The Route: A self-supported 15-day, 540-mile bike trip from the fishing island of Djerba to the ancient capital of Tunis. You'll explore bedouin encampments and second-century Phoenician ruins — and rest up in troglodyte caverns and oasis hotels.

When to go: April

Difficulty: Moderate

Travel advisory: In stark contrast to its next-door neighbors Algeria and Libya, Tunisia is pro-American and tightly controls its small faction of Islamic fundamentalists.

High/low points:

• Sipping a Malita beer in Matmata's subterranean Hotel Marhala, where the Star Wars bar scene was shot.
• Struggling on your loaded-down mountain bike against a fierce headwind on Chott Jerid, a dry lake bed north of Tozeur.