Anyone been to Tunisia?

loates123

khizman wrote:

by the sounds of it the people in Tunisia still are a bunch of money grabbing !!!!!!.

I went there 3 years ago and tbh its crap, its pretty expensive, the people are rude unless you give them money etc etc..

Try morocco, its much better imo, miles cheaper, people are generally nicer and there is lots to see, especially marrakesh.

Also stealing bread rolls?
I never thought of that!!

Depriving some "poor tunisian" of some income?
he is probbably gonna rip you off anyways!

yes that is true

TRAVELMAN_2

Kinzman-which Hotel did you stay in out of interest? Certainly over the last few years standards are MUCH improved with the likes of IBEROSTAR, OCCIDENTAL etc having Hotels there now.

khizman

TRAVELMAN wrote:

Kinzman-which Hotel did you stay in out of interest? Certainly over the last few years standards are MUCH improved with the likes of IBEROSTAR, OCCIDENTAL etc having Hotels there now.

I stayed in a hotel called miramar in hammamet
the room they gave us was a double room and it was a right nasty place, after a whole day of arguing we got given a family duplex room which was rather nice tbh.

no fridge in the room? !!!!!!??
first EVER hotel i went in that didnt have one in the room,

suki1964

khizman wrote:

I stayed in a hotel called miramar in hammamet
the room they gave us was a double room and it was a right nasty place, after a whole day of arguing we got given a family duplex room which was rather nice tbh.

no fridge in the room? !!!!!!??
first EVER hotel i went in that didnt have one in the room,

Blimey you must travel well, last years holiday to tunisia was the first tiem ever we had a fridge in our room

saveapenny

OK...heres the other side of the coin T Ops charge us so much money alot of the time when the locals hoteliers get a a token amount of the money THEY are the ones that should be accused of stealing from the locals.

We used to do the same thing when the kids were little because at least then I knew that the kids would eat at lunch time and not have to worry that the money would run out by the end of the week and in the early days food for kids was hard to come by when you were out. They didnt want to eat oily food (going back years here) and even now in Tunisia it must not be easy to get food for kids to eat when your out and about. It was not only a money thing.

Personaly I wouldnt touch that country again with a barge pole, a friend almost got raped round the medina ...hate the place

khizman

suki1964 wrote:

Blimey you must travel well, last years holiday to tunisia was the first tiem ever we had a fridge in our room

we rarely travel on package holidays,
we have only ever been to morocco, tunisia and cyprus on a package
i think, and travelman will no doubt confirm is that these types of places make money not off the rooms but from the stuff you buy while you are there, everything in the hotels was 3x the price of everywhere else so they wanted you to buy that therefore they didnt want a fridge in the room.

I usually just research around and see whats best value, All 3 times i went on the package i ended up arguing with the hotel that the room was bad so i had to change the room, the hotels are overrated by the tour companies/local governments imo, miramar doesnt come close to a true 4 star hotel.

saveapenny

Most paces like Tunisia when the goverment (or whoever) grades the hotels they get 1 star for being on the beach....so if your in a 3* hotel right on the beach its really a 2* worth taking into account when booking

suki1964

flis21 wrote:

We have just booked our holiday to Tunisia, we are staying at the Royal Jinene Hotel in Sousse for two weeks half board. We are not going to have a lot of spending money, so just wondered if anyone else had been and could advise how expensive it is and whether you have to give hefty tips etc?

Thanks,
Flis21

Flis, it really is very cheap in Tunisia unless you are heavy drinkers. Alcohol is VERY expensive there - £40 a bottle of whisky and last year a bottle of champers was £350 in the hotel bar :eek: So if you do like a tipple then buy on the plane to drink in your hotel room. Oh and if you smoke buy those on the plane as well as any that you may be offered in Sousse will be fakes.

We (me and hubby) never spend more then £200 in a week half board (dont really drink), thats for tips, lunches, drinks and snacks, small bits of shopping and transport. Its a fixed currency and runs at just over 2 dinar to the pound (about 45p) A taxi from the end of sousse to the medina is around 2.5 dinar (£1) and from Sousse to PEK or to the airport its 5 dinar. A beer in the hotel will be 3 dinar and between 2 and 3 for a larger one out of the hotel. Lunch for two we usually get by on about £5 but we always have a good breakfast so are not over hungry. Bottle of water is less then a dinar in a shop - dearer in the hotels.

Shopping is a nightmare You have to haggle like mad. There is a "fixed price" shop on the edge of the medina called The Soula centre. Go in there first to get an idea of how much to expect to pay then enter the medina and bargain like mad - aim for a third of their opening offer. At the end of the day dont buy if you really dont want to and dont pay more then you are happy with.

Watersports are very cheap when compared to mainland europe, plenty offered along the beach. Trips can be booked via your rep or through the hotels rep. they are the same trips and you can always get cheaper booking locally. The best trip is the 2 day Sahara which is £70 pp. Its a lot of travel and very early starts so if you want to do it then do it at the end of your first week so you have time to recover before heading home. You will need extra money on that trip cos not everything is inclusive (hire of clothes for the camel trip, drinks, jeep safari)

Tipping is part and parcel of Tunisia. We tip the maids 10 dinar for a week, the barman we tip maybe 2 dinar a night, our table waiter 10 dinar and the guy who sorts out the sunbeds and mattresses a dinar here and there (not everyday) Basically everyone who performs some sort of sevice will want a tip but its perfectly acceptable to tip just a few cents. One word of warning is the minute you come through departure with your suitcases, a "porter" will try to whip them away from you and take them to your coach and then expect a tip. Now if you have a load of cases and dont mind a pound coin is suffice, dont be conned into giving a fiver and if you dont want the "service" just say NO pretty firmly.

HTH

suki1964

khizman wrote:

we rarely travel on package holidays,
we have only ever been to morocco, tunisia and cyprus on a package
i think, and travelman will no doubt confirm is that these types of places make money not off the rooms but from the stuff you buy while you are there, everything in the hotels was 3x the price of everywhere else so they wanted you to buy that therefore they didnt want a fridge in the room.

I usually just research around and see whats best value, All 3 times i went on the package i ended up arguing with the hotel that the room was bad so i had to change the room, the hotels are overrated by the tour companies/local governments imo, miramar doesnt come close to a true 4 star hotel.

Blimey no way would you ever say a 4* in Tunisia was a 4* as we know it. As savapenny has said, they get stars just for being built In Tunisia you have to go at least 4* for a fridge to be included in the price and maybe even free sun loungers - but you will still be charged for a matress for the free sun lounger

Tunisa is quirky to say the least, you either love it or hate it when you go you just have to go with a very open mind. I hated it the first time we went and said never again, but I was so busy comparing it to Turkey I never gave it a chance. Been back twice now and have really enjoyed myself. Ok so its not our most fav of places in the world, but for a cheap restfull beach holiday it suits us down to the ground

khizman

suki1964 wrote:

Blimey no way would you ever say a 4* in Tunisia was a 4* as we know it. As savapenny has said, they get stars just for being built In Tunisia you have to go at least 4* for a fridge to be included in the price and maybe even free sun loungers - but you will still be charged for a matress for the free sun lounger

Tunisa is quirky to say the least, you either love it or hate it when you go you just have to go with a very open mind. I hated it the first time we went and said never again, but I was so busy comparing it to Turkey I never gave it a chance. Been back twice now and have really enjoyed myself. Ok so its not our most fav of places in the world, but for a cheap restfull beach holiday it suits us down to the ground

The thing is I am REALLY cheap so i dont like going to these places and spending money on stuff which should be free.
I dont like tipping people for holding the door open for me as he goes through or to stroke a street cat.
It really is a joke tbh. We try to keep expenses to a minimum, thats how when we went to malaysia we managed to spend £25 on a 1 bedroom apartment, yes apartment, which was huge and had a bedroom, kitchen, living room and bathroom and by not wasting money in silly places were able to keep expenses to £10 per day, that includes transport, and food.