Egypt - Currency recomendation?

skr80

best to stick to beer (sakura gold if I recall caorrectly). this is relatively cheap and rather nice

Quackers

We went to Egypt in November'05 and was really suprised at how flexible they were!! They'd take anything you had!

We used up the Egyptian pounds and US Dollars we'd taken with us and then used sterling for the rest of the holiday.

Mark7799

If it's the first time in Egypt, watch out for baksheesh

http://www.red-sea.com/news/issue64/

Make sure you have plenty of small notes for the baksheesh!

niceshoes_2

We got back from Egypt on Monday and I am now suffering with a stomach bug! Lovely and hot - at 28degrees all week.

We took Sterling & Egyptian Pounds. We used the Egyptian Pounds and didn't really need the sterling, in fact we bought most of it back with us. We were asked by the locals to change £1 coins as they said that the banks do not take the sterling coins, only the notes, so we exchanged 2 lots of £1 coins for 2 different people.

Alcohol is expensive and the local stuff is vile - the local beer Sakahara is OK though. Good bit of advice from Girl Least Likely Too - wish I'd taken a bottle of baileys with me, would have saved me getting sick on the local 43% vodka and spending £4.00 odd on a glass of baileys - wish I had taken some with me.

I am fairly sure that you won't need much money - especially if you are AI. There is absolutley nothing to buy - it is all rubbish - I spent £3.00 on 2 bags of sweets for the guys at work and that was all - except the alcohol, which is expensive and I repeat - gross!

Try and take small demoninations of Egyptian currency, for tipping, as they really do appreciate it. They are very friendly and genuine people and they will do anything for you, even if some of them do come across a bit too forward at times - one waiter asked for my phone number whilst the OH was sitting at the other side of the table, and they were constantly telling OH what a lucky man he was!

Enjoy your holiday - it is a lovely and friendly place to visit.

zzzLazyDaisy

Threepints wrote:

I'm staying at The Marriot, I'll certainly try to remember to let you know when I get back

You won't need much money in Taba. It is in the middle of nowhere, so everything is centred on the hotel. You can just book things to your room and settle by credit card.

The staff are very poorly paid over there though. We took about £50 in Egyptian money, we had very little to spend it on and most of it went on tips.

If you do need to get money the hotel will almost certainly have a bank - we stayed at the Sheratton and it had its own bank.

Have a great time!

PUREHOMES

last May / June. We stayed at the Hyatt (which is the best hotel in the resort) I have stayed in many 5 star hotels before and this one definately lived up to the rating too.

Rememeber to take a lot of small £1 egyptian, as everyone wants tips....As soon as you land at the airport, the person who takes you bags will want a tip, so make sure you have some small denominations!

Also 2 MS tips,

1) Take your own alcohol, just as nice to sit outside your room with a drink at night and not spend a fortune on hotel drinks (ie Vodka Lemonade, Baileys and Fanta £16!)

2) Join the Hyatt gold card scheme before you go. This means you will get a free upgrade, breakfast in your room if you want it, free drink every day and are also able to keep your room all day on your departure day for no extra payment. This scheme is free to join!

Enjoy!

Girl_least_likely_to

PUREHOMES wrote:

2) Join the Hyatt gold card scheme before you go. This means you will get a free upgrade, breakfast in your room if you want it, free drink every day and are also able to keep your room all day on your departure day for no extra payment. This scheme is free to join!

Just had a scoobies for this on the hyatt website. Have a look here ..... http://goldpassport.hyatt.com/gp/en/index.jsp?_requestid=1031558

Threepints

Well I've returned after a great holiday. So I thought I would post a review

Taba Heights (http://www.tabaheights.com) is a purpose built holiday resort and has to be one of the most relaxing beautiful places I have stayed.

The resort is on the coast of the Red Sea on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It comprises five hotels - Hyatt, Marriott, Sofitel, TTC El Wekala and Intercontinental. I stayed at the Marriott and could not fault one thing (more later).

Let me first explain how this resort came about. Egypt has a population of 75 million and this population is spread amongst 32 cities and towns. The largest obviously being Cairo. This has led to the Govt of Egypt devising a plan to 'grow' there cities and spread their population. The plan is to build another 32 cities/towns. Taba Heights is one of these. Before the resort came into existence 5 years ago this part of the Sinai Peninsula was barren. The govt have built housing for all of the workforce and this is near to all the resort accomodation.

Anyway enough of the history of how the resort came about.

What is the resort like?

One word describes it superb

Don't expect a Magaluf or San Antonio.....do expect your own little bit of paradise for one or two weeks .

The resort consists of the 5 hotels, a 6 hole golf course (its not yet finished lol), a shopping centre with one shop! and a nearby dive centre (more later).

If you have to get out and about and explore on your own this is not the holiday for you. If you like to relax and let the world pass you by this is for you

You can take the ubiquitous holiday excursions, these include Petra, The Pyramids (beware a 4am start!), swim with dolphins, quad biking in the desert.

So there are things to do other than relax - Me? I spent two days diving.

There is a free shuttle bus between all the hotels allowing you to use the various hotel bars, casino and private beaches. Also there is a free shuttlebus to the dive centre.

The Marriott Hotel

http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/TCPEG

A five star hotel, with friendly staff who could not have been more helpfull. This was my first visit to Egypt and I have never met a more friendly, polite people anywhere else in the world.

When we booked we were told our room would have a sea view. Well what a view it was - open the veranda doors and the beach was about 15 feet away.

There is waiter service both at the beach and around the pool. No need to worry about taking your cash with you. The staff will get your food/drink and then you can just sign it to your room (a 2% surcharge).

Our package was on a half board basis. Breakfast and dinner was buffet style and all I can say here is that unless you are the fussiest git under the sun you will not be dissapointed. If you get fed up of the buffet all the hotels have a a la carte restaurant and you can actually exchange twice during your stay your buffet dinner for a voucher and use another hotels a la carte restaurant. The voucher will give you x amount towards the bill.
The Marriotts A La Carte restaurant was Italian. I can't comment on it as we were more than happy with the food at the buffet. Snacks or meals are available during the day and these are well priced. The only thing that I found expensive was beer at £2.80 for a 500ml bottle.

The hotel has a very small gym, a jacuzzi, steam and sauna rooms and also offers massage (extra cost).

The hotel has its own private beach with a fantastic reef for snorkelling. The sea life on this reef was probably the best I have seen anywhere in the world.
Even my other half who normally never sets foot in the water could not keep out of the sea.

For those of you with children there is a purpose built paddling pool away from the main pool. Also a play area near to this pool.

The Dive Centre

https://www.redseawaterworld.com

This is a 5 star PADI centre. I've dived with various operators both in the UK and abroad over the years and I have to say this is probably the best and most professional set-up I've used. Both from the point of view of knowledgeable dive guides to very comfortable dive boats.

If your not a diver you can learn to dive or just have a go. You can also learn to sail a CAT, windsurf, parasail, waterski. So you see stopping at that hotel has just become even better and not at all boring .

As for the diving - bloody fantastic. I've only dived one other place with coral reefs before (Florida Keys) and I have to say that here just knocks spots off it! Fantastic unspoilt corals, a vast amount of sea life and tranquil seas. What better could you wish for?

So to sum up a great hotel, very friendly people, very relaxing and great water sports.

Whilst i could understand how this may not be to everyones taste I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to relax on holiday and have everything done for them.

trigger_mike

cheers for this, im going in june to the same place, as you know threepints, after reading your review we are really excited about going, it our honymoon as well, cheers for this

Threepints

Mike,

I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. Whilst we were there a couple we were chatting with on the beach were telling us that one of them had a birthday. The hotel arranged several special surprises for them . I shan't say what .

Make sure they know it is your honeymoon and I'm sure they will make it extra special.

I sincerely hope you have as nice a time as we did :T

Let me know if you remember