This Secret Mediterranean Gem Looks Like Santorini But With Better Prices

Anyone who has had the pleasure to go to world-renowned Santorini is aware of it lives as much as the hype — with a value.

The value you pay are full paychecks for nightly lodge charges, the trouble of weaving out and in of crowds by way of slender walkways, and the ache of combating jet-lag by waking up on the first light for the one time to really take pleasure in Santorini by yourself phrases.

We at Travel Off Path love Santorini simply as a lot as anybody else, however we even have coated quite a few alternate options usually discovered close by on one other certainly one of Greece’s stunning islands.

However, in honor of the World Series that is all however set, we’re throwing you a curveball at the moment with a Mediterranean gem that is a spitting picture of Santorini, but it lies on one other continent.

That’s proper — regardless of its look, it isn’t one other Greek island and even neighboring Turkiye or Cyprus.

If you are up for a fall or winter journey within the coming months, put together to hit the highway much less traveled to a hidden paradise in Tunisia.

Sidi Bou Saïd: The Mediterranean’s Best Kept Secret

There are quite a few current research displaying vacationers throughout the globe are rising uninterested in the same-o itineraries on this planet’s hottest locations, as a substitute changing them with the lesser recognized.

That’s the place locations like Sidi Bou Saïd come into play.

While you will not discover sensational gyros and locals shouting “Opa!”, there is no denying the eye-catching, close to equivalent aesthetics to Santorini right here in Tunisia’s seaside paradise.

Gleaming with white and blue facades similar to Greece, the village of Sidi Bou Saïd boasts a really comparable ambiance nestled excessive alongside the azure waters of the Gulf of Tunis.

The primary distinction upon arrival is the shortage of crowds. If you are evaluating apples to apples with Santorini, Sidi Bou Saïd takes the cake for being a lot extra satisfying to discover its timeless cobbled streets and snap photographs of bougainvillea-wrapped wrought iron balconies that may have you ever feeling such as you’re in Oia till you hear the native accents and skim restaurant menus.

Perhaps most significantly this time of yr, Sidi Bou Saïd has splendid climate year-round, even wintertime (count on temps to hover within the 60s from November by way of April).

In different phrases, there’s loads of days forward to benefit from the sun-drenched shores of Marsa Beach.

You’ll Forget All About Santorini With These Savings

Don’t get me fallacious — I’m glad I visited Santorini years in the past. But I gotta say it isn’t the top of the world to go to the subsequent smartest thing.

The reality is “Santorini” & “Savings” do not belong in the identical sentence, however that could not be farther from the reality for Sidi Bou Saïd.

As there are robust French roots all through Tunisia and Sidi Bou Saïd, it is secure to say it can save you beaucoup of cash right here.

For starters, it was French artist Rodolphe d’Erlanger who remodeled this coastal charmer right into a real-life postcard and now you can go to his villa (Ennejma Ezzahra Palace) for simply $3.50.

Getting right here is simple. You’ll seemingly arrive in Tunisia’s sprawlign capital Tunis, and it solely prices 30 cents by prepare to achieve Sidi Bou Saïd.

Street meals can value beneath $2 and the common sit-down meal will solely run you a couple of bucks extra. Even the recent “catch of the day” could be had lower than $10.

Of course, everyone knows inns are the checking account bandits of Santorini the place it is commonplace to see boutique villas with nightly charges costing greater than an Uber driver makes in per week.

Sidi Bou Saïd, although? Not a difficulty. Book the normal Bou Fares Hotel, a real style of Tunisian hospitality for $98 per night time this fall.

Is Tunisia Safe To Visit?

The phrase “Africa” can actually deter vacationers from visiting some really bucket-list worthy trip spots, and that is actually certainly one of them.

Africa gives a lot extra variety than safari excursions, but given the continent’s repute as an entire, it is comprehensible to really feel uneasy piercing the veil of its crime-ridden, down-trodden notion.

That’s not the case for Northern Africa. Are there cultural variations? Of course.

But, take it from me as somebody who visited Morocco final fall, that you simply should not let “Africa” be a set off phrase — it is a phenomenal expertise culturally and each bit as breathtaking as wherever I’ve been.

The U.S. State Department holds somewhat extra weight than me, although. They say Tunisia is at the moment a ‘Level 2′ destination urging guests to “Exercise Increased Caution” attributable to terrorism issues.

As for falling in love and ending up on 90 Day Fiance? That’s a completely totally different dialog…

Sam Sears

Sam, our Lead Writer & Journalist based mostly in San Diego has visited 36 international locations and written over 1000 articles with a deal with sharing his personal journey experiences and shining a lightweight on lesser-known gems.