Hurghada or Sharm el Sheik?

[SixtyFootDoll]

We are hoping to book a week in Egypt in January - to make up for the fact i have to work a 12hr shift Xmas Day (sob)

We are looking at the following this

or
this one

Has anyone been? I know very little about either resort, would appreciate any advice, thanks..

Bumping

go on, go on, go on

I have been to both years ago, and in another tread I talked about the difference between Sharm and Hurghada. Let me cut and paste:
you need to know that in Jan/Feb in Sharm el Sheik or Hurgada, you can't stay on the beach/pool after 3 p.m max 4pm because there isn't any more sun. It gets dark realllllllly early.
As far as I remember, we had more sun on the east side of the Red sea. . In Hurgada (west side) we had less one hour less sun, but then we were in a real city and we had a great time going around , enjoying tea in a local café, visiting the souk ... Sharm (east side) is artificial. There is the Old part, but old doesn't mean interesting, the rest is pure tourist-oriented. Sharm has great resort, HUGE resort
The best thing abour hurgada is that you can have a day-trip by bus to visit Luxor and that was amazing.One thing is seeing the Egyptian art in a book or Discovery channel, another is touching it with your hand

Yhanks for that gordon, I am leaning towards Hurgada.

I've been to Sharm, but years and years ago. If you're interested in the history, as well as just wanting to flop, then Hurghada is probably the better option. We went for two weeks - a week of diving in Sharm and then a week in Cairo and Luxor doing the sights. Both wonderful, but the tombs in the Valley of the Kings are AMAZING! There's not much else around Sharm iirc. There were trips you could go on to spend the night up in the mountains and a trip to St Catherine's monastery (neither of which we did) but not much else. Which wasn't a problem for us because we were diving every day, but might be if you wanted a bit more to do.

Hello SixtyFootDoll

I have stayed at the Aqua Blu (Feb 2009) and a friend of mine has just come back from the Jungle Aqua Park (she stayed at the Sunrise Tirana in Sharm which is similar in 2009). I have been to Sharm twice and Hurghada once.

Based on my friend's review and my own experience, of the two hotels I think I would chose the Jungle Aqua Park. The Aqua Blu was nice but I wouldn't rush back. When we went we traveled with another family who decided to return to the Aqua Blu in July this year. Unfortunately the hotel was severely overbooked and they were shipped to another hotel for the first night. The friends they traveled with were also moved to another hotel for the entire week of their holiday. Some overbooked guests at the Aqua Blu were sharing rooms and sleeping on sunloungers. The other point worth mentioning is that the 'family rooms' at the Aqua Blu (with the exception of two units) are all sited at the front of the hotel and overlook the noisy road and do not have balconies or terraces.

If you haven't already done so I suggest that you read the most recent reviews on Tripadvisor: Aqua Blu reviews and Jungle Aqua Park reviews

On the topic of weather and temperatures; we have been to both Hurghada (from where we visited Luxor) and Sharm (from where we took a day trip to Cairo) over February half term (different years obviously) and found the weather in Hurghada to be warmer. Hurghada is a little further south than Sharm so that may be why. That said, I recall that the pools at both hotels were pretty chilly.

Thanks copy cat!