Have you been to Egypt? Hotel recommendations please!

[TheMasterplan23]

Hi, we’re planning on heading to Egypt early November and are looking at hotels now. Neither me or DH have been before so know very little about the areas and hotels.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks ☺️

Which part of Egypt? I could recommend a fabulous hotel in the centre of Cairo but that's no use if you're going to Alexandria.

@QwestSprout most likely Sharm el Sheik area I think

Sharm is a purpose built resort in the middle of nowhere. It’s got amazing diving and snorkelling but not much else.

We’re ok with that. We want a nice hotel ideally beachfront with the option of some water sports/snorkelling. Mainly somewhere to relax and enjoy a few drinks in the evening

For snorkelling Red Sea holidays Makadi Bay hotels are worth considering. There are three hotels which share a jetty with a reef at the end. That reef had great snorkelling last time I went a few years ago, better than most of the boat trips I have been on in the Red Sea. The hotels are OK, Makadi Spa was best, and there is a small shopping area nearby with additional restaurants (extra cost).
Personally I am never going via Sharm airport again as everything, especially security, was so badly organised. Hurgada airport is better but still not great. If you do go to Makadi Bay it is worth taking loads of £1 and £2 coins for tipping (not allowed but you will get much better service if you do).

@Redburnett thanks! Very helpful :)

If you want 4* I’d say any of the Jaz resorts are very nice, or Stella Mikadi.

If you want 5* then Jaz Mirabelle beach or any of the Rixos resorts are

Also completely agree with PP I prefer Hurghada to Sharm.

Notes are even better as it’s a pain for the staff to change the coins.

Re: tipping, staff used to quietly ask us to change coins for notes, so when they had £10 in coins they would ask us to change for a £10 note.

Same.

I wouldn't recommend that resort unless your really really into the water sports. I dont actually know if there are any beach frount hotels. Went throughout an armoured check point when we went to the beach, not very relaxing.

I also recommend Red Sea Holidays, I went to a Grand Palace Hurghada last month which is one of their hotels so it includes late check out right until a few minutes before the minibus arrived. There were few Brits there which I loved and 6 or 7 restaurants that were easy to book. Excursions were very well run and good value.

I really rate the Jaz resorts. My particular favourite is the Jaz Lamaya in Marsa Alam, though this is slightly harder to get to.
Beautiful grounds, great choice of a la carte restaurants as well as buffet.
Staff brilliant.

Like others I prefer Hurghada to Sharm if they were your two options. Though for diving it would always be Sharm or Marsa Alam.
I used to really like Jaz Aquamarine, though haven’t been in a few years.

Thanks everyone! Have looked at a few of the Jaz hotels and they look good 👍🏻

Will leave the final decision to DH, as usual. Then if it’s awful, it’s his fault 😁

Stayed at the Makadi Oasis Resort, part of the Jaz group in April. Food was good. The pizzas at the pool cafe were made in front of you to order and were gorgeous. It's all AI. You can do a dine around and eat at some other Jaz hotels.
Not many English, mostly German, Swedish, French but didn't bother us at all. We didn't have any kids with us but there was loads going on for them. Pool drinks service too.
Not on the beach but it's literally five minutes through a walk way and the hotel has its own area on the beach with food down there too.
We loved Makadi Bay and felt the airport was slightly better than Sharm. We're hoping to go back to Makadi Bay as there was such a lovely vibe there. I think you get a better quality hotel in Egypt compared to the Canaries or other winter sun mid range resorts, only downside is there's no bars, shops or restaurants to go to.
It will definitely be our winter sun destination in the future.

I haven’t been for a few years but I used to love a week at Fort Arabesque on Makadi Bay, there is snorkelling from the beach.

I stayed at Fort Arabesque in Makadi Bay last year and I agree with previous poster that it is a good hotel. It has a heated pool which not all the hotels do. Snorkelling off the beach was fine, several patches of interesting coral, not as good as the reef mentioned at the end of the bay in my earlier post but still better coral than my limited experience (one trip) of Sharm. In Sharm we stayed at the Jaz Fanara and that was also a good hotel (we got a sea view room, convenient as fairly close to beach, some rooms are a long way back). Snorkelling off the beach was OK, the coral is damaged from so many visitors, but plenty of fish when we went a few years ago.

We looked at Fort Arabesque and walked past it on our morning walk along the promenade and it looked lovely. Easyjet do an adults only deal so that's appealing.

Anyone stayed at the Jaz Makadina? That looks really nice and has great reviews on Tripadvisor

Rixos premium seagate Brilliant service and a la cartes

Movenpick El Quesir
About 90mins from Hurghada- they will sort transfer for you
amazing house reef, food excellent

I would avoid Hurghada itself

Makadi Gardens near Hurghada was lovely with great snorkelling. It’s adults only and very quiet. Some people would say its boring but it was exactly what I wanted.

The Steigenberger hotel in Marsa Alam also had great snorkelling. Again, adults only but it’s bigger than the other hotel and a little more lively (though nothing compared to the family hotels with lots of entertainment).

If either of you are less confident swimming I’d suggest Makadi Gardens because there are more shallow bits of water whereas the water in Marsa Alam quickly became deep.

Dh is Egyptian and I used to live in Egypt. We used to go to Sharm a lot in the 00s but now the only resort we would go to is El Gouna, which is near Hurghada. The Movenpick hotel there is brilliant although last time we couldn’t get booked there and went to the Sheraton, which everyone really liked.
We went to Makadi bay a couple of times when it first opened and were unimpressed.

We stayed at an Airbnb inside the Four Seasons at Sharm. Amazing. But that was after 10 days exploring elsewhere- not sure I would go all that way just for Sharm el Sheikh. Nile cruise with Dahabiya Nile sailing was absolute highlight (with two kids).