I'm thinking of going All Inclusive for 2 weeks to Tunisia for our family hols. Never been before, always gone to Greece. Any pros or cons advice gratefully received.

Cheers

I went to Hammamet in Tunisia a few years ago and stayed half board in quite a nice 4* hotel.

The hotel was great with nice food, 4 outdoor pools, 1 indoor pool and loads of activities. It also had a great bit of private beach.

BUT, outside the hotel it was a different story. There were a couple of grotty cafe's and gift shops and that was about it. I am not sure what the rest of the resort was like, but we had a pretty good search around and didn't find much to write home about.

As a sit on the beach type holiday it was fine, but I don't think I'd be going back.

I suggest you have a look on Trip Advisor though for the particular resort you are interested in going to. It might be completely different & I wouldn't just take your decision based on my experience. There should be tons of reviews on trip advisor for a popular place like Tunisia.

I sort of agree with the above, but would highly recommend doing a combined sit on the beach (Hammamet good. Avoid Port el Kantoui) and then go in to the desert. Amazing country. See Kariouan, El Djem and the likes. Astonishing.

I visited my brother while he was working out there in La Marsa, just outside Tunis and in the Cartharge region. Quite nice area, some good Italian-style restaurants with excellent fish menus. Cheap flights to Monastir airport.

La Marsa also nice and Tunis very accessible by train. You can get a tame taxi driver to do the sights or hire a car to visit some other places. Roads are all fine, drivers are mostly incompetent but slow so little risk of accidents.

Go outside the towns or tourist areas and it's typical half-arsed Africa.

Bit of a dusty shithole with little going for it when I was there in 1997, stayed in Jerba and Tunis, as said, head for the desert for some good sightseeing.

Its a dirty shit hole with a sprinkling of nice clean bits! I went for 10 days a couple of years back and couldn't wait to come home! We visited all the attractions on a 5 day jeep safari, pretty much the nice bits! That was good. I know its not europe but you come to expect simple things – like not rounding a bend in the sahara desert to find stacks of used water bottles just dumped there! I would go back for a short stay and not leave the hotel though!

I have just booked 10 nights all inclusive at the brand new 5* riu palace hamammet, I think it looks quite nice. Hotel looks spot on. Not too sure about the surroundings, we are just after a relaxing break

I too went to Hammamet and it is an arabic country (from my experience they all seem to be the same) and whilst the hotels etc look after you really well outside the hotels can be very intimidating, particularly for women and kids and even more so if they are blondes!!
Having said the above I have been to Morrocco twice too, the more up to date location being Agadir in Morrocco where you can access the Atlas Mountains as well as the Sahara and they have a nice beach.
Tangiers is a great base for travelling into the Atlas Mountains and day trips to Gibralter and Andalucia in Spain. The Beachj there is however across a very busy road and railway!!
It depend what you want form your holiday…..

We went to Sousse and it was nice. Hotel was clean, food Ok, but there's not much to do around and about other than catch the noddy train to Port el Kantoui and back. Its nice there though if you like tacky gift shops and cafe type things around a bay filed with expensive boats. Lots of fake things to look at.

Shops in Sousse are 5h1t unless you want a bag or coat or belt made out of a camel or a brass teapot that's 4ft high.

Its all a good experience though and the people are friendly. Shop owners try to hassle you to go into their shop and look at the things they have that are made from camel and they don't take no as an answer so you do sometimes feel like shouting "F*** OFF" so the weak should avoid it. If you can haggle and enjoy it you'll be fine.

Its cheap there too and safe feeling when out and about.

They speak French and their toilets flush, which is more than the Greek ones do.

Note that that should be 'where there are toilets fitted' someof the out of the way places still have raw sewage in the streets.

Another Hammamet visitor here – I went with my wife about 8 years ago for 2 weeks on a bargain full-board 4* trip. Thoroughly recommended for a relaxing and reading by the beach / pool type break, not sure what it'd be like with kids. Was v,v hot too.

I went years ago and I'd agree with the comments above. I did a few trips from the hotel (which was average at best).

The roman fort / arena in the desert is amazingly well preserved but there is rubbish everywhere, butchers advertise fresh meat with the head of the animal on a spike outside of the butcher. Usually covered in flies 🙂

Toilets are "basic" in most places.

smurf

I went to Port El Kantaoui last year on a cheapo last minute half board week with the OH. Hotel was fine, food OK not amazing. The Port is very touristy. I don't know what it'd be like if you're taking the kids, guess it depends on the facilities at the hotel.

Was supposed to be a chill out holiday but I'm not very good at those so we ended up seeing a number of the Roman ruins…. El Djem is cool, Carthage not much to see, but if you can make it out that way try and get to Thuburbo Majus and Dougga – way less sanitised than the more popular sites.

You do get hassled to buy stuff, but I've been to Egypt and I don't think it's as bad as there!

A couple I know went last year and came home early!

Pretty much what Cool-Hand said really. We went there in '95 and stopped in a hotel in Sousse. Went full-board and the food was excellent! Local wine was decent but the beer was vile. The only one readily avaliable was a delightful little bottle of camel **** called Celtia. Avoid, it makes Bud seem like a rich and complex brew.

Locals were reasonably friendly although the hand was always open. Some of the excursions were cool, El Djem in particular sticks in the mind as does the camel safari in the desert.