Our family recently stayed at the fairly new TUI Magic Life Skanes resort on our first trip to Tunisia- this is our review of TUI Magic Life Skanes and at the bottom of the post I share with you my top booking hack to save the most money possible when booking!
Last summer we went on a two week trip to the popular tourist destination of Hammamet in Tunisia, and stayed first for a week at TUI Magic Life Skanes and then for a week at TUI Magic Life Africana.
In this post I’ll give our opinions and review of TUI Magic Life Skanes; I will also do a separate blog review of TUI Magic Life Africana so you can see which hotel is best for you and your needs. This review is organised into the following sections: building and grounds, rooms, dining & drinking, entertainment, service and safety.
Disclaimer: We were staying at the hotel as we were working as family models for video and photo content (you can see us on the TUI website); we were not paid and we were not asked to give any review, so this is a completely honest review of TUI Magic Life Skanes.
TUI Magic Life Skanes Review
Building and Grounds of the Hotel
Our first impressions when we got to TUI Magic Life Skanes was that it was a good mid-range hotel that was popular with families. The entrance lobby had a convenient bar where the kids and I sat during check in, and the huge main restaurant was just beyond, with glass doors showing views of the relaxation pool and the ocean.
The excursion desk was conveniently located just next to the gift shop and coffee lounge, and the other restaurants were a stone’s throw away. The walk to our room was beautiful; white stone surrounded carefully designed tropical gardens in the middle of the hotel, and was perfect for holiday snaps!
The traditionally decorated coffee & cake lounge
The Tunisian fresh mint tea was a winner!
The grounds of TUI Magic Life Skanes were well organised; the relaxation pool was next to the Sofa traditional restaurant and the gym, giving it more of an adult feel, while a short walk around the corner led to the main pool with epic (seriously epic, not for the fainthearted!) waterslides, snack bars and mini golf which was ideal for families.
All of the grounds were clean and there were plenty of tables and chairs around the family pool (convenient as it was near the snack bars) and a lot of loungers in neat rows at the relaxation pool. The resort is large, with five pools plus four restaurants and a gym, but it doesn’t feel too large- it has enough to ensure you won’t get bored!
The resort is well maintained without being untouchable- families can easily holiday here without worrying about children running on the grass, it is very relaxed and child friendly. One thing that really stood out to us was that the gym overlooked the beach and the ocean, which made workouts extremely appealing!
Review of the Rooms & Suites at TUI Magic Life Skanes
We were very happy with our ground floor family room at TUI Magic Life Skanes. We had two bedrooms, each with a double bed, and a living area with a sofa bed for our third child.
We had a well stocked minibar and, on pulling back the curtains, were thrilled to find that we had a lovely ocean view as well as our own pool to share with one other room- ideal for early morning and late night swims when we didn’t want to to take our towels etc to the pool!
Dining & Drinking at Skanes
As TUI Magic Life is an all inclusive brand, all of our dining and drinks were included during our week at Skanes. There were four restaurants to choose from and the one we ate at usually was the huge main ‘Magico’ buffet restaurant.
There was always a massive selection of salads, desserts, pasta, pizza, local and international dishes (both hot and cold) and I highly doubt anyone would struggle to find something they enjoy here. I was vegan at the time of our visit and I had no problem finding plenty of food I could eat and enjoy!
The kids particularly enjoyed the fresh pancakes, waffles and eggs each morning (cooked to your liking) and the thin pizza from the pizza oven for dinner. This was of course followed by ice cream from the unlimited gelato station!
The other restaurants at Skanes were the same concept as those at Africana. These included the Downtown American diner serving urban chic dishes (salads, grills, burgers etc); the traditional Tunisian restaurant ‘Sofra’, and the Flavour restaurant that offered select international dishes from the TUI Magic Life countries.
There were several bars and snack bars that we could visit whenever we felt peckish, including a panini station, a crepe station and a really useful drinks bar right by the big family pool with waterslides. There was definitely no chance to get hungry while at the resort!
We particularly loved the coffee lounge as a snack bar as it was so quiet and peaceful and had great traditional decor.
All of us loved the Magico restaurant- the range of choice and the ease in dining their with kids (our older two easily went and got their own food each evening) made it a really enjoyable restaurant experience. We did dine at the other restaurants and this was a nice change; the Sofra restaurant in particular had a very authentic Tunisian aesthetic and we really enjoyed the traditional dishes.
Entertainment & Leisure Facilities
We had only recently got back from a year’s backpacking around Asia when we visited TUI Magic Life; we were used to having to organise all of our activities ourselves so we LOVED that there was so much to do while at the resort without any organising effort!
There were several pools- a beautiful indoor pool, the waterslide pool, another large free-form pool and the relaxation pool overlooking the beach. There were several sports courts and a football pitch, plus mini golf, archery sessions, canoeing and windsurfing.
There were also frequent exercise classes, the beautiful gym to use and a great kids’ club with its own covered adventure playground (climbing frame, swings, slide, sandpit and mini climbing wall), soft play and gated kids’ pool. Of course there was also the beach, which offered lots of watersports including banana boats (our highlight) and parasailing.
Each evening there was entertainment, which we didn’t go out for much due to the ages of our kids, but we did stay up for a family quiz night and the live show, both of which were great. There was also a Madagascar themed nighttime trail which looked good fun, had our little one not been so tired from a day of sun and splashing!
I didn’t personally use the spa facilities at TUI Magic Life Skanes but we did go in the indoor pool and it has a very serene and spa-like feel, so if you want to relax in peace I recommend it.
Service & Staff
The staff at TUI Magic Life Skanes were hard working; many of them previously worked at the hotel that was in the same location before it transformed to TUI Magic Life so they know the resort well. They are undergoing continuous training to improve customer service and the cleaners do a very good job with the rooms.
Although the main restaurant is busy, we always got a table without an issue, the waiters and chefs were attentive and efficient and there were never ridiculous queues.
Safety at TUI Magic Life Skanes
Patrick and I were concerned about a few aspects of safety before flying to Tunisia; however there was plenty of security and guards around the resort and on the beach, and I didn’t feel intimidated or harassed by any of the men around the resort (this was a concern after previous trips to another north African country).
There were several lifeguards around and they were very active in keeping people safe, moving people out of the way of the waterslide landing pool etc. The food was also great in terms of hygiene and we had no issues.
Would we recommend TUI Magic Life Skanes?
The result of our TUI Magic Life Skanes review is that yes, we would absolutely recommend the hotel for families looking for a fun and relaxing break. We thought that the all inclusive concept worked very well for families, it makes the whole holiday very laid back and enjoyable and we would certainly return.
If you are looking for a more elegant or upmarket hotel I would recommend TUI Magic Life Africana; it is in a similar area and has a similar concept but has more to offer those looking for a higher star rating.
We have found that HotelsCombined frequently offers the best value rates for booking this hotel and you can find the best prices for booking TUI Magic Life Skanes here.
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