The ultimate clothing guide for Tunisia

Yes, I wish as well that it would exist, but you cannot have everything. In this post I'll tell you how well the guesses I was having when packing actually matched the reality.

The best advice which was given to  the struggling questions was "take a little bit of everything". Well, I wish I would have believed in it fully. Even after hearing it, my choices consentrated on long sleeves, in shirts as well as in pants (yupp the elephants, as you can see :D).

What worked:

• Basically, the most useful clothes I took, have been the thin but not slim long leg pants. Which, unfortunately, don't really match with anything so my outfits have been tourist fashion, but who cares.
• Some long sleeve shirts for a bit more formal occasions.
• The adventuring hat. You cannot survive without.

What could have stayed home:

• Many tank tops and shirts which need them. As wearing one shirt already makes you sweat, it really asks for a great will to be able to wear two. I managed to do it once, and that was when I knew that the day included air conditioner.
• Many pair of socks. Well, they don't take that much space from the suitcase but I have maybe used socks twice during the whole six weeks. I'm quite sure that's one new record.

I wished I would have taken:

• Summer dresses. I was too pessimistic about the possibilities to use anything which doesn't cover your knees, even though that would have been possible in more touristic cities than Sfax.
• Nice shorts. Same reason than above. I only had my sport shorts, which I used at home but didn't feel like going for a run with (in Sfax). 
• Long sleeve running pants. For a mysterious reason I took one long sleeve running shirt but no pants. The good idea to take sneakers became quite useless because of this fact. 
• More t-shirts. I think I even read about this but once again, didn't take fully into consideration.

For the future travellers I would give the same "little bit of everything" advice. Hopefully after reading this you are not so stubborn as I was. As already mentioned between the lines, the clothing ethicet for Tunisia varies a lot. In the capital, Tunis, it's completely okay to wear mini shorts and tank tops only. And on the beach bikinis are accepted everywhere I have been, which was the one thing I believed. Sfax doesn't have a beach and there pants and skirts always reach longer than the knees. Covering the shoulders, instead, isn't obligatory. Some local women use veil to cover their hair, but not all of them do it either, so it's expected from tourists only in mosques.

All in all, the fact is that with this skin and hear colour, I was looked at and sweating everywhere, no matter what I was wearing. Still of course, it's important to appreciate the local clothing (and covering) culture and it actually affects on what you do feel comfortable of wearing. Also in the way, that at some point I also felt it's possible to wear jeans (the majority of people in Sfax wear them every day, despite of the heat).

P.S. The relieving fact is that even if all the guesses would turn out to be wrong, you can go and buy a dress.