Maritim Alhambra Thalasso Hotel

We booked this holiday last minute through travel agent, as we had never been to Tunisia before and decided to stay in this hotel after doing our research, most of what we had read/heard was positive. The hotel is very clean and very well presented, couldn't ask for it to be better presented. Rooms cleaned everyday, the chambermaids even shaped our towels into animals and left petals on our pillowcases! The food was excellent, we ate in the buffet style restaurant as we found this more relaxed than in the a la carte restaurant. The waiters are very friendly and all speak fairly good English. It was my birthday whilst out there and they made me a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to me! Due to the time we went out there the resort itself was v quiet, but we found plenty to do by going out on day trips which were excellent and also we spent a day in the Hotel's Spa having treatments, v relaxing (have to pay extra for spa use). Very few English people in the hotel when we stayed, but during the week some familiar voices started to arrive. I can honestly stay that this hotel is one of the friendliest and cleaniest hotels we have stayed in, and we have stayed in 5* hotels in many places. The only negative thing I would say that as a young couple we found that we were the youngest couple there and that the evening entertainment in particular catered for that of the more mature age, shall we say!

My father and i stayed at the Alhambra Thallasso for two weeks in November 2006 and I can honestly say that we do not have one bad word to say about the hotel. The hotel itself is beautiful in design with marble floors, high ceilings and tastful decoration that more than lived up to our expectations. The room was large, airy, spotless and very comfortable. The staff couldn't do enough for us, they were so friendly. The food in the main resturant was buffet style, with more than enough choice and if you didin't like what was on offer you just had to say and they would make you whatever you wanted. It is the fist time we had stayed in Yasmine Hammamet and yes it is fairly quiet but taxis are dirt cheap if you wanted to go out of the main resort to Hammamet itself or anywhere else. We would highly recommend this hotel to anyone and are looking forward to returning next year!

This hotel was ok, but definately not a 5*. The room was large enough and was clean. However, it had a connecting door - are we the only people in the world that hate connecting doors? The pool was beautiful and it was a short walk to the beach (or there was a tuk tuk provided by the hotel). The beach was lovely, clean and each part of the beach is clearly 'owned' by a different hotel, so you feel a bit like cattle in your own pen. You are given a pool card and a beach card on arrival and when shown these entitle you to a towel and a sun bed. We were half board and the food was ok for a buffet. We stayed for a week and were glad that it was not a fortnight. There is absoluntely nothing to do at night in Hammament Yasmine. A short walk takes you to the medina, but to be honest there was nothing worth buying and it is a tourist trap of magnificent proportions. Our main gripe with the hotel were the reception staff. They were nothing short of rude, sneering and condascending. These are the people who are supposed to make you feel welcome! Everything was difficult for them. I asked to see the library - what a joke that was! Someone had to go and get the key and when it was shown to me, there were 6 paperbacks, of which they were very proud. the girl hung around with me, as I was clearly not to be trusted with these precious books. I talked to some other english speaking guests and we swapped books amongst ourselves. Not only were the reception staff rude, all of their jackets/blazers could have done with a wash! However, the restaurant staff and the staff at the beach could not have been more helpful.

we have just returned from the hotel allhambra thalasspa in yasmine hammamet, tunisia. the hotel is superb, decorated in the style of the allhambra palace in granada(which we have also just visited) it is very clean and the rooms are charmingley arranged around courtyards, the pool is superb with a pool bar which is staffed by extremeley friendly bar staff. the beach is a five minute stroll from the hotel garden or you can ride there in the complimentary tuk tuk all day at any time. the beach has a restaurant and bar, also with very friendly and helpful staff. there are complimentary towels at both the beach and the pool, the beach also has a security chap who will make sure that only hotel residents can use the beach and he also prevents the fruit sellers from walking into the sunbed area thus ensuring that you do not get pestered. the welcome was extremely friendly even though we arrived at 3.15am, within 5 minutes of being showed to our room we were bought a tray of assorted meats, cheeses, salads and fresh bread which was most welcome. the restaurant staff were also very friendly making sure that although it was buffet service we always had the same table each night. the food was excellent and very varied with huge choice. the rooms were well decorated with seprate loo from the bathroom and also very well airconditioned just like the rest of the hotel. The main bar is large and comfortable with excellent service from the friendly staff and there is also a piano player who is extremely good. the therapy centre is excellent with price lists for treatments available at the hotel reception. there is a small shop which sells newspapers, (they will get english ones in especially for you if you ask) souveniers, sandals etc. there is also an upmarket jewellry store too. All in all it was a lovely place to stay that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone. Nothing was too much trouble for the staff, they were superb.

This hotel is at the bottom of Yasmine Hammamet, a tourist trap if there is one. Arriving at the hotel the receptionist asked my name 5 times although he had it in front of him in my travel agency voucher and in his computer. The room was large but not very clean. The information about the hotel consisted on a list of rules like you see on 2 or 3 stars hotels. The staff was weirdly unfriendly and insisted in not speaking french (the only language they know apart from arabian), answering in a mix of spanish and english wich was not ideal for communication. When you ask for an information you get a different answer for each employee. The food was ok but the drinks were not included and the tunisian beer and wine are really something to forget. The minibar was never filled after the first day but I was charged like it had been filled everiday. The beach is 200 m away and there is no transport back to the hotel at lunchtime perhaps to make you stay at the beach restaurant wich is expensive and not very clean. Everiday there was something annoying. We were glad when the last day arrived.

Have just returned from Tunisia and booked this hotel through Thomson A La Carte. This is supposedly a five star hotel, but there was no warm greeting from staff on arrival and no detailed instructions or guidance on where the restaurants were or where the other facilities were. No price information for the spa or mini bar. Towels round the pool were almost threadbare, and there was no air-conditioning in the dining room (which resulted in my sister almost passing out). The private beach is an easily-paced 7 minute walk away from the hotel via a public road. Glass tables were smashed at the edges in the bar, there were stains in the bath and crumbling tiling and clearly shoddy workmanship in the bathroom. The floors between the bathroom and bedroom where uneven with dangerous trip hazards. There is no supermarket within the hotel, or mini-market as advertised - although there is a souvenir shop - not very useful when you are advised not to drink the local tap water - and you are not allowed to take in food or drink bought outside the hotel. Unhelpful reception staff and bar staff - I would not recommend this hotel at all if you are looking for five star luxury, but would recommend the Riu Palace Oceana down the road which is where we moved to - fabulous!

My family have just returned from a 2 week holiday at the Alhambra Hotel in Jasmine Hammamet. We were expecting a 5* hotel with 'attentive' service and surrounding which we could relax in. We went with a major well known tour operator which I think was our first mistake as we found out from other guests who had travelled there independantly that we had paid well over three times as much using our operator - so shop around for a good deal. On arrival the hotel is quite impressive, the lobby area has a contemporary feel and looks every part the 5* rating. We had a Junior suite plus another room for our teenagers next to ours. Again the accommodation could not be faulted. The grounds were well kept although not extensive and did not provide anywhere to have a walk in the evening and Jasmine Hammanet itself is just miles of hotels with not much else. The beach is a 5 minute walk away from the Alhambra and you could not see it from our room although you could see the coast line in the distance but this was spolit by the piece of wast land located next/to the side of the hotel. The hotel has a section of the beach marked off and has a bar and restaurant which was nice but not what I would call a private beach, in fact it was very busy with locals and other hotel guests taking walks in front of the sectioned off area. The biggest problem with this hotel was the clientelle. It was obviously marketing itself locally as a short break hotel which meant an influx of people at weekends and again for a few days midweek. The majority of people coming on short breaks also had lots of young children who, spent most of their time making lots of noise in and around the pool area with the parents not caring at all that they disturb other guests. The hotel had rules which were never enforced which would have dealt with this issue ie no children under 6 in the pool (there was a seperate childrens pool area in another part of the grounds which was never used). This family market also affected meal times which on some days were very chaotic. The food was excellent - buffet style - but the hotel tried but failed to enforce any dress code (people were eating their evening meal in shorts / bikini tops/vest tops etc), children also run about making lots of noise. The restaurant manager did apologise and explained that it was becoming impossible to manage - we understood his situation but as a hotel with a high star rating we were expecting a quieter more attentive dining experience. There were lots of other little things that made us feel that this hotel may in future lose a star rating unless it sorts out some of these issues. In summary if you are looking for a quiet hotel with nice views/extensive grounds and a resort with a bit of culture - this is not the place for you. You will however find excellent accommodation at the Alhambra, good food and a nice spa (when it's open).

I stayed at this hotel in September 2005 with my partner and an infant. It is a rather new hotel, opened not long before we went to visit... The staff were friendly, the buffet very nice with a lot of different meals offered (Mainly Italian, French and Arabic cuisine ). Breakfast was excellent, especially the omelettes that they freshly prepared for and you could choose from a variety of things you wanted to have added to it (cheese, ham, mushrooms, veg etc). Lovely arabic pastry and French crêpes!!!! I have put on a bit of weight during my stay... The pool was nice but quite small, and you had to go early as space was limited. The hotel is not located directly by the beach, but it only takes 8 minutes to walk. The beach restaurant is quite pricey but tasty and the staff very friendly. They loved our daughter, she was treated like a princess and everyone knew her name. Most guests were Italian at the time we were there, a lot of families with kids so if you are travelling with kids, it is very nice. The hotel has internet access on the ground floor, not too expensive, I can't remember the price for 30 minutes. The room was clean and beautiful, in oriental style, with a nice bathroom. Satellite TV was very practical for cosy evenings but most channels were in French or Arabic. Our room overlooked the pool but as someone has said in a previous review, further in the back, outside the hotel, you could see a lot of rubbish and "unused" land. I think a hotel was to be built there...it wasn't the most beautiful view ever but ok. Part of the hotel was still under construction and the spa hadn't opened yet but in the meantime for sure. A visit to Tunis is a must, ask at reception for a transfer by taxi. I would recommend this hotel although I have seen other nice hotels while in Hammamet located directly by the beach...It was my first trip and therefore absolutely nice for me. For me personally, the staff made the difference as they were very nice and helpful.

Found the Hotel of a reasonable standard, most facilities OK though the spa wasn't fully open when we stayed. However all the staff went out of there way to ensure that you had a good stay and really gave the impression that they wanted you to both enjoy yourself and to return. However, we were somewhat disappointed in the restaurants (or lack off), the main dining restaurant was again attended by excellent attentive staff however we found the food not really to our palate and the al a carte restaurant had a very limited menu and on two occasions we were the only guests in the restaurant which was a bit disconcerting! If your palate is more adventurous and your like Arabic food then I'd suggest that you would enjoy yourself... But we will not be going back.

We stayed at the Alhambra recently (beg May '05) and we found a few things wrong with the hotel. The hotel website says that it has spa facilities and quite a few restaurants but these are not yet open. Only 2 are available. The beach is not fully equipped and the only evening entertainment is one man and his piano, occasionally! The view from our hotel looked over the pool, but in the distance we had to look at some wasteland littered with rubbish and building materials. The waiting staff at the hotel were very efficient and friendly, however behind the scenes there is a real lack of commuication. I would consider carefully before staying at this hotel as the lack of facilities and reception/management staff did not live up to the standard of a 5 star hotel.