Latest Reviews for Skanes

Skanes is basically a rich persons housing estate. There are no shops, restaurants or nightlife here. Monastir and Sousse are both about 10 mins away. Catch the buses that run frequently and cost less than 1 dinar per person. Sea is beautiful here, but beaches are fairly littered.

Just back from a fantastic fortnight. Happily recommend this hotel to everyone. The place was spotless. Rooms cleaned daily and towel changes whenever needed. Rooms were basic but large enough for our family of four (including 2 teenagers). Storage in the rooms is a bit limited though. Pools were great with plenty of sun loungers around. Use indoor pool during winter months as the outside ones are really cold. Plenty of choice of food-which was always fresh and hot. Staff are fantastic, waiters really go out of their way to please, bar staff great-although they do tend to overdo the measures of alchohol-so be warned! Entertain is ok-plenty to do during the day-if thats what you want. Evening entertainment was a bit dull, with the animation team doing all the shows, but Anis and Sammy are wonderful. All in all we had a great time and would recommend this hotel to everyone.

All inclusive, was not all inclusive!! No spirits and bar shut at 10pm. Bar staff were rude and looked at us as if we were alcoholics for having more than one watery beer or vinegary wine. No icecreams for the kids and if you were lucky you got a melting lolly by the pool once a day. The entertainers were good but the show was the same the second week as the first and one of them wouldn't leave my 4 year old blonde daughter alone day or night which made us feel uncomfortable. Nothing to do and constantly bothered by people trying to sell us something. Only good thing was the pool was lovely.

Skanes was disappointing - there is nothing but hotel after hotel. No promenades or walks to take to little cafes and only one restaurant hence it's usual to stay in your own hotel.

Sad Saadia - you can see that hotel was brilliant when first built but has been left to go to rack and ruin. All web site photos must be very old as they do not show the cracked tiles, the overgrown gardens, the uneven patched up crazy paving everywhere, the unusable tennis court / football pitch, and the unkempt childrens play area. Even the beach facilities were a disappointment. The only plus was the staff who were always polite and friendly. Thank goodness we were only there for a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T BE TEMPTED TO BOOK ANY EXCURSIONS WITH ALI BABA AT THE HOTEL.

skanes itself is very quiet nothing outside hotel but its very close to monastir where there are shops bars and restaurants.

Just returned yesterday from a weeks stay at thalassa village, we only regret we didnt book for a fortnight what a fantastic holidy we had! we arrived about lunchtime and were greeted by annis and samy (two of the animation team) who both speak extremely good english. after checking in we were taken to our rooms by a very nice porter then we all met up with samy who gave us a guided tour of the hotel and facilities which we thought was good cos in some places it takes nearly your whole week to find your way around!! on sundays they do sunday lunch (in the evening) for british only guests!!! pools were great, beach was excellent, cant comment on kids club cos we didnt have any but they all seem to be enjoying themselves. waiters, bar staff, reception staff all extremely friendly and can all speak pretty good english. a lot of the animatiom team although extremely good fun, seemed to speak better french and german than english buts thats when annis and samy come into play! they always made sure the british were never left out of things, they would always tell you that if you had any questions or problems just to tell them and they were more than willing to help out. great guys! first four days were glourious sunshine then it started to cloud over a bit but still warm but hey what do you expect in october. no complaints bout the food. the snack bar is open from 10-6 loads of variety there as well. waiters will get your drinks four you so no need to que for those.night time entertainment was good but if you want something more lively just get a taxi to monastir, sousse or even port el kantoui dosnt cost very much. we visited all three places. all in all we had a great time and are returning next year but for two weeks this time!!!!!

Nothing in Skanes except hotels! Beaches are not as clean as they once were but are better than a lot I have seen. Expect to be approached at least twenty times a day by hawkers selling tat.

I first visited this hotel 20 years ago as part of a group of four grown women. This time round I was part of a family unit and regretted it. I simply could not relax. I was bitterly disappopinted as I loved Tunisia in 1988. Quite frankly, North africa is no place for a family wanting to venture outside of the hotel complex. You are *constantly* harrassed and my eldest daughter was sexually assaulted by a shop assistant as she stood next to me in a shop in Kairuouan medina. I spent almost two hours in a Tunisian police station, the experience of which was akin to a scene from Midnight Express. My partner felt like he was a bodyguard for the rest of the holoday and thus could not relax at all.

I have taken some time to review this holiday as I simply didn't have the emotional energy to do so until now, but here goes. Airport - Upon arrival, be sure to collect a card *before* queuing to get through customs. You will need one for every member of your party. Complete as you queue up. You will need passport number, address of hotel etc. You will be harrassed by porters wanting to take your case to the coach park. Wages are so low in Tunisia (around £150 a month) so expect to tip for *everything*.

Hotel - The porters will steam out and attempt to take your case off you and pile them up at the door - they will expoect a tip. Don't give them your case, take it to the door yourself. You will be given a cold lemon drink and shown into the Skanes bar, where you will need to complete your registration forms. Our rep, Lynne, chivvied us up to get us seen before the Italians :-) There then follows more queuing as you are allocated your room(s) and then have photos taken for all inclusive passes. A porter will take you to your room. Do tip. One Tunisian Dinar is roughly equal to 50p. Tip what you think the service is worth. Rooms are small, but adequate and cleaned every day. We were lucky with our maid and she really looked after us. The temperature was in the mid 40s and she was so hot we brought her cold, bottled water to drink. The tap water is not drinkable nd will make you ill.

Beach is nice but not as clean as it once was. Expect to be up at 5.30am - 6.00am to get a sunbed by the pool. The hotel is quite tired now, but it is closing at the end of this season for a much-needed overhaul. They are apparently halving the numnber of rooms to make larger, more modern rooms and bathrooms. Could write more, but have run out of space.

the resort was really nice, very interesting and lots of history, life of brian was filmed there and star wars, loved Monastir great shopping and such friendly locals.

We went to the houda in 2007, 12 of us we had a brilliant time, we have all travelled most of the world and found the houda to be one of the best holidays we had experienced. The animation team were great, food was brilliant and the accommodation was nice and clean. The location was no problem with taxis outside the resort to go intpo town, overall ten out of ten to the houda.

not much outside the hotel plenty of taxis and local buses very cheap to go to nearest towns

have just got back from 2 weeks at houda,after reading some of the reviews didnt know what to expect.we had a great holiday always plenty of sunbeds didnt have to get up at the crack of dawn to get you towels out swimming pool and water slides were great . the food was fine but did get a bit repetitive ,if you go expecting bacon and sausages in the morning you will be disapointed because they dont have any pork products you do have to que for fried eggs and omletts . the entertainment team are fantastic there is always something going on and most of the evening shows were good too put on by the team but the best we have seen an entertainment team do.all in all a good holiday and met some nice people.

I found that the Sahara beach was very medioca. The entertainment was shocking to which the reps even admitted this! As i was ill for most of my holiday I did not get to experience life oustide the complex but from what I heard it was few and far between! The cost of beer on the local galleon bar my partner felt was extertianate!There was plenty of trips and we went on the zoo and zulu which took so long to get to! The only good thing was the aboslutely beautiful beach which was very picturesque.

Firstly I found this holiday very disappointing indeed so much so that i had to cut my holiday short by a week. On the first few days of my arrival to Sahara beach me and my partner found that the food was nice and the views were beautiful but some strange and very rich foods offered.The accommodation was acceptable, small but ok to suit me and my partner.On the Tuesday I started to feel ill and spent the next 4 days in bed, unable to get up and had constant diarrhoea and nausea. Thus leaving my partner to have a miserable weeks holiday. I saw the local doctor (at a cost) at the infirmar on the complex to which he prescribed some anti parasitic drugs, smecta (for electrolytes and diarrhoea) and injections every 8 hours (in my bottom!)which was an anti spasmodic. A diagnosis was not given to me. After vomiting and becoming increasingly weak on the 5th day on the Sunday I decided along with my partner to get a flight home to Newcastle (we live nr Sheffield),again at a cost! I then went to see my local GP asap to which he said hed never heard of the drugs prescribed and that they were very outdated! He also explained that i would almost indefinatly have contracted some kind of food poisoning from the bacteria in the food. There was alot of people suffering the same symptoms as me and more and more people kept saying theyd had a bout of the illness also. I am now going to see my own GP for futher assessment and am just so grateful that I could come home. I cant help but think this was a waste of a thousand pounds and I must admit I would not venture there again, sorry to disappoint but I just wish to express my thoughts and hope no one gets the same horrible illness as Ive got.

Minimise this review Comment on this review

Show existing comments

couldnt comment on costs of food and drink as were all inclusive, not much to do in skanes itself, we went on a couple of trips and had a great time, camel riding along the beach, paragliding was very cheap.

After reading various average reviews we were pleasently surprised. We were greeted with cocktails,non acoholic for our 8yr old, Then a very friendly porter took our luggage to our room, which we found to be very clean and tidy, fairly basic but hey who stays in their room when on holiday! the pools were very clean and we never had a problem getting a sunbed and could leave them for an hour or more safe in the knowledge they would still be available when we returned :) and we never tipped the pool boy lol. however we were more than happy to tip the waiters who could not bring us enough drinks throughout our stay, infact i dont think we q'd for a drink at all while there. we did meet up with a family we had met in spain the previous year and all had a jolly good time, yes the french can push in but when in rome....i just pushed in as well :) entertainment was very good most nights, hail mido!!! top bloke. kids club was very good and there were plenty of other english children in the club when we went in june. all in all a great time, us and our friends have all booked to go back to thalassa village again next year!