Nour Palace Resort & Thalasso

“So so”

A little bit of disappointment. The hotel is big and right at the sea those are the pluses on which I believe the rating is based on. You can see that there are no investments in this place, all furniture looks very old. The rooms are spacious which is a nice surprise. But to be honest I have chose… more

A little bit of disappointment. The hotel is big and right at the sea those are the pluses on which I believe the rating is based on. You can see that there are no investments in this place, all furniture looks very old. The rooms are spacious which is a nice surprise. But to be honest I have chosen Tunisia as from the past experience in other hotels it had the best animations. From the reviews, I saw that animations at this hotel are great but it seems that all has changed in September. I was there at the beginning of the month and hotel seemed in full capacity. But the animation program was very poor. The long list of day activities which was presented on the hotel's wall has nothing to do with the reality. A few times there was a water polo, the only thing that happened daily was aqua gym. For zumba- we had to ask daily the animation team about it. It is the first time that instead of animation team encouraging guests to take part in activities it was the guests that asked for some of them. Volleyball- it was a ball at animation's booth and again You could go and ask for it, there was no organisation of the plays. Only the animation boss had some energy and really tried. As for the food it was overall good but some some of the waiters tried to flirt and when turned down started to be rude. Also at some point all salt shakers disappeared. And I would even understand if this was for a half a day for cleaning (still would be a disappointment in 5* hotel) but the situation lasted for a few days. The salt was available at one place of the dining room on the plate... Some people took it in their fingers... simply disgusting. There were no beer kegs at the diner- the beer was placed in plastic water bottles and then from that the waiters poured it down Your glass... The a'la carte restaurant.... This was even more weird. For all such restaurants in the hotels I went to You choose the dishes from the menu at the table and then they arrived at Your table. In this hotel this is copy and paste from the dining hall. Literally. There is just an open buffet with the same dishes as in the main restaurant. The only difference I saw was tiramissu. Also watch out at the exchange office. Always check if the amount received is the same as on the paper they gave You. I hope it was simple mistake but I received less, ofc I pointed that out and received total amount but still something like that happened to me for the first time. Overall if the weather is good and You are looking for the cheap hotel near the sea it is ok. The sea is beautiful with easy access and without rocks. Just a lot of seashells which brings even more beauty to this. Watch out for jellyfishes though. Sadly this region is quite a long way from all interesting places. You can visit Mahdia but for all the organised tours usually You need to consider whole day out.

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“They are some positive things and they are some negative things too”

This is a private review only not an official point hotel review. For pros and cons scrolls down. First off all fifth stars doesn't correspondent with European standards you can't compare this with 4 seasons or another hotels from the category for that you will need to go to Dubai. Rooms are spaci… more

This is a private review only not an official point hotel review. For pros and cons scrolls down. First off all fifth stars doesn't correspondent with European standards you can't compare this with 4 seasons or another hotels from the category for that you will need to go to Dubai. Rooms are spacious and hotel by itself large. Equipment is reader old but nothing really tragic. I will recommend looking for room on the outdoor pool site as some of the another rooms have front of windows large pine trees and could be dark all day so have this in mind. Outside there is large swimming pool inside off the garden together with a small aqua park and kids area. Be aware that all facilities are functional during main season another time could be closed. If you like night program you have an option to see it on the podium of amusement area. Inside you have an opportunity to play pool or spent time playing sort of arcade hotel. Gardens in large and well maintain, includes a few tennis courts and volleyball court. Sea location is perfect as main towns are far away so no rubbish floating around when you sviming sand is white colour and hotel try to keep beach clean and tidy, water is shallow and clear close to the bank in a distance of 30 metres you will see floating rope separate areas for guests from areas where high speed boats pulling parachutes . I a case of heavy rain I highly recommended do not go to swim at the sea as main sewers are just hunder meters from hotel beach and all rubbish from streets will finished in the sea. Amusement there are some animation programs and possibilities for trips to Saharaanda few another places. Personally I will recommend try hotel Thalasso salt water pool with jacuzzi and local massage are what you should try for 30 euros you can get one hour all body massage and spent time in jacuzzi prices for spa and health service are decent. Food is sad to see how globalisation damages local tourism I know that some people want to have full English breakfast everywhere but mate tourists which come to UK want to try fish and chips not pasta . When I travel abroad I want to try local food . Deep disappointment as hotel try to make everyone's happier and serve sort of fast food together with international dishes. I don't want to eat burger and chips, pasta or pizza in Tunisia . You can try some local stuff but hotel definitely give up traditional cuisine. I highly recommended try lamb ( it was delicious but sometimes really tough what a shame 🫠, ) roast vegetables and couscous that what Tunisia is. What I can't recommend are drinks as served wine is low quality and coffee is capitol by itself as there are nescafe machines only so kingdom for good fresh roast arabica . In a surrounding are you don't have a many options for dining out as you are at countryside area so you have to go to Midune for some traditional cuisine. Another disappointment was bakery section French learn local how to prepare tasty baguette and croissants opps not here as local bakery doesn't have anything from that heritage and cheap supermarket croissants and pastry you expect from Premier In sort of hotels. Another disappointment was fruit section as 5 star hotel I will expect something better than Plum, Apple or Pear seller on the beach has wild section on his cart than hotel on his table. I will recommend to management buy more local and come back to traditional cuisine and make you own bread and pastry. Flat bread, vegetable, oliv oil, lamb, tomatoes, harissa , sardines, dates , pomegranate, melons, cactus fruit, boukha etc. If you want a lot of tourists you can choose to be cheep and nasty or be a special and good. I afraid that hotel management pick first . So all in all Pros Sea, beach, location if you want safe area, close hotel is mobile operator aerial so decent signal, swimming pools, spa centre . Coins No cash machine at the hotel nearest 200 meters ( commission for transaction is from 10 TND max withdraw is up to 300 TND so not good especially because card payment options is not everywhere and even if shop has card terminal bad mobile signal could mean that you won't be able to use your card. In local area possibly the best mobile operator was Orange card vith 10 GB data was £ 7,60 I recommend purchase on the airport. Food and drinks quality 😌 do not expect to much as staff like chicken nuggets are on daily menus, coffee lovers will be crying, wine lowers should go to supermarkets for something drinkable and no sparkling water option at 5 star hotel..... strange . I just pop up to escape from rainy weather and price which I payed was ridiculously cheap but I come through a few problems like my room was OK accept that front of my balcony were huge pines trees so room was dark without view. My fridge was prehistoric and hardly worked, room safe was broken and permanently locked I asked for master key and after 5 days no one come to fix it. You should repeat France language as English is not used here. Staff is friendly and do theirs jobs properly rooms are cleaned daily. You are in Africa so tips are wanted be careful out of the hotel with your money as local sellers have changing tricks in the pocket after which you will miss some coins or notes. Do I recommend this hotel? It could be worse for decent price yes but if you want something traditional or expecting luxurious hotel try Dubai instead.

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“Hopefully a fair review”

Once out the arrivals hall our transfer did have an error but the transfer staff didnt even bat an eye and we were immediately allocated to an awaiting coach. It was a bit of a drive from the airport but we knew about this from our research. Aircon on the coach, although defiitely not the best was … more

Once out the arrivals hall our transfer did have an error but the transfer staff didnt even bat an eye and we were immediately allocated to an awaiting coach. It was a bit of a drive from the airport but we knew about this from our research. Aircon on the coach, although defiitely not the best was just enough. We were lucky enouh to get a special offer to stay at Nour Palace and on arrival the spectacular entrance and warm welcome we thought we had won the jackpot. Our check in was friendly and welcoming. Our room was as shown in pictures and can agree with other reviews the decor and bathrooms were dated. Having said that, the furniture when bought seems to have held up really well and the room and bathroom were spotlessly clean. Minor upgrades have been made but did not appear to have been professionaly done. WiFi was intermittent but we followed travel advice and got ourselves an E-Sim which was perfect. I have seen reviews on the food and was not sure what to expect. I had something different every day but did also see so much food wastage with guests piling their plates high and not being able to finish it all. Beautiful prawns were available and unfortunately some people gave up queuing as it was so long and guests were piling their plates. Our service staff however were amazing, Bashir in particular. At the end of each service I noticed the table cloths were all replaced, however not every table had cutlery when you went for your meal. The cocktail menus provided were moisture damaged and I only saw one menu with all inclusive drinks listed. It would probably be prudent to have some more information availale at all the bars. At the Piano bar you had to pay for drinks but there was nothing to stop people from getting a drink from next door and usin the room. This seems a bit pointless. The cleaning lady working in the downstairs bathroom was always there to help the guests with a smile on her face. I saw her drop what she was doing to help a struggling mom with her young baby. I have also read reviews where staff have been rude. I saw quite a few instances where guests were incredibly rude to the staff and a few instances where lanuage barriers lead to misunderstandings friction. I happened to get the runs but as we had been out of the hotel I cannot say that this was due to anything at the Hotel. I was very careful after to make sure I ate 'safely'. A note to add: the flies are a continual nuisance and we joked we will be going home twiching with muscle memory. Flies are unhygenic and would like to recommend the hotel look at impementing some form of control to minimise the nuisance. It would have also been nice to have had some information in the rooms or at reception with a list of prices for the Spa or the bowling and how these worked. I am the kind of person that would like something to take away and look at later, taking time to decide. By the end of the week though having sat on plastic chairs and plastic tables (meals outside), the gym that had more broken pieces than working ones, plastic cups that were so flimsy they felt like a level up from ceran wrap, the 5 star element began to fade. For us 5 stars mean luxury but our stay felt a bit like a really good 3 star hotel. Having the booking on a special offer I feel like we got what we paid for with excellent service. The hotel has so much potential and with a bit more effort and attention it could be the shinig star in Tunisia.

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