Anyone been to Egypt - Sharm el Sheik (or something like that!)

[morleylass]

I'm thinking about going either Christmas or Feb half term, just wondered if anyone had any opinions?

tia

ML x

yes fab, We have been to The Oberoi in Hurhada. Loved it. How old are you DC's ?

Yes went at Christmas some years ago and did a diving course, it was lovely and hot and we had a great time.

Would recommend diving or at least snorkelling while you are there, otherwise the town is a bit unnatural and shopping centre-ish, but underwater is a beautiful natural reserve. Lots of people go to the mountains too but you can't really do that and dive on the same trip due to the risk of the bends.

That sounds positive, my DC are 9 and 6

are you after beach only? because you won;t see any real Egypt in Sharm. which is fine as long as you expect that and it's what you want. Like pasturesnew says it's very artificial and shopping centre-like and really you could be anywhere.

hatwoman is right. I have done both. Luxor aswan and cairo twice as we are really into all the history and then Hurhgada just for 7 days r and r in the sun. In fact we didnt even leave the hotel !

My dc's are 8 and 10 and they loved it !

We went to a very nice (Austrian run) hotel in Hurghada which was brand new, not at all crowded. I would have got bored there all the time though, I think. There was a nice spa attached and dh was off diving every day.

We did a trip to Cairo - museum, pyramids and down to Luxor whihc was enough and about right for us. There was nothing much there apart from hotels, a lot of Russian tourists. We just stayed in our hotel or went on trips really.

We also stayed at Sharm el Sheik which I didn't like as much and went up to the St. Catherine monastery (night trip) bit tiring for children (well not just for dc really).

I think a lot of it depends on your hotel. Our hotel in Sharm was mostly Italian tourist groups (for whom all the shows/trips/kids club were geared) next biggest group Russians (not at all catered for and generally peed off). Just a handful of other tourists such as us or from neighbouring Arab countries.

We went into the centre itself for a meal in a sort of cafe cut into the rockface and crawling with wild cats. Was ok but not really my cup of tea the whole place.

We went and were lucky enough to have chosen a hotel that had plenty of fellow brits to make friends with. Our hotel was slightly inland so we took a bus to the beach which was fine as it was a day out.

Naama bay (sp) is OK by day but you get hassled at night. It's a secure tourist area but worth a visit to get out of the hotel complex.

The highlight of the trip was taking an overnight bus to Cairo and seeing the Pyramids.

I personally wouldn't go back. I just had an eerie unsafe feeling when venturing out. Not in the hotel complex though. Most people didn't feel this way just me.

Hmm thinking now my post has a negative ring to it. Have to say that dd absolutely loved our first trip to Egypt (to the Austrian hotel in Hurghada, loved their kids club, was thrilled to bits about the museum in Cairo and the seeing the pyramids). It's a tiring day trip because you start so early and get back so late. Dd still raves about it. Some of the other hotels I saw near ours in Hurghada, I would not have liked to stay at personally

Our second trip to Sharm was less successful. I think the hotel was just too big and do check the online reviews. The kids club for instance was rubbish. I did read some people were unhappy that the hotel catered pretty much only to the Italian tourists but didn't think that would bother us, however it really created quite a bit of bad feeling which you couldn't oversee so I would never go back to that hotel again.

dh went diving almost every day at both places, sometimes doing day trips out somewhere. If you are a keen diver, I think you could have a great time in Egypt.