Kahramana Beach Resort Hotel Marsa Alam

We stayed at the Kahramana Beach Resort between December 27, 2007 and January 3, 2008. The resort is an oasis of nicely landscaped lush greenery, and all the villas are sea-facing. Our room is spacious and clean, with a great view of the swimming pools and the Red Sea. There are no mosquitoes here, and since we were on the upper floor, we left the balcony door open every night so we were lulled to sleep by the sound of waves rushing to shore.

We signed up for a half-board package (breakfast & dinner included), and the buffet meals were rather decent. There was even a "Pasta of the Day" stall to cater to the Italians (during our week's stay, we reckon at least 90% of the guests were Italians). Guests could also choose from several theme restaurants (e.g. Italian, Lebanese, seafood, Bedouin) in case they wanted something à la carte. Kahramana is affiliated with three other resorts along the coast, and its guests enjoy a 25-40% discount at the à la carte venues.

Most of our vacation was spent scuba-diving in the Red Sea with Pioneer Divers (part of the company Red Sea Diving Safari) – Marsa Shagra, Marsa Abu Dabbab, Sharm Abu Dabbab and Shaab Samadai were some of the sites we dived at. There is good diving here – the corals are abundant and colourful, the sea life diverse. Some of the sea life we sighted during our dives: white-tip sharks, green turtles, guitar ray sharks, blue-spotted stingrays, moray eels, lionfishes. We missed the "dugong" (sea cow) at its favourite grazing spot, and had to give up the idea of diving at Elphinstone (minimum 50 dives experience required). Dive equipment is available for rent, although some items are rather worn out.

Kahramana's New Year's Eve Gala Dinner was housed in a huge tent with a seating capacity of 1500 people. Surprisingly, all hell did not break loose when the buffet opened – everyone got their fill in due course. There were song-and-dance performances to keep guests entertained until the countdown began. The resort employees' interpretations of popular musicals were rather good (Saturday Night Fever, Copacabana, Cats, The Full Monty, Grease, Lord of the Dance, Flashdance, etc).

"Bedouin Night" on New Year's Day took place at tents under the night skies, where staff prepared local breads the traditional way and grilled meats over open flames. The food was the best we've had during the whole week (half-board guests had to fork out an extra 20 Euro per person). After-dinner entertainment kicked off with belly-dance performances, followed by some traditional music and dances.

Overall, we enjoyed our one week of reprieve from the minus-degrees of the German winter. The resort is relatively quiet and not as touristy compared to other hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh or Hurghada, and it is near to good diving locations. When we return to Marsa Alam to dive at Elphinstone, we will stay at the Kahramana Beach Resort again.