All inclusive holiday in Tunisia

Rockman

I have got a good price for 2 weeks in the Marhaba Royal Salem Hotel in Tunisia on an all inclusive basis.

Has anyone ever been to Tunisia in July and would they recommend it for a holiday (2 adults)? Better still anyone ever been to this particular hotel?

Thanks

candygirl

Look on www.holidaytruths.co.uk for hotels etc.I've doen the all inc in Tunisia and loved it, but not at this hotel;)

MenstrieBen

Hi,

we were in tunisia at the end of june staying in yasmine hammet. had a great hotel and a fun holiday.

it was hot and getting hotter but i guess thet depends on what you like. the resort was nice but my partner found the attention from local men and the pushy sellers in the medinas quite off putting.

well worth going for the experience of a very different culture - especialy if you make it away from the main tourist areas

i'd also recommend www.tripadvisor.com/ as a source for hotel reviews

have fun

mardale

I stayed at this hotel two years ago. It isn't that good. Standards in Tunisia are lower than my expectations and AI does NOT mean AI. The beach grill for example (ie the only place for food outside meal times) does do AI food - it is two pizza options that never change and come on a side plate. And the staff look at you sideways if you ask for it. The same with drinks. They are AI, but come in tiny beakers (and I've seen small ones on the Caribbean) and you are made to wait for maybe 5 minutes before being served. And they will talk amongst themselves during this time, they aren't doing anything. Yes the sun loungers by the pool are free, but they are for everyone. Want a cushion for it? It will cost you money - just like it does everyone else.

Terrible value really when you add it up.

The hotel is fine in terms of cleanliness, and the rooms aren't bad = I've stayed in far worse. The staff, IF you tip them, are very good and you can buy anything you want from them with a little tipping. But, this isn't what I expect from AI.

All in all, I went with XL (!) via tescos vouchers. Total cost £320 for two, AI, 14 nights. I actually paid about £50 in cash. For that, I think I got my money's worth. And that's the thing I found about Tunisia. DON'T expect the world - you won't get it. You don't get excellent service like the Caribbean, or the simple good value of much of southerm Spain, but you pay very very little money, and for that you have to make concessions.

However, you can go on some brilliant trips - two or three days into the Sahara are fantastic trips. Totally fantastic. The first star wars set is there - a real hotel in a real place. The locals outside of the tourist centres I found were lovely people. The salt flats and Atlas Mountains are stunning. The dates are incredible, as are the baby peaches and apricots.

The medinas and street sellers are awful. Totally awful. They recite fools and horses catchphrases to you (because you go all that way to hear a Rodney impression), they are very grabby, but short of agressive, and everything sold is crap. Tourist crap. Being muslim, alcohol is also hard to get hold of out of the hotels. Females are treated quite poorly in the street whether you are local or tourist. In two weeks I never saw a woman driving a car.

It's something you should definitely do once, and I have spoken of MY experience, not the one YOU will have, but for me, once was enough.

The best advice I can give is to take dinars in low bills. Lots of tips = a good time. I saw people tipping the sunlounger guy heavily once at the start of the holiday and they had loungers in THEIR spot ready and reserved with cushions the whole time, all day every day.

The other thing is learn some French - basic stuff, it will be appreciated. If you can, get some basic Arabic phrases off the web and write them down phonetically. Simple pleases and thank yous in arabic aren't done by most people and are totally appreciated.

Lastly, it gets hot in July. Very very hot. Make sure your air con is AI as well.....

Matthew

stw48

My personal experience of Tunisia was similar to the last poster, the staff expect tips all the time, sometimes actually asking for them. I am sure this is not the case everywhere but it is the reason I have only been once.

Trip advisor reviews of this hotel look mixed though.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g295401-d316762-Reviews-Marhaba_Royal_Salem-Sousse.html