Rich - Marlou will be able to tell you about it when she comes on line later this evening, as she flew in & out of there earlier in the year.

i have flown to and from Taba. It is little more than a tin shack!
I am not sure what you mean by bad reports..it is no more chaotic than when going through any other Egyptian airport.
it is not far from the border with Israel and security can be quite tight ( when it suits) or it can be totally lapse ( also when it suits!)

If you are staying at Taba heights, it is about a 40 to 45 minute transfer by bus along some very windy roads but the views of the mountains are quite good.

whats this about having police escorts from the airport i read? i know taba to be a military airport so secruity is expected.

thanks by the way, and yes i am staying at Taba Heights at the Hotel Intercontinental, where did you stay?

There are police about and yes it is/was a military airport. The police presence is no more than normal to say it is right on the border with Israel and they can't stand each other. We never had a police escort of the bus at all and i actually made an excursion into Israel ( a whole different story!). There are quite a few check points on the way from the airport to Tabe Heights...nowt to mean owt. They even put mirrors on sticks on the underneath of the buses just to be doubly sure. I think it stems from the days when there was the terrorist bombing of the Hyatt a few years back.

We stayed at the Hyatt and I think the Intercontinental is the one next door. It is a nice hotel. They all are there. Taba is a nice quiet resort and you can use the facilities at al the different hotels..you are not just stuck in your own hotel. All have private beaches, there is a dive school ( Red Sea Waterworld) a little shopping mall, a golf course, a few pubs, restaurants etc and there is a free shuttle bus that goes round in a loop every half hour calling at every stop from the Hyatt right down to the Dive School and the 3 Corners with all the other hotels in between..
I am sure you will love it..

thanks for the reply. I hate this day and age where you have to go looking at holiday reviews and the negative comments always get you thinking.

Like Val said it's little more than a tin shack. We had no problems on the way out however we had a 5 hour delay on the way home which was a nightmare. After checking in on departure, you go upstairs where there is a small little shop/cafe with snacks and drinks. When you go through to departures though all you've got is a little hatch selling crisps and cans of pop/water. It was a tiny little room and to spend 5 hours there was a nightmare. We didn't have a police escort on the bus however like Val said there are a few check points to pass through. We did to a trip though and at that time we had a security guy in the front of the 4x4 holding a machine gun. We were there at the end of January though when there was trouble in the Gaza strip! You'll have a fantastic time i'm sure!

we had a security guy in the front of the 4x4 holding a machine gun.

I think that's typical of most places in Egypt. When we went to see the pyramids, all the buses travelled in one convoy. There were some army trucks travelling alongside, ion which you could see soldiers aiming machine guns. There were also 2 security men sitting in the front of the bus, and their gun holsters were clearly to be seen. I must say though it only served to make me feel safer, although it was a bit intimidating at first.

Hi Richard, i came back from Taba airport just a week ago, don't worry about negative reviews the airport is fine in most ways.
On arrival you are loaded onto coaches to the arrivals hall takes less than 2 mins, and then you queue for passport control, at this point you might want to get a visa which is $15 or give them £15 and get change in egyptian currency, you buy these visas from a "bank" its very straightforward, if you are staying in the resort you do not need a visa, and just go through passport control with your filled out landing card which they give you on the plane. You would buy a visa if you wanted to go to Cairo on a day trip for instance. You then go through to the baggage reclaim which is quite a small area and the cases are taken of the belt and stacked to one side, you can tip the handlers if necessary, then you are outside to meet your rep and they will direct you to your coach which is only a short walk, coach loaders will usually want a tip!

Only 45 mins to Taba Heights on a winding road through the mountains perhaps a couple of stop-checks, but nothing to worry about. You will then see the golf course which is spread out in front of the hotels, with the Hyatt then Sofitel , Marriott and the newest Intercontinental.

When going back you will probably have a police stop-check when they come on and check everyones passports to make sure they are ready for flying back from Taba airport. on arriving at the airport they will unload your cases and will want a tip!! you the reach the airport entrance and put cases through a scanner and go through archway detector , queue for check-in (which has taken us anything from 5 mins to 1 hour) pot luck on the day!! there is a cafeteria upstairs (quite expensive) and a smoking room and toilets which are now very good and clean and with no-one on the door wanting a tip! You then fill out your exit card given to you on the coach and go through passport control and then through another security scanner and archway into the departure lounge which can get a bit cramped, there are food/drink shop and souvenirs and a tiny duty free shop and toilets.

I think the airport is ok, and procedures and waiting fairly reasonable.
the only observation i made last time was the searches by security at the airport, which were really poor, you can take the view that everyone is a "holidaymaker" but their standards were sloppy.

My tips are to take some food/sweets with you to the airport as they are expensive and you will more than likely get away with a bottle of drink/water even though its over 100mls aswell. and take some small notes or coins for tips both ways.

(Justval , it was the Hilton in Taba that was bombed , its right by the border) The hotels are very strict and vigilant with their security.

Marlou had just posted ahead of me!! and ... no you wouldn't want to be stuck there for 5 hours!!

We stayed in the Movenpick right next door to the hilton when the trouble was at the beginning of the year. I was a little apprehensive about going but we had a fantastic holiday.

Hi Marlou, we stayed at the Movenpick this time, i thought it was fantastic, really good value for money.
We went up to the Hilton to the duty free shop and it was then that my wife reminded me that it was the Hilton that was bombed!!
i don't try to worry about these things, we've stayed next to the hotel that was bombed in Sharm, we were in Phuket just a few weeks before the tsunami, we were in bali the year before it was bombed, we were in eilat when gulf war 1 was happening with the threat of scuds hitting our sunbeds! ... i try not to let things get in way of my holidays! i don't mean to be flippant as people really suffer with these attrocities, the tsunami really made me very sad , and it was a close call for me.

I agree Movenpick was awesome! Would love to go back there soon. Once I was there I didn't worry about the trouble, however one day I was lying on my lounger on the beach when all I heard was machine gun fire really close by. I dived off the lounger and took cover only to look around to see that nobody else had moved, as it was only the navy doing their daily practice in the sea. I was so embarrassed and everyone was looking at me

Marlou wrote:

however one day I was lying on my lounger on the beach when all I heard was machine gun fire really close by. I dived off the lounger and took cover only to look around to see that nobody else had moved,

You've been reading too many Andy McNab books!!!!
one of the things i liked was the calling to prayer over the loudspeakers , i always find that sort of atmospheric

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