We travelled to the Diar Lemdina in late June and stayed in the Sidi Bou said area of the medina. Myself my wife and our children (14 & 9) all had a wonderfull time with some of the most pleasant hotel staff I have ever had the pleasure to meet. The staff in reception were excellent at all times of night and day and the staff in the main restuarant (Tunisien) were simply the best I have ever encountered. We were very pleasantly surprised by the apartments which were big, clean and well equipped and kept in lovely condition by our maid. We stayed for two weeks and used the restaurant daily and never got bored with the choices and found the food to be of a consistently high standard. The rest of the medina is lovely and has many restaurants and bars and if you are staying in the medina most of the stall holders get to know you quite quickly and soon have a laugh instead of trying to get you into their shops. We never felt hassled by the stall holders in the medina and most took a smile and a no thanks however "La shukran" sees off the slightly more persistent ones, we found the fixed price shops to be good value as they usually work out cheaper than haggling and much quicker too. The stall holders at the entrance near to the reception were excellent and we made some firm friends and even received gifts from them, if you see the sultan at the popcorn stall give him my best as he was fantastic.
The resort its self is all new with some lovely hotels and a good beach. TIp - don't buy any excursions from the tout on the beach he is very expensive, go to the marina and book at the ticket office. The pirate boat trip was great fun and the watersports were also excellent and the prices much better than spain. The water park in Hammamet was good for a day out too, the two day safari into the desert was amazing but tiring, Carthage land (theme park in the medina) is small but wasn't busy and we went in in the morning and went back later at night as it had a few good fun rides and the kids enjoyed it.Taxis are definetly the best way to get around cheap and quick and watch where you buy certain items as there is a wide variety of prices with the centre of town at the beach by far the more expensive.
my three top tips for yasmine hammamet -
1)You don't go abroad on holiday to get what you have at home
2)Smile it works wonders and you might actually enjoy yourself more
3)The offl licence is in the supermarket below the blue ice at the marina!!!!
Have fun we did.

We stayed at the Diar Lemdina for a week, 2 dults, two teens, two children. The room was wonderfull, a lovely kitchen, microwave, toaster, coffee maker,fridge, cooker..etc.. We had a large living room, a master bedroom en suite, a twin bedroom, and two couch beds in the living room. The maids came every day with fresh flowers, towels etc, and a linen change twice a week. We were 30 seconds from the pool (their are two, and 3 kiddy pools) which had a life guard on duty at all times. The whole place really was beautifully maintained, very clean, with very helpfu and friendly staff.
The medina itself is wonderful, it is really something else, yes the seller will badger you a little but nothing like as bad as some reviewers would have you expect, and yes , if you haggle you can get great bargains!
The beach is only a two minute walk away, it is fully serviced with no charges for loungers .
There is a really good supermarket ( Bravo) within walking distance that sells everything you could need including beer and wines, fresh fruit and vegatables, meats, cheeses and juices etc.
The whole area of Yasmine Hqmmamet is beautiful, far more modern, clean and attractive than Hammamet itself.
My only notes of caution are that many of the tours operated by T.T.S. and sold by the tour reps are in very old dilapadated buses (not ike the one that brings you from the airport). And if you are travelling by Nouvelair be prepared for the most ignorant, unfriendly, and discouteous airline staff in the world! But dont let them spoil your holiday, these nasty and unhelpful gang are not representative of Tunisian people, who are very friendly and open.
All in all we would highly recommend Tunisia and especially the Diar Lemdina to anyone who wants a sunsoaked, quality and highly entertaining holiday.

I went to Yasmine Hammamet in mid-june this year, after reading the reviews i was ready to take the rough with the smooth and prepared myself accordingly.
The weather was beautiful, it was warm with little humidity, the sun was hot, i would recommend staying out of the sun between 11and3pm, that is not to say you should go indoors, just put up the umbrella next to the pool. Spending the holiday lobster red and in pain is no holiday, look after your skin!
The hotel was nice, 5* in north africa = 3* UK standards, i wouldnt recommend staying any less than 5* because of this, standards, including health and safely, are much lower here. The rooms were clean and presentable with a split level, 1 bedroom apartment, 1 bathroom and a downstairs toilet, a kitchen area and a small terrace to the front of the room. We didnt use the terrace as it had little privacy (it was next to a public walkway) however we felt no loss as the room was opposite the pool. The pool was clean and well serviced, the life guard was friendly in an inoffensive way and put up your parisols and moved around the chairs for you if there was nowhere to sit.
The hotel staff were very friendly and helpful, laughing and joking. You may have read that tipping is customary and many people expect it, i found nothing of the sort. I tipped at restaurants, of course, however the man who showed us to our room did not hang around for a tip and even acted as a "postman" to my friend going to buy the stamps and getting them to the actual post man and he refused a tip from her for his trouble. We did leave a tip at the end of the week for the cleaning staff, but thats it!

Now on to the resort itself. Yasmine Hammamet is relatively new and the medina is quite obviously a tourist attraction built within the last few years or so, if you want the real deal go to the old town of Hammamet where the medina is 13thCentury. It will cost you about 5-7TDN in a taxi (agree before you get in) or you could take the "noddy" train which is 5TND for a return ticket. Expect a lot of hassle from the traders, they will grab you, follow you, and dance in your way to slow you down...sometimes in good humor, sometimes quite aggresively. I guess this depends on the time of day and the sort of day they have had, imagine how you feel after a good/bad day at work. It can get very irritating and put you off shopping immidiately as you cannot browse without someone at your heels shoving various items in your face asking you what country you are from and generally not leaving you alone. My friend and I went into a couple of fix price stores to get a general feel of the prices so we were better equiped for the haggling process and found it so pleasent, being able to browse at our own pace that we wound up shopping in those. The prices, in my opinion, are better unless you are a bold haggler. They will try to rip you off, lie to you about the other products, you need to stand your ground, dont pay more than you want to pay and above all walk away. If they want the sale they will come after you, if not at least you are safe in the knowledge you were not ripped off.
An additional tip, buy duty free! This is practically a dry country, you will find it very difficult to buy alcohol cheaply. It is a muslim country and it is mainly tourists who drink and it can be expensive. Wine is reasonable however that is it. There are a lot of juice bars where you may see beer on the drinks list, this is usually marked with SA which means it is non-alcoholic. There is one supermarket that sells alcohol which is underneath the Blue Ice icerink up by the Marina.
My self and my friend (both female) went and had a lovely time, we were hassled and the men were inexcusably rude to us. It is this reason that neither of us would return, what made it nice (sun and scenery) also makes many other countries nice, rather than returning I think we'll just try something else.
Happy Holidaying!

We booked this hotel on recommendation of the travel agent - we were a bit worried about it having done little research - but were delighted with it, it was perfect for us - 2 foodies and 2 children aged 3 and 20 months..

Its a really unusual place - the hotel is built within the walls of the town's medina, and feels like a secret city - for example the reception feels like its an underground cavern - although its not. The hotel is split into three living quarters - two of which are very separate to the medina but which connect via walkways with security on the entrances - these two are within the walls but do feel separate, the third is much more a part of the medina itself with apartments off "streets". Whichever part of the hotel you are in, you feel like you are having a more "authentic" experience than a bog standard Iberostar or a Hyatt.

The hotel has a truly international clientele - there were very few brits there, lots of swedes, russians and germans. As a result the food was very international - this is not a place for those who only want to eat chips and egg!

Rooms - all I can say is wow. Huge. We thought we must have been upgraded at first, but I dont think we were. We got a 2 bedroomed apartment, furnished beautifully - although the patio furniture is cheap, with a kitchenette (perfect for the bubbas) and it had a lot of extras we liked - like an en suite bathroom, a full sized lounge and a brilliant balcony. We were in the Erriadh section of the hotel - overlooking the largest of the two pools, we were on the upper floor - which wasnt great with the kids buggy, but which did offer lovely views. Plus I have a fab big husband who did all the buggy lifting duties... There is no room service - but you have a fridge and its easy to stock up, seeing as the shops are v v close! Maid service was brill - beds made, place spotless. V impressed by the maids - and we only killed 3 mosquitos all holiday. Air con worked a treat, although was not icy cold or particularly strong - it did the job.

Pools - there are two outdoor, one indoor. The pool by reception is gorgeous, there are apartments overlooking it - there is a small kids pool. There are quite a few sun beds, but not many umbrellas. It gets really busy in the morning and then more quiet in the afternoon. The second pool at Erriadh is much bigger, there are two kids pools. Lots of beds but again not enough shades. There are no free pool/beach towels for the pool - and they don't replenish if you take the room towels down there.

Both pools have a bed-side drinks service - which was lovely and prices were not extortionate. You can charge to the room.

Food - we were half board - it was not bad, it was not great. There was lots of the buffet - and it was international, lots of different things, lots of things we hadnt tried before. Only problem for me - flies on the food, which I found very hard to accept - but most people seemed to be less bothered. The salads are wonderful - but based primarily around eggs. You wont find anything luxurious like steak or lobster - its all basic. They do have a pizza oven and make you up fresh vegetarian pizza on request - which was delicious. We didnt eat out in the medina or surrounding restaurants - because we were ok with the food and were only there a week, so didnt get bored with the buffet - but other people we met were really unhappy.

Staff were very friendly - and loved the kids. We did not get hassled particularly badly in the medina or in the streets around - we were firm but polite. We didnt give an inch towards going in the shops when pushed to do so, so they backed off us - plus husband looks arabic and is big. They do have security on the entrances to the hotel, so hawkers cannot get in.

There is nightlife and bars around the medina and the seafront - but no idea how it was, as our two kids were not really up for a big sesh.

Weather - was perfect. Fantastic. One or two hours of cloud the whole week - otherwise bright beautiful blue skies and I'd guess 33 - 35 degrees.

Downsides - everyone smokes there and they do not enforce the smoking rules anywhere. Beach was like an ash tray and is not cleaned. The hotel has its own private section of the beach, we didn't dare go to it, its too dirty.

Worst bit of the holiday was by far Monastir dump airport. Check in was fine, quick and we were 3k over our allowance, which they let us off - no charge, but the airport services were unbelievably bad. Here is why:-

1. Ladies loo's shockingly inappropriate for the volume of people and there were long queues everywhere, but not the gents funny enough.

2. Its non-smoking yet even the staff smoke everywhere and its just revolting - as there is no fresh air to get shot of the fog.

3. The food is an absolute utter rip off - there is very little choice and what there is, costs a fortune and has to be paid for in hard currency as you are supposed to have sacrificed alll your dinar before security - as a result they use the exchange rate to rip you off some more. It was disgraceful and atypical of what these countries are famed to be - a real blow to us having had so little hassle or experience of the "rip off" culture in resort.

4. Duty free was like a scrum - I dont think I have seen anything like it before, they dont allow you to back out with your buggy either - so you then have to queue to get out and cart the buggy down the stairs. We are extremely well travelled and open minded - this was just awful.

Our tips for having a fab time:

- Take pool towels with you, you dont need bath towels but you do need ones to take to teh pool.

- Take a higher spf than you would normally - as the sun is majorly strong.

- Get yourself into the medina and enjoy it but dont let anyone bully you, if you are firm, they will leave you alone.

- Get lots of snacks for the way home before you leave your hotel - you can take food through security just not drinks. Dont let them rip you off at Monastir airport - in fact, fly via Tunis if you can, much easier for Hammamet anyway.

- Ask for a room in Erriadh - its the best bit by far.

- Take a can of fly spray with you or a swatter - and do feed back to me if you kill a few of the evil flying death traps.

- Take kids pool toys, like floats, balls, boats, with you - the choice for kids toys is really rubbish - pretty much bucket and spades and fluffy camels only.

- The TVs have the coloured holes so you can plug in your portable DVD players, make sure you take the leads.

It was our first family trip to Tunisia and we would go back - and we recommend this hotel - its a bohemian gem. But a word of sincere cautiuon: if you like your chips and egg, a pint of fosters and a nice read of the Mirror or the Sun every day - this is not the place for you.