Best Time for a Tunisia Star Wars Tour: Heat, Daylight & Month by Month

Which time of year suits which tour

If you want	Choose	Keep in mind
The best overall balance for a first tour	April or October	Midday is warm in the sun, at about 27 to 30°C
Cooler days for walking	March or November	Cool early mornings, and short days in November
Warm days with more daylight	May	Average highs of about 31 to 32°C at Tozeur and Tataouine
A tour during a summer holiday on Djerba	June to September	About 35 to 40°C by day, so start early and carry plenty of water
Mild days in winter	December to February	Cold mornings and about 10 hours of daylight
A night in a desert camp	March, April, October or November	Nights are cold from December to February

April is the better of the two best months if daylight matters to you: the sun sets on Djerba at about 6:45 p.m. in mid-April, against about 5:45 p.m. in mid-October, so more of a full day from Djerba is in daylight. October is a little warmer, at about 30°C at Tozeur against 27°C in April, and the fall date harvest is under way in the oases around Tozeur and Kebili.

March and November give you cooler walking, at about 23°C. In March the days are already about 12 hours long. In November they are closer to 10 and a half, and the sun sets at about 5:15 p.m. on Djerba, so more of a full day from the island is likely to end after dark.

Other experiences you might enjoy

Near the film sets you can also book Djerba’s old town, the El Jem amphitheater, the Douz dunes, the Chott el Djerid salt lake and the Chebika and Tamerza oases.

Heat and daylight, month by month

Most of a Star Wars tour is spent either in the vehicle or outdoors at the stops. The vehicles on the main tours are air-conditioned, and the cave homes at Matmata and Hotel Sidi Driss are rooms dug into the ground, but Mos Espa, Ong Jmal, the dunes at Ksar Ghilane, the ksour (fortified granaries) and the walk up through Chenini are all in the open. That is where the month matters.

The figures below are long-term averages from Tunisia’s national weather service. Tozeur covers the Tozeur and Nefta tours, about 30 km from Mos Espa on the same low desert plain. Tataouine, in the ksour country, is the closest match for most tours from Djerba.

Month	Tozeur, average high and low	Tataouine, average high and low	Daylight, mid-month	Sunset on Djerba, mid-month
January	17°C and 7°C	18°C and 8°C	10h 08m	5:30 p.m.
February	19°C and 8°C	19°C and 9°C	10h 58m	6:00 p.m.
March	23°C and 12°C	23°C and 11°C	11h 55m	6:24 p.m.
April	27°C and 15°C	27°C and 14°C	13h 00m	6:47 p.m.
May	32°C and 20°C	31°C and 17°C	13h 54m	7:10 p.m.
June	37°C and 24°C	35°C and 21°C	14h 23m	7:29 p.m.
July	40°C and 26°C	38°C and 23°C	14h 12m	7:29 p.m.
August	40°C and 27°C	38°C and 24°C	13h 26m	7:05 p.m.
September	35°C and 24°C	34°C and 22°C	12h 24m	6:24 p.m.
October	30°C and 19°C	30°C and 19°C	11h 22m	5:43 p.m.
November	23°C and 12°C	23°C and 13°C	10h 25m	5:14 p.m.
December	18°C and 8°C	19°C and 10°C	9h 55m	5:09 p.m.

Tunisia keeps the same clock all year, one hour ahead of UTC, so sunset moves only with the season. The sun sets at Tozeur about 10 minutes later than on Djerba.

From June to September the open sites are hot from mid-morning. At about 40°C, a 30-minute walk around Mos Espa in the middle of the day is hard work, and there is little shade at any of the stops. Matmata is a little milder, averaging about 36°C in July and August, about 3 to 4°C below Tozeur. The tours still run, and the operators’ own advice is the practical one: bring water, sun protection and a hat.

From December to February the days are mild and pleasant for walking, but the mornings are cold. The average January low is about 4°C at Kebili, on the desert edge north-west of Ksar Ghilane, and about 7°C at Tozeur, so a 6 a.m. pickup and an evening stop on the dunes both call for a warm layer. The tours with a night in a desert camp say the same: nights are cold outside high summer.

Rain is rare in every month. Tozeur averages about 13 days a year with 1 mm of rain or more, and Tataouine about 18, mostly from September to March. A wet day changes few tours, although sand tracks can be affected.

Dates, festivals and the desert calendar

The film sets look much the same in every season: Mos Espa and the Lars homestead stand on sand and salt flat all year. The oases around them follow a calendar of their own. The date harvest in the palm oases of Tozeur and Kebili usually starts in the fall, around October. In late December, Douz holds the International Festival of the Sahara, with camel and horse races on the dunes; the 2025 edition ran from December 25 to 28. Douz is on some tours from Djerba, though the festival is not part of them.

Wind and blowing sand

Strong winds can lift sand off the desert, cut visibility on the roads and change a tour’s route or cancel it. On January 31, 2026, Tunisia’s national weather service warned of sand winds across Tozeur, Kebili, Tataouine and Medenine, with visibility under 600 m in places and gusts of up to about 110 km/h, and urged drivers on southern roads to take extreme care.

Windy days are not tied to one season, so wind is something to check for your date rather than a reason to choose a month. If strong winds are forecast, ask your operator whether the plan changes. At least two operators state that you get a full refund if they cancel for weather. Whatever the day, a scarf and sunglasses help when the wind picks up sand at the sets.

Which tour suits which season

The full-day jeep safari to Ksar Ghilane and Matmata from Djerba has the most reviews of any tour on this site and runs all year. Pickups are early, usually between 6 and 7 a.m., and the day includes free time at the Ksar Ghilane hot spring and the dunes, which are cooler for walking from October to April.
Tataouine and Chenini from Djerba leaves at 7 a.m. and takes about 12 hours, with a guided walk of 30 to 40 minutes over stone steps at Chenini. That walk is easier in the cooler months.
The Tozeur oases and Star Wars day is private to your group, so you can ask to visit Mos Espa and Ong Jmal in the late afternoon in hot weather. Chebika’s spring and waterfall are a cool stop on a hot day.
The afternoon dune drive to Mos Espa from Tozeur is timed to finish at sunset, so in summer it misses the hottest part of the day.
The 2-day tour from Tunis spends a night in a tented camp near Douz, where nights are cold from about November to March.

Check your date

Starting from

Your tour date

Choose your starting point and a date to see the likely heat at the stops, any wind or rain in the forecast, and the sunrise and sunset times. Within about two weeks of the date the card shows the forecast; further ahead it shows long-term averages.

In general, average highs run from about 17°C in January to about 38°C at Tataouine and 40°C at Tozeur in July, and the sun sets between about 5 p.m. in December and 7:30 p.m. in June.

The forecast is from Open-Meteo for Ksar Ghilane and Tataouine, or for Ong Jmal near Mos Espa. Averages are long-term figures for Tataouine and Tozeur from the national weather service. Sunrise and sunset are calculated for Djerba or Tozeur, in Tunisia time. On windy days, check the Tunisian national weather service for sand-wind warnings.

Check tour dates or use the live calendar

All 39 tours in our comparison can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before the start, so you can book once your dates are fixed and look at the forecast the day before. If your booking has different terms, check them before you rely on that. To compare the itineraries themselves, see which Tunisia Star Wars tour is right for you and what to expect on a tour day.

How we know

Sources and limits

Heat and rain. WMO climate normals for 1991 to 2020, submitted by Tunisia’s Institut National de la Météorologie and archived by NOAA, for Tozeur (station 60760, 92 m), Tataouine (60772, 242 m), Kebili (60764, 44 m) and Matmata (60767). A rainy day counts 1 mm or more. The Matmata station is listed at 141 m, well below the old village, so it may stand at New Matmata; it is used here only as a reference.

Daylight and sunset. Calculated for Houmt Souk on Djerba and for Tozeur with the NOAA solar algorithm, in Tunisia time (UTC+1 all year, with no seasonal clock change), and rounded to the minute.

Wind and sand. The national weather service’s warning of January 31, 2026, as reported by La Presse de Tunisie. It is one event; no seasonal count of sand winds for the tour routes is published.

Seasons in the oases. Trade reporting on the Deglet Nour date harvest in the Tozeur and Kebili oases (FreshPlaza), and press reports of the 2025 International Festival of the Sahara in Douz.

What these numbers cannot tell you. The stations are in the towns, not at the film sets, so the figures show the shape of the year. They are not a forecast for Mos Espa or Ksar Ghilane. No visitor count is published for any of the sites, so this page does not rank the months by crowds.

Tours. Pickup times, durations, inclusions and cancellation terms are the operators’ listings on GetYourGuide, read on September 12, 2026, with ratings re-checked on October 9, 2026. None of the operators we checked publishes a different summer or winter schedule, so check the live calendar for your date.

For the sites themselves, see the Tunisia Star Wars filming locations, Djerba vs Tozeur for the Star Wars sites and the Ksar Ghilane oasis guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best month for a Star Wars tour in Tunisia?

April and October offer the best overall balance for a first tour. Average highs are about 27°C at Tozeur and Tataouine in April and about 30°C in October, so the open-air film sets are warm rather than hot. April has more daylight, about 13 hours in mid-month; October is a little warmer. March and November are cooler, at about 23°C.

Can you do a Star Wars tour in Tunisia in summer?

Yes. The tours are available all year, including the summer beach season on Djerba. Average highs are about 37 to 38°C at Tataouine and about 40°C at Tozeur in July and August, and the film sets have little shade, so take the earliest pickup offered, carry plenty of water and cover your head. From Tozeur, a late-afternoon visit to Mos Espa misses the hottest part of the day.

How hot is Tozeur in July and August?

Average highs at the Tozeur weather station are about 40°C in July and August, with lows of about 26 to 27°C. Mos Espa and Ong Jmal, about 30 km away on the same desert plain, are just as exposed. June and September average about 35 to 37°C.

Is it cold in the Tunisian desert in winter?

The days are mild, with average highs of about 17 to 19°C from December to February at Tozeur and Tataouine, but early mornings are cold: the average January low is about 4°C at Kebili, on the desert edge, and about 7°C at Tozeur. Bring a warm layer for an early pickup, a sunset stop or a night in a desert camp.

Does it rain in southern Tunisia?

Rarely. Tozeur averages about 13 days a year with 1 mm of rain or more, and no month has more than 2. Tataouine has about 18 a year, mostly from September to March. Rain changes few tours, but it can affect sand tracks, so ask your operator if rain is forecast.

What time does the sun set in southern Tunisia?

On Djerba the sun sets at about 5:10 p.m. in mid-December and about 7:30 p.m. in June and July, Tunisia time, which stays the same all year. Full-day tours from Djerba usually return in the early evening, so outside the long days of May to August some of the drive back is likely to be after dark, more so the shorter the day.

Do sandstorms cancel Star Wars tours in Tunisia?

Strong winds can lift sand, cut visibility on the desert roads and change or cancel a tour. On January 31, 2026, the national weather service warned of sand winds in Tozeur, Kebili, Tataouine and Medenine, with visibility under 600 m in places. They are not tied to one season, so check the wind forecast for your date. At least two operators state a full refund if they cancel for weather.

When should I book a Star Wars tour in Tunisia?

All 39 tours in our comparison can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before the start, so you can book once your dates are fixed and check the forecast nearer the day. If your booking has different terms, read them before you rely on that.