In December 2025, our family spent two weeks roadtripping around Tunisia. It was truly a fabulous experience! When I started writing a blog about our trip, I realized it’d be easier to create different posts for the cities we visited instead of putting all the information in our long post. If you want to read more about logistics and our overall experience in Tunisia, click here. To read about the other cities we visited, you can go to our Tunisia page.
Before heading to Tatooine, our family spent 2 nights in Tunis, where we explored the old Medina and took a day trip to the Roman city of Dougga. Afterwards, we spent 3 nights in Sousse, from where we explored the nearby cities of Monastir and Kairouan.
Day 7: Drive to Tatooine – Stop in El Djem
When we started planning our trip to Tunisia we learned about the Roman amphitheater at El Djem. I immediately knew I wanted to go there! Our family is such a fan of Roman history, and having the opportunity to visit the second best-preserved, and third largest ever built Roman amphitheater was something we were not going to pass on! Plus, this was the perfect place to stop on our way to Tatooine!
El Djem
El Djem is home to one of the most spectacular Roman monuments in the world: its vast 3rd-century amphitheater, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest in North Africa. Built to hold around 35,000 spectators, it rivals Rome’s Colosseum and stands as a powerful reminder of Tunisia’s importance in the Roman Empire, when the city (then called Thysdrus) was a wealthy center of trade and olive oil production. And what makes this amphitheater even more special is the fact that you can explore it freely and with no crowds! Our kids had the best time there! They loved running down into the gladiator tunnels, and finding their way around the passages. It was simply incredible!
After exploring the amphitheater, we headed across the street to El Hana Cafe and Restaurant for lunch. This family-run restaurant serves fresh grilled meats with salads and different sides. The food was delicious, and the view of the amphitheater was perfect!
Ksar Medenine
After lunch, we continued our drive to Tatooine. Three hours into the drive, we stopped at our first ksar of the trip: Ksar Medenine. A ksar is a traditional fortified village or communal granary built from mud brick and stone to protect stored goods from raids and harsh dessert conditions. Ksars are popular in Tunisia because several were used as filming locations for Star Wars. Ksar Medenine was used in Star Was: Episode I as the slave quarters on Tatooine in the city of Mos Espa, including Anakin Skywalker’s home.
Farm Stay
From Ksar Medenine we drove 30 minutes to our Airbnb in the town of Domaine Oued El Khil. We chose to spend Christmas at this permaculture farm because it sounded so unique, and it definitely met our expectations. The farm was built with the intention of preserving Amazigh culture and the natural beauty of the Dahar region. The farm sits on 3 hectares and it’s fully self-sufficient, growing its own vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants. There is livestock you can meet on a guided tour of the farm, and they even provide education and training to other local farmers to help them become self sufficient in a region where rainfall is almost non-existent.
Our family stayed in the eco dome and we loved it! Our stay included breakfast, and we had the option to have dinner on site for a fee. We ate dinner at the farm both nights we were there. The first night we ate with the farm owner, and the second night we also had another family who was staying at the farm join us. We personally enjoyed the intimate setting, and meeting other people who appreciated this emphasis on nature and conservation.
At the end of our stay we bought a few items to bring home with us. The most exciting one was bsisa powder to make bsisa paste. Bsisa is a traditional Tunisian staple made from roasted grains, blended with chickpeas, seeds and spices and then ground into a fine powder. You mix it with olive oil to make a paste, and then use it to stuff dates to eat as a snack or for breakfast. It is super nutritious and delicious! As an added bonus, all the ingredients used in making the powder we bought were grown in the farm!
Day 8: Tatooine – Explore the Ksars
We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the farm, and then we set out on a full day of exploring Ksars and ancient Amazigh villages. Joe spent a very long time creating a driving route of the ksour that would hit the sites we were most interested in. I think he did a fabulous job!
Ksar Hedada
Our first stop was Ksar Hedada (also spelled Hadada). Ksar Hedada, located in southeastern Tunisia, was a filming location for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). It represented the Mos Espa Slave Quarters on Tatooine. This spot is most famous because of the Midichlorian testing of Anakin Skywalker. Ksar Hedada was primarily used for the scenes showing the exterior, most specifically the balcony where Qui-Gon and Shmi Skywalked discussed Anakin.
Guermassa
Just 30-40 minutes drive from Ksar Hedada is the ancient Amazigh village of Guermassa. Guermassa is an abandoned Amazigh (Berber) hilltop village, built into rugged mountain rock for defense and protection from the desert climate. Once a thriving dechra with cave dwellings, stone houses, and a small mosque, it is now a hauntingly beautiful ruin that offers insight into traditional mountain life and stunning views over the surrounding plains.
We parked at the bottom of the hill and hiked up to the village on a rugged road. Once we reached the top, we saw there was a different road that takes you up the hill on the other side. We actually enjoyed the hike up the Guermassa, but it’s nice knowing there is an alternate route for those who can’t (or don’t want to) hike. Once we reached the town, we explored it freely. It was very fun to look inside the abandoned structures!
Chenini
The next Amazigh village, Chenini, is just a 20-minute drive down the road (follow road signs, not Google Maps for a faster route). Chenini is one of southern Tunisia’s most famous Amazigh (Berber) hilltop villages, perched on a rocky ridge. This village is known for its cave dwellings carved into the mountainside and its small white mosque overlooking the valley. A small number of people still live in Chenini, mainly in the newer village at the foot of the hill and in a few of the old cave homes. However, most of the original hilltop settlement is now abandoned and preserved as a historic side.
You can definitely tell Chenini is more popular with visitors. We saw several tour buses in Chenini, and this was the first time on the trip that people approached us to try to sell us souvenirs, or to make us come to their restaurant. Once we started hiking up the hill to the mosque, we were left alone to explore.
Mosque of the Seven Dormants
After visiting Chenini, we drove about 10 minutes to visit the Mosque of the Seven Dormants. The mosque is also called the Sidi Sahbi Mosque. It links to the Islamic and Christian legend of seven young men who slept in a cave for centuries. The mosque sits beside long, symbolic tombs believed to be theirs. Locals visit it as a pilgrimage site, and it remains a distinctive landmark of Chenini’s ancient hilltop village.
This holly site was very fun to explore! The kids loved it when the mosque keeper invited them to climb up the very narrow minaret. You actually have to crawl inside it to go up the tiny stairs! We also made a quick stop at a dome we saw on the way to the mosque from Chenini.
Lunch Break
For lunch we drove into Tatooine. We followed our guidebook recommendation, and ate at Restaurant Margoum. We ordered a full Rotisserie chicken and a chicken couscous. It was honestly the best Christmas meal (yes, we were there on Christmas!).
After we finished lunch, we ventured out to look for coffee. After looking around without any luck, we asked for directions as a patisserie. There, a nice man walked us to the nearest coffee shop. This is just one of the many times Tunisian people went the extra mile to help us out!
Ksar Ouled Debbab
Ksar Ouled Debbab was one of the prettiest ksars we visited. Stacked ghorfas surround its courtyards and narrow passages. The Star Wars filmmakers scouted it for the Jawa village in Star Wars: Episode IV. They didn’t film there, but its architecture inspired elements of Mos Espa and Tatooine.
You can visit the ksar for free. If you pay a very small fee (10DT/person) you can visit the adjacent Islamic Museum, which I would definitely recommend doing. The art, woodwork, and traditional clothes on display are simply stunning!
Ksar Ouled Soltane
Ksar Ouled Soltane ranked as one of the prettiest ksour we visited. Filmmakers scouted it for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but they did not use it for filming. It lay at the farthest point on our loop, and I’m glad we visited because it was beautiful. We saw a few local artists using the ksar rooms as their studios, which was such a great idea! Unfortunately, people have left trash and human and feline waste in many of the other interiors, so I wouldn’t recommend venturing too far into them.
This loop of ksour and Amazigh villages took us the entire day. If you look on the map, there are many more ksour you can visit in the area, but you’d probably need an extra day to see more because the distances are long between some of them. At the end of the day, we felt happy with what we had seen, and were looking forward to getting back to the farm for a delicious farm-fresh dinner!
Day 9: Drive to Douz
After a delicious breakfast at the farm, we drove to Douz, the getaway to the Sahara. From there we’d be setting off on an overnight trip into the Sahara Desert. You can read more about it here. Before arriving to Douz, we stopped in Matmata to visit Hotel Sidi Ibris, the troglodyte house used as the interior of the Lars Homestead. Star Wars fans will know what I’m talking about!
To read more about other places to visit in Tunisia, visit this page. For all of our other travels, go here.
