The evening and night life on the streets of Tunisia is often being reported by tourists as "lively". In fact, many people leave their houses after the hot  day temperature cools down, however, looking at it closely, one will notice that only the men roam the streets and street cafes - women and children, if they come out at all, will stay near the house entrances and talk with neighbours.


Cafes are, put in short, places for men only. In by far most of the cafes in Tunisia, access for women is forbidden or discouraged. The few cafes, in which women are welcome as well, are located in the tourists zones or some big cities and are called "Cafe mixte" (mixed Cafe).

In most cafes, tourist couples will be accepted nevertheless. Women alone should not enter those cafes, though, if they want to prevent from being asked to leave or being harrassed.
Women who enter a cafe without the company of a man are widely understood to be prostitutes looking for clients.

In almost all cafes, except for some in tourists zones, there are only non-alcoholic drinks available. The order of just one drink is sufficient to stay there for hours and talk, play cards or watch and comment bypassers.

In all cafes, the TV is running constantly, often very loud and mostly showing music or sports channels.

Smoking is allowed in all cafes, designed non-smoking areas are extremely rare. Almost all cafes offer shisha (water pipe) smoking, it can simply be ordered with (and will afterwards be maintained by) the waiter.

In opposite to the name "Cafe", there are generally only 2-3 types of coffee available and , usually, none of it is remotely similar to "coffee" in Europe or the USA - rather, the coffee is called "direct" and "espresso" and is very strong and being served in miniature cups.


Restaurants are quite rare in Tunisia, they can only be found in bigger cities and tourist areas in large numbers.

Although women are allowed access to restaurants, they will be watched and often be harrassed.

Therefore, outside of the tourist zones, women should enter a restaurant only when they are accompanied by men or try to find a hotel-restaurant with international clients.

The service and the selection and quality of food is in restaurants generally low-level. Long waits for being served and love-less preparation of dishes and food is, even in the tourist areas, absolutely normal.

Travelers who are looking for one of the few good or one of the extremely rare excellent restaurants really need to investigate ahead of their trip and/or try to get recommendations from the locals or other travelers.

Apart from the restaurants, there are also places, exspecially in summer, where food is prepared in the public along the streets (one can even bring in own food for preparation). Such "cookshops" are not bad, but one should pick the ones that are "popular" as in many people sitting and eating there already.

In Tunisia, western "Fast Food" brands are extremely rare, but fast food itself is very popular. One can find "Chawarma" (sort of Gyros/Döner) everywhere, as well as (usually not very hot) french fries (Pommes Frites).

Similar to Cafes, "non-smoking" areas are extremely rare in restaurants, and alcoholic beverages are, even in the tourists zones, only rarely available (in hotel restaurants always, though).