Sharm El Sheikh – The Ritz Carlton
by Mark Kempster on 05/02/10 at 5:38 pm
I have just returned from a winter sunshine holiday to Sharm El Sheikh. We actually went away over Christmas so we could get away from all of the hustle and bustle going on in the UK. Flying to Sharm El Sheikh is easy from London with several direct flights from London airports including with British Airways and Easyjet and I believe that there are also good connections from other regional airports in the UK like Birmingham and Manchester. The flight is about 5 and half hours so in terms of distance its very much like taking a holiday to the Gambia and just a bit shorter than a holiday to Dubai. The transfers from the airports to the hotels are very short around 20 minutes and I would recommend doing what we chose to do and that is booking a private transfer, it saves all the hassle with going to other hotels.
We were met from the plane and taken straight to the front of the queue at passport control and after a bit of discussion with the officials were let through – this “queue jumping” probably saved us about an hour stood in line, now although annoying for those in the line represented a real saving for us in terms of time and stress – I would strongly recommend this “meet and greet service”.
We stayed in the Ritz Carlton a superb hotel located on a lovely beach (man made) there are four good restaurants to choose from offering either international or local food none of which I could fault. There is a lovely bar near to the reception with a wide range of drinks there are also several other bars near the pools and beach although the bar near to the reception is the only one open during the evening which is slightly disappointing.
There are at least four swimming pools some designed for children. Due to the coral reef located directly at the beach you can’t swim from the beach you need to go out on a floating jetty over the reef before you can enter the sea. If you are looking for diving there is a dive centre too and if you like snorkelling you can also hire the gear. I have dived on a holiday in the Maldives and did feel the diving & snorkelling was better in the Maldives although I can really only speak for the diving and snorkelling around the reef of the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
For a destination to go to for sunshine it would be hard to beat this on a 5/6 hour flight during the winter we had temperatures of around 29/30 degrees so plenty hot enough to sit around and relax. You should note that in December the days are short and come 4.30pm the sun has gone, if your prepared to get up early then the sun is hot enough to sit out in from 7.30am onwards.
The hotel has a good gym with a wide range of equipment and this is open 24 hours a day. I also went on several runs at either the beginning or end of the day these were very enjoyable although you need to watch the unevenness of the pavements and the large curb stones.
We were looking for a relaxing and restful holiday in the sun and we certainly got this, we ventured from the hotel one night into Nama Bay. If you are looking for a big lively cosmopolitan resort then this is it, as with a lot of Egypt be prepared for all the locals wanting to be your friend, invite you to their restaurant or bar, one night was enough for us but we had not gone for that sort of holiday – there were plenty of people who all seemed to be having a nice evening out while on their holiday to Nama Bay.
The only real negative I could say about the holiday was the cost. It was expensive while you were there. I had always felt that Egypt was a relatively cheap place to go to and I also accept that the Ritz Carlton is an expensive international hotel, but in general prices seemed expensive (at least on par with the UK) I would highly recommend going on a half board or all inclusive on your holiday to Sharm El Sheikh.
For a week in the sun in the winter a holiday to Sharm El Sheikh can be highly recommended and worth a visit, if you want to get really hot then a visit in our spring, summer or autumn will guarantee gloriously hot weather.
Sharm El Sheikh Coastline image courtesy of: Nafaraj Metz | Sharm El Sheikh Sunset image courtesy of: Womeos Photo’s
Recent Comments