Douz, the largest of the oases in western Tunisia, is just like Tozeur arranged according to the needs of middle class tourists from Europe. But it does this with slightly less elegance, there is a touch of things be too apparently being put up as a celebration of tourist marks and francs. You wonder if the camel races and the hunting would have been there if there were no paying visitors.

Most of the week, Douz is a sleepy spot, where carpets and camel rides are pushed vigorously, but it comes radically alive with the Thursday market. This market is genuine enough, with livestock as the principal merchandise, but the atmosphere is destroyed by too many tourists (of which you are one) coming to see, looking for a couple of hours of Bedouin life, and some snap shots.
The dunes at the fringe of the palmeraie make great snap shots, and represents one of the few easy chances of seeing Sahara the way you imagined it, but it ends abruptly, with the sand ending in stone desert. Camel rides, with camping outdoors, could appear kitchy to some, but it is a great experience, and how would you get the real thing, anyway? Wait for a caravan passing by?