Bou Fares Hotel — Hotel in Tunis

We had an excellent experience at Hotel Bou Fares. If you want to stay in an authentic Tunisian room, with kind and attentive staff, in the center of Sidi Bou Said but on a quiet side street a minute's walk away from the lively center, this is the place for you. ||||Pros: ||- Beautiful, traditional rooms, with character. Colorful tiles on the walls and ceilings, even in the closets. Gorgeous stone archways within the rooms. Thick walls keep it quiet and cool. Our bathroom had a skylight. You will want to take pictures of your room. If you are in Tunisia, why not stay in a place that is actually Tunisian in character?||-AC works really well, and you will want it if you visit Tunisia in summer.||- Quiet courtyard, where you can enjoy your breakfast as you plan your day, in the shade of the fig tree.||- Extremely kind and attentive staff, really friendly and willing to bend over backwards to help you with the AC, bring you more coffee, tell you about the hammams or places to eat, tell you how long you will need to get to the airport (15-30 minutes depending on the day and time), etc.||- Amenities: free wifi, breakfast included (great coffee), AC, courtyard, comfortable beds||- Location: perfect: on a quiet side street, but a minute's walk down the street will take you to the center of action, where all the best restaurants and beignet stands are. Don't miss the balbounis (beignets), or the chapati sandwich stand adjoining the beignet shop.||- Safe, quiet.||- If you walk 5 minutes up the road, there is an overlook of the city and port -- beautiful at sunset.||- We weren't leaving until the evening, and the concierge offered to let us leave our bags at the hotel until we were ready to leave for the airport.||||||Cons:||- Our room had no wooden shutters on the windows (some have them) so the light came in very early.||- There are cats in the courtyard, and it is a good idea to keep your door closed, here or elsewhere.||||Again, this is a beautiful, charming place to stay -- it has far more character than a hotel. It's more like a series of apartments around a courtyard. And the concierges are so kind and helpful that you feel like a personal guest....

We were booked in this "hotel" by our tour organisers for our pre-tour stay, so we had no idea what we were getting. It has no direct vehicle access, and is up steps off the main sloping street of Sidi Bou Said.(Keep your luggage light!) On first view, it looks absolutely gorgeous, with ten units ranged around a courtyard with a gorgeous tree, and outside tables in the corners. Our room looked lovely with the tiled walls everywhere, and it was clean and tidy. But small. It was suitable for people with backpacks only, not our suitcases for a 3 week stay away. Bathroom was the" yacht" style, the shower was basic and there was a big enough gap under the door and even in the window on the door to make it cold and noisy.||||Noisy? Cats mating for the duration of our stay- liveable during the day but keeps you awake at night. Other guests came in each night at 2am and sat in the courtyard reviewing their day for an hour while they had a smoke. On the rainy night, that was right outside our window, and even on the dry night, they refused to lower their voices when I asked them to. Hotels suffer win other guests are inconsiderate.||||Breakfast was continental style in generous portions. It is served outside under canopies, but on the wet day we asked for it in our room. Staff were mostly very pleasant and courteous.||In hindsight, and after seeing the website for the hotel, we should have asked to see a range of rooms. By the end of three nights we were falling over each other.||And you have to go out into the village for dinner, so pack an umbrella. ...

A Mixed Experience - Beautiful Place, But a Hurtful Incident

I recently stayed at this charming hotel in Sidi Bou Said. Overall, the place has a lot of character. The courtyard is lovely and peaceful, the room was small but very clean, and the breakfast was enjoyable. One of the highlights was the kind and welcoming owner -an elderly gentleman who made us feel at home.

However, I left with a heavy heart due to an unfortunate and hurtful incident. We had asked the receptionist to assist us with renting a car, and to her credit, she responded quickly and seriously. She contacted someone she knew and came back with a price. We hesitated, as the price seemed high and- having been taken advantage of several times before in Tunis-we asked a few questions and expressed our concern.

Her response shocked us. She said, "I don't like when we host Syrian people; they always give me a hard time and argue about money." As Syrians, my friend and I were deeply hurt by this remark. It felt discriminatory and left us feeling judged and unwelcome. We chose not to escalate the situation out of respect, but this experience left a lasting impact.

I'm writing this not to harm the hotel's reputation but in the hope that more sensitivity and professionalism can be shown to all guests, regardless of their nationality. Hospitality should always be about kindness, not...