Carthage Archaeological Site Guide: Tickets, Ruins & Hours

What the pass costs, and what it opens

Carry cash in dinars. Card acceptance at the gates is unreliable and there is no online booking system.

The price has moved. Under the national price list that took effect on April 1, 2026, the pass costs 20 dinars for non-residents, up from 12, and it rises to 30 dinars on January 1, 2027. The agency’s own site pages still showed the old price in October 2026, so check at the gate. Even at 30 dinars it is roughly ten dollars for a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is not much.

The pass covers all seven:

Enclosure	What is there	Worth the stop?
Antonine Baths	The largest Roman thermae in Africa, on the shore	Essential
Byrsa Hill	Punic quarter, the museum, the Acropolium, the whole-site view	Essential
The Tophet	Punic sanctuary, thousands of carved stelae	Yes, with a guide
Punic ports	The circular naval basin and the rectangular commercial one	Yes, briefly
Roman theatre	Restored and still used for the Carthage festival	If you have time
Amphitheatre	Mostly foundations and underground galleries	Only for completists
Roman villas	Mosaic floors and a reconstructed peristyle	Yes, quietly good

The two you must not skip

The Antonine Baths. The scale is the point. What survives is mostly the service level beneath the bathing halls, which means you are walking through vaulted undercrofts while the columns of the floor above stand at the height of a house. The sea is directly beyond, and the reason the complex was built here at all was the aqueduct that carried water 132 kilometres from the springs at Zaghouan, one of the longest in the Roman empire.

Byrsa Hill. This is where the whole site makes sense. The hill was the Punic citadel, the Romans levelled it to build their forum, the French put a cathedral on top in the nineteenth century, and the Carthage National Museum occupies the buildings beside it. From the terrace you can see the ports, the baths, the Gulf of Tunis and the white cube of Sidi Bou Said on the next headland. Ten minutes here does more for your understanding than an hour anywhere else.

One caution: the museum and the cathedral building on Byrsa have been affected by renovation work in recent years, and reports of closures come and go. If a tour lists the Carthage National Museum as a stop and that is why you chose it, confirm with the operator before booking.

Where to start on a first visit

Prioritise the Antonine Baths, Byrsa Hill and one Punic site, either the Punic ports or the Tophet; our guide to the best things to do in Carthage covers the other sites. The baths are the strongest site for monumental Roman architecture and one of the most photogenic places in Carthage. Byrsa gives you the historical context and the geography of the whole city. The Punic ports are the site for Hannibal, naval history and pre-Roman Carthage, while the Tophet suits travellers interested in Punic religion and archaeology.

The Roman villas and the theatre are good additions on a half-day or a deeper, Roman-focused visit. Our guide to what to see in Carthage ranks all eight sites and gives the best route for Punic or Roman history.

What the Tophet is, and why it is argued about

A walled precinct near Salammbo station holding thousands of urns and carved limestone stelae. Roman and Greek writers described the Carthaginians sacrificing infants here, and the Tophet has been read that way since it was excavated in the 1920s. Archaeologists have contested it for decades, with some arguing the urns are a cemetery for children who died young.

It is a small site and it looks like a field of stones. It is also the single place at Carthage where a guide changes everything, because the argument is the interest.

Opening hours, and the Monday problem

The heritage agency lists the site as open daily from 08:30 to 17:00 in winter and 08:00 to 18:00 in summer, and 08:00 to 17:00 during Ramadan; it does not publish the date the hours change. Hours shift without much warning and vary between sites. Prices, opening hours and museum access can all change, so check the current information on site, especially if you are on a tight schedule.

The Monday issue is not Carthage itself but the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, which closes every Monday and holds the mosaics excavated from these villas. Many tours pair Carthage with the Bardo. A Monday booking quietly loses that half, and some operators do not run the combined itinerary at all on Mondays. Our Bardo combination page lists the tours that include it.

Which tours include the ticket

This is where the price differences on our tours page come from. Four listings include site entry outright:

Carthage and Sidi Bou Said Tour — every Carthage site, plus an hour in the village
Carthage walking tour — seven sites on foot over three hours
From Tunis half-day — entry and guide included
Medina, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said private day trip — Carthage entry and lunch included, plus the Bardo if you choose that option

Most of the cheaper resort excursions exclude it. Add 20 dinars a head (30 dinars from January 2027) before comparing two listings on price; our Carthage and Sidi Bou Said tour price guide shows what each tour costs once the tickets are added.

Practical notes

Wear proper shoes. The ground inside every enclosure is uneven cut stone, and Byrsa involves a climb.
There is almost no shade. From April onward a hat is not optional.
Facilities are minimal. Toilets exist at the larger sites and not at the small ones. There are cafés on the main road, not inside the fences.
Photography is unrestricted at the outdoor enclosures.
Allow two hours minimum for three or four enclosures with driving between them. Two hours is a fast highlights visit, around three hours makes a strong first visit, and four or five hours suits serious archaeology.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the Carthage entrance ticket?

One multi-site pass covers all seven enclosures. It costs 20 dinars for non-residents since April 2026, rising to 30 dinars in January 2027; it was 12 dinars before. Bring cash in dinars — there is no online booking and card acceptance at the gates is unreliable.

Does one ticket cover all the Carthage sites?

Yes. The pass is bought at whichever gate you arrive at first and is shown at the others for the rest of the day. Keep it somewhere you can find it.

What are the Carthage opening hours?

The heritage agency lists 08:30 to 17:00 in winter and 08:00 to 18:00 in summer, daily, and 08:00 to 17:00 during Ramadan. Hours can differ between enclosures and change without much notice, so confirm on the day if your schedule is tight.

Is Carthage open on Mondays?

The archaeological enclosures are normally open daily. The Bardo National Museum in Tunis, which many tours pair with Carthage, is closed on Mondays — that is the closure that catches people out.

What is the best part of Carthage to see?

The Antonine Baths for scale and the sea, and Byrsa Hill for the view and the context. If you only have an hour, those two are the visit. The Tophet is the most interesting if you have a guide to explain it.

How long does Carthage take?

Two to three hours for three or four enclosures with transport between them. A full circuit of all seven on foot is about three hours of walking on top of the visiting.

Is Carthage a UNESCO site?

Yes, inscribed in 1979, the same year as the Medina of Tunis. The Village of Sidi Bou Said was added in its own right in July 2026, so several tours now take in three World Heritage sites in a day.

Choose a few sites deliberately instead of trying to complete everything; three well-chosen enclosures make a better visit than seven rushed ones.

Want the ticket handled for you? Compare the tours that include site entry or check availability for your dates.

Carthage Tickets & Ruins Guide