Egypt - snorkelling

lisyloo

Can anyone recommend a good palce in Egypt - looking at 4 or 5 star accomondation
In order of importance we are looking for

Snorkelling
access to diving/other watersports
some sighseeing - temples etc.
spa

Has anyone had a great experience with a company?

kegg_2

For snorkelling you want on one the red sea resorts and so will need to travel if you also want to do lots of sightseeing as both cairo and luxor are a long way from the holiday resorts.
The main red sea resorts are sharm el sheik and hurghada.
Sharm is the most touristy and is a purpose built tourist resort which could be anywhere in the world. Cairo and luxor are a good 5 to 6 hours drive away if you want to see any of the curtural sights.
Sharm is a very large oplace and spreads for about 30 miles and is split into seperate bay. Naama bay is the centre with all the nightlife. Realy good snorkling at the um el sid area (old sharm but really only about 12 years old) but the beaches are not so good and mostly man made.
better beaches at sharks bay with good snorkling or even further out at Narq bay.
Hurghada started life as a fishing village but has now grown into a tourist resort. It is split into 3 main parts. To the south you will find the newer hotels, then Sekalla which has the main shopping area and the new marina and then to the north El Dahur which is the old town where you will rub shoulders with locals and find the more traditional shops. Again nothing of any curtural interest in the area.
Luxor is about 4 to 5 hours away and cairo around 6 by road.
Just outside hurghada you have makadi bay which is a quite resort made up of 10 to 12 AI 4 and 5 star hotels. Depending which hotel you chose the snorkling is some of the best in the hurghada area. The best probably being at the makadi palace and the fort arabesque.

There is alot of choice when thinking about a holiday in egypt and something for everyone

u109230

We (2 adults & 2 kids) went here last year http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g297549-d1157092-Reviews-Albatros_Palace-Hurghada_Red_Sea_and_Sinai.html - right on the beach with good access to snorkelling & scuba diving.

zsxd2345

My partner and I went to the Baron Hotel a couple of years ago. It is the 4th highest rated hotel in Sharm on trip advisor. The snorkeling was excellent. There is a jetty right on the beach which is surrounded by outstanding coral and a huge variety of fish. All equipment could be rented from the diving center on the beach at very reasonable rates.

They also had other water activities like rubber ring rides, glass bottomed boat rides and regular boats over to Tiran island (very close with exceptional snorkeling/diving).

We went on various days out:

1. Quad biking in the desert
2. Trip to meet the bedouin people who live in the desert (including camel rides)
3. Trip to St. Catherine's monastery
4. You could also go on an overnight trip to see the Pyramids but we didn't choose to go on this.

The service in the hotel was always excellent, especially the room service and cleaning. Every day our towels were shapped into a different animal which was a nice touch. The food was beautiful even for someone like me who is very picky. Hygiene standards were great - neither of us got ill, and we never met anyone who had been ill whilst there.

I think there was a spa but we didn't use it (not really into that sort of thing).

Everywhere in the hotel was immaculate.


Let me know if you want any more info or if you haven't been to Egypt before (there are some tips that we found very useful the first time we went).

MrsE_2

I stayed here two years ago, its really nice

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g297555-d658938-Reviews-Reef_Oasis_Blue_Bay_Resort-Sharm_El_Sheikh_South_Sinai_Red_Sea_and_Sinai.html

daveyjp

Crowne Plaza in Sharm was excellent. Very modern hotel with pontoons over the reef for snorkelling. Just remember the Red Sea isn't very warm.

MrsE_2

daveyjp wrote: »

Crowne Plaza in Sharm was excellent. Very modern hotel with pontoons over the reef for snorkelling. Just remember the Red Sea isn't very warm.

The Reef Oasis Blue Bay is next door to the Crowne Plaza:D

The Red Sea was like a warm bath in July;)

DKLS

I would highly recommend snorkelling around the 'Blue hole' in dahab, its a short trip up the road from Sharm.

Even better stay at the Le Meridian in Dahab and you can avoid all the AI loving crowds and touristy crap that is in Sharm.

lisyloo

Thanks for all the recommendations.
The hotels you mention are all coming out very highly on Trip Advisor.
At the moment I'm erring towards sharm or at least that side of the sea becasue of the possibility of going to St Catherines.
We normally do cultural holidays and not beach holidays, so I don't want to get bored, but we are bikers, so the quad biking sounds good.
Thanks for all the advice.

jojones55

Sharm is great value for the hotels you want, they have nice boat trips for snorkelling, but i doubt there are any temples.
Dahab is more of a backpacker place but will have some decent hotels too, in Dahab you can snorkel from the beach which is a bonus.

MrsE_2

lisyloo wrote: »

Thanks for all the recommendations.
The hotels you mention are all coming out very highly on Trip Advisor.
At the moment I'm erring towards sharm or at least that side of the sea becasue of the possibility of going to St Catherines.
We normally do cultural holidays and not beach holidays, so I don't want to get bored, but we are bikers, so the quad biking sounds good.
Thanks for all the advice.

You MUST go to Ras Mohammed, its so lovely.

Its about 10 miles from Sharm, you can go by boat or bus & you can snorkle:)