Djerba, Zarzis and the South-East

Djerba is a flat island in the Gulf of Gabès, linked to the mainland by a ferry and a causeway and served by Djerba-Zarzis International Airport: it is a few hours' flight from Europe's main cities, direct or with one stop. It offers two holidays in one: beaches in the resort zone on the north-east coast, and a heritage that earned the island a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. On the mainland, Zarzis continues the coast to the south, while Gabès, Matmata and Tataouine make easy day trips.

Getting there and getting around

Djerba-Zarzis Airport (DJE), run by OACA, the state airport authority, is 9 km from Houmt Souk, the island's main town, about ten minutes by car, and 27 km from Midoun. Direct flights run year-round to Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Brussels, and in season to Geneva, Basel-Mulhouse, Zurich, Nice and several German cities.

Taxis on the island are metered, with a 50% surcharge from 9 pm to 5 am.

Two routes lead to the mainland: the short, continuous ferry from Ajim to Djorf, and the El Kantara causeway to Zarzis, which is being widened.

A World Heritage island

The UNESCO property, "Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern in an island territory", covers 5,460 hectares in seven areas with twenty-four monuments. It includes part of historic Houmt Souk, the village of Erriadh and its Hara Sghira (the old Jewish quarter), Ibadi mosques (Ibadism is a branch of Islam long established on the island), fondouks and El Ghriba.

Houmt Souk

Houmt Souk is a fishing port whose centre keeps its fondouks, the old caravanserais, and a covered market where fish is sold at auction. Market days are Monday and Thursday. On the seafront, Borj Ghazi Mustapha, also called Borj el-Kebir, is a fort built in 1425 under the Hafsid dynasty and restored in 1567. It is open from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm in winter and from 8 am to 7 pm in summer, closed on Fridays, and costs TND 8, about €2.40.

Near the zaouia of Sidi Zitouni, the Djerba Traditional Heritage Museum presents island life, for the same price.

The Ibadi mosques

Fadhloun Mosque, of Ibadi origin and dating from around the 14th century, can be visited from 7 am (8 am in winter) to noon, except on Fridays, for TND 5, about €1.50.

Erriadh: El Ghriba and Djerbahood

El Ghriba synagogue in Erriadh is the focus of an annual Jewish pilgrimage, described on the Ghriba pilgrimage page. It is open every day except Saturday, and usually not on Friday afternoons, roughly from 9 am to noon and 3 pm to 5 pm. Head and shoulders must be covered, and there is a security check at the entrance.

In the same village, Djerbahood is an open-air street-art museum: more than 150 artists from some thirty countries painted over 250 murals and installations there in 2014 and 2021.

Guellala, the potters' village

In the south of the island, Guellala takes its name from the Berber "Iqellalen", meaning potters. The workshops use clay from an underground deposit, and the private Guellala Museum stages more than forty scenes of Djerban life.

Beaches, golf and sports

The resort zone lines the north-east coast around Midoun, with the beaches of Sidi Mahrez and Sidi Bakour. This is where the big hotels, the casino and Djerba Golf Club are found; the club has 27 holes (three loops of nine), and 18 holes cost €81.50.

Steady winds make Djerba a kitesurfing spot: a two-hour beginner lesson starts at about €155. The Archimède dive centre, a PADI 5-star centre (PADI is the international body that trains and certifies divers), offers a try dive for €50.

By boat from Houmt Souk, Flamingo Island, the Ras Rmel sandspit, is 45 minutes to an hour away. It has been protected as a wetland under the Ramsar Convention (the international wetlands treaty) since 2007, and flamingos are seen mainly from October to March. Day trips by boat start at about €26.

For families, Djerba Explore, on the Midoun tourist road, combines the Lalla Hadria Museum of Islamic art, a heritage village and a crocodile park. Tickets cost TND 37 for adults, about €11, and TND 24 for children aged 4 to 12, about €7.

Hotels chosen by Sabaro in Djerba

The three hotels in the selection are five-star properties in the resort zone, each with a thalassotherapy centre (seawater treatments).

• Radisson Blu Palace Resort & Thalasso: 296 rooms and suites, all with a balcony or terrace, the Athénée Thalasso & Spa, outdoor and indoor pools and a kids' club, 20 km from the airport. From about €250 a night for two, breakfast included.
• Hasdrubal Prestige Thalassa & Spa: 219 suites on Sidi Mahrez beach and an 11,000 m² thalassotherapy and spa centre, 18 km from the airport. From about €150 a night.
• Iberostar Selection Eolia: a fully renovated hotel facing Sidi Bakour beach, with five pools, a thalasso centre and an adults-only rooftop area. From about €150 a night.

These prices were found for two nights in March 2027, taxes included. A tourist tax is added, payable at the hotel: TND 12 per person per night in four- and five-star hotels, about €3.60.

Zarzis

Zarzis is a mainland beach resort among olive groves, 51 km from Houmt Souk (about an hour) via the El Kantara causeway. The Zarzis Museum occupies the former church of Notre-Dame de la Garde, built in 1926, and shows Punic and Roman collections.

Zarzis is also the resort closest to the advised-against areas: Ben Guerdane, which several European foreign ministries advise against outright, is 41 km away. Outings from Zarzis therefore head to Djerba and the north, never south or east of the town.

On the mainland: Gabès, Matmata, Tataouine

Gabès and its oasis

Gabès is 111 km from Houmt Souk, about 2 hours 15 minutes via the Ajim ferry. Its oasis is "the only coastal oasis on the Mediterranean", according to UNESCO's Tentative List (the list of candidate World Heritage sites). You can explore it by horse-drawn carriage, or on foot from the village of Chenini de Gabès, through palms, fruit trees and terraced crops. The mosque and mausoleum of Sidi Boulbaba honour a companion of the Prophet, according to tradition; the museum of popular arts and traditions is housed in a 17th-century madrasa (Koranic school). In summer the Gabès International Festival brings concerts and theatre.

The town lives with pollution from its chemical complex: protests took place in October 2025, and it is best to keep away from gatherings. Recent racist assaults have also been reported in Gabès. The Gabès coast is not a place to swim; the beaches are on Djerba.

Matmata, Tamezret and Toujane

Matmata is a Berber village 600 m above sea level, 55 km from Gabès (1 hour) and 129 km from Houmt Souk (2 hours 35). Its cave dwellings are dug around circular courtyards. The Hotel Sidi Driss was the Lars family homestead in Star Wars, in 1976 and again in 2002; the Star Wars in Tunisia guide lists the other filming locations.

Ten kilometres west, on the road to Douz, Tamezret is a ridge-top village at 480 m, with stone houses, an old synagogue, a mosque at the summit and a small museum of Berber culture and Queen Kahena. Between Matmata and Medenine, Toujane clings to the mountainside and is known for its weaving. A day trip to Matmata and Douz from Djerba costs around €80 per person, based on four people.

Tataouine and the ksour

Tataouine is 131 km from Houmt Souk, about 2 hours 25 minutes via El Kantara. This is ksour country: fortified granaries made of ghorfas, vaulted cells stacked on top of one another, which UNESCO has placed on its Tentative List together with the cave dwellings of the south.

• Ksar Hadada, 5 km from Ghomrassen, partly converted into a hotel: George Lucas filmed scenes for Star Wars Episode I there in 1997 (the slave quarters of Mos Espa).
• Ghomrassen, a cave village at the foot of cliffs, with Neolithic rock paintings nearby.
• Medenine, which had up to 6,000 ghorfas in the early 20th century, many since demolished, and the ksar of Metameur a few kilometres away, which keeps its ghorfas around a courtyard.
• The Museum of the Memory of the Earth, about 2.5 km south of Tataouine, with dinosaur fossils and meteorites found in the region.

What the foreign ministries advise

None of the European foreign ministries Sabaro follows advises against Djerba, Zarzis, Gabès, Matmata or Tataouine. Since the attack at El Ghriba on 9 May 2023, it is best to keep away from places where security forces are posted. The advised-against zones along the Libyan border leave out Zarzis, the Medenine – Zarzis road and Djerba. The "Travel advice" table on this page gives the advice for your country.

Further south, the advice varies from country to country:

• Chenini, Douiret and Ksar Ouled Soltane. Chenini is a Berber village on a ridge where Berber is still spoken, with the white Mosque of the Seven Sleepers; Douiret, abandoned since 1974, keeps its ghorfas on three to five levels; Ksar Ouled Soltane has 287 ghorfas around two courtyards. Some European foreign ministries advise against travel south and south-east of a line running from the Algerian border to Zarzis via Tozeur, Douz, Ksar Ghilane and Tataouine; others do not advise against these villages. Chenini is 5 km south of that line, Douiret 9 km and Ksar Ouled Soltane 17 km. Sabaro offers no excursions to these villages.
• Ben Guerdane and the far south. Several European foreign ministries advise against all travel to Ben Guerdane and its surroundings, as to the desert near Libya, a military zone since 2013; Remada and Dhehiba are also in advised-against areas.

The Tunisia safety guide sets out this advice country by country.

When to go

Djerba is dry, with 209 mm of rain a year, mostly from September to January. Average highs range from 17 °C in January to 33.9 °C in August. The sea is above 24 °C from June to October (29 °C in August) and around 15 °C from January to March. Trips to Matmata and Tataouine are more comfortable from October to April: Tataouine's average high reaches 37.9 °C in July. In late October the island hosts the women's film festival, and in August Djerba Music Land.