Roughly a 2½-hour drive inland from Tunis on the central Tunisian plain, this city of around 140,000 and is revered as one of Islam’s holiest, often considered the fourth most sacred after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. Kairouan´s spiritual heart is the Great Mosque (above, aka the Mosque of Uqba), founded in 670 CE and one of North Africa´s oldest and most important mosques, which was a major center of Islamic scholarship and helped spread the religion across the Maghreb. The UNESCO-listed medina feels a bit like a living museum, known for its traditional carpet workshops, narrow lanes, whitewashed buildings, and landmarks such as the Aghlabid Basins, a pair of 9th-century reservoirs. In many ways I see Kairouan as a bit akin to Fez in Morocco, and furthermore, while it has plenty of tourism infrastructure, it´s refreshingly not overrun with tourists.
Read more in my post The Tug of Tunisia, and 14 of its Top Destinations.
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