went last oct,can not fault place,clean,large rooms,so much too do and see,friendly,food large choice,entertainment fab,lots markets near by buses every 15 mins or taxis outside,very cheap,i went with pal,were late 30s,15 yr 10 yr and my son he was 3,we all had a great time,im going 20th may son and my mum this time,as know she will love it here,so much i could write but if need too know anything ask me,also medic on call there all time,which i needed when son fell and ended up with 2 loose teeth,which over year later are still in ,they were fab,still did not stop son running having fun,this year he can do kids club which he will love,def the place for families ,this is not 5 star,this is a poor country but the hotel is great,very high quality for tunisia,has everything you need,i enjoyed sightseeing by bus and taxis during mornings,and at pool afternoons,beach is lovely ,remeber its a beach there WILL be seaweed,and yes if drinking juice and eating by pool in the heat there will be flies its africa,so many complained about that i took fly spray lol and never had too use it,only time flies round me was when i spilt juice,and they will soon buzz off,i can not fault anything about this hotel or even when we went touring ourselves everyone so friendly,enjoy and reviews ull always get good and bad,this is tunisia not barbados,cyprus,behamas,they do there best for what they have,and when you go into some towns you see how poor they really are,so dont complain,tunisia is cheap too get holiday and too spend money so enjoy,worth every penny and cant wait till may,2 weeks of fun and culture and cheapness,

when we stayed here we found it perfectly fine , staff are very friendly the place is clean there is not much to complain about, some reviews will probably make you feel worried but honsestly go with a open mind. The pools are exquisite and you will truly enjoy this amazing place,the food is lovely;lots of people have been complaning about the food and i would just like to say that they wont cook things the exact way in which we do your in Africa . Anyway if you are thinking of going on this holiday i would truly reccomend it.
i am sure you will have a unforgettable time

I stayed at this hotel between 25/9/11 and 02/10/11 and I can honestly say I had nothing to complain about during my time there although some of the reviews I had read made me worried. Having spent some time in the hotel I am left to question the sanity of my fellow tourists.

I found the staff to be polite and extremely helpful at all times and would help you wherever possible. There was plenty of variety in terms of the food on offer and I never once found myself stuck for something to eat.

The rooms were basic, however I tend not to spend a lot of time in my room when I am on holiday (would be a bit of a waste would it not?. Air conditioning was fully operational contrary to some other reviews on here and sheets/towels changed upon request.

I spoke to several folk during my stay and all were reasonably happy with their experiences, some had experienced minor issues which were quickly resolved by simply notifying the hotel team. The Manager of the hotel himself was clearly very involved in the running of the place as you would often see him getting involved in dinner service etc.

The hotel entertainment was good for what it was, I can understand why a lot of folk wouldnt like it but I found it to be reasonable in small doses.

The two drinks rule was not strictly enforced in the slightest, on many occasions we were coming away from the bar with way more than two drinks each. Either way, who really needs more than two drinks at the same time? Beer wasn't the strongest in terms of ABV but was refreshing, Wine was reasonable and was reasonably potent as I discovered one night! Cocktails were refereshing and worked best if you asked for a little Vodka/Muscat/Cetradine in them. The local spirits (Boukha and Cetradine) were very potent and added to the variety at the bar.

Poolside snacks were all made to order, you could have pizza, baguettes and Calzones. Chips were also readily available and were handcut and fried to that lovely brown colour!

We took part in several of the activities that you could book through the hotel, all were thoroughly enjoyable. We took advantage of a free tour around Sousse, fair enough this did include a slightly pressured carpet sales pitch, but that aside it was an interesting way to introduce ourselves to the Medina and to get a feel for the local markets.

We also went to Port El Kantaoui to go on a pirate ship cruise which included a meal of grilled fish/chicken, entertainment by a group of pirate acrobats and lots of fresh fruit such as prickly pears (sliced and placed directly in your mouth, whilst being encouraged to eat it in one go) and melons. We also got a chance to dive into the sea for a swim! excellent day! We then had some free time in Port El Kantaoui which we used to spend a little time in the marina and enjoy a refreshing fruit cocktail before having a wander around and heading to the local supermarket which sold alcohol at a reasonable price as well as lots of fresh produce and your usual essentials (much cheaper than at the government shops!).

The next day we went on the "Camel Caravan" trip. This included camel riding into the countryside until you arrived at the traditional Bedouin dwellings. This again was an excellent trip and once inside the dwellings we were treated to an interesting story about Bedouin traditions including an interactive section where one of the couples in the group were dressed in traditional clothes and a traditional marriage ceremony acted out. After this we were treated to some fresh traditional Bedouin bread which was delicious to say the least.

I also took advantage of a golf lesson at the club across the road. This was a fun way to spend the afternoon and I learned a lot which hopefully will help me improve my game here at home!

We took two trips into Monastir, once using the taxi's (25 dinars ~£10ish return) the driver arranged to come back for us which was great as you werent worried about trying to sort out a way back. Monastir is a nice city with a lot of history and beautiful buildings, the kind of place I love to visit on my holidays. Whilst here we visited the Ribat which was a Life Of Brian filming location. I was in my element here and spent several hours exploring the many tunnels and climbing the tower which offered spectacular views over the whole city and out to sea! Entrance was 5 dinars with a 1 dinar photo permit which was well worth it for some of the pictures I took here. Whilst here we also visited the mausoleum of Habib Bourguiba who was the first ever Tunisian president. This was a truly stunning building which again led to some great pictures. Before we knew it our time in Monastir was up, but we returned a few days later on the Tourist train (7dinars return). On this visit we relaxed a little and went into the Medina and did a little haggling. Theres a lovely little shop just outside the Medina in which the guy that runs it craves all kinds of things out of stone, there is no pressure to buy in his shop and everything is fixed price. Its the ideal place to get a personal souvenir of your time in Tunisia.

Like some of the other reviewers have stated there is the Safari Bar nearby which offers an alternative place to spend your time without leaving the vacinity of the hotel. Prices here are very good and there is reasonable variety in the menu. Across the road from the hotel is the West Side cafe/bar. This is a very modern establishment and has a very trendy interior. Again the food here is fantastic and unbelievably cheap and they do lovely cocktails!

So in conclusion, we thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to Tunisia and are more than interested in going back. My advice to other travellers would be to not allow some of the reviews posted on this website to influence your holiday negatively, go there with an open mind and enjoy yourself, your holiday is what you make it and the hotel is nothing like the hellish picture many of the reprobates on here have made it out to be!

we travelled 17sept - 24 sept, 5 adults, 5yr old, 8mth old.

like people before me i was apprehensive due to reading reviews. There was no reason to be, rooms were decent, bathroom was big, bed was comfy (although my mums in the room next door was rock hard, great for her bad back but rotten for those of use who love comfort) the cot provided was beautiful, i was suprised at the high quality of it.

The pool was that of a 4* but there was no towel service and you couldnt take the towels from room, but most people did and the hotel never commented or minded. plenty of loungers to go about. the slide pool was great fun. Most adults turning into big Kids. even got sight of a couple in their 70's having a whizz down the slides. Atmosphere was great.

Easy access to the beach, no beah bar tho im afraid :( but not to far to the hotel pool bar anyway. It has a little tikes toddler play gym, swing and slide on there, the water was like getting into a luke warm bath, the warmest sea ive ever swam in, shame people dont make use of the ash tray and just throw their stubbs on the sand my 8mth old grabbed one on a couple of occassions!!! other than that was a lovely beach

The spa facilities were beyond expensive....ive stayed in 5* spa resorts and paid less for their facilities. so wouldnt bother its a rip off.

The convenience store in the hotel makes its prices up as they go,i left my battery charger for camera at home so was buying their Kodak batteries, the man charged me 5dinar for a pack then when i returned a ouple of days lather the woman charged me 10dinar.

The food you were never short of and unlike others state it does have plenty of things to choose from, in a morning there was ceral, pasteries, meats, pancakes, eggs, sausages etc for breakfast, and yes as others have stated there was 'yorkshire pudding' which i had read about so had to try it, It tastes & looks nothing like yorkshire pudding its more of a sweet cake id say and i think cater for the other nationalities. The snack bar by the pool offered chips, sandwiches, scrumcious panninis & pizza. The Lunch in the main dining area had lots of variety as did the night time meals, there were tunisian cuisine, a pasta, & salad bar, desert, fruit & sweet bar, meat dishes , vegetarian dishes, spag bol, chips, soups, bread, pizza that was made by your very own pizza man made with the ingrediants you requested, you are given your table at the start of your holiday and you use that throughout your stay. The waiters are exellent and very polite and work very hard.

Al a carte restaurants were both excellent, you pick from a menu for a 3 course menu & you get a proper decent drink (real beer.... a whole bottle & wine is by the bottle.) which was a lovely welcome as we had spent the whole week drinking watered down alcohol, no matter what you drink you wont get drunk, wine was ok though, and the slush cocktails which is usually margarita id get a glass of vodka and tip it in but the bar man realised what we were upto and in the end when he made our cocktails he would add vodka straight into our glass no probs, they do say 2 drinks per person, and when you 1st see the size of the cups the drinks come in it seems quite unfair but you become accustomed to it and the queues arent as bad as people have reported. so the drinks issue isnt a problem. they dont sell alcohol in supermarkets outside of the hotel so the hotel sell bottles of alcohol in the mini market - the prices are shocking. we paid £40 for a bottle of 70cl cheap no name vodka So get it on the plane or at duty free, we got 1litre of smirnoff blue on the plane for £11...

theres nothing really outside of the hotel, supermarket over the roads cheaper for snacks like crisps ,for forgotten items such as toiletries & gifts. Went into monaster, nothing really to see but nice to get away from hotel for a bit.

evening entertainment you have kids 'disco' whih is really repetative that my 5yr old got bored after a ouple of nights, then you have some form of show, Grease, micheal jakson, mr & mrs etc which is rather cheesy (you get better at Haven) it all finishes about 11 and then every 1 retreats back to the square in the main hotel for drinks and to wind down, and for ones wanting to carry on theres the disos open 12-2 which my 5 yr old daughter loved but it was the 1st and last time she went in (full of people smoking)!! but for thoses of us that wanted entertainment but wasnt into the cheesy nightly entertainment or into taking your children into a disco filled with people smoking cigarettes then your prayers are answered as over the road is the SAFARI BAR this is the place to be, its open air but what a fantastic warm feel, its set in a jungle feel with candles, carved tree trunks fairy lights, neon lights had a tunisian man playing traditional tunisian folk music early on then got into party mood late on, with tunisian disco nights and then tim westwood type latest r & b tunes (which i was delighted at) and it played into the early hours.

Theres also alot of talk about the tunisian men which i was very weary about going - but they were nothing but polite.

agree with the previous persons comments about the smell but it omes and goes and wasnt much of a problems, and flies werent as big an issue as many people made out, just bring pleanty of mozzie spray.... the hubby and daughter got eaten alive, as they do every other holiday theyve been on so here was no different.

im glad we came here was great value for money but if i returned i would try somewhere different not because i didnt like it but it was good for 1 holiday i just wouldnt pay to come back id try somewhere different like the Sahara Beah whih is supposed to be nice and also has a Thomas Cook Rep run childrens club, unlike the Houda who had a hotel run kids club ran by locals.