Set in a peaceful green oasis on the outskirts of an otherwise dusty and drab working town, you can walk from the hotel into the desert wastes and wonder at a sunset that bathes the bare rocks of the nearby mountains in a luminous orange light.

Beyond the hotel's impressive and highly decorated entrance hall, the bedrooms are fairly typical of a resort hotel other than the gaudy paintwork and kitsch furnishings. The quality of finish was not good and the standard of maintenance seemed poor. Everything seemed just a little tatty. In our room, a flower was left on the dressing table in an attempt to disguise a ragged hole in the MDF surface beneath. The corner of a glass table was sharp and cracked, and a door handle fell off in the hand. Elsewhere throughout the building, paint was scuffed and marked. The garden seemed neglected with smashed light fittings, missing slabs and mysterious holes. Building work taking place within the hotel grounds gave the impression of having been in progress for some considerable time.

We received an efficient if hurried welcome on arrival, but did not feel "cared for" in the way that we did at all other hotels we stayed at during our visit to Tunisia. Dinner was from a fixed menu and was very much canteen fodder served hurriedly in a characterless environment. Breakfast was little better. We visited in December, at which time most other guests seemed to be young and boisterous Tunisian men, that we guessed might be taking part in a sports event?

The Jugurtha Palace website advertises a programme of daily excursions to surrounding towns and attractions therefore we booked to stay five nights using the hotel as a base for exploring the area. When we enquired about these excursions we were met with nothing more than the shake of a head and the shrug of the shoulders. We made a pre-dawn departure after the second night, after resisting prolonged attempts to charge us full rack rate rather than the pre-booked discount rate that we had secured via an agency.

The hotel promotes itself as five star facility and charges five star rates. On the basis of other excellent hotels that we stayed at in Tunisia, I would suggest a three star rating to be more appropriate.

one of a kind decor, breathtaking scenery. Rooms are huge, with spacious balcony.

Food and service are great.

overall great experience

What an astonishing hotel! The decor is really quite mad - I was so astonished by the painted ceiling in reception that I just had to lie on the floor and photograph it! It's an astonishing mixture of styles and influences, part rococo, part baroque, part arabian nights and even some Egyptian thrown in.

Our bedroom was salmon and gold, with a moorish arch to a small sitting area (made a bit cramped in our case by the addition of an extra bed). The bathroom was comfortable with a separate toilet, but with some broken and redundant fittings.

The food was OK and breakfast featured freshly squeezed orange juice, albeit for a small extra charge (DT1.50) We were dismayed in the restaurant to find a broken glass on the floor in a corner, still there at breakfast the next day even after we pointed it out.

That said, it's in a lovely location surrounded by mountains and the staff were helpful and friendly.

I read the reviews of Jugurtha Palace and decided I did not want to stay there. However, I got voted down. I am a little ashamed to say that I loved the one night I spent there and would not have minded spending another.

It is definitely over the top - even more so in December with its Christmas/New Year decorations. However, it is also very comfortable, in a great setting, and the over-the-top thing is fun. You must see the giant golden armchairs in the lounge. The staff was friendly and the service was excellent. The food was good and there was tons of it. Overall, I thought it was great value. We opted for demi-pension.

The room was from Arabian nights and there was a lovely big clean bathroom. There was also loads of closet space.

It might be even better in the summer. It has a swimming pool within a swimming pool and rows of what are probably spouting lions.