Al Qatrun is mainly a transit stop on the desert road south through the Fezzan. There is little organised tourism infrastructure, and there has not been for some time. What the town offers is a pause point at the edge of one of the most remote stretches of the trans-Saharan route — the old Italian fort at the edge of town, the palm groves that mark the presence of underground water, and the vast, austere desert landscape that surrounds everything on all sides. For travellers who reach it, that is generally enough.