alcohol – Tunisian Experience

Tunisia is a Muslim country AND a popular travel destination for Western, non-Muslim tourists. As you might expect, this creates some challenges for travelers who want to partake in things—such as drinking alcohol—that are frowned upon by many Muslims. Tourists who come to Tunisia to party, relax, or simply continue their casual drinking habits as if they were at home, often ask whether they can drink in Tunisia. Here’s the simple answer: Yes, you can buy and consume alcohol in Tunisia. However, since many Tunisians view alcohol as immoral, you should be sensitive to where and how you drink. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about alcohol in Tunisia. Please read on for important details about how to navigate this culturally sensitive issue on your trip! Is It Legal? There is a lot of misinformation out there on the internet when it comes to alcohol in Tunisia. Wikipedia, for example, tells us that the “sale [of alcohol] to Muslims is prohibited.” I don’t know where they got this information, but I have seen with my own eyes many Muslims buying alcohol in stores and restaurants. No questions were ever asked about their religion! So, it is legal to buy and consume alcohol in Tunisia. Of course, there are some important caveats to be aware of. Not on Fridays. Just as there are “Blue Laws” or “Sunday Laws” in the United States that restrict alcohol sales on Sundays, you cannot buy alcohol in stores in Tunisia on Fridays. In supermarkets, alcohol is usually sold out of a storage room in the back of the store, or they create an enclosed space out of the shelves with only one entrance, guarded by a security guard. If you go in there on a Friday, the door to the alcohol room will be closed and it will look like alcohol is not even sold there. Not at certain times of day. There are also restrictions on the times you can buy alcohol from stores. The “booze room” in grocery stores may only be open from Noon until 6:30pm. Not during Ramadan. Special restrictions on alcohol also apply during Ramadan. Ramadan is a month-long holiday where Muslims fast from food and water from sunrise to sunset. Many stores will not sell alcohol during Ramadan. If you’re planning on buying it stores during your trip, you should be aware of when Ramadan is. The date for Ramadan is determined by the lunar calendar, so it changes every year. You will have to look up when Ramadan starts and ends in a given year to see if it will overlap with your trip. In 2021 Ramadan is from April 12 to May 11. In 2022, it’s from April 2 to May 3. The starting date moves backwards every year. Not under 18. Again, online sources vary widely when reporting the drinking age in Tunisia. I asked a trusted Tunisian friend and he was certain that the drinking age is 18. If you are between 18 and 21 and want to be absolutely certain, you may want to dig deeper on this issue. Availability Alcohol is not nearly as easy to find in Tunisia as it is in Europe or America. It is usually sold in the largest grocery stores in town, as well as in some of the mid-sized, neighborhood supermarket chains. Alcohol is NOT sold in little corner stores or hanoots. If you're staying in a nicer hotel or beach resort, they will almost certainly serve alcohol in the restaurant or at the bar. I went down to Hammamet, a popular beach town and tourist destination, and went in to 5 hotels of different sizes at random. Four out of the 5 hotels said that they do serve alcohol. An employee at the one hotel that didn't serve it explained to me that a lot of their clientele comes from the Middle East, and they didn't like the hotel serving it, so they stopped. If you're going to a nicer restaurant, alcohol will probably be available. However, if you're depending on it being there for a special occasion, you should ask in advance. Some restaurants will let you bring your own bottle of wine. To my knowledge, there is no easy way of knowing whether a given supermarket sells it, other than to ask around or go there in person and find out. If you're in Tunis, you can go to the big Carrefour on the highway near La Marsa, or to the Geant supermarket on the highway towards Bizerte. The Monoprix in the Menzah 6 neighborhood also sells it. Availability in any place is subject to change. Selection and Prices There’s not as big of a selection in Tunisia as there is in Europe or the US, but still, I was definitely surprised by the quantity and variety they had in stock at stores in Tunis. A World Health Organization report shows what kinds of alcohol Tunisians prefer. In 2016, beer was consumed most widely and makes up 72% of the alcohol purchased. Wine made up 24%. Spirits and other drinks made up 5%. Beer Supermarkets that carry alcohol keep a ton of beer in stock, but from only a few brands. Celtia is the most widely consumed brand in Tunisia. It’s a pale lager made in Tunis with a 5% ABV. There are a few Tunisian brands available, as well as some Dutch imports. Beer VolumeTND USDEurosHeineken6 pack of 24cl cans14,460$5.034.53€Celtia Legend (Tunisian)6 pack of 24cl cans10,920$3.803.42€Stella (Tunisian)6 pack of 24cl cans11,940$4.163.47€Mutzig 6 pack of 24cl cans11,220$3.903.52€Conversion rates from June 2020 Wine Tunisia has produced wine for thousands of years, and today there are tens of thousands of acres of vineyards in the country. In supermarkets, you can find many Tunisian-made wines, as well as many imports. Here are some of the wines with prices that I found at a store in Tunis. WineTNDUSDEuroMagon Rouge9,690$3.383.02€Mornag Jour et Nuit Red44,450$15.5213.87€Chateau Defleur Carignan Syrah14,350$5.014.48€Prestige de Mornag Red13,390$4.684.18€Cuvee Des Chasseurs Red 21,490$7.506.71€Didona Reserve40,390$14.1012.60€Cos Pithos Rosso (Sicilian)122,000$42.6038.07€Antoniolo Juvenia Nebiolo (Italian)110,000$38.4134.33€La Ginestia Chianti (Italian)57,950$20.2418.08€Wittmann Silvaner White (German)82,000$28.6318.09€Nals Margreid Pinot Gringo (Italian)77,500$27.0624.19€Conversion rates from June 2020 Liquor There is a considerable variety of spirits available in large stores. You can expect neighborhood supermarkets, or large supermarkets in smaller towns to have a lot less--if they carry it at all. BrandVolumeTNDUSDEuroCaptain Morgan1 L87,200$30.4527.21€Mayfair Dry Gin70 cl 40,000$13.9712.48€Hennessy Cognac1 L58,900$20.5718.38€Grey Goose Vodka 1 L229,990$80.3171.77€Jack Daniels 1 L211,000$73.6865.85€Absolut Vodka1 L144,000$50.2844.94€Conversion rates from June 2020 Drinking in Public So, can you consume alcohol in public? Sort of. As far as we know, there is no law against drinking or carrying an open container in public. There are some important caveats to this observation, though. It IS legal and normal to drink in restaurants and hotels where alcohol is served, and even in some restaurants that allow you to bring your own bottle. While it may not be illegal, it is definitely NOT normal to drink on public property where the police are present. That is, places like city streets and parks. Tunisia enforces public decency laws, and from what we’ve heard, these laws are applied pretty broadly. For example, some people who eat and smoke in public during Ramadan are arrested. Abi and I have lived in Tunis and Sfax for a total of 7 years, and we have never seen anyone walking down the street with an open alcohol container, as you might on the streets of New Orleans or Las Vegas. While you may not get arrested, you should know that you’ll definitely stand out. We HAVE seen a lot people drinking in public places that are more secluded, or where police are not usually present. We go jogging a lot in parks and on dirt roads around Tunis, and we see groups of people having a picnic out of the back of their cars, drinking beer, and sometimes grilling a little barbecue. These places are on public property, but we never see the police patrolling there. In Tunis, almost every dirt road, back alley, and construction site is littered with old beer cans and bottles. Culture As you might expect, there is a wide range of opinions in Tunisia toward alcohol. If you’ve read some of our other blog posts, you’ve probably heard us talk about how there’s a big cultural divide between the cities and the small towns and countryside in Tunisia. This holds true for Tunisians’ opinions on alcohol as well. Islam and Alcohol Many Muslims are teetotalers because alcohol is pretty clearly prohibited in the Quran. These two verses from the Quran are some of the most often cited prohibitions: O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah ], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. Quran 5:90 (Sahih International Translation) And... They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they should spend. Say, "The excess [beyond needs]." Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought. Quran 2:19 (Sahih International Translation) I’ve read that some Muslims believe drinking alcohol is fine in moderation, or that the Quran only prohibits certain kinds of alcohol while being silent on other kinds. I asked a Libyan friend about this interpretation, and he sent these two passages from the Hadith that make the prohibitions even more clear: Allah has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one for whom it is pressed, the one who conveys it, and the one to whom it is conveyed. And... If a man amongst my nation drinks alcohol God shall not accept his prayer for 40 days. My Libyan friend also said that the consensus among all Muslim scholars, both Sunni and Shia, is that all alcohol is strictly prohibited in Islam. Tunisians' Opinions on Alcohol Looking at the numbers, most Tunisians are actually not friendly toward drinking. A 2013 Pew poll found that 82% of Tunisians say that drinking alcohol is morally wrong. I thought that 82% figure was surprisingly high. But this VICE article shares a statistic that "over two million Tunisians consume millions of bottles of beer, wine, pastis, whiskey, and vodka on a regular basis." Two million out of 11.5 Tunisians is 17%, which would seem to validate most Tunisians do NOT drink. Still, we have met a fair number of Tunisians who are outspoken about their party habits and regular drinking. Many Tunisians, especially in the cities, have a more European attitude toward things like alcohol. The Tourist Zone Bubble When it comes to culturally sensitive things in Tunisia like alcohol, you should be aware of what we call the Tourist Zone Bubble. When you spend time in resort hotels or fancier areas in the cities, it’s easy to get the impression that “anything goes” in Tunisia. This is not the case. Tourism makes up almost 10% of Tunisia’s GDP, so they have an economic incentive to be accommodating and to make tourists feel comfortable. You should be aware that customs and expectations for what’s acceptable changes a lot once you leave the hotel. We’ve heard Tunisians in Hammamet refer to the beaches and areas around the big touristy hotels as “tourist zones.” This “tourist zone” designation is unofficial, but it refers to the area where tourists are permitted to act like tourists. For example, Tunisian hotel workers says it’s OK to wear a bikini in a tourist zone, but not on public beaches. The same behavior code applies to alcohol. For an example of how the tourist bubble can skew your vision of what’s culturally appropriate in Tunisia, see this VICE article about wine clubs in Tunisia that I cited above. VICE claims that “alcohol consumption is as common as couscous in Tunisia.” But, the number of alcohol drinkers (2 million) only accounts for about 17% of the country. Considering that 100% of Tunisians eat couscous, the number of drinkers is not even close. I get that the VICE writer probably wasn't trying to be precise, but from a cultural point of view, and in terms of how widely it is consumed, alcohol and couscous are not even in the same ball park. Nightlife Bars and nightclubs do exist in Tunisia, even if they aren’t quite as common as in other vacation destinations. If you’re staying in Tunis or in beach towns along the coast, you probably won’t have a hard time finding a place that serves alcohol and is open late. Most bars in Tunisia are connected to hotels. They also have more of a lounge feel. They may or may not have dancing, and if there is dancing, it may not begin until late. A few examples in the Tunis area to look up are the Plaza Corniche, Le Carpe Diem, and the Sky Bar at the Novotel Hotel. The Sky Bar, as the name implies, is on the top floor of the hotel and has a great view of downtown Tunis. The Plaza Corniche is out in La Marsa. They sometimes have dancing, if that’s your thing. These are just a few very popular destinations, but most of the resort hotels catering to tourists will have some kind of bar. As always, the best policy is to ask a Tunisian for a recommendation in your area. Keep in mind that while there are bars and nightclubs in Tunisia, most Tunisians who go out at night prefer to go to a café. We recommend that you try experiencing this aspect of Tunisian life! There are many traditional cafes in just about any city where you can chill and order coffee or hookah. If you’re in Tunis, one place in the medina to try is the rooftop cafe Terrace El Bey. Safety Considerations Please be aware that petty crimes happen often in Tunisia, and adding alcohol to the equation can make your night a lot more dangerous. The most common crimes to be aware of are muggings and pickpocketing. Criminals target tourists since they often carry a lot of valuables with them, and tourists are less aware of their surroundings. Pretty much every quality that would help you defend yourself against a pickpocket or a mugger--situational awareness, discernment, ability to think quickly--is diminished by alcohol. Travelers to Tunisia have also pointed out that taxi drivers try to adjust their meter and overcharge tourists who are coming out of bars and nightclubs. If you plan on using a taxi at night, be aware of this. We wrote two huge posts on safety in Tunisia. Check out How Safe Is Tunisia for Tourists? Women? and How to Have a Safe Vacation in Tunisia. Conclusion To sum up, it is perfectly legal to drink in Tunisia, but it is only culturally acceptable in some contexts, such as in hotels, more Westernized parts of town, and in the unofficial "tourist zones." Most Tunisians (as many as 4 out of 5) view alcohol consumption as immoral, so your partying may not bring approval from everyone around you. Finally, Tunisia has so much to offer besides hanging out at the hotel bar. There are a ton of cool experiences to have... you just have to get out there, possibly step outside your comfort zone a little, and take them on!