Tunisia in December: Weather, the Sahara and New Year's Eve in the Desert

At 30, my career as a pencil sharpener came to an end. After that came 22 years of adrenaline addiction, because the drug OVERCROSS promised me a daily dose of dopamine, and the addict soon became the supplier himself ;-)

In July I wouldn't send anyone into the Grand Erg Oriental, when the thermometer often shows over 40 °C. In December I send everyone who asks me. The Tunisian Sahara in winter is one of the doses I have been handing out the longest: since 1999 we have been going over New Year's Eve, on the enduro and in the off-road vehicle. Then you get around 20 °C in the south during the day, and in the oases around Douz there is hardly anyone about.

I have been on the road since 1996. It has added up to more than a million kilometres through the bush, jungle and deserts of this world, and I once crossed the Sahara solo, on a BMW 1100 GS with a total weight of 450 kilos. In Tunisia and Libya I have also organised film productions, including a documentary about Stauffenberg. Here I write down what December looks like on the coast and in the desert, and how you get there with your own vehicle from Genoa. At the end I present our two tours over New Year's Eve.

I trained rescue and response teams for different climate zones for a long time. In December Tunisia has two of them at once. In the north around Tunis, December is the wettest month of the year, while in the south between Tozeur and Douz it stays almost dry. If you only read the weather report for Tunis, you pack for the wrong trip.

Sources: wetter.de (Tunis, Djerba), meerestemperatur.de (water temperature), beste-reisezeit.org (south) and our own readings from the wild camps. These are climate averages, not a forecast.

For you that means: rain can catch you around Tunis at the start and end of the trip. In the south you ride in the sun, and after sunset the thermometer drops quickly. In the desert I expect 2 to 8 °C at night. A good sleeping bag is therefore a must.

There are about ten hours of daylight. So we start early and are in camp before the sun disappears behind the dunes. Anyone looking for a campsite in the sand after dark will be looking for a long time. In return, the tracks and oases are quiet in December.

There are snakes and scorpions in Tunisia. But the chance of seeing one is extremely small: the crawlies take off at the slightest vibration, long before you even notice them. In the winter months they are hardly active anyway.

The sea is around 17 °C. You can swim if you are tough, but nobody goes to Tunisia in winter for the beach.

At the end of December Douz celebrates the Festival International du Sahara with camel races and equestrian games. According to reports from Tunisia, the 58th edition is scheduled for 19 to 22 December 2026, though this is not yet officially confirmed. In 2025 the festival ran from 25 to 28 December. We arrive in Tunis on 20 December. If the dates fit, we will catch the festival on the way south. I can't promise it.

In the south, both New Year's Eve tours follow roughly the same line. The palm groves begin at Tozeur, and very close by still stand the sets of Mos Espa, the desert town from Star Wars. After that you cross the Chott el Djerid, one of the largest salt lakes in Africa. It is so flat and wide that on the horizon you often can't tell where the salt ends and the sky begins. With luck you will see a mirage.

They call Douz the gateway to the Sahara. South of it the sand begins.

The Tembaine is a mesa in the middle of the dunes, and from the top you see the erg in every direction. Ksar Ghilane has a hot spring. After days in the sand, the bath there is the best of the whole trip, and right behind it the dune fields of the Grand Erg Oriental begin. With the 4x4 we usually also drive on to the lost lake, unless the guide decides otherwise on site.

In winter the sun stands low, and the dunes cast long shadows as early as the afternoon. At night you see the Milky Way. Among the encounters I will never forget is a nomad in the Sahara who asked me about the time I had gained. You can find all the tours in this area under Motorcycle tours Tunisia and Off-road tours Tunisia.

The night ferry from Genoa to Tunis takes 22 to 24 hours. We set off on 19 December and arrive on 20 December. The return leaves Tunis on 1 January, and you are in Genoa on 2 January. We handle entry and exit formalities together, often already on the ferry.

Through us you book the crossing at the group rate:

• €400 per motorcycle
• €600 per car or off-road vehicle
• €800 per truck, Unimog or expedition vehicle
• Single cabin for a surcharge

Over the turn of the year, many Tunisians who live and work in Europe use the holidays to drive home. The ferries are then usually full. Our group rate applies as long as our allocation lasts, and it is cheaper than booking yourself. The earlier you get in touch, the surer you are of getting a place from it.

Vehicle papers. You need the vehicle registration document and the Green Card. Tunisia (TN) must not be crossed out on it, otherwise you take out liability insurance at the port for about €50 to €60. If you ride a vehicle that is not registered in your name, you need a power of attorney from the owner in French. An international driving licence is officially not required with an EU licence. But it can't hurt either.

Money. You may neither import nor export dinars. At the hotel you exchange euros, where they are happy about foreign currency and you are happy about the good exchange rate. Never change too much at once! Dinars cannot be changed back into euros.

Prefer to fly? For the enduro tour we take your motorcycle from Tübingen to Genoa and back for €250. You fly to Tunisia yourself, and we take care of customs for your motorcycle. If you would rather go to the port with the team, you ride along in the support vehicle to Genoa for €200.

Sahara Countdown by enduro

This tour is for you if you have already had sand under your tyres. Teamwork comes first. We master the sand sections in the Grand Erg Oriental together, and in the evening we cook and wash up together. Our motto for this is old and still fits: one for all, all for one. The itinerary is a rough suggestion, because who wants standard on an adventure trip?

Gourmet cuisine? Absolutely not, losing weight is the order of the day: bread, water and possibly a few dates, if you have booked the date upgrade ;-) A mechanic rides along. If you don't want to ride yourself, you come along as a passenger in the support vehicle.

To the New Year's Eve motorcycle tour Tunisia: Sahara Countdown

4x4 Desert Tour in your own off-road vehicle

Here you drive your own off-road vehicle. Four-wheel drive, low range and a differential lock are a must, because in deep sand you won't get far without them. Before the desert stage there is dune and sand training, so that even beginners quickly reach a safe level, and we practise more along the way. Getting stuck is part of the Sahara. That is usually not a problem, as we work as a team and with recovery equipment.

We cook by the motto “many hands make light work”. On the desert stage a Tunisian cook joins you as well, the convoy stays connected by radio the whole time, and the guide takes care of navigation. The tour also suits families: a passenger under 18 pays €719.

To the 4x4 Desert Tour New Year's Eve Sahara Tunisia

At midnight with us there are no fireworks. There is a campfire and a group that has been travelling together since Genoa, the whole sky stands above you, and the only light for miles around is your embers.

That is the 1000 star hotel. I have experienced luxury trips in business class and the best 5 star hotels in the world, and compared with the 1000 star hotels of an adventure trip they are almost interchangeable. On the enduro tour you sleep the first and last night in a 5* hotel, so you can compare for yourself ;-)

We have been celebrating the turn of the year like this since 1999. How the evening goes, we have described in two articles of their own: New Year's Eve in the Sahara by 4x4 and New Year's Eve by motorcycle in the Sahara: Tunisia or Morocco.

Almost everyone underestimates the cold at night. During the day in the desert you get 15 to 22 °C, at night in the wild camp only 2 to 8 °C.

• Sleeping bag that keeps you warm down to about 0 °C
• Clothing in layers and a warm jacket for the evening by the fire
• Headlamp
• Sunscreen, the desert sun burns in December too

On the enduro a small tent is enough, a “dachshund garage”. We have the expedition kitchen on board. For tyres we clearly recommend inner tubes over mousse, in Tunisia that is the more reliable solution.

For the off-road vehicle, a full-size spare wheel, a spare air filter and tools you can use to change a wheel alone belong on board. As a rule: what you have with you never breaks anyway. On the spare jerrycan: better to have one and not need it than the other way round. Everything else is in the tour folder. You get it for both tours.

Both tours set off from Genoa on 19 December 2026. The enduro tour costs from €2,679, the 4x4 Desert Tour from €2,569. You can book directly on the tour page. Or call us and book an online appointment, and we will sort out the vehicle and ferry together. Leave your comfort zone with us.

Take care of the ferry first. Our allocation over the holidays is limited, and after that you pay the open price for the crossing.