hi there newtogoa.
When we first started researching a holiday in sharm I searched and searched in vain for an A/I where I could stroll outside in the evening for a wonder but never found any.
If you really want to stay A/I you will be hard pushed to find anything that is in walking distance of Naarm Bay which is the main town with shops, bars etc. Im afraid in most cases there is nowhere really to walk to outside of the A/I hotels. these hotels are beautiful, have everything you need , excellent facilities and obviously the red sea if you have beach access but im afraid out the front you will find a long driveway that leads onto the main highway that runs the length of sharm and basically is surrounded by dust . having said that i am still a fan of A/i and the prices are good. most of the hotels have a courtesy bus which will take you into Naarm bay which would probably be 10-20 mins away. or taxis are cheap and easy. If you want to be based amongst the bright lights of Naarm bay you will find the majority of accomodation to be mostly B+B or half board. There was a similar topic running a couple of weeks ago and i believe there were a couple of possible A/Is mentioned that were on the outskirts of Naarm bay or close to Old sharm . i will see if i can find it for you.

Not sure about Hurghada. hopefully someone will come along soon that could help there.

lyn
found it
http://holidayforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=82760

I agree with Lyn the closer you get to Namma Bay the less AI hotels there are, and B & B hotels take over. Although this isnt really a problem as you can eat in Namma Bay quite cheaply.

I think the Sonesta Beach hotel is in Namma Bay that may do AI or at the very least HB.

All the AI hotels have either courtesy buses, or mini buses where you pay a nominal fee to get in and out of Namma Bay, although sometimes they seem to go in at odd times like 5pm.

Hopefully someone will reply who knows about Hurgharda.

It is not a must to be in Naama bay to find things like bars, shops and restaurants within walking distance. Personally I find Old Sharm Town a far nicer place to stroll around than Naama bay. There are many hotels on the Ras um Sid peninsula which are 5 minutes or even less from the Old Town and I believe that quite a few offer all inclusive.

I knew I had heard about that area on here recently and thats really interesting carrot. I have to confess we didnt actually like naama bay very much as other that the beach front area the rest reminded us of a shopping centre on a bad day : and we never ventured to old sharm ( i have a "thomson" map of sharm hotels here and the hotels they offer in ras umm sid newtogoa are :

iberotel club fanara (which i know is A/I as i nearly booked that one myself last year and gets great reviews)

Reef oasis
hilton waterfalls ( which i believe is B+B or half board)
falcon hills cleopatra
iberotel grand sharm
renaissance golden view (assume that is a hotel )
there are probably more that other T/O offer

could you actually walk to old sharm from ras umm sid carrot or would it again be highway and dust and not really plesant

lyn

Hi Lyn,

I stayed at the Beach Albatross on Ras um Sid and we walked to Old Sharm in around 10/15 mins at a leisurely pace. A taxi took around 3 minutes and cost less than 10LE, but that was 2 years ago now. I am sure that some of the other hotels are even nearer.

Old Sharm has quite a mix of shops etc to "mooch" around of an evening without, what I would call the "brashness" of Naama. Maybe thats just my age showing.

Sounds "more me" carrot as well . another destination to add to my Egypt shopping list. after the coral hilton of course

thanks for that - hope we helped newtogoea as well.

lyn