Here a blinkered camel walks in a circle, drawing water from a 17th-century holy well that legend says is connected to the Zamzam spring in Mecca. It's stagey, and keeping an animal in such close and dark quarters will be considered cruel by some visitors, but the well forms a large part of the city's foundation story and is also an important spiritual ritual for many.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.19 MILES
Kairouan’s medina feels like it ebbs and flows to a different rhythm to modern Tunisia. Long protected by its monumental walls and babs (gates), most of…
0.44 MILES
Also known as Sidi Okba Mosque, after the founder of Kairouan who built the first mosque on this site in AD 670, this is North Africa’s holiest Islamic…
Zaouia of Sidi Abid Al Ghariani
0.07 MILES
Dating from the 14th century, this two-storey complex features horseshoe arches painted in black and white, marble columns with carved capitals, a painted…
0.05 MILES
Just off the medina's major pedestrian thoroughfare, this bazaar next to Restaurant Marhaba is dedicated to Kairouan's much-loved makhroud (date-filled…
0.73 MILES
This lavishly tiled 17th-century complex northwest of the medina comprises a mosque, madrassa (school for study of the Quran) and mausoleum. The last is…
0.16 MILES
Founded in AD 866 by Mohammed Bin Kairoun El Maafri, a holy man from the Spanish city of Cordoba, this mosque has an elaborate facade exhibiting strong…
0.34 MILES
Identifiable by its seven white cupolas, this zaouia (complex surrounding the tomb of a saint) was built in 1860 to commemorate Sidi Amor Abbada, a local…
0.24 MILES
This museum in the Office National de L'Artisanat headquarters houses a collection of rugs. This is the organisation that accredits all carpets sold in…
Nearby Tunisia attractions
0.05 MILES
Just off the medina's major pedestrian thoroughfare, this bazaar next to Restaurant Marhaba is dedicated to Kairouan's much-loved makhroud (date-filled…
2. Zaouia of Sidi Abid Al Ghariani
0.07 MILES
Dating from the 14th century, this two-storey complex features horseshoe arches painted in black and white, marble columns with carved capitals, a painted…
0.16 MILES
Founded in AD 866 by Mohammed Bin Kairoun El Maafri, a holy man from the Spanish city of Cordoba, this mosque has an elaborate facade exhibiting strong…
0.19 MILES
Kairouan’s medina feels like it ebbs and flows to a different rhythm to modern Tunisia. Long protected by its monumental walls and babs (gates), most of…
0.24 MILES
This museum in the Office National de L'Artisanat headquarters houses a collection of rugs. This is the organisation that accredits all carpets sold in…
0.34 MILES
Identifiable by its seven white cupolas, this zaouia (complex surrounding the tomb of a saint) was built in 1860 to commemorate Sidi Amor Abbada, a local…
0.44 MILES
Also known as Sidi Okba Mosque, after the founder of Kairouan who built the first mosque on this site in AD 670, this is North Africa’s holiest Islamic…
0.73 MILES
This lavishly tiled 17th-century complex northwest of the medina comprises a mosque, madrassa (school for study of the Quran) and mausoleum. The last is…