How chav is Sharm el Sheikh?

[sorry4]

We are looking for some winter sun. Looking at Sharm el Sheikh for a week all inclusive. We’ve never done a mass scale tourism hotel before.

Usually we stay in small family run hotels or rent a villa or apartment. Rent a car. Go to restaurants and explore an area.

However we are looking for somewhere very relaxing and an AI 5* seems very attractive.

In house entertainment is our idea of hell - but we could simply not participate.

I’m sorry for the question, but how “Brits Abroad” or “Chav” is Sharm el Sheikh? It’s just not our vibe.

We went. Always wanted to see the Pyramids, but when we went to visit on an organised trip, the area was filthy and a horrible vibe. Really disappointed that something so steeped in history is in the middle of such a hell hole. Some people like the hotels there, but I certainly wouldn’t return.

What a shit holiday, to not be able to leave the hotel even if the hotel is nice.

I'm surprised by all the negativity. I haven't been (and won't because I would burn to a blister in seconds) but I have friends and colleagues who go regularly, enjoy it, and aren't chavvy. They literally go to relax, get some sun and heat, loll in the pool and eat lobster for breakfast.

I was staff at the British Embassy in Cairo until not long ago. None of us folk set foot in Sharm or Hurghada unless for work. We had our weekends in Dahab, Nuweiba, Ras Sidr, Gouna, Marsa Alam, Soma Bay, all cheap by British standards but much less tacky. I don’t do consular work, but honestly, some of the consular stories of Brits behaving badly in Sharm would give Chavs a bad name.

I've read there are a lot of sharks in that area, also quite near Gaza if anything further develops there. Relative decided not to go because of above.

Hurgarda is better, I've been going to both Eygpt and morrocco for over twenty years. Morocco is better these days. A lot of the hotels changed hands in 2015 and things have been going downhill. I used to love Sharm but I spent my time diving/snorkeling etc. I agree that it's the Russians and other countries that are the issue.

I've been twice and never again, first time it was me and DH and it wasn't too bad apart from both going home with a nasty stomach bug and not being able to walk anywhere without being harassed.

The second time was about 9 years ago and we took our two kids and my husbands stepdaughter who was 17. Total nightmare, the 17 year old couldn't go anywhere on her own as the men were gross and one night we went for a wander to a night market when some man grabbed her arm and asked if she "wanted to fuck". We did a day trip and the man who was helping out didn't stop swearing and called the dad in another family a cunt because he asked him to watch his language around the kids! Couldn't go anywhere without harassment to go into shops etc and even asking my then 6 year old if he wanted a football shirt. I used to take my youngest who was 1 for a walk every morning to nap and wear my headphones so I could just ignore them.

Horrible place and nothing even nice to look at!

Cape Verde - the people were lovely and friendly and couldn't do enough but the hotel food was dire. It also seems to be the place where people who would normally go to Benidorm in the summer go to in the winter!

Re cape Verde....looking at my friends who've been, I'd say that was a spot on description.

It entirely depends on where you stay. I wouldn’t go to the holiday village Red Sea if you paid me but there are certainly some lovely hotels that I would go to.

However, we have just got back this week. It was absolutely full of Russians and many were overtly hostile. We’ve been five times for the diving but would not go again at the moment.

I went to Sharm some years ago with a friend of mine. I was groped by a taxi driver and some of the men were creeps. I'm not sure I'd go again and would discourage my DD to go.

So what's the point? Pay thousands to go abroad and never leave the hotel? I just don't get it

Why pollute the air and not see anything of the country. Because the country is so nasty and it’s too dangerous to leave the hotel. Absolutely pointless.

We are quite seasoned travellers and stayed in the sunrise Tucana resort in Makadi Bay near Hurghada in March and really enjoyed it . The best bit was the all inclusive was table service menu not buffet so you felt like you were going out for dinner not the mass “school hall” buffets you often get in AI. Facilities were really nice and it filled the brief of winter sun and relax. Only stayed a week and to be honest would have been bored with longer as there was nothing outside the resort and I mean nothing! There was a small reef offshore of their private beach which is good for snorkling and they shared facilities like a gym, spa etc with its sister hotel . There was entertainment in the sister hotel but we didn’t use it except for listening to a band in their roof top bar and the Morning Yoga class. I think if you are an active , see the sites, do something every day person you will probably hate it but if you just want a bit of winter R&R it was perfect.

The whole place is artificial and manufactured purely for tourists. The staff are pretty much all male and live in Cairo. They are bussed in for a month at a time and live in dorms in Sharm

This was my experience too.

I have been to a variety of winter sun places incl. Barbados and in my opinion you can’t beat Lanzarote. For some reason, people associate it with older style Spanish holidays Eg. Benidorm/Marbella. But it’s nothing like that. It’s beautiful and stylish and unlike mainland Spain it is warm all year (closer to Africa than Spain). You can get the year round sun like Sharm Al Sheikh but easily avoid chavs and will feel totally comfortable outside your accommodation Eg. No beggars, men staring at women etc. There are also so many interesting places to visit on the island and everything looks stylish and charming. No slums outside the tourist areas.

I went with my DSes 9 years ago. We actually had a lovely holiday, mostly. Lots of snorkelling, a boat trip, a camel ride etc. Beautiful pool. The staff were genuinely lovely, all men from Cairo and quite chatty and sweet.

But.. I had an upset stomach, there was a rain storm that took out all the electrics for 12 hours and all the restaurants were outdoor except one small one which made eating that evening tricky. The trip to the desert through the checkpoints was my first view of guards with machine guns. We had an armed guard on the bus. The day we returned home extremists blew up a Russian aeroplane. Russian guests were horribly rude. Arab guests were ‘interesting.’ The British were the nice people! I wouldn’t go back despite the snorkelling.

For winter sun go to the Caribbean instead. I had a poor experience at university with visiting Egyptian students and it's put me off for life. I know it's very unfair to judge a whole nation based on those interactions but perpetual harassment, grabbing, unwanted groping etc tends to do that.

Offering a different perspective @sorry4 - I went 11 years ago on my honeymoon and had a lovely time, and we’re definitely not chavvy (whatever that means, horrible word!)

I’m an historian. We based ourselves in Sharm, had a lovely few days by the pool, and we went to Cairo, stargazing in the desert etc etc. We stayed in Xperience Sea Breeze all-inclusive, though it might not be there now.

It was a long time ago and things have changed a lot in Egypt, and in Sharm in particular, so what previous posters have said doesn’t surprise me. But wanted to put a positive review for balance

Why would you not feel safe? Because they were Muslim?

I won't visit a place where women are second class citizens

Would never return to Sharm tbh. Feels unsafe outside the hotel and even in the hotel I was sexually harassed and followed back to my room by an Egyptian hotel guest. When you go out to the town area they harass you to buy things but unlike Turkey where it's all friendly and fun there's a sinister undertone to it.

We used to go to Egypt quite often, alway felt safe and the people were lovely.
Then came the uprising! (Think it was around 2008 or slightly later.)

We then took a late Spring holiday to Sal Hasheesh - just outside Hurghada - 5* property as always but what a difference. The atmosphere was awful with an underlying feeling of threat. We changed some currency in the hotel and were given some notes which were no longer in circulation. We were out of pocket by £30 plus but when we complained - discretely, reasonably but assertively - we were threatened with possible arrest. We checked out there and then, found a room in another hotel for the night and took an earlier flight home the next day. Never, ever returned.
We just felt the atmosphere so threatening and that you could be jailed for the slightest thing on a trumped up charge.

Seriously hope it has improved in the 15 years since our awful situation but not prepared to return to find out.

If you are literally going to fly and flop, and you stay in one of the more expensive hotels, Sharm and/or Hurghada can be fine for a recharging, sun-bathing and swimming week. And more reliable sun and heat than the Canaries in winter.

Just don't leave the hotel - it's not that sort of holiday. Also - choose one with a decent beach. Most of them are reef beaches.

The only good thing about going to Egypt was it made me appreciate how lucky I am to live in the UK. I'm glad I got to see the pyramids but I will never go there again for many reasons. A four hour flight home is no fun when suffering the consequences of their poor food hygiene standards.

El Quseir

Yes, of course that's what she meant
I would imagine it's because they were probably the Saudi Arabian equivalent of chavs. Every country has them!