first choice coral sea resort, stayed there last christmas(06) great hotel on beach front superb for snorkelling. rooms are large and well looked after. staff are brilliant. plenty of sunbeds around pool areas, food was excellent and plenty of choice and its all inclusive.
we have booked for this october at its sister hotel the holiday village AI, this caters for the kids more with zip ropes and big climbing frames. food is also supposed to be very good there too. both hotels are only about 15mins from sharm airport
hope this helps
tracy
(ps if you go youll have a great time)
naama bay is the only place you can really visit nearby (by shuttle bus) some shopkeepers hassle you but if you give them a firm no it usually works.

There isn't really anywhere that you can stroll out from a hotel apart from Namma Bay, however most of the hotels there are 5* B & B hotels, the Hilton's, the Jollie Ville, the Marriot, the Novotel, the Sofitel. It's also unlikely that you could wander about without getting a little bit of hassle, trying to get you in to bars, restaurants and shops. Many people like it though as it has a bit of a buzz to it.

The 4* AI hotels all tend to be north of Namma Bay, The ones that seem to be popular with people on this forum are the Hilton at Sharks Bay, the Coral Sea Resort, the Conrad and more recently the new First Choice Holiday Village. You need to get a shuttle or cab into NB from these.

Sharm as a resort spreads along about 40 kilometers of coast line. It's hard to imagine unless you have visited. When you arrive at the airport you get in your coach or cab and think it looks a bit of a wasteland (well it is a desert) but the hotels are superb and so is the Red Sea.

There are plenty of Tour Operator trips if you want something to do, and the languages you need are Russian and Italian, not German LOL.

Hope this Helps, Doe

it's much like Doe says. Sounds like the holiday village is what you are looking for. we normally stay at the Conrad but they do not really have a lot for kids although they may like to have a go at some diving.
Andy D

Go to the Holiday village in Nabq bay,It fabulous.I have been in AI in Mexico and the Dominican and this wins hands down.The area outside the hotel is really nice.There are lots of bars,shops etc and not as manic as Naama bay.Read the reviews and look at the photos.I stayed at the Conrad 2 years ago and whilst the snorkeling is fab there the hotel doesnt really have much for children and there is nothing outside the hot el,apart from other hotels..You wont need German in the Holiday village as there are no Germans there.Theres a few Russians but not in the numbers that they are in other hotels.Its also very popular with Italians(Sharm,not the HV)

HELP,can a mod please remove those emotions.I really dont know how they got there!PS I have read your comments Van,thanks ,Jay

Thanks for the replies. In the reviews here there is a "Holiday Village Red Sea " I assume that is the same one?

I forgot to mention that I usually DIY, so I am also going to try and find it on Travel Republic or Med hotels etc, any other good links for this hotel?

It looks conclusive that if I chose Sharm then Nabq bay or maybe Namma bay, but what about say Hurghada would Sharm still be the best option for us?

Thanks again I'm off to Goggle Earth the area next, then do some more reading.

We have older children (16,15 and 11) and have stayed twice at the hilton sharks bay.again nowhere to wander to but they do offer a coutesy bus or you can jump in a cab cheaply about 10-15 minutes to naama bay. when we have stayed at easter the holidaymakers have been mostly english. The snorkelling is good and they have an excellent house reef and a superb diving school. although not much of a beach there are sunbathing terraces on manmade sand .actually very nice and dont know the age of your children but ours arnt worried about a beach anymore. there is a large main pool 2 smaller quiter ones and a childrens pool area away from the main pool wih a waterslide. The evening entertainment is not fantastic but by red sea standards is pretty good and they do make a big effort. food and hotel facilities are great and it truly is A/I. you wont have to pay extra for anything.
Our childtren have always loved it there because you get lots of english families with older children which keeps them amused .
the first year we went with portland and the 2nd time we did DIY very easily and saved a couple of thousand pounds by booking early. we booked flights with XL then booked direct with http://www.hilton.co.uk for £60 per room per night on an A/I basis .the elder 2 had their own room . so room and a/I facilities for £30 per night i think very good. our 11 year old stayed free in our room but we had to pay $25 per night for his A/I. As I say though I did book that about 8 months in advance and I know the price on the hilton web did go up once they realised it was the english School Easter holidays. we paid our hotel bill on checkout and only paid £40 per person deposit on flights with XL. the balance 8 weeks before departure.
the coral sea and H villiage are I believe first choice hotels so I dont think it would b easy to DIY. they do look fantastic though.

sharm tends to be the first port of call for those going to egypt but El gourna Is getting great reviews on here as there is life outside of the hotels. Im sure someone will give it the thumbs up soon and will tell you about the town.

lyn

Thanks the kids are 10 and 13 I think your right as I can not find it on Travel republic not checked first choice out yet but at TR I can get it all for between 2400 - 2900 depending on hotel without trying I doubt FC would match that! But will check. I could not find The village hotel on google earth (not up to date) But I did see a building site with an amphitheater which was in between the LTI Grand Azure and the Hotel Sea life so I bet that would be it?

When you check First Choice try Eclipse as well, as they used to be the same thing but cheaper but lately the prices seemed to have evened out (which mean they are both as expensive as each other )

What date do you want to go in August? I looked at the 2nd August from Gat for a fortnight and the HV was an eyewatering 4.8K. So you will probably be better off with DIY if that's anything to go by, but that will rule out the HV and Coral Sea Resort as FC rarely let go of them.

For some reason this summer Thomson/Portland seem to be more competative than FC although they have a different selection of hotels, there prices seem to change on a daily basis so if you have time its worth picking a hotel and checking it each day for a week to see what the price is doing.

Another company to look at are Longwood Holidays they specialise in Egypt so they have a huge choice of hotels.

http://www.longwoodholidays.co.uk

http://www.portlanddirect.co.uk

http://www.thomson.co.uk

The building site is probably the HV, as you say google earth is not up to date. Jay has just returned from there so it must be built.

Good Luck. Let us know how you get on.

Just an add on to the Coral Sea post (and the Holiday Village is just a 5 minute walk from the Coral Sea)... there are also shops and restaurants etc. etc. being built all along Nabq Bay

Woolfie - have you thught about flying into Hurghada and staying in El Gouna, you get NO hastle whatsoever there and there are plenty of nice place to wander out to for a drink or something to eat. I got sick of th hastle in naama bay and much preferred El Gouna

Blueheather I'm open to anywhere although I thought I had read somewhere that the snorkeling was not that good at Hurghada due to no reefs? Otherwise it looks a great option also there seem to be better flight prices from Manchester! But I dont want to go to the red sea and have poor snorkeling lol!

Hi Wolfie

Generally speaking, Hurghada, Taba Heights, El Gouna and Dahab seem to come up a bit cheaper than Sharm for some reason. Although I am not sure what the reefs are like at some of these. I think at El Gouna you would need to get boats.

There is another resort that people on here like called Nuwebia that may also be worth you checking out, there are reefs there. Do a search on it there will be loads of info on here as a few regulars go all the time.

If you go to the top of the page there are resort reports to look at. Although I haven't checked to see how many there are on the alternatives red sea resorts to Sharm.

Doe

Yeah that is a consideraton Woolfie - we snorkled in Sharm and it was out of this world, as said above you really need to get a boat out to the reefs from EG

The Conrad has a superb beach and house reef but there are no water slides and it's about a ten/fifteen minute drive from Naama Bay.

Pippy

Wolfie ,If you get a price from First Choice and Eclipse for the Holiday village ask Travelcare travel agents (co-op)for a price.They beat the web price and gave me extra discount for having a co-op card.

While looking around the kids have seen the Titanic Aqua park Reosrt Hotel, although for me it's out on a limb, 4 star and not directly on the beach (use of sister hotel's though) I wanted to stay in El Gouna but I think I will lose!

My problem has been getting flights for 11 nights at a reasonable price but after a while searching I have got the Titanic coming in, for 3 Adults 1 child (2 child in Hotel) AI in August for 11 nights at just over £2100 I think that's pretty good! And you could have 14 nights for a tiny bit more, but we go for 11 nights max due to leaving our dog. Most 5 stars are coming in around £2300-£2800 as an indication to what you can save! First choice are way off.

Thanks for all your replies it's really helped steer me I'll let you know the final decision and of course file a report on our return.

One more question though, is there a breeze in August? I don't suppose that 124f feels much more than 100f which I'm fine with, just need more protection I guess.

Hi Wolfie

Don't know the hotel, but £2100 sounds a very good price for a family for 11 days in August.

Good Luck with it. Let us know what you decide.

Not sure about the breeze, perhaps someone else will know?

Doe

I've been to Sharm twice at that time of year and most days there was a breeze

Pippy