El Mouradi Skanes

1 reader found this review helpful

Have just returned from a one week all inclusive during the October half term break with our 15 year old. Huge hotel with excellent pools, spa etc., Food is a bit samey - to be honest - but plentiful and edible! Salads, cooked meats, and food for little ones (pizza, frankfurters etc.) We did not find it "greasy" as other reviewers have said.
The entertainment in the evening was geared for the German contingent and was - frankly - pitiful! Like watching a very poor school assembly. Would also definately not recommend the excursions - we were conned out of £70.00 to take a pirate boat ship trip around the coast and a visit to the medina included. Rubbish! After a really rough 2 hours on a dodgey boat out to sea and back again - we moored outside the harbour for an hour whilst a bit of salad and some fried chicken was served and a big lady performed a "belly dance" on deck!! It was freezing cold and we were very glad to get back to dry land and visit the markets in Sousse - which were an eye opener and lots of fun! Back at the hotel, we enjoy the brilliant access to the beach (white sand), tennis courts, swimming and gym (though be warned that the pools are really cold at this time of year). Hotel on the whole shabby but kept very clean by the lovely maids (clean sheets and towels daily)and the rooms are very spacious. Spa manager a bit of a so-and-so as we paid for two hours in the gym and he was insistent upon kicking us out after an hour - saying "five more minutes" but lots of treatments on offer in the spa and quite reasonably priced - also no hard sell tactics in operation which is refreshing. It's quite remote and while there is a shopping centre across the road, that's about the extent of outside life! Cabs can be taken from outside the gate into Sousse, Monastir etc., It's clearly what you make of it entertainment-wise and we found lots to get involved in so we were fine but there were older guests there who were having a bit of a boring time as they were not able to take advantage of the facilities. We would recommend for a week if your expectatations are not high and you are physically able. Don't go if you want it all laid on and expect the English equivalent of 4* - it's not! We would say 3* max!

1 reader found this review helpful

I think the previous reviewer (rainbow376) has written a good report about this hotel & this pretty much summs up this lovely hotel. The staff are friendly, smiling & willing to help & understand your requirements & so deserve your your full generosity. Minor niggles - you have to rent your TV remote & beach towels @ £10/ each. No point in renting the TV remote, the hotel is geared up for the French & Germans, so there is only BBC News (repetative) to watch. Make sure you return your towels well before you check out - so you can spend the deposit. Tunisian Dinar are not allowed outside the country.
Food is plentiful & so is the local beer & wine, & are quite acceptable. If you're a pure vegiterian (like my misses) then tough! Everything has bits of meat in it. The hotel is generaly very tidy & clean. The rooms are comfortable & the AC is quite. The fridge was locked (why?) - but when requested was opened. It was empty.
There is an excellent & well staffed SPA down stairs. We tried the full package. Bargained hard & got a major discount - there were 4 of us. Thouroughly enjoyed the full treatment. The full body massage (50min) was excellent - feel throughly relaxed.
The 2 local towns - Monistair & Soussa are within easy reach by the bus no. 52B. Bus stop is just outside the hotel. If you're on the side of the hotel, the bus takes you to Soussa. The oppsite side, takes you to Monistair. Fares to Soussa 0.51D (25p), to Monistair 0.76D (37p). Both towns are well worth a visit. Shopping - start the bargaining @ about 25% of the asking price & do not budge. There will be a tap on the shoulder when you walk out of the shop! Be sure to try the Pirate ship in Soussa. Go there & book. You get a better deal & do not have to pay the operators commision.
Great place, great hotel, very good value for money. Will definately go again - perhaps in a couple of years time.
KM

20 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned today from a week at El Mouradi, Skanes.
Having read reviews on this and other sites before we left which seemed to be of the extreme of either people rating the hotel highly or saying it was the worst holiday they have ever had we had been a little unsure of what to expect. We went with the view that we would be prepared for the worst and make the most of whatever came our way and that at least we were pre-warned and thus pre-armed.
Well I must say that we had a very enjoyable week. Our room was very spacious - a little more dated than many more modern hotels but clean, well decorated and very nice indeed. We had asked for a double room but this was basically two 3 ft single beds pushed together. This was fine though and the beds were very comfortable indeed - not soft at all as I had read in other reviews - and, as there was actually a pull out sofa bed in our room also, we had additional pillows which was great - very nice they were too. The room had air conditioning which kept us very cool at night with no noise at all. We had a nice balcony overlooking the 2nd pool - which is actually the bigger of the two pools and the quieter - which was very nice. The whole resort was very clean and well maintained, with the exception of the toilets which were reasonably clean but had no soap or dryers that worked.
The food did become a little repetitive towards the end of the week but there was not a day where we did not find something enjoyable to eat. The local beef dishes were a particular favourite of mine as the beef was mouth wateringly tender - and I loved the zachunni - which was available 6 nights out of 7 in different guises and which I had never tried before and really liked. Their carrots also seemed more flavoursome that the ones at home. My partner really liked the grilled sardines which were on the menu 2 nights out of 7. The food was quite greasy I have to admit, but it was olive oil I think and you could eat well and a good variety of meats and vegetable and some very nice soups too. The desserts were also very interesting and we had lots of things we had never tried before and really enjoyed - there is also a lot of fruit on offer if you require.
Drinks were quite limited for an all inclusive. I had been looking forward the the cocktails hour each evening but we only went 1 night in the end as they were very disappointing. Basically a waiter stood at one table and just made up cocktails off the top of his head - mixing mainly strong local licquers and spirits. We tried 2 and the first was quite nice but the 2nd very strong and not so nice. You could order some cocktails outside of the happy hour but then you had to pay - between 8-9 dinar - which is £3-4 so we didnt bother.
The first night I drank what they called their local brandy (actually some local spirit which is not brandy at all - it has a sort of pernod/sambuca twang) mixed with diet coke. It was a nice enough drink but left me with a pretty sort head the next day. The second night we discovered a local wine based licquer called Muscaat with ice and I really enjoyed this and stuck with it the rest of the week. My partner stuck mainly to lager which was a local brew but he said was not bad at all.
We found the vast majority of the staff in the hotel to be very friendly in deed. If you treat them nicely and with respect you reap what you sow. We tipped between 2 and 5 dinar per night which is only £1-£2 and the waiters would bring your drinks and enjoy a chat and bit of banter with your. We tipped a similar amount around the pool during the day and for that we had a waiter that kept an eye on our drinks and kept bringing us more whenever he saw we were getting low.
We met the rep the 2nd day and she advised us to tip the made with 1-2 dinar per day rather than leave it until the end of the week as its different maids each day. This was 50p-£1 and for that we had the maids taking good care of us and alway happy and friendly as we passed them by in the corridors during the day.
The rep advised that about half of her guests suffer with some sort of tummy upset on aroud the 2nd day - within half an hour of her saying this I suddenly had strong tummy cramps and ended up spending several hours in my bed burning up and covered in sweat with really strong tummy cramps. Thankfully I had come prepare and took 2 immodium and was back out around the pool a couple of hours later after a nice sleep. I took one more dose the next morning but was eating normally by dinner time the same night it started and was fine from then on.
The beach was very clean but the sea, although very warm and lined with a soft sand floor (no stones etc) it was not as good as we expected. It had quite a lot of seaweed, like large strands of grass, washing up on the beach. That said though we noticed that there was actually a member of the hotel out cleaning this off of the beach on the hotel's section, but whilst it was cleaner than further along the beach it did not make a lot of difference as such a job is obviously never going to work with the sea constantly washing it back up.
The other disappointment about the sea was the fact that holiday description has mentioned snorkelling, which was another one of the reasons for choosing Tunisia. However upon arrival we found there was nothing of interest to sea in the small cordoned off areas of the sea you were allowed to swim in and the rep advised that there was nothing to see snorkelling in Tunisia.
The hotel is only about 10 minutes drive from the hotel and only cost 15 dinar in a taxi upon our arrival (prices are higher after 9pm), only 10 dinar for our return - although you do have to haggle with the taxi drivers as they will try to charge you more if you dont know what you should be paying.
The pool was the nicest I have ever swam in and very very warm. You did have to pay for a mattress for the sun bed but only 1 dinar (less than 50p) a day - we could not believe people layed on the hard beds rather than pay such a small amount. The pool staff and the waiters did like to ask all the single ladies to go out with them - the pool attendant even tried the same with me despite the fact that I was with my partner. He gave me his name address and phone number one day when my partner was in the pool and then got upset with me later as he had found the paper in the bin later on - where I had done my best to hide it screwed up tight at the bottom of all the rubbish.
The hotel did have very few english people - being mainly populated with german people, a few of which were quite rude at times but not an issue in the main. The entertainment was only in german and didnt look like it would be that great even if you could understand what they were saying. They did do aerobics and polo etc in the main pool as others have said but we did not get involved in this choosing to mainly just relax by the pool with our ongoing supply of drinks delivered to our beds and the occasional dip in the wonderful pool. There were quite a few flies around at times which did get a little annoying - especially as some of them actually seem to bite - with you feeling a sharp prick in your skin as they did and a couple of times drawing a little blood. This was bearable though - and they tended to be at their worst at the end of the day - giving us a good excuse to go up to our room and get ready for dinner.
The nightclub was very small and very empty on two occasions that we poked our head in for a very brief dance. There was no more than about 10 people in there either time. You also have to pay for drinks in there, but I don't know how much they were as we did not stay long enough.
All in all we went prepared for the worst and were very pleasantly surprised. We are already considering returning for another week in August - although we think it could be too hot then as temperatures rise to around 45 degrees apparantly. It was up to the late 30s this week but the almost constant soft breeze made it bearable - you do have to be very careful to keep your suncream topped up though.
Oh and the a la carte restaurant is open twice a week and you can use it once per stay and that was really nice. THere is a photograther who goes around taking very good photos at night and then has them for you to buy on the display next to the main restaurant the next day at a very reasonable rate of 5 dinars (just over £2 each).
Very good value for money indeed and we will return, if not this year then probably next.

1 reader found this review helpful

Please dont go here!
If your looking for oily food, uncomfortable beds, and a crazy amount of flies then maybe its just for you!
Ok, now maybe your thinking, 'oh no, heres someone with an innacurrate review', well your wrong. In fact I've just recieved my response from Just Sunshine to my first letter of complaint. I think i'm going to have to write another one in a minute...
Basically although this hotel may have every facility under the sun, you never want to use them. The activities provided are not english friendly, with the Germans seemingly ruling the hotel. The food is ok, for the first meal or two. After that you will have sampled all of the dishes on offer and end up eating pizza and chips for your whole stay.
Anyways, if you do go here, expect a very budget stay in what could be a very nice hotel. Just please dont let the online adverts fool you with the list of facilities and photos, in reality they dont look like that!
Hope you found this useful.

When we arrived everything seemed to be ok. A member of staff told us it was lunch time and to hurry to the 'restuarant' if we were hungry. When we got down there there was a lot of choice. But, upon closer inspection everything was covered in grease. If you don't mind eating pizza and chips all holiday then El Mouradi Skanes Beach is the place for you! I don't even like pizza but it was the best of a very bad lot. Our rep was lovely but Tunisian and not able to speak very good english so there was no point in complaining to him. On saying that though, did have to mention to him the drink situation. We understand on all inclusive holidays that the included drinks (namely alcohol) are local. We had vodka, peach schnapps, lager and wine. None of which my husband or myself drink. I did have a couple of the schnapps and lemonade but the glasses were so little it was almost gone in a sip. The local gin they charged for but that was all they had. The waiters were very rude, and although we mentioned about the size of the glasses, (because we had to go to the bar every five minutes) they seemed to begrudge giving us the drinks even the soft drinks. All in all the holiday was terrible and would strongly suggest to rethink you holiday purchase. Happy holiday hunting! x

A truly great hotel with fantastic beach view and helpful members of staff. The food was great and always fresh and not boring at all. As on all inclusive basis, we also enjoyed drinks again and again. Best place to relax. Highly recommended for 14 days (pity, we were booked only for 7!!).

The whole holiday was brilliant! I would definitely go back there! The staff were brilliant and always tried to talk the best English they could, although they spoke better German and French but that was obvious to us before we went.
As for the entertainment you couldn’t get any better....kids programmes were good and so was the adults and they always got you involved in everything that was going on, also they were very friendly and if they were not busy would sit and have a drink with you which personally I thought was great!
The only downfall to the trip was the television in the room...it only had 1 English Channel which was very rarely English but then again who goes on holiday to watch television?
The health spa was amazing and priced really good...I would recommend that highly!!
Overall it was a brilliant holiday and would advise anyone to stay at the El Mouradi Skanes Beach as the staff made my holiday enjoyable.

Awesome holiday, the helpers and workers in the hotel were wicked and I would like to say thank you for their help and great fun.
The cleanliness was good and the pools were awesome.
Free food and drinks all week when you’re on all inclusive and the waiters were always helpful, there are lots of games throughout the day if you’re young or old.
If you’re keen for a relaxing holiday you can chill by the pool or the on-the-doorstep beach. Or if that’s not your thing, you can parasail, banana boat or speed boat for the day, before returning to fantastic meals and joyous nighttime’s entertainment.
I strongly recommend the hotel, as you are never bored and always in a good mood!