Tunisia · Gouvernorat de Bizerte
Where to Stay in Bizerte, Gouvernorat de Bizerte
Bizerte is a port city on the north coast of Tunisia, the northernmost town in Africa, set on a lake and an old harbour below its kasbah.
Find your area →
Where to stay in Bizerte
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Where you stay in Bizerte turns on the old town or the sea. The lanes around the Vieux Port keep the kasbah, the fish market, and the cafés within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the harbour. The old port lies below.
Boats come and go. Out along the cape and the beaches, the town gives way to the seaside hotels, the dunes, and the northern shore. A room by the sea trades the lanes for the long beaches, the clear water, and the cliffs of Cap Blanc.
The waves roll in white. Stay downtown for the port, or by the sea for the beach. Bizerte's lanes are barely a few minutes back from the shore.
About Bizerte
Bizerte is the old corsair port of the north.
What is Bizerte known for?
On the northernmost shore of Africa, where a lake opens to the sea through a channel, it keeps a fine old harbour of fishing boats between two forts, and it holds the walled kasbah over the water, the Spanish fort on the hill above, a lake that spreads inland behind the town, and the mixed Andalusian and Turkish past of its lanes. The old port fills with boats. The blue lake lies behind.
What are the main landmarks in Bizerte?
The old harbour is the heart of Bizerte. The little Vieux Port, where blue fishing boats lie under the walls between the kasbah and the old town, is the emblem of the city, on the water. A fort guards the height.
The Spanish fort looks down on the harbour from its hill, while the kasbah walls, the oceanographic museum, and the cape at Cap Blanc mark the country around Bizerte.
What is the history of Bizerte?
Bizerte is very old. The Phoenicians made a harbour here where a lagoon opened to the sea, cutting a channel to join the water, and called it Hippo. Rome held the port.
Under Rome and then the Arabs the town grew by its fish and its safe lake, and Muslims driven from Spain came to settle its lanes. Corsairs and navies prized the harbour. The deep lake made a fine shelter, so Barbary corsairs sailed from it and later the French built a great naval base on its shores, holding the port for years after the rest of the land was free.
The fleet sailed away in time. When the base at last closed, Bizerte turned back to its fishing and its trade, keeping the old harbour, the kasbah, and the Spanish fort above the sea. The boats still fill the port.
Bizerte keeps its lake and its old harbour at the top of Africa.
Where is Bizerte?
Bizerte lies at the top of Tunisia and of all Africa, where the Medjerda hills reach the Mediterranean. The town sits between the open sea and a wide inland lake, joined by a ship canal cut through the heart of the city, with cliffs and beaches along the cape to the north. The lake shines behind the town.
Green hills roll to the coast.
What is the climate of Bizerte?
Sea air gives Bizerte a warm, dry Mediterranean year. Mild wet winters and hot dry summers cross the coast, with sea breezes that soften the summer heat and rain that comes mostly in winter. The summer stays warm and bright.
Winter turns green and wet.
How do you get to Bizerte?
Bizerte lies on the north coast of Tunisia, an hour up from Tunis. Roads and buses run to it along the shore and over the hills from the capital, and a car ferry crosses the ship canal. Boats fill the old port.
Tunis lies south down the road.
Good for
Updated August 2026