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 2027 Tunisia Eclipse

30 July to 8 August

A nearly 6 minute total eclipse, filming locations for Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Life of Brian, World War II sites, six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and quad biking in the desert - all in one week.

Bro, It’s Barely 2025, Why Are You Bothering Me with This Now?

Like any other, the hospitality industry is delicately calibrated to supply and demand. Eclipses are unique events which happen in very specific locations and they significantly disrupt the local tourist ecosystem. For example Sfax - the city in Tunisia along the centerline of totality - has a grand total of 31 hotels. I am not sure what the anticipated number of visitors to Sfax will be for this event, but I am certain it will be many, many times more than the capacity of 31 hotels.

So what does this mean? Simply put, you need to be incredibly aggressive when the booking windows for the three major travel elements - hotels, rental cars, and flights - open. When will this happen? I haven’t any real idea. But what I do know after planning three successful total eclipse tours is that the early bird gets the worm. Having a solid idea of the number of interested parties is imperative to making these types of trips work.

I Keep Hearing Egypt is the Place to See the 2027 Eclipse, So Why Tunisia?

First off: no you didn’t because normal people don’t openly discuss the best places to see eclipses. And if you heard it from me, just know I never said I was normal.

But if some other rando did, I’d tell you that 1) Egypt is going to be an absolute mad house because every umbraphile is going to be there, 2) Luxor (the best place to see the eclipse) is going to be insanely hot in late July / early August, probably 10-15 degrees of freedom warmer than Tunisia, and 3) Tunisia has an insane collection of places to see that can be visited in a very short period of time.

Okay, Weirdo - What is There to See in Tunisia?

In general, Tunisia is known for four things:

  • Ancient cities, particularly Carthage,

  • The locations of America’s first major land battles of World War II (Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!),

  • The filming locations for Star Wars and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and,

  • The Sahara Desert.

It was also the filming location for Monty Python’s Life of Brian, absolutely one of the best comedies ever made.

You can see a map of each of these locations here - hit the slider at the top left to open the map’s layers, click a pin to learn more about each site, and - if you’re on mobile - hit the square at the top right to open in Google Maps:

What Does the Schedule Look Like?

Friday 30 July: Depart U.S.

Saturday 31 July: Arrive in Tunis; overnight Tunis.

Sunday 1 August: Visit Sousse (UNESCO site), Monastir (filming location for Life of Brian), and El Djem (UNESCO site) en route to Sfax; overnight Sfax.

Monday 2 August: Eclipse in the morning, transfer to Djerba (UNESCO site) with Mareth Line Museum possibly en route; overnight Djerba.

Tuesday 3 August: Star Wars and Life of Brian filming locations; overnight location TBD.

Wednesday 4 August: Quad biking in the morning; Star Wars sights in the afternoon; overnight Tozeur.

Thursday 5 August: Raiders of the Lost Ark and World War II sights en route to Kairouan (UNESCO site); overnight Kairouan.

Friday 6 August: Full day to explore Raiders of the Lost Ark sites Kaiouran; evening transfer to Tunis; overnight Tunis.

Saturday 7 August: Full day exploring Tunis (UNSCO site), Carthage (UNESCO site), and Sidi Bou Said; overnight Tunis.

Sunday 8 August: Return to U.S. or join me on a follow-on trip to Albania.

Some Supplemental Videos:

Covers the first six movies, including those scenes not filmed in Tunisia, so you’ll have to jump around a bit.

Good succinct overview of Tunisia during World War II. Yada yadas over the Battle of El Guettar, however.

You’ll have to watch this one on YouTube directly, but is an excellent overview of the Battle of El Guettar.

Covers the whole movie, but all the Tunisia scenes are covered quite well.

Are There Any Other Details I Should Know About?

Yes, absolutely - first things first, this trip will be in North Africa in the absolute middle of summer. While Tunisia is, as mentioned, cooler than Egypt and most other desert places in summer, it will still be incredibly warm. As such, I will do my best to plan activities in the morning and early evening to avoid direct sunlight but this may be unavoidable in certain circumstances.

Second, as this trip is quite a ways away there are a lot of variables that will impact the schedule of this trip from what’s written above. Most obvious will be flight schedules which won’t be published for some time. Also, hotel and rental car availability may play a factor.

When Do You Need a Yes or No?

As mentioned, I must have a firm commitment from people when the booking window for cars and hotels opens. I don’t know when that is, so please let me know that you are at least interested in coming along as soon as possible. I will, obviously, reconfirm your interest when the booking window opens but please know that once you reconfirm, you’re going to be pretty much locked in since I am going to have to lay out some money to reserve things.

Speaking of Which, How Much Will This Cost?

To be honest, I haven’t any real idea because of the number of factors involved. If I had to guess, however, I’d put the Tunisia portion of the trip in the $2000-2500 range per person, airfare from the East Coast included. Eclipses are like planned natural disasters and price gouging definitely occurs, so take this figure with many grains of salt.