If only George Lucas knows the exact coordinates of the planet Tatooine, which plays a key role in some of his most famous films from the Star Wars saga, now each of us can “visit” the home planet of the legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker! There’s no need to travel between galaxies at hyper-speed – you can simply take a trip to Tunisia and tour the Sahara Desert, where you can see many of the sets from the films Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).
We stayed in Hammamet, and from there, we organized a two-day tour in the Sahara Desert, which included not only the locations where many of the scenes from Star Wars were filmed, but also other interesting places in the desert. You can check the options for an organized tour from Hammamet here:
It is also possible to organize a direct tour from Tozeur to the Star Wars filming locations, and you can explore the options for that here:
Many of the sets are well-preserved and open to visitors, where they will recognize iconic scenes from the movies, including Lars’ homestead, where Luke Skywalker grew up, and the spaceport, where Anakin Skywalker lived before being discovered by Qui-Gon Jinn, as well as many other landscapes that appear in various scenes from the films.
The Berber city of Matmata has several underground troglodyte dwellings, one of which is featured in Episode IV – A New Hope as Lars’ home, where Luke was raised by his aunt and uncle. There are several rooms where the local Berbers still live today.
The desert town of Tozeur is another fantastic destination with several film locations located relatively close to each other. The Sidi Bouhlel Oasis appears in several scenes from the original Episode IV – A New Hope, including the kidnapping of R2-D2 by Jabba’s traders, the destroyed transport vehicle after the attack by the Imperial stormtroopers, and the desert people’s assault on Luke.
You will also recognize the dramatic desert ridges in the area (known as Yardangs) as the backdrop for the duel between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul in Episode I – The Phantom Menace. To the west of the Yardangs lies the abandoned complex of Mos Espa, where Lucas’ team built much of the spaceport, which is also part of the same film. The desert sands seem to have overtaken the set, giving it a creepy atmosphere of an abandoned city, but landmarks such as Watto’s shop, Sebulba’s café, and the racing arena, where young Anakin won his freedom, are still clearly visible.
Personally, as someone who grew up with these movies, I can’t describe the feeling of walking around the places where your favorite screen characters have been! It’s as if you’re part of the movie, like at any moment you’ll see Luke pop out from somewhere, or you’ll simply hear that powerful music playing in the background of several suns and moons in one place!
