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Port El Kantaoui
Port El Kantaoui is a picturesque blue and white village set on the sandy beaches of the Tunisian coastline, the resort is purpose built and offers a sophisticated and luxury holiday experience in a beautiful setting. The El Kantaoui complex is built around a modern marina, which can accommodate more than 300 vessels, most of them moored by millionaires. Its complex of hotels centres on the cobblestone streets of the perfect reproduction of a typical medieval medina, abuzz during the day with souvenir hunters. In the evening the action switches to the bars and cafes opposite the marina. The entire town has been termed a 'tourist ghetto', but it is indeed a delightful and highly successful one, enhanced by its Mediterranean location and Moorish flavour.
The resort has a main shopping centre, with a purpose built souk, which is built mainly for the tourists and specialises in selling tourist products for more expensive prices than the rest of Tunisia. Bargaining for goods is an entertaining experience, however. For better bargains and a more realistic Tunisian bazaar experience take an excursion to nearby Sousse.
Port El Kantaoui has a variety of excellent restaurants, offering a vast range of international and local cuisine. The chic and sophisticated restaurants line the Marina, like sophisticated La Daurade, or Les Emirs, which serve up traditional specialities, and Le Mediterranee. Prices are modest by European standards, but higher than elsewhere in Tunisia.
The nightlife on the resort is relaxed and low key, with chic pavement cafes where visitors can enjoy a few drinks as the world passes by after enjoying some excellent gourmet cuisine, or they can enjoy the entertainment at the at one of the resort hotels. There is also a casino about five minutes away.
The lively Marina in Port El Kantaoui offers a range of activities, including glass bottomed boat tours; pleasure cruises, fishing expeditions and some excellent dolphin viewing excursions. The close proximity of the older, more established resort town of Sousse, just six miles (10km) away, means that visitors can enjoy the best of both worlds and travel by the local 'Noddy Train' between the two, sampling the beaches and water sports on offer. The two resorts also share two golf courses. Other pursuits include quad biking, horse riding and beach camel rides, as well as a variety of excursions to choose from like shopping trips to Tunis, expeditions to view the Roman ruins at Carthage, the pretty village of Sidi Bou Said, or an evening in the desert at a Bedouin Feast.
The majority of hotels in Port El Kantaoui are top level and the resort itself is a luxury resort and higher priced because of this, the resort is not ideal for budget travellers as there are not many facilities for them in Port El Kantaoui.
