Hotel Bel Azur Reviews

This was my second visit to the Bel Azure i have previously stayed in the Royal Azure but could not get a single room. however both hotels are joined and my room was handy for them both.

The Bel Azure has plenty of entertainment and the staff are very friendly. The rooms are basic but clean and i had a nice sea view. The British guest seem to return to this hotel for many years and it is is ideal if you are travelling on your own as you soon make friends. I like the Royal Azure for its luxury and silver service treatment. However i must warn single ladies if you befriend any of the staff in The Royal Azure to watch your money and valaubles. The young bar staff are quite persistent and will try to steal your phone and ask for money in return for favours KNOW WHAT I MEAN OLDER SINGLE LADIES.... Especially the young one in The Pub bar...I had money taken from my purse and if things are not locked away well you have been warned.

I want to go back to Tunisia around October ..I love Tunisia and the people are very nice but very poor you end up giving them things if you are soft like me......

Bel Azur hotel was the dirtiest hotel i have been too. Should be rated as 2 star not 3 star. Staff are very unhelpful and not friendly at all. Food not all that, we were on a half board basis and practically ate the same food every night. Would not recommend to anyone. Bad bad holiday - accomodation is important when u go on holiday.

It was our first time in Tunisia, read all the reviews.

Airport

Please fill in the green form they give you at chech out on the plane you will need it at arrivals otherwise ok, watch out for the men who take your luggage just say NO and they go away. Departing ok realy nice lots of shops who take sterling.

Hotel

At first impression okish, checking in another form to fill in, shown to our room and very pleasent, a little used but clean. We went half borded and the food was excellent. Plenty of choice for everyone. Serving times good, breakfast 6 -10 dinner 7-9.30 so no need to rush and push there was always plenty. the breakfast was different mainly catering for Germans and French but we did manage to get fresh fried eggs and omelets, all in all excellent. Prices and the bar ok

Shopping

Be warned for the waiter who take you to a festiful, its a CARPET SHOP you will get stuck and almost forced to buy just be frim and say NO I tried French and German it helps haggle and have FUN

The Bel Azur hotel is a three star hotel in between a four star and five star. Although the hotel is showing it's age in the fixtures and fittings the rooms are of a good size and and clean and well kept. We had a view over the pool with the beach and sea less than 500 metres away. The Bel Azur has a good private beach with free sun loungers and the sea and beach are good.

The food is good, breakfast gave us excellent omlettes and pancakes freshly cooked to order and the buffet evening meal was good and varied with a selection of meats, fish, salads, and an excellent dessert selection!
Hammamet is only 20 minutes walk away and the medina is worth a visit, also there is a good market at the local town of Nabeul on a Friday, a taxi will cost you about £4.00 each way.

There are a few good restaurants Cascades a short taxi ride away is very good and there is a superb fish restaurant about 15 minutes walk from the hotel called Azure. The Black and White Restaurant outside the hotel gates is well priced and good sized portions for a change from the buffet restaurant if you don't want to venture too far.
All three hotels are joined by very pretty landscaped gardens and you are free to use the pools and bars of all three. The Royal is the five star and a nice change for an evening, there is a casino in the Sol Azur and there is entertainment in all three hotels which varies between a snake charmer, cabaret, disco and bar singers and karoke.
It is easy to get around Tunisia you get get a train to the capital Tunis quite easy and the Bardot museum has wonderful mosiacs. The trips from the package were overpriced and most of them you can do yourself cheaper and have more time than the arranged trips which tend to rush you around from place to place.

All in all a good holiday with good french influenced food and wine, take the time to explore outside your hotel and resort and see some of Tunisia.

Having arrived in the hotel we were shown to our room, overlooking the pool. We were wrecked after a diverted flight and had not slept in over 24 hours. We decided to have a sleep first to rejuvenate ourselves. First impressions of the room was that it was basic, bare and cold with extremely low twin beds. We thought we would manage but it was disappointing considering the cost of the holiday.

Trying to get a doze in was a killer. Given our room overlooked the pool and given we did not know that aqua-aerobics with pulsating dance music started at the same time as our much needed doze it was not meant to be. Funny though the manager of the hotel who greeted us could see we were wrecked and despite this he failed to mention that sleeping would be near impossible due to the coinciding entertainment schedule. He also initially told us we would be in a different room which turned out to be away from the pool at the front of the hotel but changed the room before we went up to it??

We gave up trying to sleep and headed to the beach. It was nice though a little dirty with fag butts everywhere. The sunbeds were free and there was a great shaded area to get out of the sun. There is a steep incline to the water but it levels out thereafter and the water is lovely and warm.

Headed back to the room for a shower and took about five minutes to get the hot water flowing. The shower was not great at all. The tube was broken and the water spurted out at the base thereby reducing the flow to a low pressure one. The tube holding the shower head only stretched so far so standing in the bath you had to crouch down on your knees to get your shoulders and hair washed.

Moved rooms the next morning to something more suitable away from the pool. There was one towel in the bathroom so I asked one of the cleaning ladies to place more towels in the room. Returned to the room later that evening after the beach and discovered still no towels. Back to reception to ask for them again and it was organised.

If you are into the 1980's then stay in this hotel. The furnishings are sparse, dated, seats in reception are dirty looking and the corridoor to our room did not look like it ad been cleaned in the two weeks we were there. There were dead cockroaches, hairballs and cigarette butts. Our rooms were cleaned daily although the cleaners came knocking early in the morning there is no chance of a decent lie in. The sheets were not changed on the bed in the two weeks we were there.

We went half board and the food looked great but within two days we were both unwell and had to see the doctor and get a load of stuff to treat it. We are not sure what it was we ate. We had to eat dry food for the next three days and this was hard as it was limited for the dinner spread. I remained sick for one
full week. The breakfast spread was better and safer.

The staff were friendly enough although I did not find reception very friendly or helpful. Having booked a trip and waiting for the pick up for over one hour I asked reception to phone the tour operator to see what the story was. The staff member told me to wait. We waited another fifteen minutes and aked him again. He reluctantly arranged for the porter to phone for me. I was then asked to pay for the call...unbelieveable!!!!

The hotel is beside its two sister hotels and this was the major advantage to staying here so we could go the the other hotels and spend time there as they were more modern, cleaner and could use their facilities too. It is also beside a sister spa centre with an indoor pool and spa facilties and gym and this is another perk. The best meal we had in the two weeks there was in the lunch restaurant- Niagara-in the Royel Azur the day we were leaving.

The Bel Azur had an evening entertainment programme but we were not into it but it would appeal to others no doubt. Alcohol is very expensive so we ended up drinking the local beer and wine. The hotel is located to the north of the town centre and taxis are plentiful and cheap and needed as the walk is longer then they tell you.

The hotel is near a pharmacist and there is a small supermarket across the road from it and two restaurants too. It costs six times more to buy a bottle of water in the hotel than in the supermarket. There are three beach cafes where you can buy lunch, sandwiches, pizza, pasta salads, drinks. The best chicken sandwaich you can get from the beach cafe beside the Royal Azur beach. You can also order drinks and food from the beach as the waiters come and walk by and take orders. You can also buy camel rides, fresh fruit from the basket (and he will rip you off be wary), boat trips, palm tree plants, jewellry, clothes etc... you mainly get hassled in the morning time and then they go away. A firm and polite no thank you normally suffices but I did notice that they are more persistent with women.

We went to Yasmine Hammammet, the newest resort, about five miles south of the Bel Azur. It was really disappointing. The place has 51 massive brand spanking new hotels and there is virtually nothing around them. The night we went there we took a stroll into the Medina there. It was small and disappointing and I think the old one in Hammammet is much better.

We found one great resaurant in Hammammet-De Francos Italien, the food was great there. We also went to Cascades- the food was nice but service was very slow..don't go if you are starving and need something quick. If you are also into a man playing a keyborard crooning old tunes then this is the place to go.

We say two pub/ bars, The Irish Bar and Palmas..they are right beside one another but they were dead, although I heard you can get proper chips, bacon and fried egg in the Palmas.

We did a two day desert safari trip and this was the highlight really and it was great to get away from the hotel. The camel ride in the Sahara was great craic, and we saw lots of other interesting sites and saw the tunisian culture up front. There is such a contrast between the hotels and what is outside of them so be prepared. It can be tough going.

Don't go to Hammammet if you want nightlife and craic..it won't happen. Do go if you want a nice beach holiday but my best advice is to go at least four star or five star otherwise you will be disappointed.

Finally do go to the Bel Azur if you want simplicity and sparsity, can't move on from the 80's, like cockroaches.. and you are a news freak as SKY News, CNN or BBC World News are the only english speaking satellite channels they have!!!!