For Star Wars fans, Tunisia offers one of the closest things possible to visiting a galaxy far, far away. The country’s desert landscapes, salt flats, traditional architecture and underground dwellings were used extensively to create the fictional planet of Tatooine.
George Lucas and his crew first arrived in Tunisia to film A New Hope in 1976, with principal photography beginning near Nefta on March 22 of that year. The production returned to Tunisia for the prequel trilogy, and today many of the original filming locations and even some purpose-built sets can still be visited.
From the streets of Mos Espa to Luke Skywalker’s childhood home, these are the best Star Wars filming locations in Tunisia.
1. Hotel Sidi Driss, Matmata – Lars Homestead Interior
A New Hope and Attack of the Clones
In the town of Matmata, traditional homes were historically dug into the earth around large sunken courtyards, creating the distinctive troglodyte architecture for which the area is famous.
Hotel Sidi Driss, one of these underground dwellings, was used as the interior of the Lars homestead, where Luke Skywalker lives with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in A New Hope. The dining room and courtyard are among the most recognizable locations from Luke’s childhood home. Lucasfilm also confirms that cast and crew filmed and worked at Hotel Sidi Driss during the original Tunisia shoot.
The location was dressed again for Attack of the Clones, when Anakin Skywalker returns to the Lars homestead while searching for his mother. Much of the Star Wars-style set dressing remains in place today.
Hotel Sidi Driss still operates as a basic hotel, so fans can visit the courtyard, eat in the dining area and even stay in one of the cave-style rooms.
2. Mos Espa Film Set, near Nefta
The Phantom Menace
One of Tunisia’s most impressive Star Wars sights is the purpose-built Mos Espa set in the desert near Nefta and Tozeur.
Mos Espa is the Tatooine settlement where audiences meet the young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. Unlike locations where the production adapted existing Tunisian buildings, much of Mos Espa was constructed specifically for the film.
The set still stands in the desert and includes recognizable streets and structures associated with Mos Espa, including Watto’s shop and Sebulba’s café. Tunisia’s tourism authority specifically highlights the surviving set as one of the country’s major Star Wars attractions.
The location is generally visited on a 4×4 desert excursion from Tozeur or Nefta, often together with Ong Jemel and other nearby Star Wars sites.
3. Ong Jemel – Darth Maul’s Arrival on Tatooine
The Phantom Menace
Close to Mos Espa is Ong Jemel, a striking desert rock formation whose name is commonly translated as “neck of the camel.”
The surrounding desert was used for scenes involving Darth Maul after he arrives on Tatooine. The nearby landscape is also associated with the Sith probe-droid sequence and the areas around the confrontation between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn. Tunisia’s official tourism site identifies the wider Tozeur/Nefta area as containing the Sith infiltrator landing site and the sandstone formations used in the Episode I duel.
Because Ong Jemel lies close to the Mos Espa set, the two locations are usually visited on the same excursion.
4. The Lars Homestead Exterior, near Chott el Jerid
A New Hope, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith
The familiar dome marking the entrance to the Lars family homestead was filmed separately from the interiors at Hotel Sidi Driss.
For A New Hope, the exterior was constructed on the salt-flat landscape near Nefta. Lucasfilm’s own account of the first day of filming describes Mark Hamill and Phil Brown shooting beside the homestead “igloo” at the Nefta location.
The site was later reconstructed for the prequel trilogy. Tunisia’s tourism authority notes that the homestead appears in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, including scenes surrounding Shmi Skywalker’s funeral and the final sequence in which Obi-Wan delivers the infant Luke to Owen and Beru.
The lonely white dome against the vast salt flats is now one of the most iconic Star Wars photo stops in Tunisia.
5. Sidi Bouhlel – Star Wars Canyon
A New Hope
Sidi Bouhlel, outside Tozeur, is commonly known among fans as Star Wars Canyon.
Its rugged cliffs and ravines were used as part of the Tatooine wilderness in A New Hope, including sequences involving the Jawas and Tusken Raiders. Footage from Tunisia was later combined with additional desert material filmed in California to build the movie’s broader Tatooine landscape.
Even without the film connection, the canyon is an impressive example of southern Tunisia’s dramatic desert scenery.
6. Ksar Hadada – Mos Espa Slave Quarters
The Phantom Menace
South of Matmata, the landscape changes from underground homes to another form of traditional southern Tunisian architecture: the ksour, fortified granaries built around courtyards.
Ksar Hadada was one of the real Tunisian locations used to represent Mos Espa’s slave quarters, where Anakin Skywalker and his mother Shmi live in The Phantom Menace.
The stacked barrel-vaulted storage chambers, known as ghorfas, already looked so otherworldly that relatively little imagination was required to transform them into part of Tatooine.
7. Ksar Ouled Soltane – More of Mos Espa’s Slave Quarters
The Phantom Menace
Ksar Ouled Soltane, around 20 kilometers south of Tataouine, is one of the most impressive fortified granaries in southern Tunisia.
Its tall ghorfas surround two courtyards and rise several levels above the ground. Scenes from The Phantom Menace were filmed here as part of the slave-quarter environment associated with young Anakin Skywalker. Both Lonely Planet and other heritage sources identify Ksar Ouled Soltane as one of the locations used for this section of Mos Espa.
Even visitors with little interest in Star Wars will find the architecture worth seeing in its own right.
8. Ksar Medenine – Another Mos Espa Location
The Phantom Menace
Medenine provides another example of the ghorfa architecture used to create Mos Espa.
The town’s surviving ksar was used during filming for The Phantom Menace. Lonely Planet specifically identifies it as a Star Wars location associated with the scene in which Qui-Gon tests Anakin’s blood for midi-chlorians.
Together, Ksar Haddada, Ksar Ouled Soltane and Medenine demonstrate how heavily the production drew on genuine southern Tunisian architecture rather than creating Tatooine entirely from scratch.
9. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s House, Djerba
A New Hope
The island of Djerba contains several locations from the original 1977 movie.
Near the town of Ajim stands the simple seaside building used as the exterior of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s home. StarWars.com confirms the location on Djerba and notes the curious contrast between the movie’s barren Jundland Wastes and the real building’s position beside the Mediterranean Sea.
The building itself is modest, but for fans of A New Hope it is one of Tunisia’s most recognizable surviving original-trilogy locations.
10. Ajim, Djerba – Mos Eisley Cantina Exterior
A New Hope
Ajim itself was also used to create parts of Mos Eisley.
Most notably, a building in Ajim provided the exterior of the Mos Eisley Cantina. StarWars.com confirms that the famous cantina sequence was assembled from multiple locations: the exterior was filmed in Ajim, while most of the interior scenes were shot at Elstree Studios in England.
Other footage showing the heroes arriving in Mos Eisley was also filmed around Ajim.
For serious Star Wars fans, the appeal lies in seeing how ordinary fishing-town buildings were transformed on screen into one of the galaxy’s most infamous spaceports.
11. Tataouine – The Name Behind Tatooine
Despite the obvious similarity in names, Tataouine itself was not one of the main locations used to portray Tatooine in the original film.
However, the Tunisian place name is widely documented as the source for the fictional planet’s name. Research into the production history notes that Lucas incorporated “Tatooine” into the developing script after location scouting in Tunisia.
The town is still a logical stop on a Star Wars itinerary because several important prequel filming locations, including Ksar Haddada and Ksar Ouled Soltane, lie in the surrounding region.
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How to Visit the Star Wars Locations in Tunisia
The locations are spread across a large part of southern Tunisia, so you won’t be able to see them all from a single base.
Tozeur and Nefta are the best bases for the Mos Espa set, Ong Jemel, the Lars homestead exterior and Sidi Bouhlel. Tunisia’s tourism authority specifically promotes Tozeur as the gateway to this cluster of Star Wars sites.
Matmata is where you’ll find Hotel Sidi Driss, while Tataouine and Medenine are better positioned for the southern ksour used in The Phantom Menace.
The Djerba locations, including Obi-Wan’s house and the Mos Eisley cantina exterior in Ajim, are best visited while staying on the island.
Several of the desert filming sites lie away from paved roads, so a 4×4 tour from Tozeur is generally the easiest way to reach Mos Espa, Ong Jemel and the more remote Nefta locations.
A Final Word
Tunisia’s Star Wars locations are unusual because they aren’t simply modern attractions recreating scenes from the films.
Some are surviving movie sets, such as Mos Espa. Others are real Tunisian homes, granaries and villages that were incorporated directly into the visual language of Tatooine. Hotel Sidi Driss was a traditional underground dwelling long before it became the Lars homestead, while the ghorfas around Tataouine and Medenine provided much of Mos Espa’s distinctive architecture.
For Star Wars fans, that makes visiting southern Tunisia particularly special. You can walk through the real streets and landscapes used on screen rather than visiting replicas built decades later.
And even without the movie connection, the journey showcases some of Tunisia’s most extraordinary desert scenery and traditional architecture.
