If a fancy marble lobby is the most important requirement for your holiday then Sahara Beach is not the place for you. However if you want a great holiday, with plenty to do (if you want to) lovely people, good wholesome food, great weather, great facilties and a unique atmosphere in a nice clean (if a little dated) environment then this is the hotel for you.
Sahara Beach Hotel is more like a complex, its big but it never feels crowded. There a number of little gems in this hotel that you just dont get in others. Gem number one is the animation team, they are fantastic. Over thirty strong. This hotel always had a great Tunisian team but this year they have been joined by by an Italian team and they all work night and day to help you have a great time. There is a show each night and one better than the other, great dancing, fun and acrobatics. The Tunisan people in general and the hotel staff are another, particulary the waiters, you have the same waiters and the same table for the duration of your holiday. The jewelery shop is another, they will make you unique pieces that you won't get at home.
The diamond in the crown for us was the professional photograper. Do not go home without having your picture taken. The shoot costs absolutely nothing (we pay a fortune here in Dublin for a shoot alone). You can have you pictures taken inside in a set-up studio or outside in the grounds. It only takes a couple of minutes. If you follow their simple instructions (look up, over there etc..)you will end up with the most amazing professional photographs, nicer that many you would see in mags like Hello or OK. Your only problem will be selecting the ones you want to buy (you'll want them all) but at only 5 dinar each (about

We stayed here last July and got through the photo id pretty quick.

Pleased with the look of the hotel from the start but the porters take your bags to your room and wait for a tip, they accept sterling, the pool staff will expect tips but it can work to your advantage as they will reserve your sunbeds for you daily.

My husband and the kids had a bit of a dicky tummy, but the food was ok, lots of selections to choose from, I found the chips awful, its the oil they use.

The entertainment was excellent, they really tried hard to please although they finish at 11pm, and sometimes they go off to the beach to carry on, but you have to pay for the drinks then.

While bad reviews can be fun to read, take them with a pinch of salt, The Iberostar Sahara Beach is a good three star hotel that lives up to its consumer four star rating..

The airport was very busy on arrival but the queues were swiftly dealt with, and transfer to the hotel took about ten minutes. At the hotel we had to fill in forms and have our photo taken to get a credit card size pass, necessary for all inclusive, this was quick as few arrived with us.

The guests were a mixture of all inclusive and half board. To get drinks at the bar or food at the beach bar it was necessary to present the card to be scanned and in some cases be given a ticket to get the drinks at the other end of the bar. A little strange but it worked well. The hotel was not full and there were few queues at the bars but additional areas of the dining room and an extra reception area were being opened up in preparation for peak season, so things may change.

Some practical information the hotels voltage is 220 V ac and cigarettes are about 14 pounds a carton in the shop. News papers are two days old and there are few English magazines on sale. The very few English paperbacks on sale were second hand but cost about 2 pounds. Bring your reading material with you.

The hotel and the grounds are kept very clean and tidy with teams constantly at work.

The food is good. Soups, omelettes, pancakes, pizzas and sweets are excellent and a good range of other food available.

One oddity is that you will be allocated a table on arrival and may have to share it with others. Attempting to make polite conversation at breakfast after a good night on the beer may be a strain how ever nice they are.

Space and the availability of sun beds round the pools or on the beach is no problem even at peak times, a member of staff will bring cushions for the beds but the hotel does not provide beach towels.

The staff were cheerful and attentive but waiters, cleaners and porters were clearly angling for tips at the end of our stay.

The room was a reasonable size for two but no television or hair dryer the bathroom had a bracket for the shower head but it was still to easy to flood the bathroom. There are five televisions in the piano bar each showing a different program and two large screens in other bars.

The evening entertainment is mostly poor. The Italian entertainment troop waste the excellent theatre facilities with slapstick and dubious games. On some nights a large proportion of the audience voted with their feet. The Michel Jackson night was quite good.

There is a Noddy train which runs into Monastir is worth a try but expect the usual hassle in the medina. We also went to Sousse on the local bus, about 40 p each way, again a large Medina with lots of hassle but worth a visit. Be aware that the bus will pick you up outside the hotel but returns a different route and will drop you off at the go kart track. The only organised trip we did was the Bedouin Feast, this was a good night with food, drink, belly dancers, jugglers, horsemen and camels. The only down side was the one and a half hour transfer each way. There are no bars, restaurants or shops worth visiting outside the hotel within walking distance

We expected temperatures in the mid thirties but by the end of the week it had risen to the mid forties. The hotel

Me my wife and 7 year old daughter booked this hotel on the friday we flew out on the sunday all on the word of our friends who also flew out on the sunday. I must admit ididnt no what expect on arrivial as we hadnt been to tunisa before, but can say hand on heart it was the best holiday we have ever had from the monent you get of the plane the local people treat you like kings thay might be just after a tip but they really seem like nice people and it dosent stop there the royal treatment carrys on at the sahara beach the rooms are basic who cares didnt go there to sleep all day and the food is a good variation something for everyone but not just chips.The beers quite nice the grounds of the hotel are spotless theres also soft drinks and coffee availble at every bar , the inside of the hotel is a bit dated but with the beach 2 minutes from the hotel it is out of this world. Theres plenty to do all the waters sports you can think of on the beach the pedlows are free if you are allinclusive theres a bar and snack bar on the beach where from 12 oclock you can get pizzas kebabs my mates life line even cheese salad rolls his wife swears by them.Theres also a bar in the sea this is also part of the hotel but you have to pay for your drinks there not much its a nice change 4 outdoor pools 1 indoor heated make sure you treat yourself to a massage there great the shops in the hotel are ok bit pricey but hagel the gold shop is great they make a ring called a spin ring real gold dead good sorry to run on a bit but it was really good were going back next june already booked great for all the family.

we stayed at the sahara beach hotel and i would recommend it to anyone.this was our third year to the resort and each time we've been,we have been greeted like long lost friends.The hotel is very clean and the food is lovely,i put on 7lbs in my 2 week stay!!
If the kids get bored(very doubtful)or just fancy something different,there is a go-kart track about 5 minutes walk from the hotel.A 15 minute taxi ride to either sousse or monistir and you can haggle to your hearts content at the markets,an experience not to be missed.The hotel staff worked very hard and long hours but were always helpful and polite.The entertainment team never stopped!!During the day,they did their best to involve everyone,regardless of age,in the activities.There was no time for boredom!!

Flew out on the 11th with Nouvelair (3 hour delay), arriving back to Gatwick on the 18th (1.5 hour delay). Very basic airline, using Airbus A320's. No inflight movie, terrible meal going out, acceptable coming back. Friends flew with Thomson and had a better experience.

This was a very late booking and had to pick tickets up at Gatwick. We easily found the MyTravel desk (Direct Travel are a part of MT) where the tickets were waiting for us.
Couldn't buy any Dinars in the UK, EXCEPT for the Change Bureau at Gatwick.

Because of the flight delay going out, we arrived at Monastir at 01:00. We had pre-paid

This is the first time we have ever visited Tunisia and loved every minute of it.

Although the rooms were basic they were kept clean by team of cleaners that came into our room every day.

Although the food was varied every night they also did pizza, pasta, omelette's, pancakes, soup every night. They had 2 themed night during our 7 night stay were you could try out food/drinks from different cultures. The beach snack bar was also lovely. They did sandwiches, kebabs, pizzas, hamburgers, chips etc made to order but we only had to wait a couple of minutes. We were on the beach enjoying our lunch one day and turned around to see a couple of camels wandering down the beach!!

The staff were all very pleasant and helpful.

We visited the Nightclub a couple of times during our stay which is open until 2am. If you are all inc this does not apply in the nightclub but the drinks are very reasonable (about

We had a really enjoyable 2 week stay for Christmas at the Sahara.

My eldest son is in a wheelchair, we have travelled all over Europe and can honestly say the hotel and complex is wonderfully wheelchair friendly. The only thing I would say is don't request an adapted room, as there is a level shower tray but the size of a sink! in a tiny bathroom, you can push the wheelchair to the sink but the toilet is behind the door so you have to take the wheelchair out to get the disabled person behind the door, hence no point in the door being wide enough in the first place. Also the room itself ironically is smaller than the basic twin rooms,couldn't push the wheelchair at bottom of the bed to go to the wardrobe or balcony as there wasn't enough room,also to put my son in bed I had to push the 1st bed away from the wall a little, this in turn pushed bed 2 across towards French door, which then wouldn't open as bed in the way!

I had to laugh, we were on holiday after all, I promptly went to reception staff ,had a laugh with them, they then gave me 2 rooms that were inter-connecting, larger rooms and bathrooms slightly larger. The door still in the way of getting my son to the toilet, so I lifted off the bathroom door and hey presto put a patio chair in there for my son, almost perfect!

Apart from the above little blip, the 2 weeks were fab, my son was whisked away by animation team several times, making him apart of all the fun.

The food even though repetitive by the second week, was plentiful and varied choice. Every lunchtime and evening you can have freshly made omelette's, pancakes, pizzas and smoothies, so if the daily meat and fish dishes weren't up to your taste then having pizza and omelette's were a good backup. The beach bar served burgers, kebabs, and all kinds of sandwiches everyday.

The hotel and complex is packed with things to do, especially as some of the days were chilly and wet due to the time of year (may I add most days were however spent on the beach, lovely and summery) warm indoor pool, hairdressers, horse riding, bike hire, usual darts, skittles, ping pong, few shops (I wish I had been pre-warned about the shop keepers in Tunisia, ie they are pests!!!) be polite but firm when they try and get you to go in their shop or hand you items. Tell them your here for a few days you will be back (please note they do remember you said that!!) The first couple of days we were trying to just relax and chill, after which we got used to them and had a laugh, you don't have a choice about been pestered by them as all the shops are lined up in a walkway on the way to the restaurant!! We did look for a back door. They are harmless enough, just trying to earn a living.

All in all this is a great place, clean, tidy, well organised, brilliant Christmas eve gala. I wont go into detail because it would spoil the surprise if you were going for Christmas, the best dinner dance I have ever been too. Christmas day was great for the kids too. The day before Christmas eve is the Tunisian Christmas day so more nostalgia.

We loved it so much we have already booked for next Christmas plus new year included. We met a family from Kent whilst there they have booked up for the same dates. Can't wait.

p.s The hotel and surrounding area only sells their branded alcohol, so if you like good spirits and Baileys etc, bring it with you, my husband went to a local supermarket a bottle of Baileys was

Sahara Beach brilliant.

Well all I can say is dont belive everything you read,I booked this holiday months ago and then I found this page and got so worried about some of the bad reviews I saw,but no need it was brilliant.

Yes some things could be better like the showers but the baths were fine.I am a VERY light sleeper and I never heard any planes fly over from our room only time was when on the beach and watching them was lovely.

Food was fine cant complain but they dont have our bacon,sausages and beans but who cares plenty of other things to eat ,the pancakes and smoothies brill, our waiter was called freddy and he looked after us our whole stay you dont have to tip but after the service we had they all deserved it.

Animation team brilliant I only wished our 2 year old grandson had been with us he would have loved all of it especially the dancing.

We had lovely weather but the only problem was the outside pools freezing this is beacause no boiling sun this time of year to heat it.

Would go back again to this hotel but my husband and I need to loose weight after eating so much of the lovely food served here.

We had read the reviews on here and you can't help but be a little put off by them....We were going for my 40th birthday and I have to admit I was a little worried.
HOWEVER....we cannot recommend this holiday enough.

At this time of the year it obviously wasn't full so you got a better level of service. The food was plentiful and delicious Jimmi our waiter was a star and yes we did tip him every day a few dinars which is peanuts to us.

The room was clean and lets be honest it's only somewhere to sleep so why people go off on one about them amazes me. The only let down in the hotel was the piano bar. It is a lovely relaxed place to go and chill but the staff in there couldn't crack a smile if their lives depended on it...unless you were a young girl !!

The entertainment staff are amazing...where they get their energy from I don't know. I can imagine in the summer that this would be a very busy, very noisy hotel but in November it was wonderful with about four planes per day taking off so even that didn't bother us. The camel train is a great day out and the Bedouin feast on the Friday night was brilliant.

All in all I would definitely recommend this hotel at this time of year. Drinks were fine food was fine staff were fine and weather was beautiful.

Great value for money....and don't forget....it's a cheap 3 star TUNISIAN hotel so for the fella from Wigan complaining there were no pies......!!

Really you couldn't make it up could you?!