egypt, safe for children?

chewbacca_2

We are thinking of going to sharm el sheikh in january, we have concerns about safety for our child who will be 12 months old.
when we mention to certain people that we are thinking of booking egypt they start to mention , food poisoning, safety, terrorist threats etc. Although none of these people have been so im not too sure what they base their arguments on.
We would be looking at a 4 or 5 star hotel, so any recommendations or comments please.

If egypt is a definate no no, then some other suggestions for sunny january holiday with a good hotel at a reasonable price.

thanks

richardw

This winter's new destination is the Cape Verde islands, flights on Astraeus from Gatwick or Manchester.

http://www.capeverdetravel.co.uk

http://www.flyastraeus.com/news/index.asp?id=90

mid to late January is lowish season, so prices should be OK.

LesD

We went to Egypt a few years ago and suffered upset stomachs. But I wouldn't just put it down to 'food poisoning'. Remember the heat is far higher than we are used to and that affects many things in one's metabolism. The locals are used to it and don't get affected as bad.

We also found out that our usual remedies (Imodium, etc.) don't seem to be as effective in that heat.

I would suggest you talk to your GP to get his/her advice. Particularly as you have such a young child.

Just to say, we went to Luxor rather than the coast and saw some marvellous sights.

payless

Went to Sharm myslef this year ... although I enjoyed it I did have some stomach upsets ... although combination of heat and beer ( instead of water) might have contributed .

My lad is much older, but don't think I would have "personally" taken a pre-school child.

richardw

If the 12 month old was ill, would it be easier or more difficult to diagnose than going to a European country?

Broken_hearted

Our travel agent said she wouldn't recomend taking children to Egypt.

LesD

richardw wrote:

If the 12 month old was ill, would it be easier or more difficult to diagnose than going to a European country?

We had no problems with the service we got from the local doc. But prevention is better than cure!

MissBehaving

I have been to Egypt three times. Cairo and the nile cruise, Hurghada and most recently Taba.
My daughter is 3 1/2 and I would not take her there.
As much as I love Egypt and wish that everyone could experience it, I dont think that it is the best place for young children.
All the hotels that I have stayed at are really good and upmarket, but none of them actually catered for young children.

I would stick to the European countries and possibly America until your child is older.

Funkymum

My daughter was 2 & 1/2 when we went to Hurghada & she had a wonderful time. She was 3 & 1/2 when we went to Marsa Alam & also enjoyed that although it was a case of either play in the pool or at the beach as there was nothing else to do there. We're thinking about going back to Egypt in January (if we dont go to Florida) & my son will be 6 months old then.
We went to Hurghada in January & it was about 24/25 degrees then which was nice for the kids, I wouldn't take them there when it was any hotter.
My hubby has been to Sharm lots of times & he wouldn't have any worries about taking the little ones there.
Funkymum

black-saturn

I'm going to Egypt with my 2 children for a week in Cairo. My travel agent said that the hotel we booked (Le Meridien Pyramids) has excellent facilities for children (they are 11 and 9 so they won't need small kiddy stuff) and they said we would be OK as tourism is the biggest industry in Egypt.

annie-c

I guess you have to make a judgement call on safety issue viz terrorism in Egypt at the moment - I am still planning to go ahead with a trip this December - though to be honest I'd be more worried about the danger of flying anywhere from a London airport at the moment, than the risk of anything happening out in Egypt.

As far as tummy upsets go, you will need to take the ususal precautions about being scrupulous with washing hands, cleaning teeth and using bottle water for both as well as for drinking.

You'll need to take extra special care in the hot sun (even in January) and at the same time you'll need warm clothes to pop on on the cold January evenings.

As to whether the hotels will cater for children, I'd check the brochures carefully and see what's on offer in the place you are thinking of staying.

Remember that treatments like Immodium aren't really a remedy for stomach upsets they just block you up for a while and delay the inevitable, eg to give a safety net while travelling. In Egypt you can buy a non-prescription treatment in the chemists called Antinil which works by tackling the bug that is causing the upset in the first place. Not sure whether it is recommended for children though.