Eight kilometres north of modern Matmata, Old Matmata is a hillside village of stone Berber houses largely abandoned in the 20th century but still partly inhabited. The setting is dramatic — narrow lanes climbing past windowless walls — and the old mosque at the top is worth the climb.
Far fewer tourists make it up here than to the troglodyte houses in town. A taxi from Matmata is cheap and easily arranged through any guesthouse. Combine with the smaller outlying villages of Tijma and Tamezret on the same loop.