting around 6:50 p.m.

Other experiences you might enjoy

Beyond Carthage and Sidi Bou Said, the same part of Tunisia has the souks of the Tunis medina, the Roman mosaics of the Bardo Museum, the Roman town of Dougga inland, the amphitheatre at El Jem, the Great Mosque of Kairouan and the beaches of Hammamet.

Heat, rain and daylight, month by month

A day at Carthage and Sidi Bou Said is spent partly in a vehicle or on the train and partly on foot. The Carthage sites are spread across a residential suburb, and the main ones, the Antonine Baths by the sea, Byrsa Hill, the Tophet and the Roman villas, are open ground with little shade. In Sidi Bou Said the main street climbs on cobbles to the cafes at the top of the village. That is where the month makes a difference.

The figures below are long-term averages measured at Tunis-Carthage airport, a few kilometers from the ruins. Sunrise and sunset are for Sidi Bou Said, in Tunisia time.

Month	Average high and low	Days with rain	Daylight, mid-month	Sunset at Sidi Bou Said, mid-month
January	16°C and 8°C	about 8	9h 54m	5:25 p.m.
February	17°C and 8°C	about 8	10h 50m	5:58 p.m.
March	19°C and 10°C	about 6	11h 55m	6:26 p.m.
April	22°C and 12°C	about 6	13h 07m	6:52 p.m.
May	27°C and 15°C	about 4	14h 07m	7:18 p.m.
June	31°C and 19°C	about 2	14h 40m	7:39 p.m.
July	34°C and 22°C	fewer than 1	14h 28m	7:38 p.m.
August	35°C and 23°C	about 2	13h 36m	7:11 p.m.
September	31°C and 21°C	about 5	12h 27m	6:27 p.m.
October	27°C and 17°C	about 6	11h 18m	5:43 p.m.
November	22°C and 13°C	about 7	10h 13m	5:10 p.m.
December	18°C and 9°C	about 8	9h 39m	5:04 p.m.

Rainfall is a monthly total, not a daily figure, and a day with rain counts any day with at least 1 mm. Tunisia keeps the same clock all year, one hour ahead of UTC, so sunset moves only with the season.

From June to September the ruins are hot work. July and August highs average about 34 to 35°C, and reviewers of summer tours on four different listings mention the heat; one visitor in May, on a 31°C day, wrote that the stops have minimal shade. The tours still run; bring a hat, sunscreen and more water than you think you need. On a private tour the pacing is flexible, so ask your driver-host whether the ruins can come early in the day; on a coach excursion the operator sets the order.

From November to March the days are mild, with highs of about 16 to 22°C, but this is the wet half of the year. December and January have rain on about eight days each, and a wet day at the ruins means slippery stone and cobbles. The Bardo Museum is indoors, so on a rainy day a tour that includes it keeps more of its value. The days are short too: the sun sets around 5 p.m. in December, and a coach excursion from Hammamet or Sousse is likely to finish around or after dark. Winter suits a shorter trip from Tunis, or a day built around the Bardo Museum, better than a long coach day from the coast.

September averages about 58 mm of rain, a little over 2 inches, but over only about five days, so its rain tends to come in fewer, heavier downpours than in winter.

Carthage and Sidi Bou Said through the year

The ruins and the village look much the same in every season. What changes is the calendar around them.

In summer the Carthage International Festival brings concerts to the restored Roman theater on about 20 evenings from mid-July to mid-August; the 2026 edition ran from July 16 to August 19. In mid-August, Sidi Bou Said holds the Kharja, a Sufi procession through the village to the shrine of its saint; in 2026 it ran from August 16 to 18. Neither is part of a day tour, but both are worth knowing about if you are staying nearby.

Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier each year, and in 2027 it is expected to run from about February 8 to March 9. The sites stay open, on Ramadan hours, but some cafes and restaurants close during the day, so ask your operator where lunch is served.

The sea is warmest from July to September, at about 26 to 27°C, and still about 23°C in October, which suits a beach stay in Hammamet or La Marsa before or after the ruins. From December to May it is under 20°C.

La Goulette, the cruise port for Tunis, is a few kilometers from Carthage, and a ship day sends excursions to the same sites. More than 10,000 cruise passengers arrived on a single day in October 2026, from two ships. No count of visitors at the ruins or in the village is published, so there is no reliable way to say which month is quietest there.

Opening hours, Mondays and Ramadan

The Carthage archaeological site is open every day, from about 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter; during Ramadan it closes at 5 p.m. The heritage agency does not publish the date the hours change, so on a late independent visit in spring or fall, check on the day. One ticket covers the main enclosures. Since April 1, 2026 it costs 20 dinars for non-residents, up from 12, and it rises to 30 dinars on January 1, 2027. Some tours include it; check the listing.

The Bardo National Museum is closed on Mondays. It opens from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in summer and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in winter and during Ramadan. Its ticket is 30 dinars for non-residents, rising to 45 dinars in January 2027. If your tour lists the Bardo and falls on a Monday, the museum visit cannot happen, so choose another day if the mosaics matter to you.

Sidi Bou Said is a lived-in village, with no gate or opening hours. Its cafes and shops set their own hours.

Which tour suits which season

The private day trip from Tunis has a driver-host and an air-conditioned car for 7 to 10 hours, with a choice of the Tunis medina or the Bardo Museum. In summer the flexible pacing helps: ask whether the ruins can come first and the museum in the hottest part of the day. Choose the medina option on a Monday.
The coach excursion from Hammamet is the most-reviewed tour on this site and runs as an 8-hour day with lunch in the medina. From November to February, part of the drive back is likely to be after dark.
The Carthage and Sidi Bou Said tour is a guided visit of 2 to 3 hours that starts at the Tophet in Carthage, with every site ticket included. Its short time in the sun helps in summer; check the start times for your date.
The Carthage walking tour spends three hours on foot among the ruins, so it suits the milder months best, from October to May.
The four-stop tour with the Bardo Museum adds the museum’s Roman mosaics to Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and the medina. Book it for any day except Monday.

Check your date

Where you start

Your date

Choose where you start and a date to see if the Bardo Museum is open that day, any Ramadan dates, the likely heat and rain at the ruins, and the sunset time at Sidi Bou Said. Within about two weeks of the date the card shows the forecast; further ahead it shows long-term averages.

In general, average highs near Carthage run from about 16°C in January to about 34°C in July and August, rain falls mostly from September to March, and the sun sets between about 5 p.m. in December and 7:40 p.m. in late June.

The forecast is from Open-Meteo for Carthage. Averages are long-term figures for Tunis-Carthage airport, near the ruins, from Tunisia's national weather service. Sunrise and sunset are calculated for Sidi Bou Said, in Tunisia time. For heat or storm warnings, check the Tunisian national weather service.

Check tour dates or use the live calendar

All of the tours listed on this site can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before the start, so you can book once your dates are fixed and look at the forecast the day before. If your booking has different terms, check them before you rely on that. To compare the itineraries themselves, see which Carthage and Sidi Bou Said tour is right for you and how much time to spend at each.

How we know

Sources and limits

Heat and rain. WMO climate normals for 1991 to 2020 for the Tunis-Carthage weather station (WMO 60715, 3 m above sea level), submitted by Tunisia’s Institut National de la Météorologie and archived by NOAA. A rainy day counts 1 mm or more; 25 mm is about an inch. The annual total is 485.6 mm, July is the driest month (4.4 mm) and December the wettest (68.1 mm).

Daylight and sunset. Calculated for Sidi Bou Said with the NOAA solar algorithm, in Tunisia time (UTC+1 all year, with no seasonal clock change), for the 15th of each month in 2027, and rounded to the minute.

Sea temperature. Ten-year monthly averages for the Tunis coast from seatemperature.info, a website that compiles satellite and buoy data. It is a secondary source, used only for the beach comparison.

Opening hours and tickets. The heritage agency’s pages for the Carthage site and the Bardo National Museum (patrimoinedetunisie.com.tn) for hours and the Bardo’s Monday closure. Ticket prices from the price list that took effect on April 1, 2026, as reported by Webdo, La Presse and Business News on that day; the agency’s own pages still showed the old prices in October 2026.

Events. La Presse and Kapitalis for the 2026 Carthage International Festival, Webdo for the 2026 Kharja, Tuniscope for the astronomical estimate of Ramadan 2027 (confirmed nearer the time by the Mufti), and La Presse for the October 2026 cruise arrivals.

Tours. Durations, inclusions and cancellation terms are the operators’ listings on GetYourGuide, read on October 17, 2026, with recent reviews read for what visitors say about heat, rain and the Bardo on Mondays.

What these numbers cannot tell you. The weather station is at the airport, a few kilometers inland of the ruins, so its figures show the shape of the year; they are not a forecast for the coast. No count of visitors is published for the Carthage site or Sidi Bou Said, and Tunisia’s monthly arrival figures are not published in a form that separates Tunis from the beach resorts, so this page does not rank the months by crowds. The heritage agency does not publish the date its summer and winter hours change.

For the sites themselves, see what to see in Carthage, the best things to do in Sidi Bou Said and the Carthage tickets and ruins guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best month to visit Carthage and Sidi Bou Said?

May offers the best overall balance. Average highs near Carthage are about 27°C, rain falls on about four days in the month and the sun sets after 7 p.m., so there is time for the ruins and the village. April is cooler, at about 22°C, with rain on about six days. October is about as warm as May but has about six rainy days and sunset around 5:45 p.m.

Is it too hot to visit Carthage in July or August?

It is hot but you can visit. July and August highs average about 34 to 35°C at Tunis-Carthage airport, near the ruins, which have little shade. Bring a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water, choose an early start if your tour offers one, and the indoor stops some tours include, the Bardo Museum and the partly covered souks of the medina, give you a break from the sun.

What is the weather like in Tunis and Carthage in winter?

Mild and wetter. From December to February average highs are about 16 to 18°C and lows about 8 to 9°C, and it rains on about eight days a month. December is the wettest month, with about 68 mm, a little under 3 inches. The sun sets around 5 p.m. in December, so a long day trip from Hammamet or Sousse is likely to finish around or after dark.

Does it rain much in Tunis?

About 486 mm in an average year, a little over 19 inches, most of it from September to March. July is the driest month, with rain on fewer than one day on average; December and January are the wettest, with rain on about eight days each. September's rain tends to come in fewer, heavier downpours: it averages about 58 mm, a little over 2 inches, but over only about five rainy days.

When is the sea warm enough to swim near Carthage?

From about July to October, if you are pairing the ruins with a beach stay. Sea temperatures off Tunis average about 26°C in July and September and about 27°C in August, falling to about 23°C in October and under 20°C from December to May.

Is the Bardo Museum open every day?

No. The Bardo National Museum is closed on Mondays. If your tour includes the Bardo, choose another day; Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and the medina are unaffected.

What is it like to visit during Ramadan?

The archaeological sites stay open, but some cafes and restaurants close during the day or open only after sunset. Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier each year; in 2027 it is expected to run from about February 8 to March 9. Ask your operator where lunch is served.

When should I book a Carthage and Sidi Bou Said tour?

All of the tours listed on this site can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before the start, so you can book once your dates are fixed and check the forecast nearer the day. If your booking has different terms, read them before you rely on that.