Tozeur

Tozeur is the gateway to the Tunisian Sahara and the one place in the south with something to offer even without the desert: an oasis walked or driven through by carriage, the old town of Ouled el Hadef with brick façades laid in patterns, and a museum that explains how water is shared among a thousand owners. Two days are enough, with a third for Douz and the real dunes.

The walk starts in Ouled el Hadef, the 14th-century old town with streets two metres wide and houses of yellow brick laid in geometric patterns found nowhere else in the country. It's finest towards evening, when the brick takes colour; a visit takes an hour and entry is free. Right at the entrance to the quarter is the Dar Cheraït museum, which explains how spring water is shared by the hour among a thousand palm owners, on a 13th-century system that still works.

From the old town you drop straight into the oasis, four hundred thousand palms threaded with paths along the channels. A carriage runs those paths in the shade, 1 h, for €18 carriage (up to 4), agreed in advance since there's no meter; anyone wanting longer hires a bicycle at the hotel.

The wider loop leaves town. Chott el Jerid, a salt lake of more than five thousand square kilometres, dry most of the year, is crossed by car with a stop in the middle where the salt is white and pink; best at dawn or before sunset, when the light is low, and access is free. The mountain oases of Chebika, Tamerza and Midès are an hour north-west, by the Algerian border — gorges with waterfalls and palms in the rock, and the abandoned village of Tamerza, swept away by a flood in 1969. All three are reached 4x4 with driver, a full day, €83 per person.

North of town is Ong Jemel, a camel-shaped rock in the sand, with no road and no ticket. Right beside it are the Mos Espa sets from Star Wars — the houses from the film stand in the sand, being buried a little deeper each year, and are walked round in about ten minutes. Both are reached 4x4 with driver (no road), in the afternoon, about 1 h (one way), tied into the same day as Chebika.

Nefta, about 20 min (one way) west, is a quieter oasis with the Corbeille — a hollow full of palms and springs — and Sufi tombs. Across the lake, about 2 h (one way) further, is Douz — the entry to the real dunes, with a camel ride and a night in a tent; from Tozeur that's the two-day version. Tozeur is the starting point for all of it: reached by winter flight from Tunis, to Tozeur–Nefta airport (TOE), or by road, and from the airport it's taxi (no public bus at the airport), 10–15 min to the centre.