I have written many reviews on this site about many hotels, and I have never given a rating below 4. But this hotel really deserved my rating of 2: I paid 35 EUR per night for a single room with breakfast, and stayed 3 nights. The good: - Location was excellent: 10 minute walk to the medina, 10 minutes to Marine Station to get to Carthage, 5 minutes to Place Barcelona for the trains down south. - Hotel staff was friendly The bad: - Didnt feel that the hotel was so clean. My bathroom smelled of mildew, and the pillows, bedsheets, and blankets smelled and looked atleast 10 years old. - You can hear the television from other people's rooms, and of course the maid-staff starts making their noise by 7:30am and this resounds throughout the hallways. - Upon checkout, they charged me for Half-Board all 3 nights instead of just Breakfast, and it took me 25 minutes to get the charges rectified. -Breakfast was the same stuff rehashed every morning (I saw the same wilting turkey patee there 3 days straight) The ugly: - The past resident's pubic hair was in the bathroom on the floor. - The hotel is surrounded by noise on 3 sides. There are discos on both the east and west side - and of course the major avenue is on the south side. I didn't mind the noise from the avenue - its a nice avenue (I asked for a room on the avenue Habib, but of course, when I checked-in they said that all those rooms were taken even though in the email confirmation they said they would give me that room). What did bother me was that the windows weren't very good at keeping out noise. DON'T get a room facing east, you will hear the disco until 2am! Look, I really have very low expectations for hotels, and I know that 35 EUR won't take you far in this world, but this place was just awful. I have stayed in much better places in Chile and Argentina for 15 EUR per night. All in all, I dont give this place a 1 because a) the location was great and b) because I am not sure that you would be able to find much better at this price. I really loved Tunisia - the people were friendly, it was safe, food was great, etc. - but I wouldn't say that there is a very servicial mindset in Tunisia. A bientot!

I stayed in this hotel for three nights in March 08. It is very centrally located on a big avenue, and within a walking distance to medina and main transport links. I booked it on hotel website, and the booking / payment process was clear and hassle-free. They also offer airport transfer (for about only 6 euros) which I found was quite helpful. The staff speak good English and French, and they were very helpful. After reading the reviews, I asked a quite room on higher floors (during website booking) and I got one. My room was on top floor and was not facing the avenue. So I did not have much problem about the noise coming from the avenue, but my problem was noisy neighbours in other rooms. I am not sure what kind of clientale visits this hotel, but at nights, the noise coming from other rooms were a bit disturbing. However when I talked to reception, they warned the other rooms, so I can't say that they were not helpful. Rooms were clean but simple, bathrooms were ok, and there was hot water running. There was also a TV, and internet connection (although it was a bit longwinded, as you need to ask for a modem, pay for the deposit of 20 dinars etc). Internet is much cheaper outside (if you can manage to find an internet cafe as they are all in hidden corners). The single beds were small and they were not the most comfortable beds I slept. The breakfast was simple, but ok. Overall, I think it was a bargain hotel in a convenient location, but if you are after comfort, look elsewhere!

i was passing by on the 15th i asked for a single room the receptionist did not even say hi to me or even a smile. went to my room very small but clean . i looked from the window nothing to see a dirty building opposit . bathroom was clean but only to small soap . i wanted to watch the news the tv was so high i taught that i will break my neck, when i wanted to use the remote control it wasn t working , it took me 1 hour to get another one. next day i went to have my breakfast i was getting ready to have a seat the chair was broken , i called the waiter and asked him to put the chair a side he didn t like it . i waas about going to have my cafe i looked at my cup he was chipped i ve showed it to the waiter again still he made a face. next i wanted to have a pastries only a madeira cake and a small pain au chocolat , i ve asked if there is croissants left the waiter couldn t answer me . this was my worst breakfast ever . any way i left and went to the opposit hotel i had my nice cafe and a coissants plus an excellent service to remember. someething very important the corridors does not have a carpet so be ready to be stay ing aweak evry time someone with hight heels passes by , or pulling a suitcase it was a night mare remember can t have a good sleep in this hotel . because i care i will never recommand this hotel even for my ennemies .

Went to the Carlton Hotel, Tunis for 3 nights during our stay in Sousse. The hotel is on the main boulevard, small and friendly. The facade is original from the 1900s but inside has been renovated. Staff very friendly, breakfast continental; lovely soft towels and plenty of hot water. Room very warm but quiet - this is what we asked for after reading some of the reports on this site. Some of the rooms at the front can be noisy.

Can't fault this hotel. The rooms are very clean. The majority of the front desk staff are excellent and friendly. The breakfast is very good with fresh breads, eggs, cheese and juices etc. Contrary to some reviews, our room was extremely quiet at night. Our room was on the fourth floor with a window facing West (not the main street). The location is terrific. Would recommend it to those looking for a decent place to stay while in Tunis.

DO NOT! Stay at this Hotel! Unless you like noise! We stayed at this Hotel for four nights and we slept in three different rooms. We booked through the Hotel website and specifically asked for a quiet room. We were told that we would have a quiet room, but that NEVER happened! First we were in room #230 and then room #234. Nice clean rooms, but ALL night we had to listen to the neighbors closing their wood slatted shutters on their windows. There is an alley below the rooms that has customers going through from the adjoining Disco that doesn't close until nearly 5AM. So, when the shutters aren't waking you up all night you have people talking in the alley with NO! respect for the neighbors. If that isn't enough you can always listen to the non respectful people in the hotel hallways when they are coming and going all night. The only thing this hotel has going for itself are the English speaking desk people during the day. However, they can lie to your face. We asked once again to be changed to a quiet on our last night and they gave us room #242 which was a room in the center of the building next to the elevator. We thought we would have a nice quiet evening for some much needed sleep, but it didn't happen. This room was piped in to the Disco and we had the disco noise of the pounding music until 4:45AM. Earplugs didn't help us either. This hotel is clean, but unless you need the area I would avoid this hotel at all costs. There is not one quiet room in the whole place. When we approached the hotel manager he told us the noise is Tunis style. Other hotels in Carthage and Sidi Bou Said are extremely close to Tunis and a much better deal. The Carlton Hotel is over priced, but again it's the location you are paying for.

The hotel is in a great location on Habib Bourgiba... only 10 minutes walk from the Medina and with plenty of easy access to cafes, restaurants and banks in the New Town. Staff were pleasant and generally left us to our own devices, weren't given to fussing but provided services as required. The reception area is small but functional and the rooms provide sound basic accommodation - clean and practical. For light sleepers, there can be quite a bit of noise - in our case mainly from one of the bars down a side street. The beds are on the harder side too. The price is good for the location - I think we paid just over £30 for a double room with ensuite. If you are looking for luxury, then this isn't your bag, but if you are looking for a good, clean, basic place to stay, that feels safe, is a good price and is in an excellent location, then the Carlton fits the profile.

As mentioned, perfect location- directly in the heart of the city. Hotel itself is like a school dorm- with extremely basic- sort of depressing rooms, but very clean. Breakfast is not very good. The staff is mixed- some are quite rude whereas others are friendly and helpful.

I only stayed in this hotel for one night but found it to be perfectly fine. The staff on the front desk are friendly and (as mentioned before) speak fine English. The rooms were ok, and everything was in working order. I found that both the best and worst points of this hotel was the location - it is located right on the main strip of Tunis (like most Tunisian towns, this was Avenue Habib Bourgiba). This was great for exploring and having a quick drink in a cafe. It was also an easy 10 minute walk to the main train station and even closer ( about 5 minutes) to the TGM station (trains to Carthage, Sidi Bou Said). The downside to this was the noise - the traffic is noticiable well into the night. So, for a short stay close to everything Tunis has to offer, where too much sleep isn't all that important, I would certainly recommend a stay in this hotel.

I stayed there for 3 nights. The hotel stuff was very polite and helpful and they speak english (not so common in Tunisia). The rooms were a bit dark (as mentioned in another review) but clean and comfortable. There is (of course) air condition and the prices were very reasonable The hotel is located on Tunis' central avenue (sorry, I can't remember the name) and in walking distance from almost all the highlights of the city.

The Carlton looks great from the outside and is situated perfectly in the center of Tunis. Within walking distance of everything. The rooms are not very well lit, but they are comfortable if a tad shabby. The toilets do not flush properly, and taking a shower is a constant battle between boiling hot and icy cold water. A great place if your stay in the city is short. The perk, however, is the restaurant inside the hotel on the first floor. The chef deserves many thanks as the menus and the food (however exotic the names) are TERRIFIC!!! The local specialties are done extremely well and the foreign items are just as good. The service in the restaurant is great and very friendly. If you aren't staying at the Carlton, try going there for dinner one night. It's well worth it!

I stayed here for 3 nights the hotel was ok. We arrived at midday but there were no rooms ready for us, was told to wait for 1 hour, I decided to go for a slightly more expensive room which was ready. The room I stayed in had A king-size bed, there was no fridge & no TV remote allthough (BBC World News Channel was available). The bathroom was clean & supplied towels & only soap. An interconnecting door was opened to allow our kids to stay in the adjacent room with had 3 single beds. We had 3 balcony’s overlooking Av habib Bourguiba the main street in Tunis. The views were excellent but there was a down side to this which was the noise it was extremely noisy even through the night everyone loves to hoot their car horns. There were AC controls in our room but no safe so we kept our passports at reception. The breakfast was basic, breads, croissants, chesses, some basic cereals & yogurt, tea coffee, & Juice. The location of the hotel is excellent only 10 minutes walk to Medina area cabs not a problem hundreds driving past and the train station only a few minutes walk. Some staff on the reception desk spoke English and was helpful recommended a few place to go, like daah daah park for the kids, which was not in our guide book. The hotel has a website too just google hotel carlton tunis. Overall not bad but not great hotel, making this an average place to stay.

I was interning in Tunis and my research center put me up here for a few days. The hotel is extremely decent - TV (only a few channels, but that's pretty typical), nice bathroom, comfortable bed, and the breakfast was one of the better ones I've had traveling in Europe and North Africa. (Yogurt, cereal, baguette, meat cuts, cheese, pastries - Mix the coffee with a bit of milk & chocolate powder, it's delicious!) The location is definitely excellent - right on the main avenue. The desk staff speaks French and English (if you don't speak Arabic) and they are pretty welcoming. You can request to be picked up at the airport for 10 Tunisian dinars (about 7 to 8 US dollars), therefore avoiding a shameless cab driver charging you an exorbitant rate. WORD OF WARNING: The prices listed for everything has THREE DECIMAL PLACES after the point. Therefore, a cab ride that costs 2.500 dinars is 2 dinar and 500 millimes (their change is just divided into thousands, while US dollars are divided into hundreds - e.g., ninety-cents US is equivalent to 900 millimes Tunisian). Just make sure you don't give the cab drive 25 dinars for a cab ride listed as 2.500 dinars. Overall, I'd certainly recommend this hotel, though you should do some web surfing to see if you can get a better price. Prices are lower in Tunisia compared to Europe and the US, though please remember to buy discreetly - for most Tunisians, who make an average of 250 dinar a month, dropping 30 or so dinar on some trinket they find in the medina is a huge expenditure. Overall the location of this hotel is really stellar; turn right when you exit the hotel and you will walk straight to the "Porte de France" - the door of France. Walk through and prepared to be hassled by men speaking broken, inappropriate English, selling their wares. If you learn a few Arabic words (As-sahlammah = hello, Shuh-krun = thank you), they'll stop being so obnoxious. It's all part of the game, but a little Arabic and they'll be impressed that you learned a bit of their language - they might even give you some real advice about what to buy. Beware of the Medina on the weekends - it's packed. Enjoy!! & please feel free to email me with any questions... I spent a few months in Tunis and traveling to the South, and really loved it.

Wonderfully situated and good value. Reception is a long and narrow corridor with a lift at the back. Staff are consistently 'correct' but never smiling or friendly and made no effort to help us out with tips or recommendations. They do all speak French very well and I think English too. Our room was at the back so it looked out onto a dodgy looking lane, but it was relatively quiet - don't go to Tunis if you need five star comfort and can't stand noise or hassle. The room was clean, the bathroom too but only towels and two small soaps provided so make sure you don't forget any toiletries. Good choice of TV stations in French and Arabic plus BBC News, a Russian and Chinese station. There was a remote control (so perhaps the makeover an earlier guest mentioned has finished). Breakfast was a real let down. They never seemed to have enough of anything : not enough eggs one day, not enough cake the next. When they run out of cups or glasses and you have to ask for one, they bring out exactly that - one cup or glass, so the next person has to ask again. They've never heard of a teatowel as the glasses were always wet. They try to offer hard-boiled eggs, which one day were very undercooked, tomato and cucumber, cream cheese, ratatouille, good bread, poor pastries, madeira cake and once or twice we saw yoghurts. I steered clear of the tomato and cucumber as, on our first day, they were semi-frozen. Had they been frozen since the day before or just kept in a fridge that was set too high? I didn't want to take any risks. Orange juice was a sickly oversweet orangeade. To sum up : top marks for the location and price. Average for the room. Poor welcome at reception. Breakfast very disappointing. By European standards it's a two-star hotel.

Aftyer arriving in Tunis in the dead of night and finding our original hotel choice unacceptable (at Hotel Transatlantique we were greeted by a surly staff which I can handle, but the hundreds of cockroaches in the room I would not bear), we hurried to the Hotel Carlton, listed in the Lonely Planet guide as a good choice. The staff is very friendly and helpful, and the rooms are clean, have CNN and hot running water, and a good amount of toilet paper(seems to be a luxury in this country!). The hotel offers a breakfast buffet which is pretty good and the hotel itself it located right in the heart of the city- nearby boutiques, cafes and great restaurants. And the medina is only a 5-minute walk away! We spent 3 nights on our way into Tunisa and 3 nights on our way out at that hotel. Will definitely stay there again.

We stayed for two nights at the Carlton Hotel in Tunis. The rooms were immaculately clean, cleaner than any of the resorts we stayed at in the beach towns. The staff was incredibly friendly and would joke and laugh with us when we passed through. An added bonus is that at the end of the block is the world's best patisserie, The Sweet House, and it has beautiful, delicious, and inexpensive gourmet pastries! It's a great value.

This place has lots of advocates elsewhere online and publishes it's own plaudits on it's website. It's a great location right on the main drag and it's not too pricey but that's about it. Rooms drab and on the small side, TV a bit on the dodgy side and no mini bar - I understand they're having a refit and it does need a bit of a spruce. Worst thing is the noise - of the street, the plumbing, and of adajcent rooms. Not good if you're in need of a peaceful night

This place has lots of advocates elsewhere online and publishes it's own plaudits on it's website. It's a great location right on the main drag and it's not too pricey but that's about it. Rooms drab and on the small side, TV a bit on the dodgy side and no remote- I understand they're having a refit and it does need a bit of a spruce. Worst thing is the noise - of the street, the plumbing, and of adajcent rooms. Not good if you're in need of a peaceful night

One of my favorite old world hotel in Tunisia. Centrally located, with excellent hotel staff and services. Modest size room but fully equiped (including WI-FI access)

I called the Carlton Hotel on the 21th evening to book for the 23rd (3 adults): The person who answered the phone said he don't know anything regarding the room availability and better call the next day after 8:30. Next day (22nd) a lady informed me there are many rooms available (with quotes) I needed just to fax my details in. One hour later (11:00am) I call again to have a confirmation at least by phone perhaps a reference number: Nobody knew, the new person wanted me to call in the next 15mn. 30 mn later the reply was: no fax found, the hotel is fully booked anyway!!!!!

After spending a couple of nights in this place I was ready to go leave the country. The rooms were dirty and smelly. I had to negotiate for 10 minutes to get a remote control for the miniscule TV in the room. If you are looking for a cheap hotel with a convenient location, and cleanliness is not on the top of your priorities this is the hotel for you.

We arrived at the Carlton late in the evening and our first impression could have not been better. From outside the hotel looked grand with its white period facade lit up, like a big layer cake of meringue. Once inside, the entrance-reception was small but nice, and the staff seemed friendly. The wow factor was soon to disappear though. Our room was alright, if rather basic and plain. Unfortunately the air con unit would not work and, to make things worse, the room looked onto an alley at the back of the building with a bar right opposite playing music at full blast. No chance of sleeping with the window open, so we asked to be moved, which was done straight away. Extra points to the staff for their quick response. Our new room was identical to the first one, but looking onto a small inner courtyard and therefore reasonably quiet. The air con unit worked smoothly, but unfortunately our beds were rock hard and squeaky, which meant my friend and I kept waking up every time one of us moved. The bathroom looked rather shabby, with rusty taps, cracked tiles and patchy plaster work throughout. There also seemed to be some kind of problem with the pipes, as the bathroom floor would invariably get flooded every time we emptied the bathtub after a bath. But the worst had to be the new little friends we met at the hotel. After our first night we found a cockroach crawling around the desk in the bedroom, and on the second night we spotted another one roaming around the bathroom floor. We found this rather bizarre, as the hotel was otherwise spotless.

Although the room was clean but basic and the air conditioning outside noisy (we had a room at the back to avoid street noise), you can't fault this hotel for value for money. It's situated right on the main shopping street, and just 15 minutes walk from the rail link to Carthage in one direction, or the Souk in the other. The staff are incredibly helpful, seem to speak a multitude of languages and have a sense of humour. The restaurant sells no alcohol, but that seems to be the norm in Tunis.