Sol Azur Beach Hotel

7 readers found this review helpful

Having just returned from a February half-term weeks holiday at the Sol Azur, and after having read mixed reviews beforehand, here are my thoughts:
ROOMS: Yes, the bedrooms are a bit tired and dated and perhaps don't warrant the 4* rating, but considering what we paid for a weeks half board we couldn't really complain. The maid service was excellent and we couldn't fault it. The reception area is nice with a lot of seating areas, a bar, currency exchange etc - however it does tend to get quite smokey.
DINING - BREAKFAST (served between 6am and 10am): Good range of dishes although catering more for mainland European tastes than British (eg cold meats, salads, fruits etc). No 'Full English' unfortunately. One chef was on-hand to make you fried eggs / omelette and another made fresh pancakes on demand. The croissants, pain au chocolat and the likes generally looked nicer than they tasted (a bit dry/stale).
DINING - EVENING (served between 7pm & 9pm): The restaurant is split with the far end non-smoking. We didn't realise this and on the first night were given a table in the smoking area, we asked to change the next day (as the table you are allocated at night you remain on for your stay). The tables are very close together and this can feel a bit uncomfortable unless you strike up a rapport with your neighbours (we tried and failed). The nights are themed (eg Italian night, Spanish, Tunisian etc) although there was a lack of British fayre and it's mainly stews, rice and pasta. The salads looked appealing but were generally not to our tastes. We fell for the mistake of trying a bit of everything each evening and you soon get bored of the food (and it doesn't do your digestion any good!). We were generally disappointed by the food, and on most evenings it was only the soup and the ice-cream that we rated. Labelling of the dishes is hit-and-miss and even those that are labelled don't always give a clue as to what they contain. Not many nights went by without one or other of us trying something new and ending up pulling a face. Desserts generally looked a lot nicer than they tasted (most were mass produced bought-in gateaux which all tasted much of a muchness). The ice-cream/sorbets and the hot pudding were generally the best option although the availability deteriorated as the evening went on.
DRINKS: Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, juices etc are all available at breakfast. Wine started off about £8.50 a bottle in the restaurant and a small beer was about £1.75. We generally just had a coke with dinner (£1) but these were tiny bottles (19cl) which didn't really suffice. The bars serve a wide variety of cocktails etc, but we stuck to lager. There are 3 available - a local brew (Celtia) was £1.75 for a small bottle up to a £2.50 for a large bottle of Stella (don't think this was the real 'Stella' however).
STAFF: The majority of the staff were friendly and courteous. The female reception staff came across as more sullen than the males did however (a smile never hurt anyone). The female Maitre-D in the restaurant was superb and made us feel very welcome every morning and evening.
FACILITIES: This resort (and hotel) is really only geared around the pool/beach and good weather. Unfortunately we were unlucky with the weather and struggled to find things to entertain us. Having use of the facilities at the other two neighbouring sister hotels was useful (the 3* Bel Azur, and 5* Royal Azur). The indoor pool at Bel Azur was a saving grace for us - nice large pool with jacuzzi, plenty of loungers. Although there were several tennis courts around the complex we never saw them in use, we realised why when we went to book one and found out it was 20 Dinars (£10) for an hour. We wanted to hire the court not buy the land to build on! We thought this was vastly overpriced.
ENTERTAINMENT: Entertainment was provided every night in the hotel, although the quality varied and on some evenings there were no guests in there and the entertainment didn't happen. The entertainment at Bel Azur was more focussed around families with children, whereas at Royal Azur it was generally a singer/duet every night.
LOCATION: There was little to do outside of the hotel in the immediate area (a few restaurants which were generally empty because of the time of year we went). There are a few cafes but none locally that are aimed at tourists.
LANGUAGE: English is spoken around the hotel and in the Medina's but French/Arabic in most other places. We found our basic knowledge of French useful (for signs, menus etc as much as for communication).
THINGS TO SEE/DO (There's not a lot!)
Near the hotel: Go for a 'chicha' at one of the local cafes (fruit flavour smoking that's more like inhaling fruity steam than tobacco and can be enjoyed by non-smokers) - very relaxing and very cheap (we paid 3 Dinar / £1.50 for one to share and it lasts a good half hour plus). Sit with a coffee & a book and chill out. We went to the 'Halfouine' and although we were the only tourists in there the staff were very friendly.
Hammamet: Walk around the Medina (until you've had enough of pushy shop owners trying to get you into their shop). Take a Turkish Bath (we went to one in the Medina by the Mosque (5 Dinars each / £2.50) - it was an experience....!). Get the bus to Yasmine Hammamet, Neboul or Tunis. (Much cheaper doing it yourself than on a trip)
Yasmine Hammamet: Another Medina (purpose built and a bit artificial); Ice Skating rink (Blue Ice) opens at 1pm (12 Dinar / £6 for 50 minute session). Small theme park for children.
MONEY/EXCHANGE: As the exchange rates are set nationally, you get the same rate everywhere, thus we used the hotel facility and found it very good. Don't change too much at a time (no commission so no need) as you can only change it back in the airport (providing you have an initial invoice from when you first changed it). Be very wary of changing it back to local currency at Monastir airport - we tried it at two of the five or so exchange places and both tried to fiddle us (they won't give you a receipt showing the calculation and 'printer broken' is usually the excuse). The couple ahead of us were dismayed at what they got back, as were we. When we challenged it were were given our Dinars back and told to go somewhere else. The second place we tried (same exchange rate and same 3% commission) gave us a couple of pounds more, but still £8 short of our calculation (done on my mobile phone calculator). When we complained and demanded to see their calculation they gave in and gave us the correct amount. This marred our holiday experience on the last day as we generally found Tunisians to be honest and trustworthy up to this point. Work out what you think you should get back before you exchange and challenge it if you're not happy.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT: Would be great if the weather had been good as we were looking for a chill-out week by the pool and on the beach. Because of the poor weather we struggled to find things to fill our day.

3 readers found this review helpful

The hotel is quite comfortable and we had a room with balcony and seaview which was a bonus. unfortunately we must have chosen the wrong time to go as the place was fairly empty with limited entertainment. hammamet is probably perfect for those who just wants a beach holiday as there is not much around the area.
the food is ok but you do get bored of the buffet dinner very quickly so i would suggest bed and breakfast to be suffice.
the staff were really nice and the service was good. good working knowledge of English spoken. However, the hotel could probably do with a refurb but on the whole was fine.
sol azur, bel azur and the royal azur are all part of one complex so you could use each hotels facilities regardless of which hotel you decide to stay in.
i would highly recommend taking a tour down to the sahara desert as it is simply striking! do make sure you bring extra money with you though as certain extras such as camel riding is charged at an extra cost. the hotel itself operates between 3-4 different tours everyday.
if you do not want to spend a fortune eating at the hotel, there are some pizza and fast food restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.
would have given it a higher rating if the weather was any hotter but overall not a bad hotel for the price you are paying.

3 readers found this review helpful

I have just returned from taking my mother on holiday to the Sol Azure Hotel and all I can say is don't bother! The hotel is very tired and is in dire need of renovation. They are cleaned after a fashion but this hotel is busy with conferences and mostly Russian, French and German tourists.
We changed rooms after the first night as it was so badly cleaned and then in the new room, a wardrobe door fell on my aged parent and it was very noisy. The food is strongly geared to the Russian clientele and certainly breakfast is very limited.
We found salad and vegetables to be sorely lacking over the week and the few veggies produced were all overcooked. Be warned; do not go to breakfast too late (or there will be nothing left) or dinner too early (most of the other nations don't queue and it's a bit of a scrum!) and note that what ever is there, will be cold.
The pool is lovely and the beach is very accessible and pretty clean. You just have to avoid the so called 'gymnastica' in the pool and the attempts to play the music very loud! Most of the staff were friendly enough but a couple of the reception girls were not particularly helpful.
The Spa facilities that are part of the 3 hotel complex do not offer all the treatments listed and you are not able to book through the Sol Azure but must walk across to find out any details. Having done so, we didn't bother after the staff were so rude. We won't be back!

2 readers found this review helpful

We stayed at Sol Azur Beach Congress in Hammamet Tunisia in August 2006. The hotel was very nice pool area lovely and all the staff were nice.
The food was ok but not varied much. The rooms were ok but not really 4 star. The hairdryer in the bathroom got so hot you couldn’t hold it long enough to dry your hair it was reported but nothing was done about it. Also the television did not work.
Outside of the hotel was quite disgusting. Shops were dirty streets filthy; it certainly wasn’t like a holiday resort should be. We wanted to come home after the first week but could not get flights. Hammamet is not a place we would recommend and we will never go again.

This is the first hotel we have ever returned to and it lived up to our recollection of the previous year.
The rooms are a little tired admittedly, but the excellent food coupled with the friendly and courteous staff more than made up for the rooms.
Many hotel staff remembered us from last year and greeted us almost as one of the family. This made our stay more enjoyable.
Every day was enhanced by the smiles and greetings of everyone from the room maids to the managers.