Tunisia and Panorama holidays

Princess J

Hiya,
My boyfriend and I are starting to think about where we'd like to go on our holidays this year. We're heading off the first two weeks of October and have been looking at Tunisia. we found a two week holiday in Port el Kantou with Panorama in a four star resort, all inclusive for 500 euro each. It looks great and the price is nice but niether of us have been and want to make sure it's something we'll enjoy before we book it. Anyone here been to Tunisia? We mainly like to kinda do our own thing, avoiding doing tourist excursions where possible and eating in different places a couple of times, we're not into sitting on the beach or by the pool all day everyday or going out clubbing every night. we prefer to hire a car if possible a drive around exploring. we wouldn't mind the all inclusive as at that price I wouldn't mind if we ate out of the resort a couple of nights. But how expensive is Tunisia for food and drink?? If anyone can give me any info that'd be great

Also, I've never travelling with Panorama before so if anyone who has could let me know if they're ok that'd be fab too

ScouseMouse

I went there a couple of years ago. I will make a guess you would be staying at the El Mouradi Palace or the Sol El Mouradi. I stayed in the Sol and it was fine. Port El Kantoui is just a long beach with some very good hotels on it. At one end is a marina with fanatastic yachts and some shops but that is it. I recall that at the time (about 4 years ago) the El Mouradi Palace required gents to wear long trousers to have dinner. One of the main reasons that half and full board is popular is because there is practically nothing there. Very few restaurants, pubs and clubs. Everything is hotel based. With the half board we had, the food got very repetitive and what was left from today was shredded and put into tomorrows dishes. Panorama was very good though. Dinars are/were restricted so you could not take them out of the country. You can get them in the money exchange which is in every hotel.

You can do excursions to the sahara and the caves where star wars were filmed. You can get duty free going and coming back ( the jameson was cheaper in their duty free shop than ours - surprise surprise) but Tunisia is mainly a beach - chill out - relax place. It is a muslim country but is probably the most liberal of all of them. They make their own alcohol but it is FIG whiskey, FIG brandy etc etc. I bought becks cans in a small supermarket across the road and only later realised it was NON-ALCOHOLIC.

At the marina, there is a fountain with a few cafes around it. I got food poisioning from an icecream desert. I was in the loo for 4 days. Mr Samart in my hotel, the Sol El Mouradi was very helpful to my wife in her quest for a chemist.

The main town locally is Sousse. There is a large medina (market) there where you can barter some good deals. On one excursion a street vendor "gave" me a gift of a 3 inch high wooden camel. Then two minutes later followed me down the road demanding money for coffee.

Tunisia is purely a beach - chill place and it does that well. If you want anything else - including booze - beware.

Culchie

superscouse wrote: »

You can do excursions to the sahara and the caves where star wars were filmed.

I got food poisioning from an icecream desert. I was in the loo for 4 days.

This about sums up Tunisia for me, it's a kip.

Food is poor, smell and rubbish everywhere, and I believe Port El Kantoui is the best place!

Sousse is just disgusting, rubbish everywhere.

The Sahara trip was great....the only thing I enjoyed about the place.

I would go anywhere else but Tunisia.

Ponster

The best way to see Tunisia IMO is by getting a coupld of guide books, learning a few French words and doing it all yourself. The package-type holiday that you're talking about doesn't seem to be the type of holiday that matches your expectations and is great when you don't have the time to organise your trip for yourself.

So if you want a few days of beach and relaxation and of just getting away from it all then I'd go for the package but you'll be missing out on a lot of the country.

Here's a great article from a couple of years back...

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/04/16/story13352.asp

Curvy Vixen

I loved Port El Kantoui when I went there 10 years ago and we have actually booked to go back again this year.

However, I feel that if you would rather do your own thing on holidays then this wouldn't be the best place for you...

It was very much a chill out/pool/beach holiday and anything that happened outside the hotel happened in the marina or by coach excursion.

To be honest, from what you've described that you are looking for, and for that reason only I would avoid Tunisia altogether...just my opinion...

well, it's a long time since I've been in Tunisia, and wouldn't go back if you paid me.
We stayed in Sousse, and I still remember the smell, and the amount of petty harrasment we got on the streets.
Horrible place, never so glad to come home.
Not a good place for females either.

If I won a holiday there I'd throw it in the bin.

Curvy Vixen

Sousse is horrible ~ we were there once for about half a day and I couldn't wait to get back to Kantaoui!

dogmatix

I don't think Tunisia is a big of a kip as suggested. I stayed at the El-mouradi with Panorama back in 1993 and a had a good 2 week holiday. I did all the excursions, including the 3 day "safari", trips to Carthage and Dougga etc. It's a good location for sunshine, landscapes and history. Mind you that was 15 years ago, but the hotel was clean and new then and you should be able to avoid the trots if you use bottled water and the like..

Culchie

dogmatix wrote: »

I don't think Tunisia is a big of a kip as suggested. I stayed at the El-mouradi with Panorama back in 1993 and a had a good 2 week holiday. I did all the excursions, including the 3 day "safari", trips to Carthage and Dougga etc. It's a good location for sunshine, landscapes and history. Mind you that was 15 years ago, but the hotel was clean and new then and you should be able to avoid the trots if you use bottled water and the like..

In fairness, that was 15 years ago .... and Tunisia, without a shadow of a doubt, is the biggest kip I was ever in, and I travelled to plenty places.
I spent the week (thank god I didn't book two) kicking my way ankle deep through rubbish on the streets.

Miss Fluff

I went to Port El Kantoui with Panorama about five years ago and I always say that they should be called Pandemonium instead of Panorama. ALL my luggage was lost, went in winter so all I had was a polo neck, wool trousers, knee boots and underwear and I got my bags back the day before I was due to come back to Ireland.:eek: Pandemonium were most unhelpful. The food is really vile, hygiene standards leave a lot to be desired and I also spent four days on the toilet from food poisoning. In saying that the tours to the Sahara and the Troglodytes and the Colusseum in Sfax is amazing and are sites to behold and I'm glad I went. You already said you are not in to excursions etc and the choice of non hotel-based restaurants is limited. From your criteria I am not sure if Tunisia is somewhere that would appeal to you tbh.

beam_182

Ponster wrote: »

The best way to see Tunisia IMO is by getting a coupld of guide books, learning a few French words and doing it all yourself. The package-type holiday that you're talking about doesn't seem to be the type of holiday that matches your expectations and is great when you don't have the time to organise your trip for yourself.

So if you want a few days of beach and relaxation and of just getting away from it all then I'd go for the package but you'll be missing out on a lot of the country.

Well, we'd just be booking the package for the cost really, if we could hire a car we'd drive around and just use the hotel as a base. I'd be bored off my trolley sitting on the beach/by the pool for one day, never mind two weeks! The other places we were kinda looking at were egypt and morrocco or the canaries (I do like the warmth!)

Ponster

I've done a 3 week driving holiday in Morrocco if ever you need any info...

theteal

myself and herself stayed in Port last Sept for a week. we wanted a completely chilled break and that's exactly what you'll find there. we stayed in the Kanta and to be honest, after the first two days of walking around, ended up spending most of the daylight hours in the complex. the place is really laid back during the day, by night people appear from everywhere and the fountain area was the focal point of activity - the dancing water show is worth a look for a while. there's loads of shops/stalls, restaurants (most serve alcohol). the haggling gets a bit of a pain in the a**e after a while, at one point some guy was haggling over 2 cans of coke - he asked for 5 dinar (it's only about 3 euro but he was being an ass trying to extort from dehydrated tourists) i turned away laughing in disbelief. the irish bar should be reported to the advertising authority - they showed prem soccer instead of Dublin getting knocked out of the championship, there was nearly uproar from a few of the auld lads - a riverdance dvd on constant play an irish bar does not make. anyway i'm babbling, it's a nice place, expensive for tunisia but cheap compared to dublin, i wouldn't go back but it's the place i discovered scuba diving (best experience ever) so it'll always conjure good memories