Sharm El Sheikh - anyone been?

[IrrElephant]

Me and the wife are looking for a cheap holiday in April half term (she works in a school so times are limited) and just want to go somewhere cheap, warm and all inclusive.

Seems like Sharm El Sheikh fits the bill nicely, just wondering what its actually like?

Will it give us a bit of sunshine? Don't need any frills, just a decent beach all inclusive booze and somewhere to relax.

Cheers

[bean455]

I would consider watching Sky Anytime about the Shark Attacks first.

[IrrElephant]

bean455 said:

I would consider watching Sky Anytime about the Shark Attacks first.

Unless there are sharks in the pool, I need not worry. I'm not a sea person.

[justin220]

Worst place I've ever been. The weather was great but the locals are horrible, as is the hygiene.

You can't walk 5 yards outside the hotels without being harassed by the locals to go into their shops/bars.. Or a taxi tooting his horn..

I'd rather stay at home

[Vytalis]

It's very good for scuba diving, but as a resort I'd avoid it. There are some weird german / Italian resorts that do aerobics onthe beach and the others are of varying quality so pick on brands you trust if you're going. The town itself isn't particularly pleasant but it isn't holiday ruining either. Close for cheap sunshine I guess but it isnt Seychelles.

[Nat_H]

justin220 said:

Worst place I've ever been. The weather was great but the locals are horrible, as is the hygiene.

You can't walk 5 yards outside the hotels without being harassed by the locals to go into their shops/bars.. Or a taxi tooting his horn..

I'd rather stay at home

I could not agree more. Save your money, honestly.

[Lee_sec]

the locals are annoying and get worse each time I go back... the diving is great though...

If your after a pool / resort holiday have a look at El-Gouna - found it to be a much nicer place, better hotel complexes and the town centre is a pleasent place to visit with an awesome little marina in the centre.

[driverrob]

That area can certainly be very good value for money, winter sun and some of the best diving/snorkelling anywhere on the planet but Tripadvisor is your friend. Check the reviews and avoid any resort (most of Hurghada and parts of Sharm) that get taken over by Russians, during the school holidays especially.

[The_Burg]

Lee_sec said:

the locals are annoying and get worse each time I go back... the diving is great though...

If your after a pool / resort holiday have a look at El-Gouna - found it to be a much nicer place, better hotel complexes and the town centre is a pleasent place to visit with an awesome little marina in the centre.

Glad to hear that as we are off to EL Gouna in 2 weeks time.

Sharm is horrendous now. It's cheap though. The Ruskies are truly unpleasant these days. First time i went in 2004 the Russians were nice folk, it would appear now the lower class Russian chavs can afford holidays.

The locals are annoying but will generally go away if you tell them to F off.

[gunners100]

hope all these comments are not all bad, im going on the 20th

[Noger]

Depends a lot on where you are. Sharm itself is pretty moody, Naama Bay has got more hassle recently, Sharks Bay is nice as it is away from the town but downside is there is less to do.

Some of, if not the best snorkelling and diving in the world does make up for it.

[BluePurpleRed]

Yeah, I have been twice. Once in the late 90s with my Dad ( it was good and early on in the resorts life IIRC ) and once in about 2006. In 2006 I noticed the increase in Russians and their mistresses ( sometimes even their wives on the same trip!) I wouldn't cross them the ones with money seems a bit.. mafia to me.

I would say the staff / service are fairly bad too.

However to try to be positive if you are looking for cheap sun then take 2 stars off the ratings and you know what to expect. If you go 5* then expect 3* if lucky. If you go 2* expect -1* ha ha. Seriously it will be st.

I don't know about the sharks, I guess going on a reef scuba diving with a guide will be less dangerous as she should know what to look out for? Dunno!

[anonymous-user]

Nat_H said:

justin220 said:

Worst place I've ever been. The weather was great but the locals are horrible, as is the hygiene.

You can't walk 5 yards outside the hotels without being harassed by the locals to go into their shops/bars.. Or a taxi tooting his horn..

I'd rather stay at home

I could not agree more. Save your money, honestly.

+2,, you still have a hand on the taxi door getting out & like flies round s**t everyone's asking if you want a taxi .

But can you blame people living in abject poverty from trying to make a living.

It was bl**dy hot though at the end of Feb and i though i liked it warm .

[R TOY]

Not all bad, had a week there last Nov, Week before the Shark thing started.
Hotel was good, (Sharks bay) nice beach and great pool, we paid a bit extra to get a swim up room which meant we shared a pool with 20 odd rooms instead of the masses. No kids vomiting in the water etc.
Food was pretty good, all inclusive but the hotel had 3 resteraunts which you had to book and pay a litle bit more for, made the evening meal a bit more special.
Warm but not scorching, diving was fantastic and our dive master (girl) was hot as a fox
Didnt go out all that much,dive centre mini bus collected from hotel so avoided the annoying locals.
A lot of hotels have long jettys running out into the sea, infact ours the same one shown on tv with a sun lounger tied accross it to prevent swimmers getting eaten by the wildlife..
We had some great snorkelling tho, without even thinking about oceanic white tips
A member of our party on our last dive came up saying he had seen a shark follow other divers coming to the surface, surprisingly no one made anything of this, especially as we were all bobbing around on the surface waiting to board the boat.
Knowing what we do now i would've wanted someone below keeping watch..
Anyway i digress, Basically not the st hole some folk say, sure you will enjoy.

[PugwasHDJ80]

went in 1991 - people drove up to the airport across the desert. There was no security, and the dumped your bags on the tarmac off the plane!

There was about 2 hotels, and people only went to dive- it was and idyllic heaven.

Drove through in 2010 on the way to Hurghada- wow- it was horrid.

hurghada wasn't that much nice though!

[andrew311]

IrrElephant said:

Me and the wife are looking for a cheap holiday in April half term (she works in a school so times are limited) and just want to go somewhere cheap, warm and all inclusive.

Seems like Sharm El Sheikh fits the bill nicely, just wondering what its actually like?

Will it give us a bit of sunshine? Don't need any frills, just a decent beach all inclusive booze and somewhere to relax.

Cheers

TBH it will deliver what you want. Choose your hotel carefully and never leave it and you'll have a good time. It's all relative really, we went to Tunisa in April with the same brief (T-gypt will/should be hotter) was £540 for 2 of us for a week all inclusive and it was a bloody great week! We went with an open mind and expectation weren't too high for the money, but the reviews were good, and the food for buffet style was great. It was an Iberostar hotel, I sat by the pool all day every day reading a book, listening to my Ipod and for a 50p tip a day a cold beer or red wine whenever I wanted one from the waiter. There must have been 30 people in the hotel. Was great.

On the other side of the coin (this isn't a willy wave-honest) I've spent over 6k on 2 weeks in the Maldives where my expecatations were obviously higher. TBH at that time of year if you want it HOT rather than warm with a small budget it's hard to beat. Tunisa I hear you can get bothered the same as Egypt (we never left the hotel) and also the Gambia would be another option.

[gunners100]

Noger said:

Depends a lot on where you are. Sharm itself is pretty moody, Naama Bay has got more hassle recently, Sharks Bay is nice as it is away from the town but downside is there is less to do.

Some of, if not the best snorkelling and diving in the world does make up for it.

we are at sharks bay, sultan gardens all inclusive, so will see!

[mgmrw]

IrrElephant said:

Me and the wife are looking for a cheap holiday in April half term (she works in a school so times are limited) and just want to go somewhere cheap, warm and all inclusive.

Seems like Sharm El Sheikh fits the bill nicely, just wondering what its actually like?

Will it give us a bit of sunshine? Don't need any frills, just a decent beach all inclusive booze and somewhere to relax.

Cheers

Just come back. 3 areas are:

> Soho Square complex - NEXT DOOR to the airport. (Read as, "you can piss on the runway") which is very glitzy and secure.

> Blue bay area. (google: REEF OASIS BLUE BAY. That's where we went, plush and real nice staff). Half hour from airport so a bit quieter. Half hour from Naama Bay.

> Naama Bay. The town for tourists that rarely sleeps. Google NAAMA BAY.

If stuck, PM me and I can possibly lend advice as parents have been about 5 times now to sharm.

[andrew311]

Forgot to add that I've been to a few places in Egypt,some would interest you but Marsa Alam was nice and consisted of a few hotels and nothing else-that was 5 years ago so there's probably 100's now. Was very chilled.

[stompboxx]

I was about to ask if people have been to Marsa Alam and if they had any opinion on it? It sounds like a very quiet resort?