Star Wars locations in Tunisia: what is left of the sets, and where

Six Star Wars locations sit along one line, from Tozeur in the north of Tunisia's desert down to Tataouine and Djerba in the south — the same route already used to reach the Sahara and the ksour, just with a different reason to stop. Some are still an abandoned set the sand is slowly swallowing; others are inhabited villages where the filming was one week out of a hundred years of history.

Day tripsThe same direction, when the goal is the Sahara, not Star Wars:Day trips from Tozeur →

Mos Espa, near Ong Jemel

Watto's town from The Phantom Menace (1999) was built as an actual settlement of brick and clay, and left standing where it rose after filming. Its domes and minarets now stand half-buried under dunes that shift every year, so what is visible today is not what it was ten years ago. No road reaches it — only sand — so it is reached solely by 4x4 with a driver from Tozeur, about half a day, usually combined with a stop at the canyon that follows.

Sidi Bouhlel canyon

The same road south from Nefta leads to a rock canyon where the escape from Mos Eisley was filmed in the first film, in 1977 — hence its local nickname, the 'Star Wars canyon'. Unlike Mos Espa, there is no set here: the canyon is a natural formation, entry is free and unrestricted, and the scene is recognisable from the narrow passage between red rock walls the Skyhopper chase ran through. Tour vehicles typically fold it into the same trip as Chott el Jerid, since it is on the way.

The igloo on Chott el Jerid

On the road across the Chott el Jerid salt lake, which anyone heading to Douz already crosses, stands one of two domed huts built in 1976 as the exterior of the Lars homestead — the other collapsed over the years and was removed. The dome is empty, with no sign and no ticket, and anyone who does not know to look for it drives past without noticing; a driver who knows where to stop is the only difference between a roadside mound and a recognised location.

Where to stayWhere to sleep in Tozeur before or after this loop:Where to stay in Tozeur →

Hotel Sidi Driss, Matmata

Further south, in Matmata, the village of troglodyte houses dug into the hillside existed before filming and after it — its kitchen and corridors were used for the Lars homestead interiors, in 1977 and again in 2002, for Attack of the Clones. Hotel Sidi Driss, where the scenes were shot, still runs as a working hotel: a guest can sleep in a room cut into the rock, or just sit for a coffee in the courtyard that was the kitchen on screen. Matmata is most often reached from Djerba, across the causeway, as a full day.

Day tripsThe full day across the Roman causeway to Matmata and Chenini:Day trips from Djerba →

Ksar Hadada and Ksar Ouled Soltane, near Tataouine

From Matmata the road continues south towards Tataouine, where two ksour stand — fortified Berber grain stores, rings of vaulted storage cells (ghorfas) stacked around a courtyard. Ksar Hadada served as the slave quarters of Mos Espa in The Phantom Menace; Ksar Ouled Soltane never made it into the film, but is better preserved than the other and is usually added to the same trip for the architecture Ksar Hadada, partly turned over to souvenir shops, no longer shows to the same extent. Both are visited on the same trip out of Tataouine or Djerba, together with Chenini.

Mos Eisley, Djerba

The last stop south is not the desert but an island: the exteriors of Mos Eisley from the first film, 1977, were shot in Ajim, a fishing town in the south-west of Djerba. Unlike the previous five locations, no set or marker remains here — the place has stayed what it already was, a fishing harbour, and looks now much as it did before filming.

Hidden gemsWhat Houmt Souk and its surroundings hold outside the film story:Djerba behind the façades: a tower of skulls and a settlement with no centre →

When to goWhen the desert is bearable enough to tour the sets:The best time to visit Tozeur →