hi cyprus chick . the obvious choice if your looking for B + B accomodation would be sharm im guessing. worth pointing out though that sharm covers a coastline of a few miles and the main town where you will find the shops/resturants/bars is Naama Bay so if your going to be eating out this is where you would want to base yourself as near as possible. there is also old sharm town that I believe is smaller but more traditional. the good news is if our excluding A/I the majority of those are along the coastline outside of naama bay . the hotels in Naama bay are mostly B+B or half board so that should narrow down your search.

have a look at thes maps
. basically you want to concentrate on the first one and check out the reviews of hotels in or around Naama bay or maybe old town/ras em sid if a particular hotel is in walking distance of old town .but you would have to be careful with walking distances in that area and whether old town would serve your needs in the same way as Naama

http://sharm-el-sheikh.ovh.org/mapa_lewa_engl.html
you will find the next one mostly A/Is but helps to know

http://www.sharm-el-sheikh.ovh.org/mapa_prawa_engl.html

You could also maybe look at El gouna instead of sharm which I believe also has life outside of the hotels and is getting great reviews lately.

I always stay a/I so cannot really recommend a hotel and its probably better to hang on and someone else will reply shortly but that should keep you going where are you chris ???

lyn

The two B&B hotels I went to in were not in NB. They were the Crowne Plaza and the Rennaisance Golden View Beach Resort of these the later was closest to 5* But we had to get cabs in and out at night to eat or use the hotel restaurants.(which were fine)

If you want to be able to walk to bars and restaurants and go 5* you probably need to look at the Jolie Ville, Hilton Farrouz, Novotel, Marriot Beach these are all in Namma Bay. Unfortunately there is no substitute for reading the reviews yourself to get a feel for if the hotels will be suitable for you and your family. It's a bit complicated as some hotels are sea-side and others you have to cross a busy road.

If you are prepared to be a little out of Namma Bay and are willing to pay the price I would go for the Hyatt - 103 on the map, it has the consistently good reviews & has a lazy river & heated pools.

The only hotels that have slides will be the large family AI's. The LTI, The Mirabel Park & Beach Complex etc, but I think you are right and they will be a over-run.

The star ratings are not always comparable to other countrys. From your user name I assume you go to Cyprus and I would imagine a 4 there would be the equivalent of a 5 in Egypt.

As Lyn says you also have El Gouna which many people like as there is a no hassle policy, there is a Sheraton and Movenpick there, you could put El Gouna in to the search facility. Or even Dahab or Taba Heights.

What time of year are you going?

Doe

I would also like to point out that Jolieville isnt doing B &B now, only half board and A1, and along the promenade front most now are A1, which is annoying if you particularly want B & B. Most of the hotels down the north end of Sharm are representing the same board basis as Sharks bay area and the surrounding hotels in the 4-5* class.

Michelle x

Hi Michelle, you will be pleased to know that the Jolie Ville, Marriot and Novotel are still B&B with Thomas Cook and Libra offer Hilton Fayrouz as B&B. Regards, Caro

Hi Caro

That is interesting because wen i had a recent letter explaining the sonesta beach wasnt b&b any more i went to Thomas cook and thats when they told me all the hotels down that strip are now half board and A1. If you remember that a while ago i wrote a post on having to upgrade which i didnt want.

I am pleased that the JV is b&b because i like the look at that hotel, and thought i would switch if i didnt like the A1 option at my usual hotel. Obviously someone at TC doesnt know there job properly!

Thanks everyone for your replies,you have all mentioned hotels i was looking at. I really like the renaissance golden beach because its a lot cheaper with portland than anyone else. My favourite was the Hilton Fayrouz until i read reviews about it not been suitable for children but they are all good hotels and i will get some prices and decide then. thanks again.........

Why did they say it wasnt suitable for children? They have a little play park and kids club at the hilton?

Take the virtual tour
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/FAYHITW-Hilton-Sharm-El-Sheikh-Fayrouz-Resort/index.do

Good luck

Michelle x

Hi Michelle, One review said that regarding holidays with children, 'they had been there, done it and bought the t shirt' and that it was nice to go to a hotel(the hilton fayrouz) with no children running around so i assumed no one took children there but thanks for the link, I will check it out more. I also enjoyed reading your reviews about your holidays, I wish more people would go into specific details about places, it helps you make up your mind if you have the full picture........

Sometimes i go too much into details, i write how i talk as Briarskeg knows

I just try to give a good account and cover everything.

I have been around the hilton, and would have stayed there, if it wasnt for the fact the SBR two mins walk away offered more of what we liked. I saw a fair few kiddies enjoying themselves. In fact when we stayed there were a lot of children all over, a super family resort.

Michelle x

Hi Cypruschick

I'm like Michelle and also go in to lots of details on my reviews. If you go to the ones on the Rennaisance Golden View Beach Resort and read the one submitted by Chris from April 2007 you will know what I though about it.

If I haven't covered anything you specifically wish to know come back to me and I'll do my best to answer.

I was thinking of going back there this April, but have been to Sharm twice now and am wondering if I should try another resort in the Red Sea.

Meant to say don't bother with the Gazala Gardens at present (also a hotel along the front at Namma Bay.) I assume there is nothing wrong with it as an hotel, but people keep being bumped from it at the last min.

Doe

Hi Doepsmc, thanks for replying, ive just a few questions about RGVB. When you eat in the restaurants on site how do you pay, is it charged to your room or do you pay every night and if so what currency do you use ? Also I read about a shuttle bus into NB, is it busy and do you have to book because I dont fancy the scary taxi rides ive read about. Finally is there plenty of room around the pools for sunbathing and can you always get a sunbed as our hotel in Cyprus has reserved sunbeds and so im not an expert on the early morning sunbed rush.
Sorry for the delay in replying ive not been online for a few days........

Hi Cypruschick

We paid as we went along for our meals and drinks with Egyptian Currency.

I'm sure you can put everything on your room by signing at the end of meals and paying at check out. But you have the grief of checking your bill at the end and well I would get all mixed up & they could charge me anything.

One thing that isn't mentioned much, in Sharm there is a sales tax and service charge added which I think come to 22%.

I saw an Italian guy query this at the pool last year, he though he would pay the menu price, but these extras are mentioned on the bottom of menus. (like in the US when you get out your $10 to pay and your bills $13 )

Difficult to answer the sunbeds for you. We had 4 everyday after breakfast, but we went for a week in April so I don't think it was that busy. After three mornings someone was putting them out for us in our favorite spot without us having to ask. The pool surrounds are large it's not 'sardine city'

We used the blue and white cabs as we are not organised enough to book shuttles. I would imagine you need to book in the morning for that evening, most seem to seat 12.

The hotel also has three superior taxis which the chap near security can get for you. Often they are out, when I asked they had taken people to the old market and I couldn't be bothered to wait for them to return. I'm sure if you are better organised than us you can reserve one of these for a specific time.

Hope this helps

Feel free to ask anything else.

Doe

Hi Doepsmc

Thanks again for replying so quickly, you have answered all of my queries, i agree its a nightmare checking your bill for 14 days of food and drink and you just end up paying without knowing if its correct so we will pay as we go, as for been organised and booking transport in advanced, not a chance so at least we can get a blue and white cab from outside the hotel.

many thanks again......

Dear Cybrus Chick..If you were wondering about that requirements in Sharm El Sheikh , I think of that is at Hilton Dreams hotel & in that hotel you will have a full time free access to the cleo park ,which is just behind the hotel & i think that you may have loads of fun in that hotel ..if you have anything more to ask about just don`t hesitate ...

Hi Cypruschick

Round the 'top pool' at the Rennaisance we had a waiter who looked after us a young guy called Mohammed. He was a truely lovely person.

I think it was him that started putting our towels out for us and choosing us a nice place to sunbathe. We did tip him little & often, when he brought us our drinks.

But it wasn't like we gave him 10 quid at the beginning of our holiday to secure us sunbeds or anything daft like that.
I would see how busy it is when you go, try to get your own the first couple of days. Then if you are struggling, beleive me a little money goes a long way in Egypt.

There is a money machine in the hotel. (never seen one before) Not an ATM, You feed it your 10 and 20 quid notes and out comes Egyptian money. LOL.

It did go down a few times though so you need a back up plan, but we just took a small amount of Egyptian with us plus sterling and got out money from this magic machine. Wish all hotels had them.

Doe

Thanks for both your replies,
Sharmer2006, I haven't seen that hotel in any brochures and i didn't realise you had free access to the water park, we were planning on going there a few times anyway so that could be an idea.
As for the cash machines Doepsmc, they sound like the change machines in Blackpool amusements where you put in a tenner and out comes a pile of 10p's that are gone within 10 minutes by the way but it does sound like a good idea so you can always have some currency with you.....

LOL never been to Blackpool, but sounds similar. Cash machine was very handy as it meant you could lock sterling in your safe and just change what you needed into LE's.

Re the waterpark I think there is more than one now. There is the one near the Hilton Sharm Dreams in NB. But I think there may also be a new one as well. It might be worth investigating both.

Doe

Dears..1st. Of all about the machines,they are well spread in Sharm ,but for the ex-changing ones they are less no.

And About The Water Parks , there are now in Sharm 3 Parks the newest one is in Nabq by Golden Resort Hotel-Not that big But Fun&safe ,the one behind hilton dreams -the 1st one of Sharm ,it is safe ,looking good & the 3rd. one AquaPark in Hadaba the biggest, 7months old & in my opinion not safe at all..