Kairouan's medina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved historic Islamic city centres in North Africa. Unlike the medina in Tunis, it has not been heavily touristed, which gives it a working, lived-in quality that more famous medinas sometimes lack. The streets are narrow, the buildings old, and the craft workshops still operating as they have for centuries.
The medina is organised around the Great Mosque and the main souks that radiate from it. The carpet market is particularly active — Kairouan is one of the main carpet-producing cities in Tunisia, and the kilims and knotted rugs sold here (many still made locally on traditional looms) are worth examining even if you are not buying. The medina is small enough to walk end-to-end in twenty minutes, but getting intentionally lost in the residential quarters is rewarding.