Troglodyte Village · Sidi Driss
Cave houses and the Lars homestead.
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The Experience
A village dug downward, still lived in — and the film set inside it.
What a pit dwelling is, what you are allowed into, and how long the stop should be.
A Matmata dwelling starts as a circular pit sunk into the ground, with rooms cut sideways into its walls. From the road you see almost nothing — which is why the village looks empty until you are standing in one.
The Lars homestead interior from A New Hope is one of five pits at the Sidi Driss hotel. Four hold rooms; the fifth — the film one — is the restaurant. Access depends on service, so a tour with entry included is worth more here than elsewhere.
Most routes include tea, bread, olive oil and heja with a household still living underground. A tip is expected and goes directly to them.
Matmata alone is a short day, so almost every itinerary bolts it onto Ksar Ghilane, Toujane or Douz. How much time it actually gets is the thing to check before booking.
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Photo Gallery
Pit courtyards, cut rooms and the set inside the cave hotel.
Every route pairs it with something else. The difference is how much time it gets.
| Feature | MOST TIME AT MATMATA Matmata & Ksar Ghilane Jeep | Small-Group 4x4 via Toujane | Private Star Wars Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 17 ratings at 4.8 / 5 | 342 ratings at 4.6 / 5 | 59 ratings at 4.3 / 5 |
| Berber Family Visit | ✓ Bread, olive oil, heja | ✓ Tea, bread, honey | ✗ |
| Sidi Driss Film Set | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ Entry included |
| Also Includes | Ain El Anba, Ksar Ghilane oasis | Toujane pass, Ksar Ghilane oasis | Ksar Ouled Soltane, Chenini, Ksar Hadada |
| Hot Spring Swim | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Licensed Guide | ✓ Ministry of Tourism | ✓ | ✓ Private |
| Length | 10 hours | 1 day | 11 hours |
| Starting Price | From $85 per person | $69 per person | $255 per group of up to 2 |
| Free Cancellation | ✓ Up to 24 hours before | ✓ Up to 24 hours before | ✓ Up to 24 hours before |
| Check Availability | Compare | Compare |
More Options
Different routes, lengths, and prices — all with free cancellation and instant confirmation.
MOST REVIEWEDA full day from Djerba to the Ksar Ghilane oasis by 4x4, taking in the Ksar Hadada film location and the hilltop village of Guermassa on the way.
CHEAPEST OVERNIGHTThe cheapest way to sleep in the Tunisian Sahara from Djerba — two days by 4x4 through Tataouine, Chenini and Ksar Ghilane with a night at a desert camp.
SMALL-GROUP 4X4A small-group 4x4 day trip from Djerba and Zarzis to Ksar Ghilane, with the Berber mountain village of Toujane and the Sidi Idriss cave hotel at Matmata.
BERBER VILLAGESA day across the Dahar from Djerba: the Chahbania salt lake at first light, the Tataouine market, and the hilltop Berber villages of Chenini and Douiret.
LONGEST OASIS STOPA slower small-group 4x4 day from Djerba, built around long free time at the Ksar Ghilane oasis with Matmata and a Star Wars set on the way.
SHORTEST 4X4 DAYThe shortest run on this site that still reaches real sand: the Tataouine ksour, desert track to the Ksar Ghilane oasis, and a full menu lunch — in eight hours.
SUNSET & SUNRISEA late start, a night in a desert tent and both a Saharan sunset and sunrise — with Ksar Hadada, the Chahbania salt lake and the Ksar Ghilane hot spring either side of it.
PRIVATE TOURThe private version of the Star Wars circuit: eleven hours, Chenini and three ksour, with entry to Ksar Hadada and the Sidi Driss cave hotel included in the price.
The Village Below Ground
Pit dwellings, a rebuilt film set, and why the stop is so often too short.
Matmata is one of the best inland day trips from Djerba if you are more interested in culture, unusual architecture and Star Wars than in spending the whole day among dunes. It is a village you can drive through without seeing. The houses are not built up from the ground; they are dug down into it: a circular pit sunk seven or eight metres, with rooms cut sideways into its walls and a tunnel out to the surface. From the road there is a scatter of low buildings and a lot of apparently empty hillside. Standing in a courtyard with the sky as a circle overhead is a different experience entirely, and it is the reason to give this stop more than twenty minutes.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can you visit in one day? | Yes |
| Driving | About two to two and a half hours each way, depending on your hotel |
| Main attraction | Troglodyte homes |
| Star Wars site | Hotel Sidi Driss |
| Best add-on | Tamezret |
| Combine with Ksar Ghilane? | Yes, but expect a long day |
Yes, particularly if you have never seen this type of architecture. The landscape is completely different from Djerba’s beaches and resort areas: bare hills, terraced wadis and olive trees, with almost nothing showing above ground.
The traditional houses were excavated into the earth around central courtyards. A good tour should include at least one genuine home, not only a photo stop.
Most routes include a visit to a household still living underground: rosemary tea, bread baked on the spot, estate olive oil, and heja. A tip is requested, not included, and goes straight to the family.
This is the part guests write about afterwards. The pit is cool in August and warm in January, which is why the form exists, and hearing that from someone who lives in one lands differently from reading it.
Sidi Driss is the essential Star Wars stop. The hotel is a converted set of pits, and one of them was dressed as the interior of the Lars family homestead for A New Hope. Four of its five pits hold guest rooms; the fifth, the one from the film, is the hotel restaurant. Allow enough time to see the courtyard and the surviving set details; the Hotel Sidi Driss guide covers what is inside.
Two details matter if you are going for this. The set dressing was struck after the 1977 shoot and rebuilt in 2000 for Attack of the Clones, so what you walk into is a faithful reconstruction, not an untouched original. And the famous domed exterior of the homestead is not here at all: it stands on Chott el Jerid, roughly 300km west, and is not reachable from Djerba in a day.
Because the film pit is a working restaurant, access varies with service. An itinerary that lists Sidi Driss entry as included is worth more than one that merely lists Matmata as a stop.
Tamezret is a useful additional stop because it offers a different style of settlement, a stone village on a hilltop instead of houses dug into the ground, and it does not need the same detour as more distant destinations. The 2-day 4x4 tour with a desert-camp night stops there for almond tea on its second morning, and the Matmata and Ksar Ghilane jeep safari ends its day in Tamezret and Toujane.
This is a strong combination if you have only one excursion from Djerba and want both Star Wars and the Sahara. The trade-off is time: expect a long day, with the Ksar Ghilane oasis about four hours from the island on its own.
Choose a Matmata-focused trip if Star Wars or troglodyte homes are your priority. Choose Matmata + Ksar Ghilane if variety matters more than depth. The Ksar Ghilane or Matmata guide weighs the two if you can only fit one in.
The Matmata and Ksar Ghilane jeep safari treats Matmata as a destination, not a stop on the way home: the Ain El Anba viewpoint, the oasis and its hot spring, then the Berber house, the tasting and the Sidi Idriss hotel, with a Ministry of Tourism licensed guide. $85, and 4.8 out of 5 from 17 reviews, so a small sample, not a strong one. Our full breakdown.
The small-group Ksar Ghilane and Matmata 4x4 at $69 is the better-evidenced booking, 4.6 out of 5 from more than 330 reviews, and adds the Toujane mountain pass. Matmata gets less of the day than on the jeep route, but the tea and the family visit are in it. Our full breakdown.
The Djerba and Zarzis small-group route at $68 pairs Matmata with an unusually long stop at the oasis, and the private Star Wars tour at $255 per group of two includes Sidi Driss entry outright alongside Chenini and the ksour.
For more time again, the two-day 4x4 puts Matmata on the morning of day two, when the village is quieter than at midday.
A private tour is useful if you want more time at Sidi Driss or fewer unnecessary stops. The private Star Wars tour above is the only one here that includes Sidi Driss entry in the price; it is rated 4.3 out of 5 from 59 reviews, lower than the group tours, so read the recent reviews first.
Possible. The advantage is flexibility: you choose how long to spend in the cave houses and at Sidi Driss. The disadvantage is the long return journey, back across the causeway at the end of the day.
Spring, autumn and winter are easiest for sightseeing. Summer can be very hot inland. The month-by-month guide has the detail.
Almost every tour from Djerba pairs Matmata with the desert, the mountain villages or the ksour. One listing on GetYourGuide is a Matmata-only day trip, but it has no reviews yet. So the real question is usually not whether Matmata is included but how much of the afternoon it gets, and the tours above are ordered by that.
Matmata is best when you keep the itinerary focused. If you want culture and Star Wars, spend the day in the Matmata area. If you also want dunes, add Ksar Ghilane, but be prepared for a much longer day.
Guest Reviews
Ratings and review counts are the tour operators' live figures on GetYourGuide and may shift slightly day to day.
"A superb experience. Our live guide Choukri was perfect, attentive, and pleasant, with perfect French. The meal and the quad biking were really enjoyable, and the scenery was breathtaking. The day could have been perfect if our car companions had been more cheerful and smiling, or at least had greeted us... Otherwise, we only remember the best, and we would definitely recommend Choukri, who is truly radiant."
"Thanks to Gadour for all his explanations, the excursion was great, and Ksar Ghilane is magnificent! Go there with your eyes closed"
"Great trip with Sabri Great atmosphere on the way, guaranteed"
"An incredible trip from start to finish with timeless landscapes, an atmosphere worthy of Tunisia, and our driver and guide Adel, who was perfect. We were picked up at our hotel and stopped at a café after about an hour's drive for a snack (delicious chapati) and a meeting with all the other cars. Then we hit the road again to the best Star Wars filming location, with incredible views of the mountains and stone houses. We then arrived at the oasis where we could swim and go for a quad bike or camel ride (extra €30) at sunset with magnificent sand dunes. Finally, dinner was included at a typical restaurant with great entertainment! It took three hours to get there by car, but it was worth it for the endless landscapes! A must-do if you come to Djerba, you won't regret it."
"Excellent trip with the guide Meftah, who was very attentive and always attentive to the needs of customers."
"Great trip, we had a fantastic time with Momo who drove us there. We had a delicious meal, went quad biking and watched the sunset in the desert. The atmosphere was amazing, it was an unforgettable day. Thanks again to Momo!!! Nour and Mariam"
"It was very nice. We were picked up from our vacation rental by a professional driver who knew a lot about Djerba and the local area. Great sightseeing and experiences in the deserts and oases, topped off with a sunset in the Sahara. Highly recommended!"
"Just one word: Awesome! Top-notch team, both in terms of organization and atmosphere. Magnificent and unforgettable sunset! I highly recommend it."
Read all 17 verified reviews
See All ReviewsThe Ain El Anba viewpoint, the Ksar Ghilane hot spring and the Roman fort, then Matmata — a Berber family's cave house, bread and olive oil, and the Sidi Idriss film set. Licensed guide, lunch included, from $85. Starting from $85 per person.
Check Availability & BookPit houses, the film set, and how long the stop really gets.
A circular pit dug seven or eight metres into the ground, with rooms cut sideways into its walls and a tunnel to the surface. From the road you see almost nothing, which is why the village looks empty until you are standing in one. They are cool in August and warm in January, which is why the form exists.
The interior, yes. Hotel Sidi Driss was dressed as the inside of the Lars homestead for A New Hope. The set was struck after the 1977 shoot and rebuilt in 2000 for Attack of the Clones, so what you walk into is a faithful reconstruction. The famous domed exterior is on Chott el Jerid, 300km west.
It is one of the hotel's five pits and it is now the restaurant, so access depends on service that day. An itinerary that lists Sidi Driss entry as included is worth more here than one that lists Matmata merely as a stop.
Almost every itinerary pairs it with the oasis, the mountain villages or the ksour, because the village is about two to two and a half hours from Djerba. One Matmata-only day trip is listed on GetYourGuide, but it has no reviews yet. The real question is how much of the afternoon Matmata gets.
Tea, bread baked on the spot, estate olive oil and heja with a household still living underground. A tip is expected rather than included and goes straight to the family. Most guests write about this more than about the film set.
The $85 jeep safari gives the village the most time and includes a Ministry of Tourism licensed guide, though its 4.8 rating rests on 17 reviews. The $69 small-group 4x4 has 342 ratings behind it and adds the Toujane mountain pass.
It is in arid southern Tunisia, but it is not a classic sand-dune destination. The nearest dunes are at Ksar Ghilane, which many Matmata tours add.
Yes, but it is a busy itinerary and a long day, usually leaving around 6am and returning after dark.
Yes. The architecture is the main reason to go: houses dug into the ground around open courtyards, and a family visit with tea and fresh bread on most tours.
Still have questions? Email us at info@djerbadeserttours.com
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