"We treated ourselves to extra leg room - the drawback was putting luggage half way down the plane in the overhead locker & you can’t put the arm rest down. Retrieving the luggage was a nightmare getting off.
Fantastic duty free deals on plane. There was 20% off brochure prices both ways.
For purchases over £50, you will need the actual payment card & PIN.
We went to Giraffe @ the airport for a tasty breakfast.
Transfer was about an hour to our hotel - Sahara Beach.
Take cash to exchange at the airport or hotel into TD.
Cash machine is 5 minute walk from the hotel. Left out of the hotel complex & first right to a petrol station. Cash machine inside. It charges you to use it. Request the amount you want in TD, not English.
There are horse carriages & taxis outside the hotel that will approach you to use their services.
Change money back on departure as closed currency - can’t take it out of the country. It’s illegal.
Can’t exchange at airport without a receipt. We usually gift it staff members.
Vehicles arriving at the hotel are searched underneath with a mirror and boots checked on leaving.
Take your own towels. They don’t provide beach/pool towels.
Take a travel hair dryer & travel iron.
Italian restaurant is free once during your stay. Book it directly at the restaurant 10-12pm in advance.
Promo/twin rooms - have kettle, tea/coffee/sugar sachets. We took our own hot chocolate sachets.
The shower is powerful & there isn’t a full screen so the floor gets soaked unless you adjust it/remove drain cover.
Water is free in small & large bottles from the bar facing reception.
Locals on the beach attempt to sell goods to you including beach towels, cigarettes, cover ups, kites etc. The hotel requests you don’t purchase from them. Security do their best to move them on. Didn’t find them half as pushy as over countries.
There are camel, donkey & horse rides available at the beach along with lots of water sports. The guys are great from this service. We did parasailing & a speed boat trip. Prices are really reasonable. Paid so much more in other countries for the same experiences.
The guys are really friendly and were happy to take pics/vids of us parasailing & let us steer the speedboat. It was nice to not get hounded to buy their photos & videos as you do elsewhere.
You actually lift/land on the sand/beach rather than the back of a boat with the parasailing.
There’s a night club 11-2am for over 18s unless accompanied by parent/s. Drinks are chargeable.
There are activities throughout the day and entertainment each night.
Take white clothing for white party night.
Most staff are really friendly and happy to help.
They take care of the property and are fast to clean up any mess. Staff always find you beds & mattresses.
Rooms have AC until September.
Rooms are quite small but modern.
Tv in rooms. There’s around 3-4 English channels including news, game shows, movies.
Water park on site, open daily. Closes for lunch. Own towels required.
Hotel has a website with all info you need to know.
Beach is right on site. Lots of jelly fish in the sea. Lifeguards try their best to clear them from the safe swim area.
People need to respect their environment. There’s so much litter along the beach, bottles, cig wrappers etc. No need for it.
Lifeguards are present at the beach area/poolside.
There is an indoor pool.
There are activities daily. Examples are darts, mini golf. We enjoyed the pool foam party.
There is nightly entertainment and the tombola/bingo, sale of tickets during the day. We enjoyed the white party. They get everyone up dancing & there are fireworks.
The colour party on the beach was also enjoyable where powdered colour paint is chucked in the air & there’s a foam machine.
Lots of beds available beach & pool side in October HT. People will still get up early to reserve their favourite spots.
Free miniature toiletries in bathrooms.
Tourist tax is payable upon arrival.
One room key is provided per room.
There are a variety of shops/stalls selling footwear, clothing, souvenirs, gifts etc.
There’s a wellness centre with spa packages. Prices/offers on the website.
Take the restaurant card given to you at check in to the restaurant. It stays on the table and that table remains yours throughout your stay. We found this really good and avoided wandering around searching for tables each day.
Waiter service for drinks in the restaurant.
Buffet consists of Tunisian dishes & regular buffet foods like pasta, omelette, salad, soup, breads, children’s areas.
Two snack bars throughout the day on site offering burgers, chips, pizza, panini etc, both close at 5pm.
One is self serve and the other has a queue for each item so separate for pizza & chips which means food gets cold waiting around.
The main restaurant closes at 9pm.
There’s a book swap box shelving area near reception.
Free WI-FI available on arrival without PW needed. Pretty good coverage throughout the site.
We requested a high room & good view but got neither unfortunately.
Service overall is very good and not much favouritism goes on.
The beds (singles) were quite hard, bed sheet very stiff and one flimsy pillow weren’t very comfortable sadly.
You can rent a safe deposit box, mini fridge, hair dryer.
Rooms are cleaned daily & towels swapped out.
The beach is turned over by a tractor each morning or a team of staff with rakes.
It’s nice to walk along the beach as the sun rises and sets.
Big shout out to the eggs guy in the main restaurant to the left. Amazing omelette/fried egg & a great sense of humour.
Smoking is allowed on site. Polite people go off to the side to smoke but you always get the selfish folk that don’t mind blowing smoke all over families.
Transfer time is provided 48 hours in advance.
There are several passport check points upon airport return.
There are around 3 places to buy food/drink at the airport but quite costly.
We had a great flight home to Manchester. Super impressed to have a female pilot/captain. She managed to get us down safely after a missed approach due to the weather where other planes had been diverted. We were delayed for 30 minutes rather than a cancellation due to the weather which we were really grateful for.
Luggage was quick off the carousel both ways at the airports & the turn around.
Would definitely fly with TUI again & return to Tunisia."
