Hammamet Tunisia

Guide Books to Tunisia

If you’ve got a holiday planned to Hammamet or anywhere else in Tunisia then I highly recommend you get a guide book to take on your travels. There are quite a few available and I recommend either the Lonely Planet or the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to Tunisia.  Both have loads of great info which should help make your trip even more enjoyable.

Reasons to Get a Guide Book

Even if you are going on a package tour there are lots of good reasons to get a guide book before going on holiday.  Here are some of the top benefits:

• Get to know the place before you arrive which will help you settle in and enjoy your holiday right from day one
• Learn the lingo: most guide books have a short dictionary and phrase book in them and although most people in Tunisia speak English knowing a few local words can help you out at the medina where the locals can get a bit pushy!
• Find out what attractions there are.  This can be a great help once you arrive and the hotel starts trying to sell you day trips and excursions.  Armed with your local guide book you can get the real info on which trips to do and how much you should pay and stop you getting ripped off.
• Avoid eating at the hotel every night. If you want to see the real Tunisia then head out for dinner in the evenings.  Your guide book will tell you all you need to know to avoid getting that Hammamet Hangover the next day from a dodgy diner.

There are many more great reasons to get a guide book so click here to find out which ones are available for Tunisia.

Happy holidays!

Tunisian Food & Drink

We had booked to go half-board at our hotel (the Sol Azur) as it was cheaper than self-catering so had our breakfast at the hotel each morning and had dinner there most nights.  We had to fend for ourselves at lunch time so got to try some of the local dishes.

Hammamet Sandwich
We got this on our first day from the cafe on the hotel beach at Hammamet. I was hoping it was going to be like the clubs sandwiches they serve by the pools in Greece and even though it wasn’t I really enjoyed it.  Tuna is popular in Tunisia and the Hammamet sandwich was filled with salad, a boilded egg and a generous portion of tuna.  What made it different thought was the bread which was a large round toasted bap with a hard shell.  I thought it was really nice and it came with fries on the side which was a nice touch.

Big Cheese
Nearly every cafe had a selection of burgers on the menu and the Big Cheese was a favourite of mine during my trip to Hamammet.  It is a roll cut into three slices with burger and cheese in between one slice and salad in the other.  Most places also had a Big Mac on the menu but regretfully I never tried on of those.

Pizza
They love their pizzas out in Tunisia, or at least the people going on holiday there do.  Maybe because Tunisia is so close to Italy?  Who knows but most cafes and restaurants have a good selection on the menu with version toppings.  I had a couple of Hammamet Pizzas which varied in toppings from place to place but mainly consisted of tuna and olives. I also had a very with strange meats which looked a bit like ground beef.  The pizzas were all 12 inch and thin crust which was nice and were very cheap, ranging from £2.50 up to £5 which was also nice.

Seafood
Being on the coast most restaurants in Hammamet and Hammamet Yasmine had an extensive seafood section and lobsters were often found swimming in tanks outside the beachfront eateries. I’m not much of a fish fan but my girlfriend had a few fish dishes and said they were all very nice.

Booze
Although Islam is the official religion of Tunisia alcohol is available in most cafes and restaurants in Hamamet and Hammamet Yasmine.  Our hotel had two types of beer, one of which was called Stella but must’ve been a Tunisian copy as although it was nice, didnt taste or look the same and came in a pint sized bottle.  The other beer was Celtia which came in a regular 33cl bottle and was also nice but probably not very strong.  The hotel has a good selection cocktails and most places had a wine list.  We had some Tunisian wine which was pretty nice.

Soft Drinks
The weather in Tunisia is perfect for growing oranges and all the cafes around the resorts of Hammamet and Hammamet Yasmine sold fresh orange juice which was squeezed to order.  They said not to drink the tap water so we didnt and bought bottled water to drink instead.  This was pretty cheap outside of the hotel selling for about 50p for 1.5 litres.

Full English
Non tourist resort would be complete without having a fry-up on offer and even Africa is no exception.  We saw a couple of places doing an English breakfast but I never got around to trying one.  Maybe next time…

Where is Tunisia?

Tunisia, or the Republic of Tunisia as it is officially known, is a country in the north of Africa. It is located southwest of the Italian island of Sicily and south of Sardinia.

It has a 1300 km coastline so is ideal for those looking for a beach holiday and around 40% of the country is covered by the Sahara.

Language
The main language of Tunisia is Arabic but French is equally spoken.  During my trip to Hammamet most of the locals we encountered spoke English and German as well as Arabic and French.  Speaking French will come in handy if you go off the beaten track but for us in the resorts of Hammamet and Hammamet Yasmine it wasn’t necessary as pretty much everyone could speak a enough  English to get by.  Most menus and signs outside of the hotels were in English, French & German but inside the hotel everything was in English and German.

Religion
The official state religion of Tunisia is Islam and the president is required to be Muslim but apart from that they are pretty tolerant of other religions and wearing the Hijab (headscarf) has been banned.  We saw a few mosques dotted around but Hammamet and Hammamet Yasmine were much less obviously Muslim areas in the UK, East London as an example.  Not everywhere sold alcohol but most places catering to tourists did with a selection of wines and beers on offer.

Currency
The dinar is the currency of Tunisia and is abbreviated to DT when prices are listed.  It is a closed currency meaning you cannot take their money out of the country so you will have to get your Tunisian money when you arrive in Tunisia and change it up before you leave.  ATMs were readily available and our hotel, the Sol Azur, provded a free money changing service.  Remember to keep your recipts as you will need them to change money back into your local currency!

Population
The population of Tunisia was estimated to be around 10 million in 2008.

Sol Azur Beach Hotel, Hammamet, Tunisia

This is the hotel we stayed in and it is rated 4-star.   It is part of a complex with two other hotels, the Bel Azur (3-star) and the Royal Azur (5-star) beach hotels.

Each hotel has its only pool, bars, restaurants and cafes but are all with in the same complex so guests can freely make use of each of the hotels facilities.

Although we were staying in the Sol Azur hotel we spent most of our pool-time in and around the pool of the Bel Azur as it was very deep (3.5 meters) making it great for diving.

Each of the three hotels share the same stretch of beach which has a beach side food and drink bar serving snacks, ice creams and cold drinks through out the day.  The beach is not fenced off in anyway so you are free to wander off in either direction if you want a change off scenery but as the beach is only accessible via the hotels you don’t get any vendors wandering amongst the holiday makers.

My Trip to Hammamet Tunisia

I have just returned from a seven night holiday in Hammamet Tunisia.

This site will contain information on my trip to help you decide whether Tunisia and Hammamet are for you.

I had a great time out there and hope you will too!

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