Tozeur is very much a city relying on tourism, but everything is done in a tasteful manner. Early developers understood that it was the traditions and culture that represented the possibilities for the future. While agriculture remains an important income, tourism employs a large part of the 20,000 inhabitants, though the city appears to hold more people. But it is not only the lifestyle and the specific architecture of Tozeur, that bring tourists

out here. The city is well situated at the fringe of the seasonal large lake Chott el Jerid.

The 250,000 date palms, and all the vegetation in between, get the water from 200 springs. The entire oasis is about 11 sq km, with Tozeur as the large centre, but there are small settlements scattered around the area. Houses along the main streets are covered by rectangular yellow bricks, that are making patterns when they are arranged in two levels. The result is one of the most distinct and beautiful architectures of Tunisia. As all houses now are turning to this style (you can still see some houses where the bricks are added to walls that are far from any need of restauration), the stunning effect now found in Ave Bourgiba will dominate the whole city.
Around the city, nature is far from flat, and tiny valleys and riverbeds are found all over. Between the palms that are penetrating the city from all sides, a complicated irrigation system is found, together with plants and trees, that gives plums, grapes and strawberries.
Tozeur has also got one of the best museums of Tunisia, which at a high entrance fee, has exhibitions depicting life among both ordinary and the rich in times no bygone. Instead of the normal bus driver uniforms, the personnel here wears traditional costume, and whenever you find a corner without other visitors, you can imagine what Tunisia a hundred years ago was like.
As for small details, this almost metropolitan city has surprisingly many bikecycles,- very rare in Tunisia, and quite a number of women in black veils covering everything.