Two days gets you to the dunes; three gets you the oases and the film sets; four adds the ksour of the deep south. Everything shorter than two days is a listing promising something it cannot deliver — Tunis to Douz alone is about 426 km, roughly six hours each way. October to April is the season; the far south regularly passes 45°C from May to September.
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| Length | Per vehicle | Nights in the south | What it reaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 days | €324 | 1 | The dunes at Douz and a camel ride; one stop each way |
| 3 days | €471 | 2 | Adds Tozeur, the salt lake, the mountain oases and the Star Wars sets |
| 4 days | €648 | 3 | Adds Matmata and the ksour and ridge villages around Tataouine |
All three are priced for the vehicle, not per person. The circuits themselves: 2 days, 3 days and 4 days, with a Star Wars variant of the three-day.
A hotel in Douz or Tozeur is comfortable and puts the dunes within reach in the morning. A camp is the reason many people come. At Ksar Ghilane the camps are permanent, beside a hot spring that runs warm all year, and with no town within reach there is no light: the sky is the point. Camp nights are added to a circuit rather than buried in its headline price — a traditional camp night with dinner is €75 per person per night. From November to February it is cold after dark, and the camps supply blankets; bring layers regardless.
Three different landscapes get called “the Sahara” on this route, and it helps to know which you are looking at. The dunes at Douz, the edge of the Grand Erg Oriental: sand from the edge of town, best in the late afternoon by camel. The salt lake, the Chott el Jerid: flat, white and crossed on a causeway, with mirages after rain. The mountain oases at Chebika, Tamerza and Mides: rock and running water and palms, against the Algerian border. The dunes near Ksar Ghilane and the Star Wars sets near Ong Jemal are reached by 4x4 over sand, and are arranged with a local driver on the day.
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Two at the absolute minimum, three to do it without rushing. A two-day trip gives you an evening and a morning in the desert; a three-day adds the mountain oases at Tamerza and Chebika and the Star Wars sets at Ong Jemal.
Yes. Several of our circuits include a night in a desert camp at Ksar Ghilane, with dinner by the fire. The camp cost is quoted with your dates rather than being buried in the headline price.
A salt lake of roughly 5,000 square kilometres, crossed by a causeway. It is one of the strangest drives in the country — flat white salt to the horizon, with mirages for most of the year.
Yes. Camels go out from Douz in the late afternoon, when the heat has gone and the light is worth having. A camel ride is a standard part of a two- or three-day circuit.
A camel-shaped rock in the desert near Nefta. It is where the Star Wars set at Mos Espa was built, and the sunrise there is the reason to make the early start.
From November to February, very: nights can be close to freezing even after a warm day. Camps provide blankets, and a warm layer for the evening is not optional.
Distances are straight-line, measured between the coordinates on our map of the sites; road distances are longer. Prices are per vehicle and come from the same database the 33 tours and 1,392 transfer fares.
