Matmata, Tunisia

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Nowhere else in Tunisia is package tourism so totally over the top as it is in the small village of Matmata, 400km (250mi) south of Tunis on the southeastern coast. The pit houses of this troglodyte settlement have proven irresistible fare for the tour buses, who arrive at 9am like a tidal wave and don't leave until the late afternoon. They are soon replaced by 4WD groups who use the town as an overnight stop on their desert safaris. Needless to say, the residents are not thrilled with the deluge.

It's not hard to understand why the buses keep coming. There's something almost surreal about the place, with its vaguely lunar landscape. No doubt this is why it was selected as the location for the desert scenes in the movie Star Wars. The Berbers of the area went underground more than a thousand years ago to escape the extreme heat of summer. Their homes are all nearly identical, with a courtyard dug about 6m (20ft) deep and the rooms tunnelled out from the sides. The larger houses have two or three courtyards, and their entrances are usually through a narrow passage from the courtyard to the surface.

If you want to see Matmata by yourself (there are guides available), your best bet is to visit the hotels. Arrive in the late afternoon, after the tour buses have left, and go for a walk out beyond the Hôtel Ksar Amazigh. There are good views back over Matmata and north to the valley of the Oued Barrak. Back in town, slake your thirst with a cold one at the Hôtel Sidi Driss' bar (famous as the 'cantina' in Star Wars), then have a quick poke around the Hôtel Les Berberes and the Hôtel Marhala, and you will have seen everything worth seeing in town.

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