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 one 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 Tozeur, we spent time in Douz where we experienced the International Sahara Festival, and from where we set off on an overnight trip to the Sahara desert.
Day 11: Leave the Sahara and drive to Tozeur
On day 11 we rode camels through the desert back to Douz. Back in Douz, we got on our car and drove 2 hours to Tozeur. On the way to Tozeur we stopped at the salt flat on Chott el Djerid. The landscape there reminded me of photos I’d seen from the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, so I tried taking some fun photos like the ones I’d seen.
After the salt flats we continued our drive to Tozeur. We grabbed lunch at Tisouros in town before heading to our apartment to check in. The food there was good, but it was so busy that the whole experience felt very chaotic!
Afterwards, we spent the afternoon exploring the beautiful and unique Medina. This Medina is unique because of its stunning decorative brickwork, made from handmade yellow-ochre baked bricks arranged in intricate geometric patterns. The Medina was built in the 14th century, with narrow lanes, arched passages, and textured façades that that are unique to Tozeur.
We made our way through the Medina to the Palm Oasis. Originally, we had planned on heading to the Eden Palm heritage museum to do a walk through the palm oasis, and learn more about traditional date-palm farming up close. Unfortunately, when we got to the palm oasis, we found several stray dogs hanging out by the entrance, so we decided against going in.
The Tozeur palm oasis is one of the largest and most beautiful in Tunisia, it stretches across thousands of hectares on the edge of the Sahara. Fed by ancient irrigation channels, it contains hundreds of thousands of date palms arranged in a traditional three-layer system of palms, fruit trees, and crops, creating a lush green world that has sustained life and trade in the desert for centuries. Even from the outside, it was fascinating to see!
From the oasis we walked back to our car on a different route, trying to explore more of Tozeur. I really loved Tozeur! In some ways it was so unique, and in others it reminded me of Cairo a little bit. And to add to the magic, we visited during date season, so dates were readily available everywhere we went!
On our way home, we stopped at the Carrefour in town to get ingredients for breakfast and a few snacks. I personally love going into grocery stores during our travels. It’s always fun to see what new foods we will find. It is such a fun part of traveling and of really seeing a new place!
Day 12: Star Wars Day Tour
One of the main reasons we went to Tozeur was to do an all-day Star Wars tour with Galaxy Tours. We are all big Star Wars fans, and have been to other filming sites, like Tikal in Guatemala, and Death Valley in California. So when we found a private tour that would take us all around the area to see places like the Lars Homestead, or the “Star Wars Canyon” where the Jawas attacked C3PO and R2D2 when they were looking for Obi Wan Kenobi, we were all in!
For our tour we chose the Origin Story film sites. This included the Lars Homestead on the Chott el-Djerid salt flats, Mos Espa set in the Eriguet dunes, and the “Star Wars Canyon” (Maguer Gorge in the Jebel Sidi Bouhlel mountain range). These sites were collectively featured in A New Hope, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and The Mandalorian. Our tour guide was super knowledgeable. She would make any Star Wars lover very happy!
Ong Jemel
We started our tour with a quick stop at the Ong Jemel (Camel Rock), a famous natural rock formation shaped like a camel’s neck and head. This is the iconic filming location in Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones. It is here where Darth Maul lands his ship on Tatooine and releases his probe droids to search for Queen Amidala. The area in the background was also used for scenes during the Boonta Eve Podrace in The Phantom Menace.
Mos Espa
From the overlook, we continued our drive to our next stop: the set of Mos Espa! In Mos Espa we visited Watto’s junk shop and food vendor street in the Mos Espa marketplace (Anakin’s first appearance location). A lot of the set in Mos Espa is being restored to preserve it. It was super cool walking around the set and seeing those movie locations in person! Our tour guide had photos of different scenes from the movies to point out the spots to us!
Lars Homestead
From Mos Espa, we drove about an hour to Chott el-Djerid salt flats to visit the Lars Homestead. This is where they filmed the outside of it (the inside was filmed at Hotel Sidi Idris in Matmata). This spot was so cool to see! We learned that the original home from the first film had been destroyed by the elements over time. When they came back to film the later movies, the structure was rebuilt, and it’s been preserved since then!
Star Wars Canyon
After grabbing a traditional lunch in Tozeur, we drove to Sidi Bouhlel Gorge, also known as “Star Wars Canyon.” This spot is famous because it was the filming location for scenes in Star Wars: A New Hope, The Phantom Menace, Indiana Jones, and The English Patient!
The canyon in itself is beautiful and has unique rock formations! It was super cool hiking and exploring this otherworldly landscape! This part of the excursion took about 2 hours of hiking, including a gentle uphill. In the canyon we saw where the Jawa ambushed R2-D2 and the Tusken Raiders attacked Luke before Obi-Wan arrived!
We finished hiking the canyon close to sundown, and that was the end of our tour. We really learned and saw a lot on the tour! After getting back to Tozeur, we grabbed a pizza dinner at Taxi Pizza near our apartment.
Day 13: Leave Tozeur and drive to La Marsa
We left Tozeur in the morning, after stopping in town to get 3kg of dates to bring home! We had a six and a half hour-drive to La Marsa in front of us. For lunch we stopped in Kairouan at the same spot we ate the first time we were there. And from there we drove straight to our apartment in La Marsa.
To read more about other places to visit in Tunisia, visit this page. For all of our other travels, go here.
