Well - What can I say. I am gonna be completely honest and obvously this is only my opinion. There are some good things to say but there are some bad things to say.

Firstly I wouldn't choose to go back to this hotel - You will understand why after reading this. I would however go back to this area as I did enjoy the holiday.

We arrived after a 2 and a half hour flight. Got driven in a bus to the terminal. It was 1am I might add so we were very tired. Got to the terminal filled out an imigration card in the queue for passport check and got through customs to baggage in about 30 minutes. Very quick I thought. Baggage took about 30 minutes then we started walking to the coach. Beware of the little men who grab your bags to take them back to the coach as they EXPECT money.

My boyfriend is american and we gave him a $1 bill. We had no Tunisian or English money on us. He complained and gave us a rude remark but we just let it go over our heads - ungratefull.

Anyway, Rep wasnt very informative on the way but they never are so not really that bothered. Took 10 mins to get to Sahara Beach - first hotel the coach stops at!

Got there and they took our bags off the coach - MAKE sure your get your bags off and taken by a hotel porter to the door!

Go into the hotel and they give you a form to fill out for the all incl cards. Takes 5 minutes. Got allocated a room and the guy on reception said we couldn't get our cards til the morning. We said we'd prefer them now so he did it for us...everyone else waited til the morning as it was already 2.30am!

Room quite small but perfect for sleeping in. Lovely little balcony big enough to sit out and have a few drinks in the evening. Which we did a couple of times. Sea view? If you stretched your neck around the trees and the other side of the hotel you could see the sea.

The rest ...

ALL INCLUSIVE CARDS
Pointless - I think the only reason they use them is for stock control...can't really see why in a hotel with over 2000 guests!
We took a Litre thermos flask each to keep our drinks cold and on the first day tipped the barman at the pool side bar 5 TND (

Hotel, gardens, pool areas, toilets, dinning room and our rooms were lovely and clean, someone cleaning all the time.

Our room was fine, the towels were clean and not thin and smelly as some people have said. The air con was a god send, but the first night we left it on full and were glad of the blankets provided. We turned it down after that.
The third bed was a real one not a camp bed you usually get. Rooms were small but fine for the intention, to sleep in, a couple of annoying things were, there was only one plug point in our room, only a hand held shower and there are no drawers, but plenty of wardrobe and shelf space.

The reception staff were very friendly and our check in was quick and painless, it was so quick that our photos on our AI passes made us look like rejects from prisoner cell block H, so be prepared to look your best lol.


Our waiter was fab, If your waiter is Kalif say hi. We all fell in love with him, he even put fresh flowers on our table on our last night, yes we did tip him because he worked so hard not because we felt we had to.

The table behind us it was one of the groups' birthdays and they had fresh flowers and candles and a birthday cake. The party had only mentioned her birthday and had not asked for anything special.... a birthday for a 12 year old she won't forget she said.

Food was plentiful hot and fresh but a little repetitive, a good selection of Tunisian food. But my husband felt they catered more for the Germans

The Soups and the desserts were fantastic, my favourite was the tart with the fresh pineapple and apricots...... mmmmmmm.

The breakfast finishes at 10. and if you miss breakfast, there is nothing to eat until 12. The AI finishes at midnight which is a bit of pain.

No big queues for the bars, only 1 drink per card, but you can take all your groups cards to get a round in. We didn't have a problem drinking the different types of bottled water as some people have mentioned. Ask for large bottles towards end of the evening to last the night.

The shops on the way to the dinning room, on the first couple of nights was annoying because they keep stopping you to ask to buy something, we used to smile and tell them no money, and they left you alone all week after that.

Go on the camel ride trip with Ali Baba he is cheaper than Asda price and is a cheeky bugger (lol) take plenty of water with you as it does get hot, but well worth it.

The evening entertainment lets this hotel down. It wasn't very good at all. The animation team work very hard, but the sound system is rubbish, you either get deafened down the front or if you

The hotel cleaning staff worked constantly to keep the hotel shining.

The food was good, I wouldn't have went hungry, but I can sometimes be a fussy eater, soups, chips and desserts are really good, I love their little cakes!

The location isn't so good not much to do or look at outside the hotel, worth getting on Noddy Train to Monastir!

The staff are fantastic, so friendly, they are amazing people, from the chamber maids to the waiters to the animation team, all fantastic.

The entertainment I thought was good, although the sound system was a little delicate. Plenty of daytime entertainment if you like pool games, children's club kept the little 'uns out of the sun and happy for a while.

This is my 2nd time at the hotel and wouldn't go back for the reason that one of our party (a female) was attacked by 2 men in the nightclub, who apparently shouldn't have been in it in the first place, a complaint was raised to management and we were disgusted to find the group these men were in continued to intimidate us all for the rest of our holiday.

Other than that I would have no complaints about the hotel!

Well, where do I start.

Although I have stated that I would not visit this hotel again, that is not strictly true. The hotel in its current state, I definitely wouldn't, but a few improvements would make this a great holiday, but I will talk more about this later in the review.

Basically the flight was fine, no delays etc. We did have to fill in a card on the plane that we had to hand in at the airport on arrival. This had a tear-off strip which would later also have to be handed in at passport control on our way out of the country. So remember to have a pen handy on the flight.

On arrival at the hotel at 9pm(ish), after a VERY quick transfer (under 10mins), the hotel porters took our cases from us. We were then lead to a room where we had to fill in a small card with various information required to hand in at reception. We were also given a nice refreshing cold drink of lemon juice (like lemon fanta, but not fizzy). When we had our drink and completed the card we then had to go to reception and hand in the card. We were then asked to go to the end of the reception to have our photo's taken for our All Inclusive (AI) cards. The piccies were taken, and the card was ready instantly. We were then given our room key. We then had to tell the porter which room number we were in and they took our cases to our room about 15 mins later. We went straight to the room and had a little sit down whilst waiting for our cases.

The room itself was quite small but easily enough room if there are only 2 of you staying in it. There must be bigger rooms surely for families. The bathroom though was a nice size. One complaint about the bathroom though would be the shower. It has no hook to hold the shower head, so can be a little awkward, but I still found it little hassle. Some may be more fussy than me though.

After our cases had arrived with the porter, he expected a tip. So I gave him a couple of dinar (approx 90p) and he was happy with that. We were situated on the second floor of block 1, right at the front of the hotel. Great view from the balcony. Room 1214 if you are lucky enough to get it was great for the view.

We then went downstairs and as the restaurant usually closed at 9pm, they stayed open for the new arrivals but there were only leftovers there and no new food was cooked for us, but this was better than nothing. After a bite to eat, we had a drink in the Asfar Bar. I was quite dreading the beer after all the negative points about it on here. After a long day of travelling though, it tasted great to me (at the time). I have not commented on the food yet though as it's not fair to comment until after a few days.

A few days passed, though and I'm normally a faddy eater, and the girlfriend will usually eat most types of things. This holiday worked quite the opposite. I decided I had to try various things in order to get a good feed. The girlfriend lived on salad, veg and couscous the entire fortnight. The meats tended to be very nice in my opinion, quite spicy, but a little too fatty and usually cooked rare rather than medium. I don't like meats that look undercooked, so I wasn't happy with some meats.

This review seems to be going on for ages, so I may cut it down slightly now.

As far as the beer goes, it is very weak but does have a decent taste to it. I found that to make it seem stronger, at evening meal I would drink lots of white wine, before drinking the beer later in the bars. This seemed to do the trick, until late in the holiday the poor beer got tedious and just would have killed for a Kronenberg or Fosters. Hey, at least they had real Coca Cola! The lemon juice was readily available all the time though and this was lovely.

The hotel itself was great for the airport, but nowhere else. Just many hotels nearby.

The hotel though was absolutely spotless.

When it is so hot whilst abroad, I like to stay in bed until 11ish, so I did this half the time and managed breakfast the other half. There is a card behind the door though that you can put on your handle outside - "Do Not Disturb". This came in very handy. The rooms were cleaned everyday and fresh towels also everyday. Even if we didn't leave our room until 1pm, the cleaner would still do the room after he saw you leave! Ithought this was brilliant. Most other hotel cleaners would have missed you off that particular day.

The weather was definitely too hot for me, usually in the mid 40's. One day last week the temp hit 51!!! This is the holiday that I have probably sunbathed the least, only managing about 3hours all the fortnight.

We did 2 trips. One to El Djem where they filmed Gladiator (also a very hot day), but it had some excellent views and got some excellent photo's. The other trip was the camel trip booked through Ali Baba in the hotel near the restaurant. Both were good value and would recommend both.

The entertainment team employed by the hotel were fantastic. Throughout the day they would entertain by doing all sorts of sports activities from dancing to volleyball, football to water aerobics. By night the team would all get together and do a full show like Grease or Lion King. The thing is, this was not to my liking. It's not the sort of entertainment I really enjoy. All the kids seemed to enjoy the holiday, but unless there are some improvements I don't think I would go back again.

There was NOTHING to do on a night apart from drink naff beer and play cards. They did have a different film on every night in the Skanes Bar, but this was usually drowned out by the ignorant people who just talked all the way through the film because they weren't interested.

So, all in all, really enjoyed the relaxation of the place, the grounds were lovely, it was like a mini paradise, but like I say, I can't see me going back. I missed the English news and sport. Papers were always around 3 days old, and the internet to me is a must. Very disappointed not to get on the net for 2 weeks. I didn't think I would be able to cope without it. But I obviously managed it. Somehow.

If there are any further questions, don't hesitate to ask in the thread titled "Sahara beach hotel" in the Holiday Truths discussion forum under Tunisia. I will be glad to answer any I possibly can. I would have loved to have typed more here, but to be honest, I'm getting fed-up of typing.

We stayed at the Sahara Beach last week in July 1st in August after reading some of the reviews I had doubts about what we would find when we arrived.

We arrived just after midnight after a short transfer 10mins our bags were taken care of straight away and welcome drinks provided whilst we filled in the visa forms we then got our all inclusive cards whilst staff were very helpful and polite with our children not stressful at all.

The food was different but lovely all the same there was so much choice. Lovely soups there was a choice of about 6 or 7 main meals a night, plus lots of deserts cakes fresh fruit and ice cream. Our waiter Ali was the best, couldn`t do enough for us and the kids when he saw us coming he used to run off to get our drinks if you tip it is true you get the best service but only a very small amount it is worth every penny!

The waiters at the bar were also lovely again it is true if you tip a small amount you get a pint glass instead of a paper one and a bigger measure but again worth it. Plus once you get your glass you just hold on to it for the rest of the night.

The entertainment went on all day till about 10.30pm games round the pool, aerobics and shows at night we were very happy and will visit again

Absolutely most definitely will visit this hotel again. The food was gorgeous the cleanliness was great.

My only disappointment was the room size I didn

We have just returned from our holiday at the Sahara Beach and it was fantastic!

The hotel was spotless, the grounds and gardens were immaculate, the beach perfect.

We spent most of our time round the pools as opposed to the beach, but both have plenty of sunbeds,with mattress's provided, no need to get up super early to put your towel down!

The water in the pools,while not being boiling, was pleasantly warm, a welcome relief to the hot sun,great to cool off in!

Now to the food.......where do we start?
We both have really really big appetites but even we were overfaced, it was brilliant! There was so much variety for every kind of diner, nobody should be disappointed. We tried to sample every dish we did recognise and every dish we did'nt!

There were meat dishes, soup,pasta, vegetable and salad options, plus for the kids and unadventurous your basic chips, pizza, burgers etc. drinks were brought to your table by your designated waiter (ours was Kamal, he was fantastic)and readily topped up before your glass was even empty!

If you do manage to get hungry in between meals (it's impossible, we tried) there are snacks available at the bars around the pools.

There was always plenty to do round the pool through the day, and at night there were discos, shows, music
etc to keep everyone amused. the entertainment team worked really hard and were very good. really enjoyed their rendition of "Grease".

The staff in the hotel were great, from the porters and cleaners to the receptionists, bar staff and waiters, they could'nt have been more helpful if they had tried. we found that if your were polite to them they tended to be polite back, fair enough there were the odd ones who were a bit abrupt, but we can all have off days!

As for tipping, it is expected.
We found that the odd dinah here and there did wonders. when the guy brings your mattress to your sunbed give him a dinah, when your waiter has finished serving you give him a dinah etc. A dinah is worth about 50p, its pennies to us but its a lot of money to them. We must have only spent about

The hotel is very large with over 1000 rooms but the facilities are not enough to accomodate the amount of people staying.

The food was adequate but boring and repetative, breakfast being the worst meal, we did not go hungry but were fed up with the monotonous meals by the end of the week.

Staff were friendly especially if you tipped them, only the porters expected to be tipped. Tipping the waiter made for a very friendly service as you had the same waiter throughout your stay.

There was not enough sunbeds to go around and you had to get up at 6 am to get a bed we only realised this when going out on an excursion. We had to be up at 6 am the amount of people taking their towels down to reserve a sunbed was unbelievable and this was allowed to happen. Some people saved beds but didn't use them until the afternoon.

The hotel is very near the airport but nowhere else, you could not go for a walk out of the complex as there was only other complexes nearby.

The entertainment was very much Butlins style, I am sure some people went to the complex and did not set foot out for their whole stay. How can you say you have been to Tunisia without sampling their culture.

Running the gauntlet of sellers along the street every time you went to eat was very irritating by the end of the holiday.

We did not go at high season this would be to us too busy as the hotel was not full when we were there but the facilities struggled to keep up with the volume in june!

I had read many reviews before visiting this hotel and I was very worried even though we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday it could have been a lot better.

The food was appalling, we managed to find one dish each night which we could consume, we ate in the restaurant for 4 days to give it a try but could not not bear to go there anymore. There is one other main restaurant called 'El Campo' which is very nice (I assume because you have to pay!) but even this restaurant became a little monotonous! So we were forced to visit Port El Kantoui which cost

Having read previous reports we were a little concerned about the hotel, however having spent 2 weeks here we would not hesitate to go back.

On arrival all women were given flowers whilst we waited for our all inclusive cards - this took no more than 5 minutes. The rooms are on the cosy side but are of an adequate size.

The hotel is very big and has four wonderful swimming pools, lovely gardens and is sat right on the beach front. There were adequate sunbeds for all persons during our stay, however I would imagine that these are in high demand during the peak season.

The hotel is kept immaculatly clean all day long, with staff constantly available to help. Tipping is common place however 1 dinar (45p) goes a long way. The only critisicm I would make is the noise that the room cleaners make upon starting their shift at 8am in the morning - don't expect to lie in much beyond this time.

The food is excellent with several differnt dishes (meat, fish, vegetarian) available each night. All needs are catered for whether you want to stick with chicken and chips or try some of the tunisian specialities. Upon arrival you are allocated a table and waiter for your stay. Nothing appeared too much for any of the waiters.

The animation (entertainment) team were great. They work from 10am - 10pm every night organising various activities during the day to bingo and shows in the evening. You can get involved in these as much and or as little as you like during your stay.

The hotel is positioned a little in the middle of nowhere so if you want to see the "real" Tunisia you either need to go on a couple of trips or take a taxi to Sousse (