Yadis Dar Khayam Hotel

5 readers found this review helpful

I cant understand why people have such a bad time here, they must be really depressing people.
Both myself and my partner were here in May06 and had read some really bad reviews after we had booked. Needless to say, we were quite worried.
Upon arrival all our doubts were put to rest. (There is a 1.5hr bus trip from the airport, this is the last hotel on the drop off at all other hotels).
We had an amazing time. We spent 2 weeks at this hotel and never really left the hotel for the whole time. The entertainment team were better than anywhere we have ever stayed, the food was very good, plentiful and fresh. Yes, things did taste different from home, mostly because it was fresh and organic. Dairy items do taste different, as it is goats milk. There is a massive selection of food to choose from, there is a section for salad etc, a section for couscous etc, a section of cooked foods, ranging from chicken to veal to potatoes. This changes dailly. If you had the same thing to eat more than once, then you seriously need to broaden your horrizons. Were were there for two weeks and the food was the same on the second week as the first, but pick and mix, you will never eat the same.
You will not find English breakfasts to eat, you are not in spain.
Yes the drinks dont get you legless, but who cares, if your idea of a holiday is to get drunk for your entire holiday, then stay in SPAIN, even better, just stay home and stop giving the UK a bad name. The drinks are good and pleantiful. remember Tunisia is a muslim country, alchohol is against their religion.
The hotel is clean and tidy and there is always a maid or cleaner around somewhere cleaning up.
People have to remember, Tunisia is a poor country and is not in the EU. Different laws etc.
Overall, we had an amazing time and went back again last year May08.
This holiday was just as good, we did alot more, i.e. excursions etc.
The hotel haddent changed much, there had been some change to the gardens but they still were well kept. The hotel is slightly dated, but i have been in pleanty hotels in spain that were in worse states. The rooms were cleaned dailly, although not fully. We noticed if we left the room in a mess, then they would clean round. I thaught this was quite good, shows they not going to touch your things. We did have a roach in the bathroom one day, but they are common in tunisia. I have read in some reviews, of people whining about the tap water. Get a grip. Tunisia is as near to the desert as you get, water is not exactly easy to find. it is not fresh, drinkable water. it gets you clean and gives you somewhere to swim.
The view from our room was not the greatest on this visit, but we didnt really spend time in the room until after dark.
Going out and about in tunisia is an experience, but well worth it. Personaly if you have never been to a medina, then go have a look, the one in Nebul is the best, the one in Hammamet is a rabbit warren and very stressful. A word of advise, be stern saying no. All medinas sell the same things, so if you go to Nebul, it is a bit more open and you can avoid stalls. Personaly i would just stick to the shops on roads leading to the Medinas. Everything is so cheap, yes its all fake, just like spain. Differnce with tunisia, you can get everything tailored to your fit free in most shops. Any guys heading out there that are in jobs that you wear suits, take some cash with you, tailored suits are arround £50. There is a small medina outside the gates to the hotel, try to avoid it, unless you are a woman and you like getting your hair done, the woman down there is good and sooooooo cheap. There is a great little shop down the road to the left attached to the Orangina cafe, it is far better and better priced. The owner is a realy nice guy and will do anything to help. Any smokers, if buying ciggies, get then from here and make sure they have the blue ticket. The guys at the orangena will get them for you on request. Any other ciggies on sale are FAKE. No blue ticket, no lungs. lol. The cafe is also very good, well worth a visit. The owner of the orangena also has a brother who does jetskis paragliding etc, its in Hammamet, but is far better value than at the hotel.
I would recomend all the excursions, apart from the Sousse, port el kantoui, scannes trip, its bouring and sousse stinks. a total waste of a day. The quad bike trip is good fun if you like that sort of thing, i went 3 times it was so good. Be warned, no breaks. ie takes a while to stop. lol,
Overall i would recommend this hotel to anyone, especialy if your taking kids. You need to be willing to try new things and not whinge when you dont arrive in spain. But you will have a good time and there is lots to do and things to see.
Its so good, we just booked again last night, so are going back in August, cant wait.

my boyfriend and I went out to Tunisia to spend some quality time together at the beginning of October this year. Although we didn't mind the transfer and were aware it was long it felt that the coach was just looping around everything rather than having direct routes. Most of the hotel's we dropped off at looked lovely and then we arrived at the Dar Khayam, it was miles away from the main part of Hammamet and there was only a dew shops outside the hotel, one i would never step foot in again the woman literally conered us until we bought something we felt very threatened and didnt want to go outside the hotel again! Another shop we literally had a man chase us the whole way down the road as we was going to the cash point - i took the money we needed out and never walked down to it again!! The shop inside the hotel grounds was good and the prices were pretty much the same as outside obivoulsy a little bit more had to be paid but for no hassle it was worth it!
The Dar Khayam what can i say we walked in the hotel - reception was ok, we was given our room key and had a room on the 3rd floor - bare in mind there isnt a lift! there use to be but it was obivously not going to be fixed as it had been covered up with a tacky picture! We arrived in our room which was ok the maid had done the sheets in a bow type formation that looked lovely. We went to unpack and the wardrobe smelt sooo bad we didnt put out clothes in it so we lived out of our suitcases for the week! The Tv plug was literally hanging off the wall with a big hole around it so you could actually see right in the wall! the room was very cramped with a double bed and a dunk bed in the corner, we spoke to one couple who needed to put up a baby cot and had to climb over the beds everytime they needed to get past! We walked out on to our balcony to find a huge crack going through the middle of it with two cracked plastic chairs! We also found the kids to be a nuicance as they kept climbing on a roof to the side of us making it impossible to sit on our balcony we complained to reception but nothing was done about it. The bathroom is very out of date and needs updating - i ran a bath one evening and it looked like someone had stood there and poured fanta orange into the bath! it was disgusting!
the food in the hotel was ok extremly repetitive! if you don't like beef then dont go! the dining room was very dirty and there was a number of flies! I had the same dirty mark on our table cloth from the day we arrived to the day we went home! The glasses on the table were also extremely dirty! the dining room was very cramped especially when there are large families with a number of pushchairs and wheelchairs it just wasnt very accessible.
Cleaning at the hotel was comical to watch they basically washed everything using water from the swimming pool the maids would just dip in their buckets and chuck it over whatever needed to be cleaned!
the highlight of our holiday was escaping from the hotel for a couple of days on the Sahara Explorer trip well worth doing recommend to anyone without children! We also booked a camel ride from the animation team in the hotel - do not book using these they are very dangerous and the route they took the camels was unacceptable! huge hills with some camels having large men and women on one camel - very unsafe and there was nothing to hold on to i actually slipped off as the seating was not tied to the camel properly and my boyfriend was on the same camel with me making it very uncomfortable and hard to hold on!
we went on the pirate boat excursion and our coach got stuck in a tunnel we had to reverse back out while all the paint work and part of the tunnel was crumbling around us! very dangerous!
would not return to this hotel or resort - may return to tunisia but to port el kantoui where it seemed a lot nicer after speaking to people on the sahara trip!

2 readers found this review helpful

Absolutely brilliant holiday.All the staff were fantastic.Especially the entertainments team.This is my 5th year in the dar khayam and i have already booked for next year.For value for money you cant beat it.I have been going to hammamet the resort since 1980 on a yearly basis.This hotel has everything you need for a fun filled holiday.The food is of good quality and there is plenty of it.With excellent cakes and pastries prepared in the hotel that make a stunning display.In our group we celebrated a birthday we had a free birthday cake (courtesy of thomas cook)which was lovely .We were also sang too by a group of waiters.oh and dont forget the flowers all over the dining table.Excellent.All in all we had an excellent holiday bring on 2009.

This wasnt just any holiday . This was suppose to be my Honey moon. My Husband an I thought at that time of year it would be nice weather ect there. Yes its was loveley weather. But that is when the fun stopped.
The first room we were give , Had builder on the room infront of it making diparriaging comments . The second room we were given the air con didnt work and the sink and toliet were broken. Since no body came to fix it on our request, My husbnad fixed it . He is a plumber to trade.
Then a local convension came to the hotel which in normally would be an issue but eh noise level went up ten fold. the women were verbally abused make alsorts of comments and when complaints were made the staff laughed it off . The toliet had fecal matter and urine all over the foor . Basically it when from a really bad honey moon to a tramatising one .
We came home and went straight to thomas cook , who offered no conpenstation what so ever and pretty much just called us racist .
I have never been so offended in all my life. I wrote back say that the whole point of going aborad is to meet new people of different backgroups and that I was greatly offended with the way they were treating us . The basiscally said Tough.
If anyone can find a holiday not dealt with my thomas cook I would advise using someone other than them and if you want to visit Tunisa I would wait another 10-20 years untill they have figured out how to treat people espiecally women.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this holiday the people are great they really made it fun. I think the rooms were fine for just sleeping and showering, the food was fine but found it a bit repetative. The beach was lovely we got a great tan!! I would hav 2 say the highlight of it was the animation team Midou, Didi, Kelly, Cheryl, Nagui, Sam, Braham and really can't remember the name of the other one ! They were FABULOUS they really do work hard all day and night they are fantastic and i was really upset when it came to going home because midou is leaving and we wanted 2 see him again next year :( but we are looking forward 2 seein the rest aswell....... Wel what can you say about camel man he is amazing sooo funny i started off as his wife to be at the start then became his sister haha you cant go there on holiday without goin on a camel ride even if you say no u still end up doing it..... That would hav had to hav been the best holiday ever Miss them all sooo much hope to see them sooon... :) :)

I thought the holiday was absolutely brilliant i never wanted to come back home. The people are soo friendly in the hotel and theres was nothing bad about it. The weather was also lovely and the food. I would definately go again. The rooms were really tidy and were cleaned everyday wich was really good. The beach wasnt a far walk and the pools were lovely. I thought the highlight of the holiday was the animation team they did a brilliant job and we loved there performances on a night.

Well what can i say about my first experiance of this place , i was pleasantly suprised , this hotel was 3 star but ive stayed in 5 star with no where near the atmosphere this hotel has the staff all of them were so hospitable they couldnt do enough to make this a pleasurable place to stay. The animation team were absolutley incredible !!! they work long hours and the shows were superb so much energy Kelly and sheryl were especially lovely hard working girls !! The boys Midou. Zizo, Hassen, Didi, Simo, Nagui,Chico, DJ Bobo, and especially childrens entertainer Sam were brilliant !!! I cant praise these people enough thank you thank you thank you for a brill holiday see you again in Oct deffo be back . The accomodation yes basic but your only sleepin and showering in it , the food was nice, the linen was changed most days with a lovely touch of flowers on the beds all in all would reccomend this to all families with young children we didnt see ours for 2 weeks lol Sam your a star !!! Lorraine

Just returned after a weeks holiday, all I can say is the accomodation is dated and very basic, but it was cleaned daily, the remainder of the hotel was very good, the location is great if you want the beach, 25metre walk. Food was OK I am a funny eater at the best of times but found something to eat every meal, the waiter Mamood was excellent and always had a drink waiting for us on arrival. The entertainment at night is the best I have seen even in hotels of a higher rating. The other downside was the location, you were always dropped off last and picked up first. Although it was cheap to get a taxi into the marina for some shopping. Did the 2 day safari, which was a long couple of days but worth it. I think we got the best week as more young children started to arrive on the day before we left, those of you with no children should look at going either early season or late.

1 reader found this review helpful

Staying at the Dar Khayam was the best, all the staff were so nice and friendly.
when we arrived we were meet by our rep who is fantastic he is realy friendly and will answer any questions you have.he has been living in tunisia for about 10 year and has been a rep for the Dar Khayam for 7 years
the rooms are verry basic, small and a bit dull but then all u wana do is sleep and shower in it.well we slept well
I must admit the food is good but by the second week i was getting a bit bord of it as most of the stuph is the same but it does tast realy good.you have a snack bar thats open at 10 till 6 then 9 till 12.
A must do is camel ridding it is great we went twice u can miss the camel man hes always about the hotel he is ace realy funny.we also went on the pirate ship wish was fun but the sea was verry rough but id defo do it again, also nebal market is a good experience batering is so much fun.haha
The animation team is fantastic they work so hard they are always around gatting you to do different stuph such as archery water, water polo, beach volley ball, darts game etc.They keep the kids entertained, they have a mini kids disco at nite then bingo then more entertament which is fantastic, so a big thanks to sam, nagui, didi, midou, kelly, sheryl, hassen, zizo and bobo who realy made my holiday.i miss them all already. i did not want to come back
im already planning to go back next year with other people i meet out there laura, bill there two kids, mahshid, richard nicky and jo.

Firstly this was the worst holiday i have had in a long time. The hotel smelt of cats pee and they over rided the destination and town where the hotel was located.
I found the food repeatative and boring.It was often cold.The room wasn't cleaned once while we was there and we found dirty tissues in one of our beds and that tissue stayed in the room for the whole 2 weeks.
I found the people outside of the hotel where very pushy and intimidating and you would have a group around you not just one person. I had serval incounters with the tusinia's and i found we wanted too stay in our room for most of the holiday.
I found the holiday representive very helpful thoughout the 2 weeks.I also thought the hotel staff where very good and pleasent.