Hyatt Regency Sharm El Sheikh Resort

The Hyatt Regency at Sharm el Sheikh is a wonderful hotel - the cool marble lobby is a real escape from the heat of Sharm, and its location - outside the hustle and bustle of the town centre and Naama Bay - makes it a peaceful hotel.

I stayed here at Easter 2002, and really enjoyed the experience. My room was right on the beach (you could only see the armed guard in his hut beside the fence if you walked right out onto the beach...) and it was really lovely. I have vivid memories of sitting on the terrace listening to 'You Belong to Me' (which mentions pyramids along the Nile) as the sun set on a perfect day in Sharm el Sheikh.

The best things for me about the Hyatt Regency were the pools and restaurants. The architecture of the place was amazing too...lots of little nooks and crannies, and the whole hotel is very chic and elegant, but very Middle Eastern too. The pools...wow! There are three, but they're pretty much linked! Not only was there a water flume and a lazy river, but there was a sun deck to it as well, where you could keep cool in the pool but still get the sun. There are lots of sun beds with plenty of shade available if you wanted it.

The restaurants were also something special. Breakfasts were amazing at the Cafe Fresco with all the usual 5 star hotel touches, but the food was fantastic. We ate lunch most days at the Cascades Pool Bar and Restaurant or at the Beach House. It was the usual things - salad and pizzas, but really good!
But my favourite was the Souk. You paid for a bag of tokens and picked your food from 'stalls' around the outside of the open air square where you ate. There was everything from Mezze, Turkish Delight, Baklava, Mediterranean fare, freshly made local breads and fresh stir fries. Each dish had a value in coins - 1, 2, 3 or 4: things like fresh seafood cost more coins than a dish of noodles, but it was a nice different way to have dinner. We ate there twice, and also ate at the Hard Rock Cafe in Sharm, which was a 5 minute taxi ride away.

I did my PADI Advanced Open Water Course in Sharm el Sheikh at the Camel Dive Centre. The hotel was great at providing alarm calls for the early starts and also provided packed breakfasts.

The only down side to the hotel was the fact you had to pass through a metal detector to get into the lobby. We thought it was an over-reaction and designed to stop you taking drinks in from the town rather than buying them in the hotel or using the mini-bar.
However, the car bomb blasts on July 23rd, 2005 at a shopping centre where we'd browsed through shops, and at the Ghazala Gardens Hotel in Naama Bay, which we often passed, and a concealed suitcase bomb at the Movenpick, which we'd also passed a number of times, killing 88 people, show why the security checks were needed. It also explained why the hotel's private beach was fenced off and there were armed guards at security posts on the perimeter of the fence. It's a reassurance that hotels take security so serisouly. The Hyatt is at the end of a long drive way, which also has a controlled entry system, unlike a lot of the hotels in Sharm town and nearby Naama Bay. Naama features a range of local cafes, restaurants and tourist shops, and it's not hard to see why there were so many casualties and fatalities.

But Sharm el Sheikh is also known as The City of Peace because many international Middle Eastern peace conferences take place there. When we visited President Hosni Mubarak was in town and there was a heavy police presence.

Also, I was there with my then-boyfriend and my parents, and they'd booked two double rooms, but the room he and I were given was two single beds (queen size, but quite small) and when we went to reception to ask if we could be moved to a double room they asked if we were married! I quickly shifted a ring from my right hand to me left behind the high reception desk and said we were engaged, but it didn't work!

Sharm isn't somewhere I'd rush back to, unless I wanted to go scuba diving again. The town is nothing special, although there are nearby attractions such as the Monastery of St Catherine and Mount Sinai which I didn't visit. But the Hyatt Regency Sharm El Sheikh is one of the reasons I would go back - it's a perfect place for some sun, good food and lovely weather!

This hotel is outstanding provided that accept that there is a cost for luxury. It's not the kind of place that you can go to on a budget for example in the hotel bar a double Bacardi and Coke is £10.35 GBP, however if you are willing to haggle and pay the few pounds to go to Naama Bay by taxi then there are plenty of cheap places to eat and buy you supplies if needed? The Hotel is set on a steep hillside leading to the beach and reef, there are no short cuts and each route seems to zig zag through the wonderful gardens. If you are feeling a bit lazy you can always call reception and get a golf cart to pick you up from your room. Nothing is too much trouble for the staff at the hotel, they are always happy to help in any way that they can, they are friendly and always smile and give the appropriate greeting at whatever time of day your paths cross. The hotel is well maintained and if there is anything wrong the duty manager will send someone quicker than most other 5* hotels that I have stayed at. Overall I would rate this as one of the best hotels that I have stayed in.

Hyatt Regency is REALLY pretty, and luxurious, there are severel pool areas and they look like little lagoons, some with bubbles and other children activities. The staff is very kind, sincerly. And dont want your money, unlike the people in the city.
they got severel resturants, boutiques inside the hotel.

There is a BEAUTIFUL private beach to the hotel, with many colourfull fish. And towels, parasols and suntanning chairs (dont know what they are called in english) for everyone. And the pool resturant bring out their food, drinks ect. too you no matter where you are, on the beach or in your room.
The rooms are very tidy, clean, and all have a balcony. Me and my boyfriend shared a double room, and there were a king size bed, television (with all channels including disney channel - yay), phone, and you can decide yourself how warm you want it to be in there thanks to good airconditioning. the bathroom is big and have a shower and a bathtub a big mirror and lot of space, hair dryer, shampoos, soaps, towels and lotions. And there were a beautiful view from our balcony. (dont know how great they are in all of the rooms).

They serve a yummy breakfast, and everything is very clean, so you dont have to worry what you may put your hands on, and they only use bottled water (us european get sick of their tab water).

Just as a tip, wash your hand after you touch egyptian money, serious they are filthy! and you can get diarre from getting the germs in your stomach. Beside that DONT visit their macdonnalds. We did the last day we had in sharm and i got very sick from it. They put ice cubes in my soda, and i newer knew cause they melted before i got it. And the food were disgusting... AND! there were WAY to mush airconditioning in there ! You feel all weird in your head when you come from 15 degrees out to 36 degrees. :S

Other than that enjoy :) haha