Douz (Arabic: دوز‎ Dūz) is a town in the Kebili Governorate in the south of Tunisia, known as the "gateway to the Sahara." By road it is located 31 kilometres (19 mi) kilometres southwest of Blidet, 125 kilometres (78 mi) southeast of Tozeur, and 475 kilometres (295 mi) south of the Tunisian capital of Tunis. It has been called the "ultimate palm oasis", because it has over 500,000 palm trees in the area, and it is a major producer of "diglat noor" dates. In previous times it was an important stop on the trans-Saharan caravan routes.