Tunisia Star Wars Filming Locations
Every Star Wars filming location in Tunisia — Mos Espa at Ong Jmal, Sidi Driss in Matmata, Ksar Hadada, the Chott el Jerid dome and Sidi Bouhlel canyon — and which tours reach each one.
Tunisia has been Tatooine since 1976, and it stayed Tatooine through the whole prequel trilogy. Some of what the crews built came down and some did not, which means the country holds a mix of genuine standing sets, real villages that were dressed and filmed, and places that get photographed as locations without ever having been one.
This is the list, with what survives at each and which tours actually stop there.
Check Availability
Mos Espa — Ong Jmal, near Nefta
The one that looks like the film. The entire town set — domed houses, market frontages, pod-race hangars — was built in open desert for The Phantom Menace, shot in Tunisia in July and August 1997, and left standing when the crew went home. Ong Jmal was also where Darth Maul arrives on Tatooine.
Nearly thirty years of wind have weathered it and dunes press against the western edge, but you can walk the streets. There is no sealed road and no ticket office: every visit is by 4x4 across sand, and what a tour charges for is transport and a guide.
Reached by: the private Tozeur day tour at $100, the Ong Jemel and Nefta 4x4 at $80, and day two of the Sousse and Monastir two-day tour at $151.
Hotel Sidi Driss — Matmata
The Lars homestead interior from A New Hope. Matmata’s houses are built by digging a pit into the ground and tunnelling rooms out of its walls, and one of those pits became a hotel. The set dressing was struck after 1977 and rebuilt completely in 2000 for Attack of the Clones, which is why it still reads as the film. The Star Wars pit is now the hotel restaurant, and you can sleep in one of the other four.
Reached by: almost every Djerba tour heading west, day one of every northern two-day tour, and the Matmata-focused itineraries.
The Lars homestead dome — Chott el Jerid, near Nefta
The white igloo exterior, which stands on the edge of the salt pan about 300km west of the interior it supposedly sits above. It has been restored by fans more than once and it is perfectly photogenic, but it is a shell rather than a set.
Reached by: some Ong Jmal itineraries from Tozeur — ask, because many do not mention it either way.
Ksar Hadada — north of Tataouine
A ksar: a fortified communal granary of vaulted mud-brick cells stacked around courtyards. It played the Mos Espa slave quarters in The Phantom Menace, including the courtyard where Qui-Gon Jinn talks with Shmi Skywalker. Unlike Ong Jmal it is a real building with a real history, and it was a functioning hotel for some years.
Reached by: the most-reviewed desert tour in our catalogue — the $69 Djerba 4x4 to Ksar Ghilane, which gives it a 35-minute guided stop.
Sidi Bouhlel — the canyon north-east of Tozeur
Still called Star Wars Canyon locally. It was used for Tatooine exteriors across several films and turns up in scouting guides far more often than in tour itineraries. Few commercial tours include it, and reaching it independently needs a driver who knows the track.
Ksar Ouled Soltane — south of Tataouine
Worth naming because of what it is not. It is the best-preserved ksar in the country, four storeys of ghorfas around two courtyards, and it is photographed as a Star Wars location constantly. It was not one. Visit it anyway — it is the most impressive building in the Dahar — but do not book a tour for it on film grounds.
The thing to plan around
The locations fall into two clusters 250km apart with Chott el Jerid between them.
East: Matmata, Ksar Hadada, the Tataouine ksour. A day trip from Djerba.
West: Mos Espa, the Chott dome, Sidi Bouhlel. A day from Tozeur, or day two of a longer loop.
No single day tour covers both, and a listing that implies otherwise is usually counting Matmata as Mos Espa. If you want the whole set, budget two or three days and let an itinerary move you. The Djerba-or-Tozeur guide works through that decision properly.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Mos Espa set still standing in Tunisia?
Yes. It was built at Ong Jmal near Nefta for The Phantom Menace in 1997 and was never dismantled. The buildings are weathered and dunes are encroaching on one side, but the streets are walkable.
Where was the Lars homestead filmed?
In two places. The interior is Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata, a troglodyte house rebuilt as a set in 2000 for Attack of the Clones. The exterior dome stands on the edge of Chott el Jerid near Nefta, about 300km west.
Can you stay in the Star Wars hotel?
Yes — Hotel Sidi Driss still takes guests. It has five pits, four with rooms; the fifth, the Star Wars pit, is the restaurant.
Which Tunisian ksar was in The Phantom Menace?
Ksar Hadada, north of Tataouine, as the Mos Espa slave quarters. Ksar Ouled Soltane is the more photographed of the two and was not a filming location.
How many Star Wars films were shot in Tunisia?
Four — A New Hope in 1976 and the whole prequel trilogy between 1997 and 2004, all using Tunisia as Tatooine.
Do I need a 4x4 to see the sets?
For Mos Espa, yes: there is no sealed road to Ong Jmal. Matmata, Ksar Hadada and the Tataouine ksour are all reachable on tarmac, though most tours to them use jeeps anyway.
Ready to book? Tunisia Star Wars tours lists every itinerary that stops at a real set, sorted by which cluster it reaches.
See the Sahara From Your Hotel Door
Hotel pickup, a 4x4 across the Dahar plateau, the hot spring at Ksar Ghilane, and lunch — rated 4.8/5 by 1,671 guests. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Check Availability & Book