Best Day Trips From Djerba

Four genuinely different days leave Djerba each morning, and the listings do a poor job of distinguishing them because they all use the same words. Here is what actually separates them.

1. The oasis day — the safest booking

South-west to Ksar Ghilane: the most southerly Tunisian oasis, a warm spring-fed pool you can swim in, and the dunes of the Grand Erg Oriental on three sides. Four hours each way, a 6am pickup, and a stretch of desert track at the end that means the vehicle is a 4x4.

The most-reviewed tour on this site does this route for $69 with three hours at the oasis, and 1,671 guests have rated it 4.8 out of 5 — roughly two in five of every review the island’s desert operators hold between them. If you want one day out and no risk, this is it. Details on the Ksar Ghilane page.

2. The ksour day — shorter, gentler, older

South-east to Tataouine and Chenini: a market town, granaries whose cells stack four storeys around a courtyard, and a Berber village built in tiers up a ridge with about forty families still living in it. A 7am start and a shorter drive.

Two versions run at $57. The Berber day tour includes Ksar Hadada entry — the confirmed Phantom Menace set — and picks up in Zarzis as well as Djerba. The guided full-day tour stays on asphalt the whole way with a licensed driver and guide plus a local guide at Chenini, which makes it the pick if a day of track sounds like too much. More on the Tataouine and Chenini page.

3. The underground day — the one people underrate

Matmata, where the houses are pits dug into the ground and the Sidi Driss hotel holds the interior of the Lars homestead from A New Hope. No itinerary goes only to Matmata — it is two hours away and would make a short day — so it comes paired with the oasis or the mountain villages.

The jeep safari at $85 gives it the most time; the $69 small-group 4x4 has the stronger review base. See the Matmata page.

4. The sunset day — worth the late return

Most day trips leave the desert at the dullest hour. The Star Wars and sunset itinerary is built the other way: Ksar Hadada, Ksar Ouled Soltane, the perched village of Guermassa, the salt lake, and then the Chahbania dunes for sunset before a night drive home. $57.

You pay for it with a late return rather than money.

Which not to book

If you have one day and want a beach with a view of ruins, none of these is that — every one of them is a long drive with stops in it. If you have mobility limits, avoid the Chenini walk and take the oasis day, which is flat. If you have back trouble, avoid the off-road routes entirely and take the guided asphalt day.

And if you have two days rather than one, the overnight tours start at $48 — less than most of the day trips above — because the second day is where a Djerba departure stops paying for driving and starts buying desert.