"Sharm El Sheikh" a Sharm El Sheikh Travel Page by LisaMJ

Egypt was a place I had wanted to visit for some time now. Only a few weeks before we departed, I found an 11 night duration to the Hyatt Regency - a hotel we had established was the one for us long ago.

This decision was made after many months of hassling fellow VT'ers for exacting details of what to expect in Sharm El Sheikh - and that was before we'd decided for sure that we were going. So I'd liked to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their valued advice and patience.

We established that there was great snorkelling, very reasonably priced restaurants, grand hotels, lovely people, and best of all for us was the weather! Not a cloud in the sky the whole time we were there, and temperature of 35 degrees +++ during the day. Some days were in the 40's. Although this sounds extreme, we were always close to the pool for a quick and cooling dip, and the heat is the lovely dry kind - not humid at all. However, I would guess that June - September could be too much even for a sun bunny like me.

Of course, pretty much all of Egypt is desert, but it fascinated me how you could step out of the luxurious greenery of your hotel complex, to be faced with the most breathtaking view of deserts sands and red mountains. There was something that made me feel so peaceful.....just a singe human being facing these colossal, yet beautiful, mountainous surroundings was awe inspiring.

Although this was as long as you didn't look too far left and see the flashing lights of the casino next door!

Yes, Sharm el Sheikh can wow you with both mountain scenery and at the same time neon lights.

.

The centre of the action for nightlife in my opinion is Naama Bay. A mass of bars and restaurants serving every cuisine imaginable (and questionable!). Thankfully there are only a handful of clubs that you'd otherwise not even notice. And there is also the appreciated absence of "Egg and chips" type establishments that have taken over many of the European tourist destinations.

However, one word of warning! At the moment I feel that Sharm El Sheikh (or at least Naama Bay itself) is just about at it's limit before it could possible turn into another Euro holiday destination swarming with moaning tourists looking for a Britain with sun. Apparently, the plan is to build 200 more hotels (there are 300 already) as well as another promenade to make a kind of "second Naama Bay". So it might be worth visitng sooner rather than later!

Otherwise, we had a great holiday, and may return for a winter getaway

Another top reason to chose Sharm El Sheikh is for the quality of the corals and sealife. We dropped right from our hotels pontoon into a haven of marine life from blue spotted rays to jellyfish (the non stinging variety according to the dive centre - not that I was going to try to find out). There is a travelogue with some of the underwater shots.

We had considered learning to dive, but felt we saw so much simply snorkelling, that we stuck to that.

However, if you don't snorkel, don't fret......you can still take a walk along the jetty and peer into the water and still see some colourful fish as you can from this photo.

Sharm El Sheikh really does have something for everybody, and offers that extra special something over the more common European package holidays.