The Hotel Marhaba Palace is as grand and elegant as a tiered wedding cake; this whitewashed property has beautiful arched balconies and jutting latticework that captures the authenticity of North African architecture. Guests are greeted by an almost cathedral-esque atrium from the moment they step inside, adding to the charm of the hotel. This accommodation is fantastically situated, overlooking a strip of wonderfully golden sand, which can be reached via a stroll through the gardens past the apostrophe-shaped swimming pool. The thatched beach brollies and aquamarine waters give the shores a Caribbean feel, making a fabulous place to recline in the sun with a good book. The hotel also benefits from being close to two good golf courses, and the cafes and restaurants of Port El Kantaoui's marina are just a five minute walk away. Sousse's atmospheric bazaars and souks are seven kilometres away. However, guests don't have to venture out of the hotel for a taste of Tunisia; there is a Moorish cafe here, complete with low seats, cushions and hubbly-bubbly pipes, as well as occasional shows with belly dancing, snake charmers and folklore shows.
By contrast, the American bar here offers a completely different atmosphere, with occasional live music for guests to enjoy. The wonderful entertainment at this hotel is augmented by the great variety of facilities here, with tennis courts, squash courts, and a whirlpool bath to relax in. There is also a lovely sauna, theraputic pools and relaxing massage treatments on offer. The cuisine here is delightful, with tempting buffets, as well as a pretty beachfront barbecue and pizzeria and an a la carte restaurant, making this hotel an amazing all-rounder that is great value for money. For those looking for a gorgeous Tunisian getaway, this is the place to come.
The marina, cafes and restaurants are a hundred and fifty metre walk away, whilst a kilometre away lie the two golf courses in Port el Kantaoui (handicap card required).
Review by Brian Thomas from Ferndale Rhondda on June 15, 2008 for stay during May, 2008.
Overall
Service
Room Comfort
Cleanliness
Food
Value
Tour Operator/Travel Provider: Thomson
My wife and I stayed at the Marhaba Palace hotel in Port El Kantaoui for one week from May 18th to 25th 2008. I had read before going about the queues to get through passport control at Monastir airport and sure enough it was absolute chaos. In fact there were no orderly queues as such, just a large room full of people and a “free for all” to get to the desks and even after spending 50 minutes in that hot and unpleasant space, we still had a further lengthy wait for our cases to arrive at baggage collection.
The transfer from the airport to the resort is not exactly a pretty one. We weren’t sure if most of the buildings on the outskirts of the towns were being built or being knocked down. Some areas looked as though they had just gone through a series of bombing raids and you can’t help noticing the condition of some of the buildings that people are actually living in. Once in the resort the scenery gets much more pleasant, however this is North Africa so if you are planning a trip to Tunisia, do not expect the resorts to resemble Maguluf or Benidorm because they don’t.
We were glad to arrive at the hotel – and what a hotel the Marhaba Palace is. Even before you set foot inside the door, you can’t fail to be impressed with the exterior and its long private driveway and grounds. Once inside, its cathedral like lobby is breathtaking with an enormous chandelier dominating the reception area. The porters will not let you touch your bags, but like everyone else in Tunisia they are only after one thing – your Dinars. In fact, one of them broke the handle on one of our bags and still expected a tip.
The rooms are quite large, clean and comfortable with a nice balcony although ours was overlooking the entrance of the hotel and in hindsight it would have probably been worth paying a little extra for a sea view room. The only criticism we had was that because it was May, the air-con was not switched on even though it was 30 degrees for the last 5 days of the holiday.
The pool area and gardens at the back of the hotel were very impressive. Beyond that, the hotel has its own private stretch of beach which was absolutely magnificent with free sun beds and parasol (just a tip for the guy who fetches them), soft white sand, clear blue sea and a hotel-run restaurant which was open all day for lunch or drinks.
The hotel (like all other hotels in the resort) lacked entertainment. There were only 2 shows through the week staged in the hotel night club for which there was an additional charge, otherwise it was just a pianist in the main bar and a crap guitarist in the other bar.
The food was generally good in both the beach café and the hotel restaurants although anyone looking for a good full English in the mornings will be disappointed. The drinks are reasonably priced with a good selection of cocktails etc, although the Tunisian beer is not up to much.
All in all, the hotel was excellent (apart from the lack of air-con and entertainment) and for anyone looking for a relaxing beach holiday doing nothing but spending every day by the pool or on the beach and having a quiet drink in the evenings, I would highly recommend it. However, as much as we like doing all of the above, we also like exploring and sight seeing and that is where the problem with Tunisia and the Tunisian culture begins. It is just so much hassle and after a while it gets so tiring and irritating. The local traders have no idea how to treat tourists and most of them think that is OK to step in front of you, invade your personal space and to touch and grab you in order to get you to part with your money. Surely all of their shops and restaurants would be full of people if they did not do this, but they were all empty because they were probably frightening people away. The only shops we saw in the resort which had people in them were the government-run stores where all goods were price tagged and you were allowed to browse without being hassled. We decided that we had to visit a medina or two just to see and experience it, but be warned – it is like running the gauntlet.
We went on a camel ride which was an experience to say the least and we also went on the Thomson “three cities” excursion which was excellent as it took you to some very interesting places, although during the bus journeys from one city to the next you have to endure some of the most uninteresting countryside and worst roads that you may ever come across. We also went to the Thomson “Showstoppers” night in Sousse which was a show put on by all of the Thomson resort reps and we thoroughly enjoyed it. For the last 3 days of the holiday we did not set foot outside the confines of the hotel grounds and beach as we had just about had as much as we could take of the hassle.
We have travelled to many different places and experienced many different cultures throughout the world but this was our first trip to a North African country. We are glad that we went and we did enjoy certain aspects of the holiday and the experience but we will not be rushing back to Tunisia.
Bill Wells said, "We read many favourable reviews about this hotel before staying here - and we were not disappointed.
We had been to Tunisia once before in 1982 (different hotel) and the fodd quality was appalling and the country very promitive. There weren't any proper roads back then. What a..." (further information on Hotel Marhaba Palace)
philip said, "I have just returned from a week's stay at the Kanta Hotel and can definitely recommend it as a place for a very good value-for-money hotel. The staff are extremely friendly and go out of their way to offer the best possible service. From the moment I arrived until the minute I lef..." (further information on Hotel Marhaba Palace)
Reading & Writing Reviews
RSS
Bookmark
Print
Send to Friend
