... The holiday rep told us we were staying at the Royal Beach Hotel in Sousse.This of course meant nothing to us but we smiled anyway. About 1 and a half hours later on about the 5th stop we were disgorged at an hotel that literally sat on the beach, the back bit did anyway. We were shown to ... Read review
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Advantages: Wonderful weather despite a mini monsoon Disadvantages: Sheer Boredom
...Sousse is a town about half way down Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast. It has a commercial harbour and miles of sandy beach. The town has many shops, stores, cafes and there is a big outdoor market every Sunday where haggling is the done thing. The currency is the dinar which is a closed currency, ie. You cant get any before you arrive and you can’t take any home with you. We went with sterling Travellers Cheques and these were changed at ... ...there and found the hotel’s exchange rate favourable.
We had heard many stories about shortage of booze since this is an Arab country, we were told you’d only get it in your hotel and it was expensive. What a load of poppycock, while there’s not a bar/café every 100 metres as in Spain, Portugal etc anywhere we ate we could have as much alcoholic drink as we liked at prices slightly cheaper than home. I must admit ... more
Well well the time has come for me to let all you happy Ciaoers (?) into the benefits or the pitfalls of holidaying with the Arabs. Mind you this is only as I see it, other people may have different expectations and desires for what makes a good holiday. In case you haven’t read any of my other holiday opinions and even if you have but not realised it. I go on holiday to relax, lie in the sun and potter around whatever town we’re staying in. I’ve travelled miles to get there so why do I want to travel many more miles once I get there. I know there are people who do this to see the sights but that’s not my cup of tea. I don’t want to come home and bore my friends showing them pictures of well known features of that country because it’s really a form of boasting, you know the been there, done that sort of bragging. Don’t get me wrong I do take pictures on holidays but of the place we’re staying in, the friends we make, the topless female sunbathers you know the sort of things people can relate to back at home.
One night in September 99 my wife and I stepped in to a Tunisian Airway jet plane at Aldergrove airport at 22:00 hrs, we were embarking on another late deal 1 week holiday to Tunisia. As we boarded the plane the only thing we knew was that we were staying in a 3 star hotel half board somewhere in Tunisia for 1 week. We arrived in Monastir airport at 02:30 local time so there was not a lot to see. The holiday rep told us we were staying at the Royal Beach Hotel in Sousse.This of course meant nothing to us but we smiled anyway. About 1 and a half hours later on about the 5th stop we were disgorged at an hotel that literally sat on the beach, the back bit did anyway. We were shown to our room that contained 1 double bed, a built in wardrobe with an upper shelf, a small dresser with 2 drawers and that was it. There were no chairs because there was no room for them.
The next morning as I was talking to the manager about changing rooms and him saying how surprised he was because nobody else had complained he explained that sitting on the beds was normal in Tunisia. Anyhow he changed us to a bigger room but this had a double and a single bed in it and it took me an hour to convince him to take the single bed out. This meant we could lay our suitcases flat on the floor for the 1st time because we were going to live out of them for a week, cupboards being a nonessential furnishing seemingly in Tunisia.
We were there half board so I went down for breakfast the next morning and it was awful. The majority of the 30 odd people in there at that time appeared to be Scandanavian or German and if the breakfast fare was for them then they have a strange diet. It was a buffet style meal of rolls, hard boiled eggs in their shells in warm water, lumps of solid white stuff bearing a look alike resemblance to lard, a form of coarse bread that looked like it would come in handy for shining up knockers, door knockers in case some readers had other ideas, tea, coffee and nothing that bore any likeness to bacon and eggs or toast. The evening meals, we tried it once, were of the same quality or should I say lack of it. In short if we’d paid the full price for this holiday I’d have felt very hard done by because the food as the 2 of us saw it was appalling. As usual we found a couple of good value, good food restaurants nearby and pitied the people eating in the hotel because they’d paid top whack to do so. It made me realise that our holiday preference of S/C accommodation was a wise decision but unfortunately it was not an option this time.
Sousse is a town about half way down Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast. It has a commercial harbour and miles of sandy beach. The town has many shops, stores, cafes and there is a big outdoor market every Sunday where haggling is the done thing. The currency is the dinar which is a closed currency, ie. You cant get any before you arrive and you can’t take any home with you. We went with sterling Travellers Cheques and these were changed at the hotel as required. I checked at the bank out there and found the hotel’s exchange rate favourable.
We had heard many stories about shortage of booze since this is an Arab country, we were told you’d only get it in your hotel and it was expensive. What a load of poppycock, while there’s not a bar/café every 100 metres as in Spain, Portugal etc anywhere we ate we could have as much alcoholic drink as we liked at prices slightly cheaper than home. I must admit I didn’t see any bottles of spirits for sale round the supermarkets so if it’s part of your holiday bring your own.
I wrote earlier that we stay more or less where our tent is pitched but we do venture a little bit so we took a taxi the 5or 6 odd kilometres to Port El Kantaoui which was a much smaller town built round a large marina. The marina complex has many shops, cafes and bars scattered around it and it was nice to walk in somewhere to have a drink without lots of local men sitting drinking coffee and eyeing up the wife at the next tables.
The weather was fabulous, even in late September, although one afternoon we had what could only be described as a mini monsoon. For about a couple of hours it bucketed down then stopped as quickly as it started but there was water every where, vast puddles, water cascading down the hilly streets and torrents poring out of holes in rough brick walls but in an hour, apart from the rapidly diminishing puddles, you wouldn’t have realised the amount of rain that fell earlier.
Now the question is would I go back there? I doubt it. I’ve never been on a holiday where I spent so much time in my accommodation more or less trying to find something else more interesting to do. It’s OK lying about on the beach in the sun but if that’s the only option it sort of loses its appeal.
In conclusion I would say we never found all the things most people complain about like being hassled in the street and touchy feely advances on women happening although one man offered me a camel for my wife and I was tempted but I suspect an eagle eyed zombie at Customs and Excise might have realised the thing with me looked nothing like the passport picture so I had to turn him down.
Advantages: Good Bargains At The Medina Disadvantages: Industrialised, Hassle From The Locals
...could be forgiven for missing Sousse off the itinerary whilst visiting Tunisia. After all it is Tunisia's second largest City, but unlike Tunis the Capital, Sousse has a reputation of being a lot more industrialised.
During my recent visit to the Country I stayed in a Holiday Resort called Port El Kantaoui, which is a purpose built Resort just 12 Kilometres from Sousse.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
My first glimpse of Sousse was from the transfer Coach from ... ...Sousse seemed like a bustling, lively, place with plenty of traffic and People, but it did look rather run down and not the sort of place where one would spend a Holiday.
THE LOCATION
The City is located on the Coastline but sprawls inland for several Kilometres and the Coast is only a relatively short stretch of around 3 Kilometres. This is however the Mediterranean Sea and the same Sandy Beach that is found at Port El Kantaoui. It has a population ...
micksheff 01.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Sousse (Tunisia)
Advantages: cheap and sunny Disadvantages: really boring
...finally decided to travel to Sousse in Tunisia (only 1000 Marks or 320 GBP).
At first I was really afraid. It‘ s nation of the Islam, we had no boy with us, we would fly with TunisAir and we would be in Hotel Phenix, which has only two stars. Well, the flight was OK. If I had known that there was no plane of TunisAir which yet crashed down I would have been much more relaxed and would have ignored all the noise the machine made.
Tunisia has ... ...it.
The beach in Sousse is fantastic. For only one and a half Dinar (I think this are 75 cents) you could have one matt and a sunshade for the whole day. This is really neccessary, because it’s always more than 35º Celsius. It’s a soft wind which make it much more agreeable, but which also make your clothes full of the sand. After this holidays I have to buy a new photo camera, cause my one was full of this. However, there are no toilets ...
SoerkeKlein 29.03.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Sousse (Tunisia)
Advantages: Very hot and sunny Disadvantages: Hassle after hassle after hassle after hassle...
...The hotel-Royal Beach in Sousse seemed very basic but ok. The next day we had breakfast-some dodgy choices but I found some pastries so stuffed my face with those! We decided to hit the pool as soon as possible. We were there for about a minute when the attendant demanded 4 Dinar (the Tunisian currency is Dinar-4 Dinar is approximately 2 pounds) just for the privelage of putting our towels on sunbeds. We paid him and settled down to catch some rays. ... ...kantoui for dinner to escape Sousse for the evening and found a haven amongst the madness! It was lovely, the beach was clean!! We didn't even mind people trying to drag us into their shops and the kids following us down the street, because at least they weren't offering us drugs or feeling us up!
We transferred there the next day, and spent the rest of the holiday sunbathing. Port al kantoui was better than Sousse but we didn't have a good holiday, ...
theblonde2000 25.02.2005
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Shopping in the bazaar in Sousse is very exiting, and can be very revarding if you look carefully at what you are buying.
Note however that if you like to bring back spices, only buy from proper "Spice merchants" where you can smell and taste the goods.
All stallholders are selling ready packed varieties of spices typical of Tunesia for as little as 1 - 2 Dinars. When we came home with our "nice" spice bags, they only contained coloured powder ...
viggo 10.10.2000
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...you. I have visited Sousse on a number of occassions now and love it. It is a great all round resort with plenty of culture and as for the hotels, well you cannot find a bad hotel in Sousse and believc me I have stayed in a few. Even the 2* hotels are beautiful, clean and friendly. A 3* hotel is the equivalent to our 5* hotels with a marble reception area and chandaleers. As for the beaches in Sousse, picture this-white sand, clear blue sea and not ... ...resort more to couples and families as the night life isnt pumping but its not non-existant either. If you enjoy a stroll along the sea front of an evening with plenty of atmosphere then its right up your street. So give it a try, you wont be disappointed. ...
olli 02.08.2001
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Advantages: The beach Disadvantages: Centre slightly crowded
Lying only a half hour drive from Monastir Airport, Sousse is a lovely little town with everything to cater for everyone's needs. Hotels are spread along the main road of a resort which is fringed by the long and sandy beach. The edge of the resort is about a 40 minute walk from the town centre which is, as expected, usually bustling and busy. There are lots of the usual trinket shops where the obligatory haggling takes place. However, one refreshing surprise is the fixed price shops where, as you'd expect all prices are fixed and haggling is not an option. The shop is in the centre of the main square and is situated on four floors. It includes everything from videos, cassettes to ornaments and clothes. Admittedly, the fun of haggling is a bit missed, but for those who like to just go somewhere, buy something and know what ...
Advantages: Good food and it's a bit different Disadvantages: Constant hassle from the locals
say that I could find my way around it easily after months of traipsing through it on my days off. I would recommend Sousse, or any part of Tunisia for the holidaymaker who wants something a little different. However, if you're after a good night life forget it, as there aren't that many discos and the only pubs around are those in the hotel complexes. ...
Advantages: Clean, Right on the Beach Disadvantages: Need transport to get to Sousse or Port El Kantoei
man with an organ singing who was hilarious as he tried to sing English songs from the 50' and 60's without actually knowing the words and kept us highly entertained for about an hour) but is quite nice for relaxing in at the end of the day and chatting with and getting to know your fellow guests.. It has a fabulous centre piece of a serpent wrapped around a tree which is ceiling height. We saw a group of traditional belly dancers and a very impressive man who walked on broken glass and balanced on swords while carrying members of the audience. Both acts (these acts do the hotel circuit throughout sousse and port el kantoei) are worth seeing and are good fun without being too holiday campish.
SHOP
The shop sold a few tourist gifts which you can find all over tunisia and the staff were very friendly. One point I would like to make is ...
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