Golf Residence Port El Kantaoui

I enjoyed my stay at the Golf Residence very much. The atmosphere was pleasant and made you feel immediately welcome. There were many activities to keep you entertained and many options for the children as there were entertainers. The staff were polite and helpful. There was a great wide cuisine of food availible and choices for vegetarians. The hotel was clean and quiet and thre were clean towels and bedding delivered daily.

The surrounding area was nice. There were lots of sites to go and visit, not so much in Port El Kantoui but in its neighbouring towns; Sousse and Hammamet. The port at El kantoui was very nice, busy nightlife and bustling business. The boats and catamaran's were very enjoyable aswell. The beaches were spectacular and very well kept, lovely water, clean, white sand and optional sporting activities.

Overall i enjoyed my stay very much, apart from a bit too much hastle from the locals and tradesmen. I would want to return again in the future.

My husband and I visited the golf res last yer and didn't find it to be particularly good. We arrived late at night to a dark hotel with a grubby stained bathroom, a fridge that failed to pass itself off as a minibar and a bedroom with cracked, mismatched tiles. The air con leaked onto the floor and the entertainment at night was so terrible, we'd stay and watch it for a laugh. Watching 3 grown men pass themselves off as egyption beauties or dress up as madonna just doesn't cut it as far as I am concerned.

The food did not catered for english people - unless you enjoy carrots and cold meat for breakfast- and the staff bordered on invasive at times. When I was obviously in the shower/ getting dressed, the wee minibar man would think nothing of coming in and filling up the fridge!

Most of the excursions offered by airtours were interesting and of good value. we took a tour that got us away from the place for a night as it meant stayiung in another hotel.

Watch when you are haggling around the wee shops at the port el kant. harbour as they will rip you off. I saw people paying the equivalent of £20 for fake football strips and £15 for a flowery baseball hat.

Beware market traders in Sousse who will persuade and hustle you up into darkened rooms trying to sell you carpets - you will really really struggle to get back out without a rug under your arm! No is not a word they seem to take! We ended up pretending to go get our visa from the hotel and sneaked onto a noddy train.

By no means the worst hotel I have stayed in so don't panic! You will survive it! But if you haven't booked up yet, change your hotel to the Kanta - much much better!!! Or even book somewhere else. There are nicer places to go!

the golf tryp provided me with one of the best holidays i have ever had,i went late july into august for 10 days so there were no issues with the air-conditioning.although i was b+b basis i found breakfast more than ample,great choice,relaxed buffet style! the pool is exellent,large and surrounded by turf avoiding the burnt feet encountered with stone,set in a relaxed atmosphere [aside from the fun pool games,water polo,pool aerobics etc.every 2 hours]and an exellent snack bar[i recommend briq for a light snack].the entertainment is poolside and intimate though varied and good fun with table service[i wonder if mohammed and tariq are still the entertainers?]and if you are a nightowl at one end of the hotel is a club, and the only pub cum brewery in p.e.k[recommended,watch the beer being brewed in giant vats].across the road there is a water park, not huge but very welcome.all this on your doorstep! you must see the musical fountains in the evening,marvellous! try to avoid the port area if you want to avoid haggling,they are persistent. the shops around the fountain are fixed prices and relaxed. also there is a "noddy"train that travels to and from sousse for shopping trips.my only complaint is the tiny stinging jellyfish in the med but you cant blame anyone for that can you??

Break this review in two parts. First the good because I think what's mentioned above is a little negative, last the bad... Please note that I visited during Ramadan, so your mileage may vary. It's a time when there is less activity in general.

The great thing about the Golf Residence was the staff. The animation team were friendly and happy all day long. Although there were few activities set up for kids (and I've got two), they kept people as involved as they wanted to be in the various games and activities that the hotel offered. The waiting staff were probably a little sparse, but they were friendly and helpful.

The pool area is really nice. A quite a large pool with a good deep end, and a smaller pool in which two year olds can walk around comfortably (assuming they have some water confidence!)

The maid service was amongst the best I'd ever encountered. My daughter's dolls were arranged in a new and interesting way on her bed every morning.

The standard of decor in the room was fine. I'd say 3*+ level, but that's very much a matter of opinion. Be warned though, the first room we got allocated was very different. Peek into other rooms if you think you've got a dud, and get moved (1017 is one to avoid!)

Food wasn't great, but it was varied, and it was hot. I'd advise you to budget an extra 50 dinar (about £22) per couple at least three nights per week to eat out. More if you are expecting chips with everything, less if you don't mind picking bones from fish and finding meat on joints. That said, in the stay they had rabbit (which is delicious), turkey, chicken, various fish, pork, beef, rice, couscous, many salads, fresh fruit, and a selection of desserts.

On the negative side... The indoor pool was NOT heated, and wasn't going to be till at least November. Nor was the outdoor pool, which at first seemed rather chilly, but a few days in we'd gotten used to it.

Air Con was not on in the rooms. It was bareable heat, but some nights we'd have liked to be able to cool our room to get some sleep.

The checkout staff seem to routinely overcharge the minibar bill. We didn't use it and they attempted to put a charge in. Others we spoke to had the same experience.

Finally, word of advice. Late checkout was charged at 40 dinar. If you can book a 15th day cheaper, do it, it might also save you being moved room.

Overall, I liked the hotel. If I were returning to Tunisia, judging by general comments about all the hotels, I'd probably go there again to be safe. Better the devil you know. Comments about the pushiness of the shopkeepers at the resort are true, but don't let them put you off. So long as you don't mind saying " no thank you" and walking away ignoring pleas, you'll be fine.

Final thought is that expectations might be important here. For my family it was a 25-30 degrees C holiday in October for abour a grand for two weeks. That's cheap and I think we got more than we paid for :)

Back from Tunisia a couple of weeks after staying in Golf Residence Hotel Port El Kantaoui. Have to say was worst hotel we have ever stayed in. Very run down and shabby not at all what we had expected. The rooms were awful and the bathroom was terrible with cracked tiles and broken toilet and stained bath. The mini bar was an old fridge that you would see on the local dump with a couple of cans of soft drinks and beer, half bottle of wine and small bottle of liqueur! Also the air conditioning had been turned off in the Hotel and when we asked why we were told it was now low season. The temperature was in the 30's so you can imagine how hot the room got especially at night. The reception staff where not in the least bit helpful.

The food was just ok but not great we missed quite a few meals - but by choice. I would not recommend this hotel at all to anyone. The only good thing I can say is it has a half decent pool area but can be quite noisy at times with music.

The 2 guys who run the entertainment for the hotel are great guys and try there best but seem to have limited resources which just says it all about this hotel!

Port el Kantaoui itself was ok but 1 week would be enough to holiday here. I know we certainly wont be returning.

I stayed at the hotel golf residence looking forward to a relaxing week at half board. Although i had a great holiday, i certainly would ahve enjoyed it more in another hotel!!!

Same tasteless food for breakfast and dinner every day for 7 days. It was nice to get back to england and actually have some flavours in my food again! Although some of the staff were friendly, others didn't seem to appreciate or acknowledge myself and my partner and were nothing short of rude. The staff during the day were highly irritating, hassling us every hour when all i wanted to do was relax and read a book. Music was played extremely loud during the day around the pool which spoil the pool area, which was lovely.

The main qalm i had was that the staff didn't seem to want to change the bed sheets everyday. The sheets on the beds all seemed to have their own distinctive stain that had been their a long time. Some fo the stains even looked like dried blood. I probably wouldn't have noticed but when you look at the same stain in the corner of your bed every day you seem to get the impression that somethings not right in the bed changing department. The evening entertainment was very poor, seeming like the staff were tryign to do a club 18-30's holiday on their own. If i'd wanted a 18-30's holiday then i would have booked one!

The hotel was set out really well and the room was nice, but the poor service and extremely poor food, which didn't seem to be fit for human consumption, left me disappointed. Luckily enough el kantaoui is a great holiday destination. I can only hope that when i go back somebody has bolldosed the hotel golf residence (or at the very least hired staff that can put clean unstained sheets onto beds cook food witha bit of moisture and flavour in it - oh and something different just for 2 days will probably do)

So by all means visit el kantaoui, its lovely just stay away from this hotel

We found this hotel good. I am a fussy eater but I always found something, there was alot of choice, some slops I do admit. I lived on pancakes for my breakfasts and I did eat more melon than I ever have. Their desserts and cakes were lovely. The hotel was in a good location. Great pool. The rooms were basic but spotless. We did ask to change rooms on arrival, we wanted a pool view and they changed us. We found most of the staff, polite and helpful.

We did not stay in the hotel for any of the nightly entertainment, so we can't comment. We did go on the rep's caberet night in Sousse which we enjoyed. But due to a long line at the ladies, when we got outside our coach had left us and the one coach left was of no help. The rep told us to get a taxi, turned his back on us and then drove off. Thankfully there was one helpful rep, she got us a taxi back.

We would go back to this hotel for what we paid it was good value.

I don't know what kind of 3* hotels the other people who have reviewed hotel golf residence have stayed in, but this was the most appalling I have ever had the misfortune to wast my money on. I returned from Tunisia a week today, and although my holiday was lovely and I would return to el Kantaoui, it is not thanks to the hotel.

The food was bland, bland, bland!!! My partner and I were warned by our rep that we may experience upset stomachs through the spice and freshness of the food... not likely. The food was most likely fresh but there's more spice in a shepherds pie than any of the food in this hotel. If you like the idea of every breakfast being eggs, water melon, some slop that I think is trying to be passed off as salad, and variations of deep fried slop, and your evening meal consisting of dried out turkey or dried out fish with variations of potatoes, ocassionally some rice but all with no flavour what-so-ever, than this hotel is for you. I have stayed in many 3* half-board/all inclusive hotels around the world and never, ever experience such boredom from my meal times. In fact we took to skipping breakfast and buying it from the local supermarket and eating large lunches in the restaurants around the port.

I must say though, the rooms are clean and average, I found them pleasant to stay in, the pool is lovely and very safe for children (on a night they surround it with loungers to stop anyone falling in). The the cafe area is dirty and this means a lot of cats hang around all day and night long, but if you don't mind them they're not a problem and this doesn't just happen at this hotel, but there did seem to be a vast majority of Tunisia's population of them there.

I don't rate the staff, reception were friendly enough and the waiters ocassionally a little scary and rude, hence we didn't tip them at all, I know its custom but I just can't get the idea of tipping for service that isn't that good gives the wrong impression i.e they're doing a good job!

The entertainment is not child friendly, I don't have children but from watching what went on both daytime and night time I didn't see any kids being entertained, mainly some sad old women, and if I had heard that crazy frog tune once more around the hotel I was liable to cause some one some injury, it was possibly the only track they had.

Last of all, Port El Kantauoi is gorgeous, go there, self cater the restaurants are cheap enough to eat in every day, there is a huge supermarket for anything else, the port is gorgeous the people friendly, I can not wait to go back. Do ride the camels, don't ride a catamaran and give haggling a go and if your rubbish go to the soular centre in sousse.

Prior to our visit we were extremely apprehensive having read a lot of negative reviews regarding accomadation , food etc.We returned yesterday from Tunisia and would regard it as one of our best holidays .We have been to France,Italy,USA,Malta,Greece ,Spain,Portugal etc and the Tunisian people were by far the friendliest we have met.The hotel considering they had to cater for numerous nationalities always provided an excellent spread of various foods where you could always get something you liked.They provided various soup starters , selection of salads. main dishes included chicken,beef,steak,potatoes,rice,couscous,rabbit,vegtables.No matter your taste you couls always find something you liked.The staff were tremendous and very pleasant and helpful and a small tip of 3-4 dinars every night was well received and affords you special attention like having your table decorated in flowers.The "animation" team Bebo and Dido etc were very nice guys who went out of there way to make you feel welcome and while the day/night entertainment was not of the London Theatre standard it was fun and appealed to all ages.The Port Marina is a beatiful place with various restaraunts, 2 to go to are the "Floating restaraunt and the Meditarrean.

Remember this is not Spain or Greece , the people here live on tips so tip them and you will be pleasantly surprised at how well you are looked after.Treat the haggling as fun and give as good as you get .This is and excellent hotel and area for a quite holiday .Do not believe the reports of being hassled and women afraid to go out of their hotels absoloute nonsense.This is a safe country I would rather walk around Sousse or Port El Kanatoui late at night than any English city you care to mention.Go and enjoy it its different

We have just returned from a family holiday (probably the last as whole family!) stayed at Golf Residence Hotel which is rated as 3 star but should definitely be 4 star. Staff were extremely pleasant and helpful. Food was varied but like with most foreign food, there was a few tunisian tums!. Port El Kantaoui was definitely one of the best areas to visit, the marina was very pretty and extremely lively at night, lots of restaurants and plenty of shops. Chance to do a lot of bartering over prices but also fixed prices stores if you don't want the hassle. Apart from the marina not a lot to do at night time, especially for teenagers, entertainment is hotel based. Lots of trips available at very reasonable prices, camel caravan lots of fun, we also did a two day desert adventure which included camel ride in sahara....excellent!!

Traffic a bit crazy but police everywhere and very helpful.

Would definitely recommend both Port El Kantaoui and the Golf Residence Hotel. I will certainly try to return there very soon.