Iberostar Selection Royal El Mansour

Iberostar Selection Royal El Mansour is the Mahdia resort to choose for combining beach, thalassotherapy and an old town: a five-star hotel on the sand along the Corniche road, half an hour's walk from the medina, with a thalasso centre and a kids' club. It belongs to the Selection range of the Spanish group Iberostar. Not to be confused with the Meliá El Mansour, another hotel in Mahdia.

Thalasso first

Thalassotherapy (a course of treatments using seawater, seaweed and marine mud) is the hotel's strong point. The centre has a hammam, a sauna, a hydromassage pool, massage rooms and a beauty salon. It opens from 9 am to 12.30 pm and from 2 pm to 6.30 pm, local time: plan treatments in the morning or late afternoon and the beach in between.

For a cure, the Wellness Double is designed for the purpose: it includes access to the spa's hydrotherapy area and a voucher for one treatment, with yoga equipment on request, a bathrobe, a coffee machine and a smart TV. Our guide to golf and thalasso in Tunisia compares the country's centres.

Rooms

Rooms are simple and mid-sized, all with a balcony. In a double, the sea view is worth having. The Sea View Junior Suite has the best view in the hotel, and the Sea-View Family Room, with two rooms facing the sea and the pool, suits a family or a small group. Doubles have twin beds: couples who want one large bed should book the junior suite or the family room.

Children and activities

Star Camp, the chain's kids' club, has its own playground and a children's pool beside the main pool. Adults have clay tennis courts, a gym, archery and pétanque. The hotel has dropped single-use plastic and has a charging point for electric cars.

Restaurants and bars

Three restaurants and four bars cover the day:

• the Main Restaurant, a buffet;
• Sofra, à la carte, devoted to Tunisian cooking;
• the Nuba Beach Club, on the beach;
• the Snack Bar, for grilled lunches;
• the Pool Bar, the Café Maure (a Tunisian-style café) and the Lobby Bar.

All-inclusive is available as an option.

Mahdia, El Jem and the coast

The hotel opens straight onto the golden sand beach that lines the Mahdia resort area. The old town stands on a narrow peninsula: the monumental Skifa el Kahla gate, the Fatimid Great Mosque founded in 916, the Place du Caire and the seaside cemetery. The late 16th-century Borj el Kebir fort is 2.8 km from the hotel (8 Tunisian dinars, about €2.40), and the medina's silk weavers keep alive a craft described as early as the 12th century.

El Jem's Roman amphitheatre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is 43 km away, about 50 minutes by road: a combined ticket with the museum costs TND 20, about €6, rising to TND 30 from 1 January 2027. Full details are on our Mahdia and El Jem page.

Getting there

• Monastir airport (MIR): 56 km, about 1 hour; the Sahel Metro, the coastal commuter train, also links the airport with Mahdia;
• Enfidha-Hammamet airport (NBE): 112 km, about 1 h 35;
• Tunis-Carthage airport (TUN): 224 km, about 3 hours.

The hotel's calendar

The hotel announces no closure. Three dates shape comfort:

• room air conditioning runs from 15 June to 15 September;
• room heating runs from 15 December to 15 March;
• one pool is heated in winter only.

So in May, in early June and in late September, rooms have neither air conditioning nor heating. The sea, around 27.7 °C in August, stays pleasant until October; it drops to about 15 °C in February. Most Europeans come between April and October. Ramadan 2027 is expected from 8 February to 9 March.

Price and tourist tax

In October 2026, for two nights from 9 March 2027, the cheapest room was offered on the official website at about €110 a night for two adults, breakfast and taxes included, on a non-refundable rate.

The tourist tax is paid on top at the hotel: 12 Tunisian dinars (TND) per person per night in four- and five-star hotels, about €3.60 at the Central Bank of Tunisia rate of 19 October 2026, for up to ten nights. See our money in Tunisia guide.

Sabaro's view

Who for: couples on a thalasso break, families, travellers who want an old town on foot.

Strengths: the beach, the thalasso centre, the Mahdia medina close by, El Jem under an hour away, and a 4.6 out of 5 rating on Tripadvisor (7,714 reviews).

Worth knowing: doubles have twin beds; air conditioning only runs from 15 June to 15 September.