Booking
We booked this fabulously priced holiday with Just Sunshine, they specialise in Tunisian holidays and offer a far better rate than Lastminute.com

I would advise going half board, food in tunisia is roughly half the price than in England.

Flights
We flew with Karthago, food was average and for the price nothing to complain about. We got delayed by 3 hours when leaving Manchester Airport and got delayed by 2 hours on return from Monastir. Tip: take a book to read if you're not patient.

First Impressions
The building from the outside is very impressive, with its white walls and marbled Reception area. You either geta seaview balcony room or a poolside balcony room.

Absolutely Beautiful views all round - no complaints

Rooms
Larger than any Holiday Inn or Crown Plaza room I have been in.
Big bathroom, with show facilities, breakfast hamper of fruit and complimentary wine on your first night. The rooms were tidy, kept clean and effort had been made to maintain the room furniture.

Breakfast/Dinner
Breakfast buffet has a mix of hot and cold food.
On one side you have pastries, crossaints and bread. The other cereals and fruits. Then you can also have hot veg, scrambled eggs, cheese omlettes and pancakes too. Yummy and lots to choose from.

Dinner has an equal mix of traditional tunisian food with english food too. They try to cater for all. If you are a vegetarian I would suggest contacting the hotel directly to let them know.

Holiday Reps
Our rep was very friendly and full of good advice with the do's and don't of Tunisia explained.

Excursions
We went on the Sahara dessert excursion.
If you are going to look at taking this trip be aware of the following:
Day 1
Wake up call 5:30am
The first day you will spend a lot of time on the coach travelling. They don't mention this when they first talk to you about the tour.
As there is alot of distance to cover to get to the Sahara - you may spend up to 8 hours on the coach with a 30 minute rest in between. If you're not used to travelling - don't take the tour.
You will see El Jeym - where the Gladiator was filmed...its an amazing site, well worth it.
You wiil ride on camels through the sahara which lasts up to an hour or so. You may have to pay extra for this.

Day 2
wake up call 4:00am
Not so bad as day 1 travelling wise
You will get to see the sun rise over the salt lake - if you're into photography you will love this.
You will go to the canyons via 4x4 and see the algerian border.
You will see the different types of Oasis they have in Tunisia before getting back to your hotel.

We felt day 2 was better than day 1 as there were more stops in beween, plus the 4x4 were better travelling wise.

High's
Lots to see and do
great pics and you get a real feel for the culture
Camel rides

Lows
Cramped coach
Long distances by coach

Travelling through tunisia
A great way to do this is to either hire a car or get a car with a driver.
We went to Sousse Medina - much bigger than Hamammet Medina.
Tips for haggling
Always let them give you the first price
when you start, start as low as possible 2 dinars - even if it sounds ridiculous
Always creep up in smaller increments
IF they say no, walk away - they will come after you and offer at your price

We also went to Port El Kantanoi
Itsa beautiful marina - theres a thme park next door and the main land. Beaches are clean and the water here is warmer.

Yellow taxis are very cheap although they can't take you out on the motorway.

Nightlife
Nohing like Brittain or Spain.
The main clubs don't get going until 12am - and remember this is a muslim country so if you find oubs that don't offer alcohol don't be offended.

The Marina - Hammamet
We went to Barissto - a small italian place offering pizza's and pasta, great food, great service and the owner remembered us as returning customers. You get complimentary icecreams/mint teas if you eat here.

And you can't put a price on the views of the gradens leading to the yachts.

Overall
Tunisia is a fairly big country with lots to see and do, you won't pack it all in to one week. My suggestion - do 1 excusrion and explore the rest for yourself. Its safe to be roaming around at 12 midnight, you will see police on patrol - for the safety of everyone.

If you go to 1 Medina- you've been to them all, prices are roughly the same wherever you go - just haggle.

WE had a lovely time - sun shine all through the week.

You don't have to tip big to get a great service in the hotel. I would like to thank 1 person - Yousef - from the animation team, he smiles and keeps everyone entertained everyday.

Thank you for reading! and enjoy your holiday.

First cons, since they are probably more important –
- There are rooms in this hotel which have joint door with a next room (probably intended to be used as a suit) which have the sound insulation capacity of a tin paper, so that can be very annoying.
- Hotel beach and pool are being closed at 18:00, which is senseless, since sunset is well after 20:30, in this time of year.
- Beach has no enough sun-beads.
- Beach guys (two of them), which are supposed to bring you sun-beads, are the worst two guys in the hotel-resort business, ever.
- Instead of picking up and throwing away the piled grass on the beach, hotel just lets it stay there.

Pro –
- Spacious rooms
- Rooms are being cleaned every day
- Decent and various food
- Kind staff (except the two beach guys)
- Good location
- Spacious room balcony
- Decent bathrooms

My advice –
Consider hotel Lella Baya, which is only 100 meters down the road.

I booked a deal with Just Sunshine Holidays for a week half board in the El Mouradi Hammamet, and had a brilliant week away. Flew with Karthago Airlines, on a 737 which was a bit shabby, but it was a budget flight, no entertainment, but a meal which was as good as flight meals go (no butter with the roll!!). The flight back was more comfortable and food also a bit better.

We arrived early in the morning, and booked transfers with MedHotels to the Jasmine Beach (which is the hotel next door) for around £18 for 2 people return. Got to the hotel around 2am, greeted by smiling staff and checked in v. quick.

We did move rooms after the first day as we wanted a pool view room (recommended). The rooms were very clean, tidy and spacious. Great bathroom. Not 5 star, but good 3/4 star considering it is Tunisia.

The hotel facilities are not as listed (i.e. there is no mini golf or tennis court) however it was very big, well decorated and provided us with an enjoyable stay. Food excellent throughout the week with plenty of variety. Breakfast was more geared towards European continental, but was still very nice.

The resort and hotel were pretty quiet however this proved to be nice for a couple. The animation team tried their best to provide evening and daytime entertainment. The hotel had mostly german, french and spanish holiday makers, however this again made it a more interesting stay.

I would highly recommend this holiday if you can get a good deal for around £250 each.

I will mention that some of the photos show 2/3 pools, this is actually another El Mouradi hotel next door (4 star all inclusive with lots of drunk germans!) which is separate to the El Mouradi Hammamet. There is one large pool, plus an indoor and a childrens pool.

Beware of confusing this hotel with the one next door, the Mouradi El Menza, 3* all inclusive, all the people we spoke to gave negative reviews, stroppy staff, poor food etc.
However the El Mouradi was great more like a European 4* rating overall. I went with my wife and 11 month old son and all the staff could not do enough for you, my son was spolit rotten!
We went half board and the dinning room, service was very good. The choice of food was excellent and great quality. It was my son's birthday while we were there and the waiter arranged a cake for us as a suprise. He decorated the table with flowers and all 12 waiters brought the cake out and sang him happy birthday, amasing! At the end of the week my wife became ill (not hotel related) and everyone could not have been more helpful, arranging the doctor to visit, then offering to babysit whilst I visited her in hospital and even offering to pack our suitcases for us! For our first family holiday it could not have been a better choice of hotel.