Barcelo Carthage Thalasso

“ The hotel itself is lovely. There is a fantastic pool area with plenty of sunbeds. There is also a small "aquapark" with water shute.

The breakfast room is very nice and they had a selection of pastries, bread, cheese and salad, along with some very limited hot items. The same room also provides a rather limited buffet dinner from 7pm each evening (there is a separate a la carte restaurant open from 8pm) at a cost of 42TND. We thought that this was rather expensive for the choices available. However, unless you chose to stay in the city centre to eat and then travel back by taxi, because the hotel is in the middle of nowhere (a bonus if you're looking for some peace and quiet!) you don't really have any other option than to eat at the hotel. The drinks in the bar are expensive. Whilst we didn't drink any alcohol in the hotel, soft drinks and coffees were in the region of 6TND and expensive compared to other areas in Tunisia.

The rooms are delightful, either with a garden or pool view. My family visited for the first 2 nights and last 2 nights of our trip and experienced both types of rooms. We found the pool view rooms to be more luxurious (ours was carpeted as opposed to tiled which was nice). The beds were so comfortable and had quilts as opposed to horrible scratchy blankets. The rooms have flat screen TVs with a limited number of channels in English, and some Tunisian channels showing relatively up to date films in English but with Arabic subtitles.

For families, the hotel has duplex rooms with a separate sleeping area upstairs as well as down to allow some privacy. We saw some couples with 3 children and assume they were staying in such rooms.

As far as I could see there is no animation team at the hotel, nor a miniclub for the children. However, for families with children who love to swim this shouldn't pose too much of a problem as the pool is so lovely.

According to the signs in the hotel they also have apartments. There is a very small "mini market" within the hotel grounds but the choice is extremely limited.

The hotel has a 24 hour currency exchange service (the Tunisian dinar is a "closed" currency, which means you can't buy it in the UK, nor can you take it out of the country with you when you leave. Wherever you change your money in Tunisia you get the same exchange rate so there is no need to shop around.

Would I stay here again? Maybe. We got a very good deal with Travel Republic. However, I've stayed in another hotel just down the road where I did feel more relaxed.

I haven't marked this hotel any higher in rating due to the fact that for a 5* hotel I expected a wider range of choice in respect of food. The service was OK, but not the best I've experienced in Tunisia. And there were a high number of Arabic guests at the time I travelled. I'm used to hotels where there is a more European clientele and I did feel like I stuck out a bit like a sore thumb.

“ Top Tip: Don't fly to Enfidha airport if you're staying in this hotel. You would have at least a 2.5 hour transfer.

Buy your bottled water for your room in the little mini market as it's less than half the price than the bottled water at the bar.

Ask for a quiet room away from the central lobby balcony. The Arabic guests used to sit and drink coffee in the lobby of an evening and it used to get rather noisy, although where my rooms were situated were well away from this area.

Seriously consider Travel Republic's half board rates if they have them due to the fact that the hotel is situated in an exceptionally quiet location.

“ The Hotel was exellent with good service, where it did not come up to expectations was the food, for a 5 star Hotel in Tunisia the selection of dishes
were limited and reflected an Local flavour, perhaps Compared to the food quality and choice served up at any of the Hotels in Tunis, this hotel would equate to a 4 star hotel for its meals, In every other respect the hotel lives up to its 5 star rating.

“ Top Tip: The Hotels Water Park was exellent even with some of the rides noit available