Bizarre But True! Star Wars fans can now actually stay in the filming location of Luke Skywalker’s childhood home, for less than $100 a night…!
Hotel Sidi Idriss sits 10 metres beneath the Tunisian desert in Matmata, carved entirely from sandstone using hand tools. This isn’t a themed hotel. This is the real thing.
The curved dining booth where Luke discussed his future with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru? You eat breakfast there. The courtyard where C-3PO waddled about? You cross it to reach your room…
The Hotel Nobody Knew Existed
The entire town of Matmata remained completely invisible to the outside world until 1969. Severe flooding forced the Berber population to request government aid, revealing an underground civilisation that had been living beneath the desert surface for centuries.
You could have walked directly over these homes and seen nothing. Families lived in multi-generational compounds carved into the earth, completely hidden from view.
Approximately 1,200 underground homes still exist in Matmata today. Some families have lived continuously beneath the surface for over 700 years!
How George Lucas Found His Desert Planet
When George Lucas arrived in 1976, Hotel Sidi Idriss was derelict. He filmed A New Hope on a shoestring budget, then the crew dismantled everything.
Twenty-four years later, they came back for Attack Of The Clones and rebuilt the entire set.
The ceiling mural in the Lars Homestead dining room was painted in 1968 when the hotel opened for business. It predates Star Wars by eight years. The owner later buried it under multiple layers of quicklime before someone rediscovered it.
Tunisia’s Star Wars Empire
Tunisia contains 12 Star Wars filming locations spread across 500 kilometres. That makes it the country with the second-most Star Wars film sites globally!
The planet name “Tatooine” was adapted directly from the real Tunisian town of Tataouine and three of Tatooine’s moons in the films – Chenini, Ghomrassen, and Guermassa, are named after actual towns in Tunisia’s Tataouine governorate!
What Staying There Is Actually Like
You access the underground complex via rope ladders. Rooms are genuine caves carved into sandstone. Facilities are shared.
The accommodation is basic, but that’s the point.
Most themed hotels charge hundreds for a sanitised approximation of something fictional. This charges pocket change for the real location of actual cinema (and real human) history.
Book Your Underground Star Wars Adventure
The experience won’t be polished. The rooms won’t be luxurious and the facilities won’t be modern.
But you’ll sleep where Luke Skywalker lived, eat where the Lars family ate, and wake up inside a 700-year-old architectural marvel that maintains perfect temperature in the middle of a desert without any air-conditioning!
The reviews speak for themselves…
FIND & BOOK NOW
PRICE : ★☆☆☆☆
WOW FACTOR : ★★★★★
BIZARRENESS : ★★★★★
