Hotel Houda - Skanes "Cheap and Cheerful" (Houda Golf & Beach Club)

Member Name: Dinkum

Product:	Houda Golf & Beach Club
Date:	30/05/06 (1676 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap well equipped hotel

Disadvantages: Nothing close to the hotel

We stayed here last October for two weeks. The hotel is very clean and the cleaners do an excellent job. This is a great complex for families with 3 good pools and the beach is a stones throw away.

This is an All Inclusive hotel and the food isn't wonderful - although you can always find something to eat. At each meal there is a vast selection. Just don't expect too much - always remember this is not Britain!!

There is also an indoor pool (it gets VERY hot), well equipped gym, internet access, money exchange at the hotel, safety deposit boxes, shops, sauna, hairdressers, waxing and other treatments - there really is everything you need.

The animation team do their very best to keep everyone entertained and trust me these guys work LONG hours - they never seem to get off the complex. Some of their evening shows can be quite funny - although sometimes they can also be quite rude. They do a kids disco in the evening and the kids love it. The animation team put a lot of effort into getting the kids to dance - our two year old loved it. The stage however that they use for the dancing I thought was a little unsafe for the kids disco - its raised on all fur sides with no barrier to stop the little ones falling off - it's also quite near to one of the pools.

The hotel is a short taxi ride away from both Monastir and Sousse - Sousse was my favourite out of the two - I loved strolling round the Medina - be prepared for lots of hassle off the locals - but take it as all good fun and don't get intimidated. They are just trying to get you to buy something - they have a lot of competition from the locals all selling the same thing.

Excursions - we did the camel train through the hotel with a guy called Fritz - you mount your camel and head off to a Bedouin village for entertainment and a light meal. Really enjoyed it - definitely worth doing. The pirate ship was quite pleasant if you like sailing on a boat made from old pallets LOL. The sea was quite rough when we went however you are offered the chance to dive off and have a swim - so take your swimwear.

The must do excursion is the Sahara Explorer - this was the highlight of our holiday. Leave the hotel at 5.10am and travel by coach to El Jem Ampthitheatre, then on to Matmata the set of Star Wars where you have lunch. You then have a cup of tea in a Troglodytes Cave dwelling! These people were very accomodating. Then continue the journey to Douz. The hotel in Douz looks out into the Sahara desert and its fabulous! The evening is spent riding camels into the sunset in the sahara. Up early the next day to watch the sunrise over Chott El Jerid salt lakes, this was one of the most moving breathtaking experiences in my life. You then continue the journey to a Desert Oasis at Tozeur - here you get into a horse and cart and travel round a date and banana plantation. The journey continues to the Atlas Mountains where you transfer into jeeps and head up into the mountains. Its very hot and you really do run the risk of burning here. The scenery is breathtaking, so make sure you have charged your camera batteries as you wont want to miss a thing! Eventually back into the coach and travel onwards to Gafsa for lunch. This is a two day trip covering around 800 miles by coach. I think it cost us about £150 for three of us (one being 2 years old!), this included all meals and accomodation. The camel ride did cost extra. However this was a very memorable tour, the guide was knowledgeable (we lovingly nicknamed him "Colonel" after the KFC colonel sanders). You get to see lots of Tunisia you wouldnt have seen otherwise. We were a bit worried when we got on the coach on day one as we had the only child on the trip, however despite him only being 2 years old (nearly 3) we entertained him with books, colouring and looking at things out of the window. Do take children - it's wonderful!

The hotel is cheap and cheerful, the rooms are well equipped with all you need. A good base for a wonderful holiday - I would definitely go back to Tunisia.

Summary: An enjoyable holiday and a failry low cost price.