Djerba & Zarzis: Sahara, Ksar Ghilane, Matmata & Star Wars Set

About This Experience

The selling point of this itinerary is what it leaves out. It takes the quieter routes through the mountains and gives Ksar Ghilane extended free time instead of the usual hour, so the oasis becomes somewhere you sit rather than somewhere you photograph on the way past.

The country changes as you go: causeway, plain, then the folded rock of the Dahar. Matmata is the cultural stop — pit dwellings dug down into the ground rather than built up out of it, and the Sidi Driss hotel, which served as the interior of the Lars homestead in A New Hope. The decor was struck after the 1977 shoot and rebuilt in 2000 for Attack of the Clones, which is why what you walk into looks like the film rather than like a ruin of it.

At the oasis there is the warm spring, the dunes, tea, and a camel ride if you want one. Lunch is a traditional Tunisian meal.

Groups are small and the vehicle is a 4x4, which is a practical necessity rather than a flourish — the last stretch into Ksar Ghilane is not a road.

Highlights

• Extended free time at the Ksar Ghilane hot spring, not the standard hour
• The Sidi Driss cave hotel — the Lars homestead interior from A New Hope
• Matmata's pit dwellings and how people actually live in them
• Quieter mountain and desert routes than the main circuits
• Traditional tea tasting and a Tunisian lunch

What's Included

• ✓ Small-group 4x4 tour from Djerba or Zarzis
• ✓ Hotel pickup and drop-off
• ✓ Professional driver-guide
• ✓ Air-conditioned 4x4
• ✓ Matmata cave-house visit
• ✓ Extended free time at the Ksar Ghilane oasis
• ✓ Traditional tea tasting
• ✓ Lunch

Not Included

• Camel rides and quad biking at the oasis
• Personal expenses
• Tips

What to Bring

• Swimsuit and towel
• Sun hat and sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Closed shoes
• Cash

Good to Know & Caveats

• Groups are small and travel by 4x4 rather than coach.
• The oasis stop is deliberately long — this itinerary trades extra stops for time on the sand.
• The spring-fed pool is the reason to pack a swimsuit.
• Camel rides at Ksar Ghilane are optional and paid on the day.

Meeting Point

Early-morning hotel pickup in Djerba and Zarzis, in a small-group 4x4.