Thalassa Palace Nahrawess

Good value for money but a bit dated

by olgaku about Thalassa Palace Nahrawess

A nice hotel: experienced staff, good service in general. However rooms should be refurbished somehow, especially bathrooms. The hairdryer and tv I'd rather throw away (seem to be made in mid 1980's). The most well-known thalassa centre in Tunisia.
One day anti-stress therapy cost about 150$, 2 day - 280$ and so on
Professional massage - 70$

Tunisia November 1996 and June 1998

by Plendil

"Marhaba Beach Club Hotel & Sousse Town"

I stayed in the Marhaba complex (not to be confused with the Marhaba Palace hotel in Port El Kantaoui) and it proved to be a good base from which to see the southern delights. The food was very good and plenty of it. The rooms and hotel are spotlessly clean and well cared for. A picture of the gardens can be seen in one of my photo's.
Close by in town is the Grand Mosque and Ribat. There's a miriad of alleyways where lots of shops can be found aswell as restaurants and cafes. Try a mint tea at a pavement bar and watch the world and his camel go by.

"Hammamet, the garden of Tunisia"

I returned to Tunisia in June 1998 and stayed in the Hammamet area. The hotel was the Nahrawess and was quite a peaceful place to stay but they do charge for the sunbeds!
Handy for visiting Tunis, Cap Bon area and touring the Northern interior.
Not a lot to do in the evenings by way of entertainment but if you have been out all day it's nice to make new friends in the hotel bar. Usually though after a day of travelling all you want to do is have a quick nightcap and be off to bed to be ready for the next adventure!

This is the view from the hotel and as you can see it is very green in this area unlike the southern regions.

From this part of the country you can access the north and you will notice a real change in the scenery.
The coast line is more rugged and there are many more olive groves and cultivation in this area.
The picture of the coast was taken at El Haouaria where there is a great sea food restaurant but for the life of me I cannot recall what it was called...now where did I put that menu??? I do know it was well sign posted and if I found it anyone can.

There is also a place called Grottes d'El Haouaria and basically it's just a few caves and not so very interesting. Ice creams and nice refreshing drinks are to found here.

"Kelibia"

On this particular days outing I visited Kelibia, Kerkouane, Korba and Korbous so I may have got the places a bit muddled but I am sure you understand why. On my next trip I think I'll go to all the places beginning with the letter M!
I think this is actually Kelibia with a view of the town from an old fortress high up on a hill. You can take your car right up to the fortress and parking is free.

This is obviously the fortress, it is not well signposted and I found the way up to it by trial and error. Once I got there it was worth the hassle.

"One of the 'K' places!"

"Kerkouane"

Here right next to the coast are some really good Phoenician ruins. Alot of the floor mosaics can still be seen and retained some of their colours too. See how their homes were designed with all mod. cons. like bathrooms, central heating systems! etc. It's in remarkable condition with many more archeological finds still to be unearthed.

"Cap Bon"

"Sousse Town"

Here are pictures of the Grand Mosque and the Ribat.

"High Street it ain't"

This is one of the little shopping alleys to be found in town. After a few minutes of wandering round you realise you haven't a clue where you started! It's a bit like walking in a maze.

"What's to be found on the weekend Camel Market"

If you're into baskets, spices and the odd looking stuffed camel, then this is the place for you. However, if you don't like crowded places then it's best to stay away. There isn't any really good quality stuff to be found here but it's nice to have a little wander about.

"Port El Kantaoui"

This is a purpose built resort and as a result you don't really experience the real Tunisia. Having said that this is where most of the really modern hotels are plus there's a lot of self catering flats. I didn't see many food shops here like a bakery or butcher but then I wasn't really looking for that sort of shop! Quite a few bars and cafes though with some places to stop and have a bite to eat.
The galleon ship is used for day trips and I think it is called The Sultan, the galleon is usually moored here and possibly used for dining in the evening.

Most of the buildings here are painted white and when the sun is shining it is blinding, so wear your sunglasses. When I was here in November 1996 there was quite a bit of building going on in this area so I think much has changed by now.

"Tozeur, South Western Tunisia"

Tozeur is an oasis town found in the far SW.
Until I visited here I did not realise that most of the underground water below the desert is actually hot! Plus there are fish in the water channels, I suppose there's nothing like a hot bath!
Around 6.30 in the morning as the mist lifts from the oasis the people come to work their 'allotments'. Each family has a piece of land on which they cultivate figs, bananas or date palms. When the palms have flowered all the men climb the palm trees and shake them vigourously to enable the pollen to fertilize all the date palms and they pray to Allah for a good harvest.
You can buy fresh dates here too.

As this oasis is rather on the large side it's best to hire a horse and buggy and make the most of it. Remember if it's very early in the morning to wear something warm it really does get cold especially in the back of a buggy!

"Sbeitla Central Tunisia"

Here at Sbeitla can be found one of the largest Roman excavations I have ever seen. It is a whole city and very interesting. Although the descriptions of each excavated site were in Arabic or French so if your Arabic is a bit rusty you'll struggle to fully understand what is being explained.
I'd love to return here some day and see what else has now been found.

A touristic town on the beach

by zizland

Not much to say about Hammamet. It's an old town, but surrounded by hotels. A bit further south (and also referred to as Hammamet South) is Yasmine Hammamet - a huge, new development of mega-resorts.

Hammamet is full of tourists - there doesn't seem to be much local activities. Shopping in the old medina is much more interesting than shopping in Yasmine Hammamet. There seems to be many tourists, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of buying. The shop owners are a bit stressed...

Food-wise, it's pretty much the same at all the restaurants you go to. Not much signs of native cuisine.

A fine place to be if you want to be on the beach doing nothing. However, if you are looking for outside activities, I suggest staying at one of the nice resorts near Tunis.