This was my first family holiday in a long time as well as it being my sons first holiday abroad therefore, this was more of a 'quality-time' trip rather then an explore, blog and review trip however, I wanted to share my time and experience.
We had a package holiday with Thomas Cook (RIP) before they closed down and we could not fault the service they provided, the staff were friendly and made the experience memorable for the kids.
Tunisia had its fair share of troubles back in 2015 with tourism completely diminishing due to peoples personal fears and safety however, since then the country has been working hard to regain its popularity and growth in tourism. The prices are relatively cheap for a beautiful and hot destination compared to other countries, and the people are really lovely.
The Sahara Beach Resort complex is very big and has a extensive range of amenities and activities, far too many to get through and explore in just 7 days, especially with a 7 year old boy who just wanted to live in the swimming pool.
Side note: In peak season at this hotel, if you want a sunbed you better be up and putting your towel down by the pool before the sun even comes up! Basically there is no sleeping in, you are a part of the 5 am club if you want that perfect sunbathing spot or a decent sunbed-to-pool ratio.
Extra side note: Be prepared! The sunbeds are stacked on top of each other and the middle section allows you to sit up or stay lying down so, as you can imagine it is just before 5am and my 5ft2 self is trying to unstack these sunbeds while being donked in the head by the middle section!
We spent a fair amount of time around the rock pool area because you could just walk straight into the pool and it slowly went from shallow to deep (family friendly), it was also
reasonably close to everything.
There were 6 pool areas in the resort including the rock pool area, above this was another pool where water flowed down creating the waterfalls in the rock pool, an aqua-park area with watersides, to the left of the rock pool separated by a bridge was a small children's pool, there was also a large deep pool and an indoor pool with a Jacuzzi #TooManyOptions.
There are many snack and drink bars located across the complex as well as 3 main restaurants for set meal times. I am one of those fussy eaters, a bit like the kids, and there are many different options however, it is the standard 'all inclusive' hotel food. One was an à la carte restaurant which the hotel provided one night's three course meal per person, after that you would have to pay for any meals there. The steak was seasoned and cooked to perfection and it was hands down my favourite meal during my stay, they also cooked stone baked pizza which was freshly made, served until late, very cheap and tasted amazing!
During the day, hotel team reps would put on activities for both adults and children. There was also a range of sport activities out the front of the complex including biking, tennis courts, football courts and mini golf. An arcade would open during various hours which offered a range of games, there were many different shops and stalls around the complex where you could buy various things, as well as a few evening entertainment areas.
There was a range of pool floats you could buy from the local shop which were really cheap and the kids loved them.
You could even get those massive sunbathing flamingos for groups of people however, we opted for a couple of tires, a crocodile and the smaller hooped flamingo. Our room balcony was stuffed with pool floats and you could barely move out there. Of course I had to get an infamous flamingo selfie even though I'm heavily conscious of my mummy tummy, I still love the pic. My nephew had a mood on in the background so, in insta-fashion I had to crop him out #SorryNotSorry! At the end of the holiday we gave all our floats to a family that had just arrived, there was no way I was stuffing that flamingo in my case as much as I loved it! Many people who, I presume, were leaving the same day as us were going around the pools trying to offload their floats to different families, we got offered some a few times.
My favourite place throughout the whole resort was the private beach with its soft golden sand and glowing ocean.
It had its own beach snack bar as well as an ocean bar, a small shack-like shop where you could get cans of branded drinks and pool floats, various beach activities, and of course sunbeds. If you stood still enough in the ocean you could see small fish swimming around your feet, although my phone is waterproof I was too scared to put it under the water #AnxietyOverload!
The best time to take a stroll down the beach was at stupid o'clock, after being attacked by the sunbeds at the pool. Watching the sun rise up and over the ocean with an empty beach and only the sound of the waves was complete bliss, once it would reach approximately 5:30am a flock of flamingos would migrate across to West and then back to the East at sunset. I just managed to capture the flamingos one morning whilst taking photos of the sunrise.
The week went far to quickly and overall, the destination is absolutely stunning and the people are lovely. The hotel offers so many different things which are perfect for every holiday experience, whether its a family holiday, solo trip or a couples getaway. I would definitely recommend the Sahara Beach Resort and will most certainly visit Tunisia again.
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