The wife and myself have been going to Luxor every year for the past 6 years. we have stayed in the same 5 star hotel each time, the staff remember us and some of the people outside of the hotel remember us. all have treated us with great respect and we in turn return that respect. we have been invited to weddings in villages, locals homes etc and nobody has asked for money. They are proud to show you their home which isnt much compared to a western family home. My wife visits the local orphanage with presents for the kids. pens paper clothes etc. Not my cup of tea as too upsetting LOL. We are cruising in october on lake Nasa and then a week in hotel in luxor. Im not saying its hastle free because its not. but if you keep your wits about you and try to understand these people its a great holiday with guranteed sun. The Nile is stunning. I wouldnt go to sharm (no culture no character etc. may as well be in spain).

it’s one of the sh1ttiest, cheap, dirty resorts in the world (bar a few bits) add this with their economic troubles and…hey presto…im surprised that your surprised is was so utter…….

and some of the people outside of the hotel remember us.

You should try Goa then. We went one year, missed a year then went back the year after. Not only did lots of people remember us, some remembered my name! The guys in the shack we used the first time were hugging us as we walked onto their ‘patch’ on the beach.
Safe as houses too. Bloody Russians are a pain though, arrogant & ignorant with no manners thrown in for good measure.

I went to Sharm el Sheik 4 or so years ago. I’d had a summer of working absolutely stupid hours, and I just wanted to sit in the sun fairly late on in the year.

The only way you could have a decent holiday there is if you book into a decent hotel (ie, 4/5 star US chain) and are happy not to leave. We stayed in the Marriot and the staff were all very nice. Pop up the seafront to the Hilton and have a few beers and it’s much the same. Wander around the town – absolute pain in the arse – hassle from shopkeepers, restauranteurs etc. Expect to haggle for absolutely everything. Everything. Everywhere. And to have people try to intimidate you into buying total rubbish. Nothing much to do unless you want to go snorkelling or diving. Oh, and the airport is a nightmare – you will come into close proximity with the arse end of the spectrum of British travellers. In the two hours or so we were in Sharm airport we had AK47s aimed at us by the security guards and saw a lovely woman on the same flight home as us vomiting last night’s beer into a clear polythene bag at the gate.

Saying “you may as well be in Spain” is doing a massive disservice to Spain. I’d have sooner stayed in the Solana with Johnny Vegas…

I’d definately second Croatia as an absolutely amazing place to go. Dubrovnik is beautiful, you’d never guess that the place had been to shot to bits twenty years ago. Porec is further up the coast and is a gorgeous place. And the Croatians are ace – very welcoming and absolutely no hassle. Overall, it’s a lot like Italy, but without the Italians and sensible prices.

I’ve heard nothing but good stuff about Croatia. Think we’ll have to give it a go next year.

Just (yesterday) got back from Croatia. Can’t recommend it enough. Incredibly friendly people, fairly cheap food and drink (pints are ~£1.50), and thoroughly underdeveloped (in a nice non-touristy way).

We flew into Split, took a tent, hired a car and spent a week travelling north up the coast visiting national parks, hiking, canoeing and doing a bit of kitesurfing before flying back from Zagreb. We only ended up camping about half the time as “sobe” rooms were so cheap – basically renting the spare room in a local’s house on a per-night basis. All were clean, had en-suite and some had air con (nice when the avg temp was 34deg during the day and 25+ at night).

The most we paid for a room was £16 for a night….

Awesome holiday.

*puts Croatia on list of potential holiday destinations*

Parents did the nile and pyramids year before it got a bit interesting out there. Loved it mostly fully guided and looked after but that shielded them from some of the worst. Also my dad is a good northumbrian farmer so any local trying to engage in selling him stuff would be wise to walk away before he turned the deal over

*also puts croatia on list of potential holiday destinations*

went to Porec on honeymoon <cough> 20 odd yrs ago <cough> before they started shooting each other, it was a really nice place with friendly people. Must go back at somepoint.

In Turkey Antalaya at the mo (last day, booo) also nice people and resort. Loads of Russians here with lots of rubles to spend tho, they can be a bit in your face.

For those who have been to Sharm, did you never wonder why if you look on any cheap holiday website, sort by price in ascending order, the first 100 holidays always seem to be Sharm?

My mum always used to make me out as some sort of idiot, saying that I could go to 10 bargain holidays that she’d spotted on teletext for the same price I would spend on one “nice” holiday.

Difference is, I actually really enjoy my time off, rather than being stuck in a hellhole with a load of Brits Abroad who I genuinely never seem to see anywhere other than airports. Are people really that unimaginative that the places we used to visit 20 years ago (when flights and travel generally was more expensive and difficult) are still the most popular places today?

The options in Europe alone are staggering, if you just think for more than 5 seconds. +1 for Croatia. Go visit a beach there and then tell me that 95% of “popular” British tourist destinations actually offer anything better.

We even had the waiters trying to tell me on day 1 that we weren’t allowed to leave the hospital

I can see what the problem was there.

Croatia is very nice, but suggesting that it isn’t a ‘popular British tourist destination’ is a bit misleading. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but among friends my age (mid-20s), nearly all have been to Croatia, whereas I had barely even heard of Sharm el Sheik before this thread.

Unfortunately there do seem to be more and more large hotels and all inclusive packages appearing in Croatia, so no doubt in a few years parts of it won’t be much better than Sharm el Sheik, except for slightly less desperate locals.

HA ha sorry stupid phone typo “hotel”!!

Croatia is very nice, but suggesting that it isn’t a ‘popular British tourist destination’ is a bit misleading. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but among friends my age (mid-20s), nearly all have been to Croatia, whereas I had barely even heard of Sharm el Sheik before this thread.

Crotia was ‘interesting’ when you were still in nappies (my driver was always armed), and Yugoslavia before that 🙂

Well, for once I’m ahead of the curve – went to Croatia (or ‘Yugoslavia’, as it was then) back in 1970. All very nice, I seem to recall… Stayed in a place called ‘Chafftat’ or something. Took a trip to Dubrovnik & I remember walking around the walls and having a pee in one of the towers (in my defence I was only 5 at the time). I also remember being surprised and a little bit scared to see all the coppers packing heat (especially after I had been told I would be shot if I misbehaved – should have got a medal for being the best-behaved child in the whole country).

Sea in Croatia is cold though.

+1 for Kalkan in Turkey. Stayed a few miles outside in mountains and had a great time.

Another vote for Turkey. We spent 2 weeks driving up the med coast from Antalya, stopping off and staying in the little fishing ports. Its bloody gorgeous. Miles of unspoilt beaches and beautiful little villages

The Turks aren’t daft. They herd all the package Tourists into a couple of hellish concrete enclaves (shall we go to the Rovers Return or the Queen Vic tonight?), and then keep the good stuff for themselves.

You couldn’t pay me to go anywhere near Egypt

My first trip to Sharm was a diving holiday in 1993, it was very under developed and the sealife was amazing. Went back in 1997 and there were better hotels, but more divers than fish, it must be awful by now?!

Sea in Croatia is cold though.

Really? July / August looks to be 25-26 deg C which is about the same as Sharm and Turkish coasts (at the moment). For its latitude the Adriatic and eastern Med are warm. Ok, its not as warm as going to the tropics, but its not ‘cold’.

EDIT: I didn’t mean that to come across accusatory! I’m interested because my partner gets cold easily and we fancy Croatia as a holiday destination. Would it be ok in a 3mm wetsuit, say?

Sea in Croatia is cold though.

Not when I was there maybe 19/20 months ago. Swimming around below the walls of Dubrovnik was pretty special.

Chafftat

Cavtat. That’s where we stayed, and very nice it was too. Decent bars on the harbourside to sit at whilst watching the huge yacht thingies of the very rich coming and going (but mainly staying and posing).

We had a car while we were there and went off into Montenegro which was also a beautiful country, especially around Kotar bay, and also inland around the border with Bosnia.

Would definately go back as soon as littlemissmw is old enough to swim from the rocks – the Croats swim everywhere, they just don’t have many beaches (at least not in the South).

Getting back to the OP, never been to Sharm, never yet had any desire to either. (Doesn’t help much does it).

Sadexpunk, sorry to hear you had a rubbish time. Thanks though for sharing and potentially saving others the misfortune.

We went to Olu Deniz in Turkey a year or so ago.

While most of the locals were friendly, a lot of the staff in the hotel and some in the resort were the biggest letches ever! The waiter would practically chat my fiance up every morning and virtually ignore me. Called my Number 12 (my room number) when I was by the pool.

They also refused to let me into the hotel when I brought back drinks to have in our hotel room at night. Wouldn’t go back!