Luxury à la Egypt : Hilton Sharm El Sheikh

We are lying on sunloungers under a large straw umbrella, sipping on our nth pina colada of the day, absorbing the sun’s rays (in December no less!), eyes half closed, minds roaming to unhurried rhythms all their own…

That’s our predominant memory from a week spent at Hilton Sharks Bay.

In December ’12, we spent an extremely hectic week exploring the Pyramids in Cairo and Egyptian temples in Luxor. Early mornings, long hours under direct sunlight, endless bus rides, and temple runs left us weary – travelling can be hard work sometimes. Fortunately we had anticipated this and booked ourselves a stay at Hilton Sharks Bay, Sharm-El-Sheikh to work off the exhaustion.

We got our jaded selves to Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt’s popular resort town. As our taxi inched closer to the hotel, our eyes began to light up. We entered the complex through a boulevard lined with palm trees – this was exactly what we needed. Then we were escorted to our room and that euphoric feeling in the pit of our tummies increased manifold. To be honest, we had paid just £30 pppn for the room, meals, and drinks, so we weren’t expecting something this spectacular. Our room had wall-to-wall glass windows, lined with wispy curtains, and a balcony overlooking the hotel’s pools – we could get used to this 🙂

The view from our room

The view from our balcony at night

The Pool Bar

Then we saw the bathroom – now bathrooms don’t usually evoke much emotion do they? But this one was the size of an average flat in London, we kid you not! The shower cubicle was large enough to fit 4 people (don’t get any ideas 😉 ), the bathtub came with an exquisite bubble-bath potion, and there was no shortage of decadent Egyptian cotton towels.

When we managed to tear ourselves away from our room, we scampered over to Hilton’s private beachfront. The hotel’s private beach is mapped out as a series of terraces, leading to the water. We spent our week sprawled across a different terrace each day, always close to one of their beach-side bars. Our days were spend diving, snorkelling, or sipping on countless mojitos and pina-coladas, as you do 🙂 

The in-house shuttle to ferry lazy-bums (aka us) from the room to the beach

Spot the beach bar?

Santa comes to Egypt too, but on a camel

The hotel’s private beachfront

At night, we had the option of 3 restaurants with our all inclusive package – Italian (Il Rustico) or bedouin style (Al Bedouin) a-la-carte restaurants or the hotel’s buffet restaurant. The food  was hygienic and tasty and the service was excellent. We loved the floor seating and embellished rugs that adorned the walls of their bedouin-style restaurant.

Our table at Al Bedouin

That’s how special Hilton Shark’s Bay is – we came fatigued and left invigorated, refreshed, and chubby (all those drinks, all that food – nom!) . Isn’t that what holidays are all about?

Someone definitely DOESN’T need a nap 😉

Fact File:

• Hilton Sharm-El-Sheikh is extremely good value for money. But it might not be apt for quiet romantic getaways or honeymoons. Expect a number of large families and children at pools and moderate crowds at their buffet-style meals.
• The All Inclusive package includes accommodation, all meals (breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner), snacks, and beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic).
• Prices for all inclusive packages start at £70/night for a couple. We booked with www.travelsupermarket.com but a number of other portals offer similar rates.
• Breakfast and lunch are served buffet style but there is a choice of 3 restaurants for dinner. Snacks and drinks are available all day.
• Do not miss Quad Biking in Sharm-El-Sheikh
• Make sure you walk up to Hilton’s beachfront for sunrise one day – it will leave you mesmerised. Don’t believe us? Here’s a picture:

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