Sharm El Sheikh Holiday Recommendations

[Handsfullofholes]

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it seems to be the only place that’s going to be above 30 degrees!

Looking for recommendations for a 4/5* hotel in the first couple of weeks of October.

Ideally looking for beachfront/private beach with good snorkelling and tennis courts 🎾. Thank you!

We stayed at Doubletree by Hilton in May and loved it. Food was great. The private beach is very small but the snorkeling right off the beach was great. It was only 20 mins from the airport and had tennis courts. Also a short walk to Soho Square.

Agree that ring near soho square is a plus

*being

Soho square is worth as visit as is old Sharm but avoid Naarma Bay.

Take a pen with you to fill out forms when you land, (even if you don’t need a visa you’ll still need to fill in a form and there are no pens) and you’ll need to do another one when you leave before you get to passport control. On the way back, be prepared to have your bag searched several times and the staff are rude and unhelpful.

Boat trip to Ras Mohammed was lovely and worth it, take GBP as they seem to prefer that for payment for trips.

There is great snorkelling at the Four Seasons Resort - private beach with coral reefs. Also excellent tennis facilities. But obviously it’s Four Seasons prices.

I think Pickalbatros Palace has a tennis court, it definitely has good snorkelling on the private beach and is pretty good value for money.

I didn't even know you could still go to Sharm from here I thought it all stopped?

We did Sensatori Coral Sea / Tui Blue this summer and it was lovely. Hotel and grounds are excellent, rooms are spacious, have good AC, and decent bathrooms. Food was very good in the main buffet restaurant and there was a choice of A La carte restaurants for a change.

Private area of beach, good snorkelling off a jetty, Dive Centre (extra charge), tennis courts, volleyball and football areas. Adults only areas and separate kids/families pool with water slides.

There was a decent street of small shops 5 mins walk away, and some in the hotel itself (more expensive, but not prohibitively so). Taxi to Old Town & Soho Square available from reception for about £20. Same deal for the Farsha Cafe, which is a fab experience and nothing like we had done before.

Entertainment in the evenings - usually live music in the main bar, and a kids show with more family style entertainment in the amphitheater.

We stayed at Stella Di Mare years ago. It stands in my memory as an amazing hotel. It was my first ever AI/resort experience and it set the bar pretty high.
They have tennis courts and a private beach. You can go snorkelling from the hotel but I can't tell you how good it is because I have a fear of open water. Reviews suggest the snorkelling is good though.
If I ever went to Sharm again, I'd stay at this hotel for sure.

100 percent the Savoy hotel. We have been 4 times and had an amazing experience every time., however Im not sure if they have tennis courts

Thanks All!

We've gone with the Concorde El Salam in Sharks Bay - reviews seem to be good and it has a private beach and tennis courts.

Would have loved to go to the Savoy/Four Seasons but sadly it was slightly out of budget. I also looked at the Doubletree by Hilton and a couple of the recent reviews weren’t very good - I’m pleased you had a good stay though.

@TedWilson I think the flight restrictions lifted in 2019? It’s now marked as green on the foreign office website! (Parts of Egypt are still amber and red)

Also, has anyone done the day trip to Cairo for the Pyramids?

I did and I'm glad I've seen it all. It was 2010 so a lot has happened since then but I'm sure the pyramids are the same, not so sure about the museum (Tutenkhamen etc)which was included on the trip. Both well worth seeing but be warned the pyramids are not how they look on the photos.

We stayed at the Baron Resort, Sharm el Sheik and the hotel was very good. But the apparent necessity for armed guards at the entrance put me off ever going again. We went in a taxi to visit a very modern, sterile, boring place a short drive away, stayed about 10 minutes and then got the taxi back.

The air ports at Sharm and Cairo were filthy with very little food available if you even dared to eat it.

Safir Sharm Waterfalls Resort, Sharm El Sheikh – Updated 2023 Prices (booking.com)

We stayed here, but admittedly it was 15yrs ago. The whole resort is set on a slight hill with entrance at the top, rooms sloping down the 'hill', 7 pools and multiple restaurants and a beach and snorkeling right at the bottom. There were inclinator lifts to go up and down. I just can't recall a tennis court, but there was a games room with table tennis (different to tennis I know!)

I'd been to Cairo before, do didn't do the pyramids trip. We went to Mt Sinai instead. The bus set off in the early hours and it was a fair drive. We then started climbing up the mountain whilst still dark. We were advised to wear warm clothes and people were selling beanies and gloves at the bottom and telling us that people were skiing at the top! We thought they were just trying to flog things- but to my great surprise, there was snow at the top!!! It was such a magical experience watching the sunrise that morning.

I went 10 years ago, and while it wasn’t my cup of tea, the snorkelling was fantastic.

Stayed at Novotel. Perfectly pleasant. It was June so scorching - October sounds like it might be a more sensible time to visit.

@Handsfullofholes just been reading this as looking at booking. How did you find Concorde El Salam in Sharks Bay? thanks x