Egypt - Sharm El Sheikh

juror

I'm about to book a week here and I'm wondering should i go just B&B, half board or all inclusive?

I'm thinking of just B&B if the restaurants were any good and reasonable, can anybody let me know if they are good quality and what kiind of price range for a meal?

Thanks

dublintuition

You must take my advice on this... beware of all inclusive. You know why they're all inclusive? Because there's nothing around them for miles!!

We went last year, to Jaz Mirabel apartments, absolutely beautiful, but miles away from the towns, watersports, anything of interest at all.

If I were to go again I would stay anywhere so long as it was in Naama Bay.
That way you're close to water sports, diving centres, beaches, shops, markets, museums, restaurants, nightlife, and the hard rock cafe. I know you might think its the last thing you want when away, but save that opinion until you've tasted the food.

The holiday was great though!! You have to fly to the pyramids!! Don't get the coach, it's worth the extra to fly!!

Any other questions, just ask!

dublintuition

PS: Its also more expensive than you might think too, well we found it that way anyway. I think the egyptians are smart and tehy know europeans are used to paying alot more than the usual for stuff.

Also, you have to haggle for pretty much everything, we can be fun at first, but it gets boring very quickly!

Comordha

I was wondering about the weather. Thinking of going in August. Will it be unbearable or will there be a breeze to keep cool in. I could handle 30c avg for the week. I plan on staying in NAMA bay as want to be close to everything. Is there a bad mosquito problem there as the little buggers love me :-(

Cheers

Fratton Fred

It was April when I went and at least 35c everyday, up to 40 at times.

We stayed at the holiday village and there were a few places around to eat in, although we were all inclusive.

dublintuition

I went in Feb, and although it was hot, there was a breeze. Overall, I remember it being kind of warm.....

August... I would say that may be very very hot to be honest. I'm sure if you google it or even ask the travel agent, they should know. I do have a travel book lying around, just don't know where it is to look for temps.

Comordha

I've read what the net has to say, just wanted to know how fellow skinned Irish felt. Could you advise on the mosquito situation - a lot of people online saying the place was riddled with em.

JAMM222

I have been twice in the past 12 months! I stayed in the Jaz Mirabel Beech the first time(which is around €10 in a taxi -30 mins from nama bay). It was a lovely place. I went in July and it was very hot 45 degrees every day. The second time around i stayed in the Jolie ville golf resort, by far the nicest place i have ever stayed. The president of egypt stays there. We didnt go all inclusive the 2nd time as it is far cheaper and nicer to go to nama bay for food every night. There are loads of really good restaurants. as regards mossies i never got bitten. Oh and you should go to see the pyramids - a trip with return flights and guide will cost you around €150 - money well spent

Vinnie K

Im going next week, a few mates are already over there now, they said its 45-50 degrees during the day and 30-35 at night.

Im staying in the radisson in sharm, any one have any experience of this place?

Comordha

Hopefully it'll be too warm for the mozzies. I saw the pryamids, sphinx etc. when I was younger. This time it's Indian Jones (Petra) & Jerusalem for me. With some scuba, desert quad bikini and some late nights.

dublintuition

Never got bitten over there myself. As for the sun, I don't know what it will be like at this time, but expect it to be hot.

I did the quad biking, I wasn't mad on it, a bit boring, you're in a convoy, can't go fast, and the second you have a bit of fun on it, you're in trouble!!

Scuba diving was class though!!

With regard to the bikini, just be aware that outside the resort the people of egypt cover up, I found this a bit uncomfortable to be honest, and they do leer.

@THE LADIES: Don't leave your fella's side for a second, unless you're okay with getting leered at! My boyf wen't to the buffet and one of the guys were straight over to me. That happened ALOT!!

I know if you read over my posts it seems that I have alot of negative things to say about Egypt, but I really did actually have a good time. There is just an awful lot to be aware of

piskins72

a few more tips ...

take some sorta hand satanizer with you, the money is very poor quality and if u want to avoid a dodgy stomach, this may help!

in Namma Bay, beware of all the taxi guys trying to harrase you for a fare to where you want to go! they drive fairly crazy there too also!!

dublintuition

piskins72 wrote: »

a few more tips ...

take some sorta hand satanizer with you, the money is very poor quality and if u want to avoid a dodgy stomach, this may help!

in Namma Bay, beware of all the taxi guys trying to harrase you for a fare to where you want to go! they drive fairly crazy there too also!!

Yeah they do drive mental!! And, did you ever wonder where all the Ladas went?.....

Me and the other half were sick as dogs over there, coming to think about it, thats probably exactly what made us sick - the money. So I second that advice on the hand sanitiser

Pythia

We brought over a hand sanitizer and used it each and every time we touched the dirty Egyptian money. I'm sure it saved us from tummy problems.

Comordha

What do you all think of the day trip prices offered below in GBP. They are night trips from Sharm to see the following places.

Jerusalem - Adults Price: £96.50
Petra, Jordan - £184.28

Include transfers, lunches, stop offs, visa requirements etc......

Fratton Fred

Comordha wrote: »

What do you all think of the day trip prices offered below in GBP. They are night trips from Sharm to see the following places.

Jerusalem - Adults Price: £96.50
Petra, Jordan - £184.28

Include transfers, lunches, stop offs, visa requirements etc......

is that flying or coach?

With the Jerusalem one, do you go via the dead sea and into Bethleham as well? if so, forget the price, just do it.

WindSock

I would recommend all inclusive. We got very much stung in our hotel for the drinks alone. It would have been worth it for the upgrade.

Pythia

Comordha wrote: »

What do you all think of the day trip prices offered below in GBP. They are night trips from Sharm to see the following places.

Jerusalem - Adults Price: £96.50
Petra, Jordan - £184.28

Include transfers, lunches, stop offs, visa requirements etc......

I would recommend Longwood travel, we went with them to Petra http://www.longwoodholidays.co.uk/sharm/tours.htm#petra

Comordha

Cheers for all the tips guys. I now have another question.

The tropical medical bureau is recommending the following vaccines

Poliomyelitis
Tetanus
Typhoid
Hepatitis A

Is this just sale pushing or are any of these actually needed for 1 week in Sharm with a day trip to Jerusalem and Petra?

Fratton Fred

Comordha wrote: »

Cheers for all the tips guys. I now have another question.

The tropical medical bureau is recommending the following vaccines

Poliomyelitis
Tetanus
Typhoid
Hepatitis A

Is this just sale pushing or are any of these actually needed for 1 week in Sharm with a day trip to Jerusalem and Petra?

pretty standard for going most places outside of europe I believe.

I think they all last ten years so once you've got them you can forget about them for a while. IIRC, they are not that expensive. Have a word with your GP and see what they say.

Awful Scut Mk2

My recommendation to the OP is - don't go near the place.

I was there, stayed in the Jolie Ville (it was nice), but it's more expensive than most European destinations and the rip-off factor is absolutely unbelievable.

We all know about haggling and the North African custom, but should this be necessary for a can of Coke? When I asked the price of one in one shop, the shopkeeper sized me up, then tried me with '15 pounds' (about two euros).

You will get this absolutely EVERYWHERE in Egypt. We went to Luxor, and yes, it was very nice. But our tour was spoiled by the fact that the guide was racing through everything and suddenly we ended up with two hours 'free' which needed to be filled while we waited for the flight.

Our guide helpfully suggested a Nile river 'cruise' (going up and down the river while one of the sailors' pals rode his camel into the river 'oh look, crazy man, ha ha'). Thankfully, the rest of the tour saw through his kindness and turned down the repeated insistence on carriage tours round the city, but had to wearily troop into yet another papyrus stop to fill the artificial time vacuum.
When you visit the Valley of the Kings, there are Bedouin 'guides' there to make sure you don't touch the mosaics. Their m.o. is to walk up, say 'welcome' and then stick the paw out for a tip. Elsewhere, you'll get a guy encouraging you to sit on a camel and then aggressively demanding 75 egyptian pounds (around a tenner) for his trouble.

We also took a coral tour and tbh, it was more okayish than out of this world.

Egypt is a beautiful country, with a lot of fantastic cultural sights. But the natives regard all westerners as ATMs (perhaps the dumb among us have proved to be) and treat us accordingly.

I'd find somewhere else to spend my holidays if I were you. Turkey is a far better destination for my money, you have stuff in Cappadocia which you won't find anywhere else in the world.

Btw, I was there in May and it was 38 degrees day after day. August must be a complete furnace.

Comordha

Oh sh**, 38 degrees in May. Aug is gonna be like 45 daily. I guess I won't be leaving my room till 6pm every day so.

I hear what you are saying and I've experienced it before when I visited Egypt. I'm just going to be ruthless with all them snakewhistlers, reallu ruthless. Pushing them out of my way and sh** if they try rip me and get in my face.

Theboinkmaster

Awful Scut Mk2 wrote: »

My recommendation to the OP is - don't go near the place.

I was there, stayed in the Jolie Ville (it was nice), but it's more expensive than most European destinations and the rip-off factor is absolutely unbelievable.

We all know about haggling and the North African custom, but should this be necessary for a can of Coke? When I asked the price of one in one shop, the shopkeeper sized me up, then tried me with '15 pounds' (about two euros).

You will get this absolutely EVERYWHERE in Egypt. We went to Luxor, and yes, it was very nice. But our tour was spoiled by the fact that the guide was racing through everything and suddenly we ended up with two hours 'free' which needed to be filled while we waited for the flight.

Our guide helpfully suggested a Nile river 'cruise' (going up and down the river while one of the sailors' pals rode his camel into the river 'oh look, crazy man, ha ha'). Thankfully, the rest of the tour saw through his kindness and turned down the repeated insistence on carriage tours round the city, but had to wearily troop into yet another papyrus stop to fill the artificial time vacuum.
When you visit the Valley of the Kings, there are Bedouin 'guides' there to make sure you don't touch the mosaics. Their m.o. is to walk up, say 'welcome' and then stick the paw out for a tip. Elsewhere, you'll get a guy encouraging you to sit on a camel and then aggressively demanding 75 egyptian pounds (around a tenner) for his trouble.

We also took a coral tour and tbh, it was more okayish than out of this world.

Egypt is a beautiful country, with a lot of fantastic cultural sights. But the natives regard all westerners as ATMs (perhaps the dumb among us have proved to be) and treat us accordingly.

I'd find somewhere else to spend my holidays if I were you. Turkey is a far better destination for my money, you have stuff in Cappadocia which you won't find anywhere else in the world.

Btw, I was there in May and it was 38 degrees day after day. August must be a complete furnace.

+ 1

I was in sharm last Sept with my girlfriend and didn't like it. The food is awful - we didn't have a decent meal the 2 weeks we were there. Both got very sick and had to take the local anti-biotics. The hard rock cafe was packed every night as that was the safest place to eat but personally I don't go on hols to eat in the hard rock every night.

And the scuba diving was terrible - at every dive site there are 20 boats with hundreds of people in the water and not much natural life left. That sums up the Egyptians for me - they don't respect their natural resources at all and are all the time just trying to scam and rip off tourists. In valley of the kings in luxor the tombs were literally falling apart with no preservation efforts whatsoever.

Worst country EVER - only upside is the weather is guaranteed but that's about it!

Pythia

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

+ 1

I was in sharm last Sept with my girlfriend and didn't like it. The food is awful - we didn't have a decent meal the 2 weeks we were there. Both got very sick and had to take the local anti-biotics. The hard rock cafe was packed every night as that was the safest place to eat but personally I don't go on hols to eat in the hard rock every night.

And the scuba diving was terrible - at every dive site there are 20 boats with hundreds of people in the water and not much natural life left. That sums up the Egyptians for me - they don't respect their natural resources at all and are all the time just trying to scam and rip off tourists. In valley of the kings in luxor the tombs were literally falling apart with no preservation efforts whatsoever.

Worst country EVER - only upside is the weather is guaranteed but that's about it!

I disagre ewith pretty much everything here. We didn't get sick at all during our time in Egypt. There are loads of nice places to eat except the Hard Rock. We ate in Little Buddha's, the restaurant in our hotel (Hyatt), the Indian at the Sofitel and the Italian in the Ritz. All top class food.

The scuba was wonderful, no one else was there, no boats etc.

The Valley of the Kings was great, seemed to be well run, only some tombs open at one time so they don't get overly visited.

I agree the men are gigantic sleezebags, they are always looking for your money and the country is mainly filthy but a trip to Sharm and Luxor is great. Highly recommended!

Awful Scut Mk2

I didn't get sick, but my girlfriend did get gastroenteritis. I wouldn't particularly blame that on Egypt - I once got salmonella from dodgy tapas in Spain.

I would be curious as to exactly where you went scuba diving though. We went out several times and on each and every occasion, there was at least five or six boats at every location. I saw more fish at the reef in waist high water off our hotel beach.

Sharm el Sheikh was just too damn expensive. Not as expensive as in Ireland, but not too far off it either. It's an artificial resort in a Third World country and you'll get much better value elsewhere. And no offence, but when I go to another country, I want to eat local cuisine - not Italian, Indian or whatever. There was one nice Egyptian place, but that was about it.

Comordha

I intend on eating very well, not from the street etc. as I have a soft enough stomach so hopefully I'll avoid any of those illnesses. In terms of costs, I've heard drinks can be €6 for a pint, if this is the case I'll be hitting the offo before going out. They shouldn't really be trying to rip-off tourists like this, it's no way of creating long term value for tourists. Better to compete like Thailand for cheap / enjoyable tourism. Value for the $. What currency did you guys bring? Do the $ fly a lot better than the local £?

Fratton Fred

I had a great holiday in Sharm and got some great diving in.

In fairness though, we hardly ventured outside of the hotel and i struck lucky with the diving, the dive centre had a speed boat that went out at about 8am and got to most of the dive sites before the liveaborads and day boats had got there.

I also found the Egyptians really nice and if given a tip were very grateful for it, nothing was expected.

The food was ok, but again, we ate in the hotel most of the time.

Comordha

Is there any advantage to bringing Euros or Dollars or anything other than their local Egyptian pound? Or will I just bring the card and withdraw Egyptian £ on arrival?

Comordha

Hello all,

I'm just back and had an amazing time. I'm open to any quesitons you may have. I highly recommend an excursion to Petra in Jordan and Isreal (dead sea and Jerusalem).

Kenny_D

I'm heading over in 3 weeks to do some scuba diving. Did you do any diving yourself? Did you go to Cairo or do any of the more local excursions (desert quad biking etc)? Only going for a week and the diving will take up 4-5 days of that at least so was looking for something to do for the other 1-2 days. Where did you stay?

Comordha

I stayed in the Kahramana Hotel, NAAMA Bay. Very nice, central location. I didn't dive but i have before and I could tell it's a great location. Even snorkelling I could see plenty of exotic fish and coral below water. I would say do the Jerusalem trip if you have the spare time. I didn't go Quad biking but all of those excursions are very easy to sign up to. There is plenty of agents around town offering these trips. Weather was fantastic. There's great night time entertainment in NAAMA Bay - the Sharm-Panaromaic bar has a great view over the town and you can relax and smoke some shish. You don't even need to drink to have a good time, belly dancer show is great too.