Apartments for rent in La Soukra

Ten minutes from Tunis-Carthage airport, ten minutes from Lac 2, a quarter of an hour from Ennasr: La Soukra owes its rental success to its position rather than to its centre, which is still a large village strung along the Raoued road. The apartment blocks arrived in waves, first in Chotrana in the 2000s, then towards Ennasim and El Bessatine, and the supply of apartments here is now one of the largest in the governorate.

Private owners and agencies publish their La Soukra apartment listings directly, and they are the people you negotiate the rent with. A quick note on the local shorthand: S+1 means one bedroom plus a living room, S+2 two bedrooms plus a living room, and so on. This page stops at the boundaries of the delegation; for Ariana Ville, Raoued or Ennasr, use the apartments for rent in Ariana page.

Chotrana 1, 2 and 3: where the gated blocks are

An apartment for rent in Chotrana 1 usually means a developer-built residence from the 2000s or 2010s, with a lift, underground parking and a caretaker. S+2 units of 90 to 110 sqm are the norm and generally go for between 900 and 1,300 DT, more for a recently furnished one. Chotrana 2 and Chotrana 3, further from the Raoued road, were built later: the apartments are a little larger and the streets quieter, but local shops are still scarce and a car is close to essential.

When an S+2 listing in La Soukra just says "Chotrana" without a number, ask which one: the difference in driving time to the motorway can reach ten minutes at rush hour.

Old La Soukra, on the Borj Louzir side

Borj Louzir refers to an older area on the edge of Ariana Ville and Menzah 8. What is let there is mostly villa floors and S+1 or S+2 units in small two or three storey buildings with no management company, at gentler rents than Chotrana: expect 600 to 900 DT for a decent S+2. The municipal market and the bus routes into Ariana are within walking distance, which suits young salaried tenants without a car.

Dar Fadhal, around the La Marsa road, mixes older villas with new residences. It is the area on the way up: a flat to rent in La Soukra on the Dar Fadhal side sits at equal distance from Lac 2 and La Marsa, and the developers have worked that out.

Why Ennasim costs less

These three sectors line up newer, often cheaper buildings along the road running out to Raoued and the beach. An apartment to rent in Ennasim or El Bessatine costs 15 to 20 percent less than in Chotrana 1 for the same floor area, the trade-off being heavy morning traffic. Ettaamir, to the west, keeps its fabric of individual houses and the apartment supply there stays limited.

For anyone working at the airport, in Les Berges du Lac or at the El Ghazala technology park, an apartment in Ennasim remains, to my mind, the best rent-to-distance compromise in the whole northern suburb.

Before you sign a lease in La Soukra

Look at where the rainwater goes: some streets in Chotrana and El Bessatine flood during heavy storms, and the basements of the residences with them. An evening viewing tells you more than a midday one, both about aircraft noise in the southern part of the delegation and about parking, which is tight from 7pm in blocks with no garage. And a La Soukra rental should be covered by a contract registered at the tax office, even a furnished let of a few months.

Anyone who wants a garden should look instead at houses to rent in La Soukra, plentiful in Dar Fadhal and Ettaamir. And to work out whether buying comes cheaper than renting, the listings for apartments for sale in La Soukra give the price per square metre in those same residences.