Royal Beach Sousse

Went to the royal beach hotel on the 19/06/05 what a disappointment. Let me get one thing clear the staff are ACE and work so hard for you but the hotel is no where near a three star. The room was crap the air con never worked and the food is very poor. The owner should try to look after His guests instead of his friends and that includes his two ladies. He was stood in reception swearing and shouting at a guest in front of young kids it was so embarrassing. The beach was fine had few fag ends and the sea was ok. But watch the locals they try and get round you and grab your chains around your neck when you are in the sea. I will say it again the staff turned a poor holiday around they are the best but don't trust the young man in the shop very sly and tells lots of lies.

I would go back just to see the staff but not for the hotel the owner should kiss the ground that they walk on

Flew over on June 18th for a week. I had already read a couple of reviews so I was aware it was not really a 3 star hotel...a basic dated room where the maid would barge into clean at around 8am-there is no lock on the inside door. The staff where friendly enough although we were constantly told to tip all the time as the locals only get paid a low income. This does get on your nerves after a while, it is ok to tip for good service not because you feel you have to.

We ended up going on the reps night out...recommended by others but please avoid this at your peril. The staff appeared bored and fed up and the drag act and compere where appalling, amateurish and it was waste of money.

The beach is nice and safe patrolled by staff from the hotel.

Overall only go if you get a good deal- we will not hurry back to Sousse

For those of you that haven't been to Tunisia, we arrived at the airport to be greeted with a crowd of at least 150 people waiting to get through passport control, the last thing you need after your flight, and so to the coach with little men waiting to take your bags, who we had been told, had been paid by the company, but be warned, they still expect a tip!, and depart to the different hotels, to be told by the rep, at each hotel this is a lovely hotel, until you reach the Royal Beach, and you get this is a family run hotel, ( what happen with the nice)! On arrival at our room, we were greeted with no toilet paper ( the last thing you need after your flight) the bath was dirty, the rooms very basic, air conditioning only on half power, not high season yet, so we had to suffer, the rooms can be quiet noisy as all the entertainment seems to echo around, and those who end up on the car park side of the hotel, where forever complaining about the noise, the pool if you can get round it, is very small, only has space for about 20 loungers, and the indoor pool looked a very dirty colour, there are also very small lips in the door ways, which are very easy to trip over, the middle set of stairs was always littered with glass bottles, coffee cups, and we saw blood on them for at least 3 days, don't let young children use them on there own. The beach is great, with its beach guard keeping the local traders away, to some extent, in the two weeks we were there our room was never swept, and we had a constant battle to get toilet paper, oh the maids did lovely things with the bed covers and your p.j's making them into little fan shapes, but a good brush of the floor would have been much nicer, she must also have liked chocolate, a bag of sweets went down from around 20 to 4 by the time we left, so don't leave anything about.

The staff was really lovely and the entertainment when we got any was ok, some nights we got none at all, when we questioned why, we were told, not enough people!!

Sousse its self is lovely, with its local Medina, but if you want put off meat, like I did, don't wonder through the meat market, its enough to turn anyone's stomach, then try and get any food without meat, it's a joke, the food in the hotel we found terrible, salads for breakfast, and eggs every day, you come home looking like a chicken, my husband was not put off meat, but even he and the other guests found the meat very tough, the pudding were dull and boring, trifle with cucumber in, when this wasn't eaten it ended up mixed through the stewed fruit the next night, to say it looked like a bowl of sick, is putting it mildly.

A great trip to go on is the two day Sahara Explorer; we did it and loved every minute of it.

Would I go back to Tunisia...? No I wouldn't.

Does the Royal Beach warrant a three star ....No it doesn't

We've just returned from a fortnight at the Hotel Royal Beach, Sousse. We read good and terrible reviews before we went and so went with an open mind.

The staff are all really friendly and helpful, much more so than our rep! The food was lovely. I expected the tunisian food to be much more spicey than it was, but it was tasty. Eggs or omelette cooked in front of you for breakfast impressed the kids. Perhaps the puddings got a bit monotonous, but they were OK.

The entertainment in the evenings is low key, though the Indian show was really good - beds of nails, that sort of stuff.. The kids had a 'dance' spot run by a couple of young men who encouraged even the older kids to join in.

The rooms were basic but clean. The only down side was the noise, firstly from in front of reception if you get a room above there, and secondly from people who stay around after the entertainment because its like an ampitherter where the noise really travels and echos.

The best trip we went on was an afternoon camel riding. You can ride on the camels, in a cart, on horse back or donkey (or swap if you wish). You can eat bread made in a kiln and water melon, drink mint tea or other refreshments. See the baby camel drinking coke out of the bottle... And all for about £8. (£4 for kids) Book with JACK in the hotel. He's usually around either in the building or on the hotels private beach. Even if you don't fancy a camel ride, go and have a chat with him cos he's lovely.

Sousse itsself I didn't think I was going to like when we first arrived, but I come to love it. Especially the friendly people. I will miss walking through the madina to the shouts of 'cheeper than chips', and 'Asda price'.

Round and about - don't miss El Jem, the ribat at Monastir, a ride in a 'tuk tuk', or eating a Brik! (can get one of these at the excellent hotel snack bar).

All in all a GREAT place. Will definitely go back.

(2 adults, 2 lads! - 10 & 11)

I cannot believe that alot of what I had read on the royal beach hotel before my visit to sousse, tunisia, was not only negative, but did not do the hotel any justice.

My friend and I, being two young ladies had heard that we should keep away as it is not a safe place for young girls to to travel to....whatever! For someone that is a well travelled individual I would say that I had one of my best holidays ever at this hotel. The royal beach hotel is clean, friendly, and great fun. I myself am not the type of person that likes to go on holiday to the same destination more than once, however, I will for sure be going back there as soon as possible.

The food is not amazing, but good enough. And should you wish to eat out of the hotel there are many local places that are not only yummy, but also so cheap.

It is true that women do get pestered by the local men, however, this was not something that my friend and myself found problematic. If you tell the men to leave you alone then they will.

I had a great time here and anyone wanting to go to tunisia I would strongly recommend the royal beach hotel. It is good value for money, in a prime location, with lots going on in and out of the hotel.

Myself and my friend were at the royal beach the last week in April. We had a super time.

the room was clean, 2nd floor 202. One window viewed the beach the other the path up to the hotel.

The room was adequate for our stay. Good bed, good shower. Room tidied everyday.

You will always find something you can eat for breakfast, as the cuisine is mixed. The same for dinner. We found the waiters friendly and helpful.

We walked to the medina. (20minutes) Got the noddy train to Port el Kartoui one day.

The Sahara expedition is not to be missed. It was "whistlestop" tiring but oh, so enjoyable.

The staff at the hotel reception were helpful, the housekeeper, the maids were all just lovely. We had a great time.

Royal Beach, we will be back.

Milly and Cathy

14 Feb 2005. Just got back from a week in the Royal Beach Hotel, Sousse. This hotel exactly matches it's 3 star rating. Clean, basic and good value for money. Plenty of hot water and a shower which worked well. The air con in the room was also effective and very quiet. Food was adequate though not exciting but, at those prices, good enough. The chambermaids were unusually pleasant and even spoke English. The hotel "character" is Brahim, one of waiters, a lanky lad with a big grin, always ready for a laugh with the customers.



The hotel is well situated, right on the beach, and about 20 mins walk from the centre of Sousse. If you head about 4 miles in the other direction (taxi £2) you reach Port El Kantaoui. This is a purpose built tourist resort identical in concept to many others in Tenerife, Majorca or Corfu etc. Pleasant enough but not the real Tunisia. If you want that, stroll along the beach into Sousse or take a cab to nearby, classier Monastir (fare £6).



Plenty has been written about the local culture and habits but it was the driving which amused me. The road system is used like a dodgem track. Although there are lots of marked pedestrian crossings, they are a waste of paint because the drivers completely ignore them. Signs along the main seafront road say "Pedestrians have absolute priority" but the Tunisians have their own way of interpreting this - they simply walk into the traffic. The cars don't slow down but they will swerve round people on foot ! At least, that's how the locals do it !



Don't miss the Dar Essid museum in Sousse. The reps don't publicise this but it's the best two Dinars worth (90p) in the region. It's simply a large, traditional house which has been left intact from when it was last occupied. Visitors are free to wander round without guides or hassle. As you do so, you gain a delightful insight into the lifestyle of this rich man and his wives and children. To find it, enter the Medina (walled inner city) from the gate near where the buses and taxis gather, and turn right. (I though I'd be clever and approach it from the top end. This looked OK from the map but, instead of reaching the museum, I wound up in a dead end maze of tiny alleys which constitute the red light district. Less said the better !!)



Final tip. The duty free prices at Monastir Airport are very low. Buy your fags and booze on the way home. You pay in sterling.

Just got back from a week's break at this hotel. Hotel was very clean, and the staff extremely friendly and helpful - couldn't fault it.

Our holiday was the last week in October.We weren't expecting too much as it's only a 3* hotel.We were pleasantly surprised.The rooms were small but clean,tidy and comfortable.The hotel offered all most tourists would want.The staff were friendly and polite, the food was very good and we could walk straight from the rear of the hotel to the beach. We enjoyed our holiday so much that we are going back for two weeks next year and are going to stay at the same hotel.

We got back from a 10 day trip (half board) at the Hotel Royal Beach in Sousse a couple of weeks ago, and was glad to be home! If you are female and want to be harrassed by every Tunisian man constantly then this is the place to go! I would have thought that they had never seen a woman before by the way they stared, and I didn't wear revealing clothes!

Sousse : We went out of the hotel once to have a walk along the seafront and I was shoulder barged by one of a group of young men even though I tried my best to get out of his way it seemed as though it was a game they were playing with younger female visitors who had men with them. There were gangs out in the evening who obviously wanted a fight. This scared us into not going out in the evening again in the whole 10 days. We visited the medina (market) the next day hoping that we had just been unfortunate the night before and other than being harrassed by virtually every seller, one couple tried to separate me and my husband and get me alone in his shop!

The Hotel : Beware the chairs in the buffet restaurant!! On the first morning I sat on a broken chair and didn't realise this until I went to stand up only to fall to the floor again in front of the whole restaurant full of people eating their breakfast, I felt so embarrassed that we didn't leave a tip, also as my hip was hurting I din't feel they deserved one! From then on until a couple of days before we left we only received the odd grunt from the restaurant staff, and one evening they ignored us totally so we didn't even get to buy a drink to go with our meal! The food was quite boring and usually dried out, if you are not too fussy you will be okay. I ate chips and salad and bread all week, there was sometimes pasta and if you wanted meat it looked fatty or the dark pieces of turkey, not nice turkey breast! And blancmange every night for dessert, although the fruit salad was nice.

The room was clean but basically decorated, we had a view of the sea which was absolutely gorgeous as the sun came up in the morning. Towels were changed daily and we had our sheets changed and laid out in the shape of bows most days which was lovely to come back to at the end of a long day on the beach! The maids were polite and usually said hello. (We did leave the maids a couple of TSDinars tip most days)

The men on the reception desk were sooo miserable! We had 3 wake up calls at 5am and 6am in the morning when we had not asked for them and the hotel is quite noisy if you want an early night as the entertainment echoes through the whole place and finishes at around 11pm. The entertainment, well if you love agadoo, superman and kiddies songs then you will love this every evening, or bingo, or euro karaoke!! One evening at just after 11pm we were going to play pool but were told that the pool table was closed!

The bar was good though, the older barman got to know what drinks we wanted and would replenish us throughout the evening without us having to move from our seat, even though we didn't mind going to the bar ourselves.

All in all I wouldn't go back to Tunisia as I think it is the friendliness of the people in the hotels, bars, restaurants and shops that really make a good holiday, in this case it didn't.