Houses to rent in Tabarka

Tabarka runs on two calendars. From June to early September the town fills up with families from Tunis, Jendouba and Algeria, and every house with two bedrooms and a terrace is let by the day or by the week. The rest of the year the shutters close along the seafront, and the few houses available by the year go to teachers, army officers and hospital staff.

A house to rent in Tabarka therefore has neither the same price nor the same audience in August and in February. The listings gathered here cover both markets, from the centre to the golf course, from Ain Essobh to Raihane. The other delegations, Ain Draham included, are on the houses to rent in Jendouba governorate page.

Summer: renting a house by the day, how it works

Houses to rent in Tabarka by the day are found in three places. In the centre and around the marina, town houses with a roof terrace, five minutes on foot from the Needles and the Genoese fort: the liveliest and the dearest. Towards Montazah and the golf course road, holiday villas on estates, usually with a garden and sometimes a pool, let by the week to large families. And on the Ain Draham road, at Ain Essobh or El Hamdia, plainer, cooler village houses ten minutes by car from the beach, for half the price.

In July and August a decent house rarely drops below 150 DT a night, and double that on the marina. Book before May: regulars take the same house every year and owners serve them first.

Locals know the trick: in June and September the sea is just as good and prices fall by a third. That is the best time to come, jazz festival week aside.

Renting by the year in Tabarka, a small market with gentle rents

Year-round house rental in Tabarka is a small market. Many owners keep their property for the summer and leave it empty for nine months, much to the frustration of civil servants posted here, who often fall back on apartments to rent in Tabarka, more numerous, in blocks at Montazah and in the centre. Houses available by the year are mostly in Raihane, behind the Tunis road, and in the old centre, where an S+2 (two bedrooms plus a living room) goes for around 400 to 600 DT.

One argument worth putting to a hesitant owner: a reliable tenant for twelve months is often worth more than ten weeks of high season once cleaning and breakages are counted. Plenty of them come round to it.

Available September to June, the second home of Tunis families

Many of the houses offered for rent belong to families from Tunis or Tunisians living in France who only come in August. For the rest of the year they look for a tenant they can trust, sometimes with a summer release clause. If you accept giving up the place in July and August, these are often fine houses at rents well below the market.

You recognise a house of this kind in the listing by the phrase "available from September to June". Ask where your furniture goes in summer and whether the rent covers the period you are away: arrangements exist, provided they are written down.

Why damp and heating decide what makes a good house in Tabarka

Damp comes first. Between the sea, the cork oak forest and nearly 1,000 mm of rain a year, poorly ventilated ground floors go mouldy fast: look at the bottom of the walls and inside the cupboards. Heating comes second: winter here is cold, colder than you would expect by the sea, and few houses are equipped with anything other than a stove.

Those the town wins over end up looking at houses for sale in Tabarka, a second home market that is still affordable.