Medenine is the regional capital of southeastern Tunisia, sitting on the main road between Gabes and the Libyan border. It is a working transit town of around 80,000 people, not a destination in itself — but it is the natural pivot point for anyone exploring the ksour country of the south. The old town was once a remarkable concentration of ksour — fortified Berber granaries built of stacked vaulted cells called ghorfas — and although most were demolished in the 1960s to make way for modern housing, the partial survival of the central ksar gives a sense of what was lost.
The town itself has little to offer beyond a few hours' wander: the Ksar Medenine in the centre, with its arcaded courtyards now occupied by craft shops and cafés, and a small museum of Berber traditions. The market on Mondays is busy and worth catching if your timing is right. Otherwise this is a place to fuel up, stock up on supplies, and move on.
The reason to stop is the surrounding country. Metameur, 6 km west, has a beautifully preserved three-storey ksar still in active use. Ksar Hadada to the south doubled as Luke Skywalker's slave quarters in The Phantom Menace. The fortified Berber villages of Chenini and Ghomrassen are accessible day trips, and Tataouine — the larger town further south and the gateway to the best ksour — is only an hour away. Travellers heading south to the desert almost always pass through Medenine; spending half a day here, rather than just changing buses, repays the effort.