I booked this hotel with my mum as it was exceptionally cheap, all inclusive and in a hot country. We wanted a week away to relax and sunbathe...I must stress that we are relatively unsociable, and our main requirements were a clean hotel, near the beach and good weather.
As it was so cheap (about £330 for the week including flights and transfers), we weren't expecting too much, however we were pleasantly surprised. The hotel was clean, it is situated directly on a fabulous beach, the staff were friendly without being too overbearing and the food was superb!
Location: pretty much in the middle of nowhere (which suited us perfectly), we did not leave the hotel so I cannot comment properly on the area - but with a hotel so nice we felt no need to explore elsewhere. The beach is absolutely beautiful. We did go slightly out of season (end of September - beginning of October) so the weather wasn't amazing - it rained for one of the days, and there was quite a chilly breeze on some of the other days, but all-in-all very pleasant. There was plenty of sunloungers (on the beach, I cannot comment about by the pool), and I didn't witness any sunbed hogging by those pesky Germans!
People: we found the staff to be friendly, however the resort caters predominantly for Germans and Italians so not everyone could speak English. As two women travelling alone, we are very conscious of being pestered by pervy men (as we often find in places like Greece, and particularly Turkey) however there was none of this at this hotel. The staff were polite and helpful, but did not harass or grope us. One point I must make however is that the guys on the beach selling knock-off cigarettes/jewellery/clothes/fruit etc can be an absolute pain!
Food: without a doubt the best part of our stay! Neither of us are big eaters so the food is not usually the most important thing, however we both managed to put on weight after a week, which we have never done on holiday before! There was plenty of choice, the food was constantly being replenished, and was all fresh. A lot of people on our flight home complained about terrible food and stomach upsets from other hotels in the area, so we felt incredibly lucky about our stay (I have a VERY delicate stomach, and I wasn't ill once!) Breakfast was a choice of cereals, fresh fruit, plenty of hot food, freshly baked breads/croissants/pastries and pancakes/eggs etc made to order. We only had lunch on one day, which offered a similar selection to the evening meals. The evening meals were amazing. There was the basic selection of salads, pasta and freshly made pizza, and each night there were different speciality dishes on offer - mainly seafood, which was perfectly filleted and cooked to perfection (we even had fresh tuna steaks one night). The desserts were disgustingly tempting as well! We did not have the same meal twice during our weeks stay. Another great thing is that the staff never pressurised you to hurry up and leave the table like they do in some places, you could dine at your own leisure (but be aware that it is self-service). The only problem I had with the eating facilities is that no hot drinks were served with the evening meal (there are soft drinks and beer on draught though, and you could help yourself), so we had to go down to the bar for a coffee after our meal. One thing I did like was water coolers were available in the lobby area and you could help yourself at any time of day.
Services: unfortunately we had a rather bad experience with the cleaning staff. The guy who cleaned our rooms didn’t exactly do a thorough job, and we also managed to accumulate several coffee cups which we had taken back to our room, and were never removed (ok, that’s probably our fault for being lazy). The problem we had is that if we left any cigarettes lying around, the cleaner would help himself. We found this incredibly rude, especially as we had tipped him early on in the stay, but I suppose it will teach us for leaving them lying around! There are a couple of shops selling souvenirs etc which were pretty nice, and not too expensive, without the haggling and hard sell seen in other places! One of the guys in the shop by the pool was lovely, helpful and really friendly, but never once pressurised us into buying anything. Unfortunately I cannot comment on the entertainment staff as we didn’t really do anything in the evening – we didn’t even have a look at the club! However, the entertainment team were lovely, so friendly and polite.
Overall I would say this is a brilliant resort if you want a quiet, relaxing stay. We did go out of season, so I don’t know if it is a bit livelier in season. I would highly recommend the food (but for British holidaymakers I would suggest taking tea bags!) If you are looking to socialise on holiday, this is maybe not the best place – the language barrier is a BIG issue, as some of the staff could not speak English, and we only met two other British tourists during the whole stay. Also, although we didn’t leave the hotel, next time we will definitely book one of the excursions (through the travel operator; we got warned that local companies offering them can rip you off) – they sounded brilliant and were reasonably priced. You could choose from quad biking, camel rides, camping in the Sahara and numerous shows.
Another note is that the currency (Dinar) could not be taken out of the country, and there is a fee to change it back to Sterling at the airport, so I would recommend only changing what you need, when you need it. Also, duty free was priced in Euros, so although still pretty cheap, us Brit’s do lose out on the exchange rate.
- El Mouradi Cap Hotel Mahdia
- Mahdia El Mouradi Cap
