Dougga is the best-preserved Roman town in North Africa, and the Romans themselves would have understood why: the site sits on a hillside in the green farmland of northern Tunisia, looking over wheat country to a long ridge of low mountains. The modern town of Tabursuq lies a few kilometres away and has the fuel, bakeries and cafes. Allow a morning, and ideally arrive before the tour buses do.
The ride here is easy and pleasant, through olive groves, cereal fields and cork oak. Roads are narrow and the surface is variable, with potholes and occasional sand, and you share the lane with donkeys, scooters, shared taxis and flocks of sheep. In spring the hills are bright green and covered in wildflowers, while by late summer they have turned the colour of toast. Mid-afternoon in July is not the time to be on a black jacket, so leave early and carry plenty of water.
The history is the reason to come. Thugga began as a Numidian and Punic settlement, and a mausoleum from the second century BC still stands, one of the finest monuments of its kind, built for a Numidian chief and carrying inscriptions in the Libyan and Punic scripts. The Romans added a theatre that is astonishingly intact, a capitol with tall columns facing the plain, baths with elaborate under-floor heating and a temple of Saturn. Wealthy local families paid for much of it, which says something about how prosperous this grain-growing region was.
Tabursuq is the sensible place to buy fuel, and also to eat: grilled meat, bread and salads, mint tea, nothing grand. The site charges an entry fee, and guides will approach you. Take your time on the stone paths, which are uneven, and look at the view as well as the ruins. From the theatre you can imagine the audience seeing the same fields, only fewer of them in view. It is a quiet, unhurried place, and much more satisfying than a rushed visit.