Egypt - Sharm el Sheikh

Kay Halton on 26 June 2014
We travelled as a family from Manchester to Sharm el Sheikh on a sunny June afternoon with Monarch Airlines. The five and half hour flight was fine but in-flight entertainment would have been welcomed. Sharm el Sheikh Airport can be quite imposing and crazy when you arrive, with lots of holiday reps and transfer companies shouting and holding signs but they just really want you to buy a Visa. Unless you are going on an excursion to Cairo or Luxor etc you will not need this. Just ignore them and proceed to passport control and baggage reclaim.

Our transfer took us to our hotel for the next 10 nights which was the Royal Albatros Moderna in Nabq Bay. This is a new hotel zone in the area, facing coral reefs in the crystal clear waters of the Red Sea and the shipwrecks of the nearby Straits of Tiran. It is quieter than Sharm, a bit further up the coast with nice breezes and a bit of surf.

This 5* resort is huge – it was opened in 2004 and fully renovated in 2011. The main building and the attached three-storey building are surrounded by resplendent gardens extending down to the beach. Four pools including a children’s splash area, a relaxation pool, heated and main pool plus an aqua park with eight slides certainly keeps the children busy all day! All 680 bedrooms are air-conditioned and beds have "Select Comfort mattresses", Egyptian cotton sheets, and premium bedding. LCD televisions are equipped with satellite channels and free movie channels. Daily housekeeping is excellent with Ahmed creating some amazing towel art during our stay!

The hotel sells all inclusive packages only. There are five main restaurants to dine at in the evening which are all part of the package: Mediterranean, Italian, Asian, Tagine and German. Food was freshly prepared and there is a lot of show cooking, very clean and hygienic. The beauty is you can choose food from any of the restaurants and then sit in any of them – a very flexible idea. In addition, there is a super Thai restaurant which is payable onsite. During lunchtimes the beach bar ‘Club Mac’ was a hit with our son as it served hot dogs, pizzas, chicken nuggets, fries and fish and chips, all freshly cooked. There are lots of salads in every buffet too!

Evening entertainment was varied, from singers on the bar terrace to full shows down at the beach bar with dancers, fire eaters, acrobats and singers all during the week. Or you can chill out in the fantastic air-conditioned Columbus Coffee Bar where they serve lattes and hot chocolates to die for. Better than Starbucks! There is also a fabulous half mile long private jetty where you can snorkel on the reef at the end or just sunbathe on the beds provided by the hotel. A gym and super spa with great massages is also available on site.

We also took two excursions: star gazing which included a camel ride, traditional Bedouin show, baking bread and ultimately viewing the Moon and Saturn through the most enormous telescopes in the middle of the desert - very surreal indeed! The second trip we did was a boat trip to Tiran Island with three stops for snorkelling, the trip also included lunch and soft drinks and was very well priced.

An interesting holiday, it was very hot at 40 degrees most days in a cloudless sky. If that is too much I would recommend travelling in October/November or March/April time when it is much more pleasant in the mid 20’s and early 30’s.

So, if you are considering a visit to Egypt, please get in touch! I would be delighted to help and can also book any excursions you may want to do whilst away.