[Closed] sharm - awful - give up on egypt for hols?

Sadly 'rich' westerners are fair game in poorer countries....had similar in Thailand, Caribbean etc etc....either stay on the resort if it bugs you that much or holiday in europe where this kind of thing doesnt happen so much....although i can see Greece becoming like this soon!

My wife went to Sharm with my son a few years ago - had a fantastic time. Then went the following year and had, what sounds like, the same experience as you. Never went again.

anyways, we just hated the way we were hassled and tried to be tricked out of money the whole time. you couldnt relax for a moment.

Ex gf said the same. Hated Egypt, would never go back.

A friend was there about six months ago just after the worst of the troubles. She said the hotel was nearly empty and there was obviously much unemployment. This would be the result.

We were there years ago...in the Hotel next door to the Movenpick which was blown to bits by a car bomber 😯 Safe to say after spending the first 4 days sat on the toilet, the 5th day walking like John Wayne, the 7th day fighting off the locals in the market who were determined to make us buy every piece of crap known to man, and then the bombings..we flew home early to get away from the place, and we havent been back...by far the worst holiday ever had. Never go back again.
Having said that i know others who swear by the place.

Been to Sharm 6 times for the diving, wouldn't go there just for a beach holiday. Never once have i had a problem ignoring the shopkeepers, tourist tat venders. Its easy, you just walk past them. Its only a problem if you have some inbuilt british mechanism that means that if someone engages you you have to talk back. Also taxis: if your tour company arent warning you that you haggle the price before you get in and you dont pay more than about £3 then they are failing you. I've never found it difficult.

I don't see it as people trying to trick you out of money cause frankly it is so obvious that it isnt even a test. Although I have to say holding a bloke hostage on a camel is pretty funny!

As regards the beaches thats just what it is like, I would never go to Sharm for a normal beach holiday, leave that to the Russians!

One thing to remember is just how poor and desperate these guys are. These guys are all down from Cairo living in poor conditions trying to send money back to their family. The taxi drivers sleep in their cars, thats all they have. There are a huge amount of shops and not that many tourists a lot of the time. It must be really really tough. I dont blame them for hassling me. Every single Egyptian I've met who hasnt been in a position where he is absolutely desperate for money has been warm, friendly and helpful.

Hurghada is worse. There is much more obvious begging and very obvious pickpocketing etc.

I think I remember your "planning" post about this OP and as you'd already booked, I didn't want to say anything but... I went for a cheap Sharm holiday in 2003 and it was craaaaaaaap. The worst holiday ever, for exactly the reasons you mention. The problem with Sharm el-Sheikh is that most of it is new-built for resort tourists. There's nothing there and it's filled with other awful tourists and a roughly equal number of underemployed geezers. Tourism is the only game in town so there's nothing the tourists can do but go to shitty theme restaurants/bars/beaches and buy tat, and there's nothing the local population can do but hassle the tourists to buy tat.

We were there years ago...in the Hotel next door to the Movenpick which was blown to bits by a car bomber

£2,500 - how many people?

You can have a very, very nice holiday at a decent all inclusive for two, with flights, in the Caribbean for that. And I don't mean a sleazy Cancun or Jamaica hell hole, but nice places like Barbados and St Lucia. Check out the BA holiday sales when they have them!

yeh i was going to say how many people too. if that was four people i would be wanting to stay in one of the posh hiltons with its own beach and house reef for snorkelling.

Sister and her boyfriend just back from Sharm with the exact same story as the OP. Sounds like my idea of hell

We went to Sharm last year and it was awesome. We were in old sharm and our hotel was ace. Stayed in a hotel called Stella di Mare. Not the greatest nightlife but old sharm was ace for what we wanted and the rooms and staff were awesome. We did get some hassle but to be honest just ignored most of it. We went to ras Mohammed and our trip wasn't that great with fish. I found the barracuda, rays and angel fish in our hotel reef much more interesting. Also found a local company who were British owned and ran they're own excursions and they made a huge difference to the holiday. Think we spent 1800 for two of us for 10 days and was well worth it.
That said we spoke to other people on excursions who weren't having a great time because of their hotels etc. I think Naama bay is renowned for being a little rubbish

so...... my question. is it like this in all the resorts?

No.

We stayed at the Baron Resort in Sharm and it was fantastic.

Scuba diving on the House feed and Ras Mohammed was superb.

Everything about the Hotel was perfect and the food and drink was brilliant.
Staff were great, and the pools/bars/spa etc at the hotel were all top class.

For that price, and the fact you're travelling a good few hours on a plane anyway, I'd be heading out to SE Asia. You mention you've been to Thailand, so you know what it's like.
Diving is great (and cheap!), the people treat you with a lot more respect, and the hotels can be phenomenal. Yes, you might get a bit of banter from folk wanting you to buy suits/viagra/tickets to a "ping pong" show, but nothing like the Egyptians do it. Even if you do get sucked in it'll cost you pennies, not pounds. I'll be back to Vietnam ASAP for these very reasons.

thanks, some interesting stories there. we booked it after seeing all the positive reviews about the hotel on tripadvisor, but we just couldnt believe it when we experienced it ourselves. so we were thinking maybe its just us!!

btw, there were 4 of us, but i was quoting £2500 for the whole cost inc spending money, trips etc.

yeah, ive got family in thailand, so been out to phuket a few times, but fancy seeing other areas next, maybe krabi, or koh samui or something. maybe vietnam or malaysia too. just wondered how the other places in egypt compared, or whether it was a one-off and youd be telling me we should have MdTFU 🙂

I always thought the only people who can enjoy a holiday in middle eastern countries are those with the Indian Jones characters. It should be considered as adventurous holiday with danger written all over. No peace of mind for that holiday.

SE Asia is far better where there is not too much in your face type of tourists hassling (they haven't learned that tough aggressive habit of tourist hassling ... yet) so perhaps that could you be destination next.

Also not many have gone to North/South Borneo (Malaysian side) because those places are still relatively tourists hassle free. Well, in North Borneo you might get a bit hassling from the "locals" (you cannot distinguish between the true locals and sea gypsies/pirates) but nothing as bad as what you have described in OP.

🙂

Forgot to say that the first time she went it was in a hotel managed/staffed by Asians, great time. The second it was an Arab managed/staffed one, constant (sexual) hassle.

I'd avoid it, unless you knew which.

Glad I've got a week in Cornwall and a few days in Aberystwth planned!

Should have gone to israel, fantastic place, freindly people, nice looking girls, great beachs, no shoplifting or theft, as every major shop has armed security guards as do a lot of the city centre bus stops.

Oh and its hot and sunny, and they speak english well.

We had a brilliant holiday in Turkey, back in May. Hotel was just great, locals in the town likewise. 100% would go back. Loved it.

I spent a few days in Egypt after deciding to cruise over there with the Mrs when i was in Cyprus.

Never again, worst country i've ever been to and you'd have to pay me handsomely to get me back there.

If this is how they treat tourists then it won't be long before they don't get any more and it'll just get worse for them.

[i]Glad I've got a week in Cornwall and a few days in Aberystwth planned! [/i]

Unemployment is even worse in those places. Watch your wallet!! 😉

Glad I've got a week in Cornwall and a few days in Aberystwth planned!

Best take a canoe, and some mops and buckets.

We went to Taba Heights at easter hols to Eygpt for the first time. After a lifetime of research on tripadvisor by the wife we booked the hotel. I can't say it was the greatest holiday ever. We didn't leave the hotel much apart from a couple of snorkelling trips but the reef at the hotel was great anyway. The food was good but it was just too boring for a week and damn expensive for what it was. It will be somewhere else for us next year. Lucky gits that we are we went to Greece - (Club Vass) Vassiliki at the begining of June - where we've been before and had a great time. Great food, very friendly and safe for the kits. MTB in the morning and windsurf in the afternoon. Heaven.

I've travelled all over the Middle East and the Gulf, the only places I liked were Jordan and Syria. Most of the Gulf is ghastly and Egypt is a dump, I couldn't wait to get out of the place. Noisy, filthy dirty and corrupt. (Syria is corrupt but at least it was unspoiled and had charm at the time)

You should have stayed in the UK, our east European hotel and restaurant staff won't harass you.

Have been to Egypt many times and never had issues with locals touting stuff. - Tis part of the game of visiting such countries.

However, since the utter collapse of tourism after the 'revolution' I gather things have been [u]very[/u] dire for the locals and I've read similar reports of new levels of hassle.

You can't blame people for [s]wanting[/s] needing to make a living but then being extremely rude and pushy isn't going to help, so I can see both sides of the argument.

Oh and the Red Sea resorts aren't 'proper' Egypt 😉

Dunno about Egypt, but I'd never go back to Morocco. As I've got a bit older and my holiday time has got more squeezed I'm less inclined to spend it being harrassed. Sure it's beautiful, but so are lots of other places that don't come with that much hassle.

meikle_partans: few had me worried after reading this! We have booked to go to Sharm in October for a week, however we don't do beach holidays, we have booked with REgal Dive to do 6 days of diving. This will entail up early dive until lunch time back to hotel for some shade and reading my kindle dinner then bed. We certainly will not be venturing to ANY shops!

I went to Turkey in May for 5 nights with a mate and the hassle I got there was unbelieveable especially as I'm blonde, got it in Morocco (not too badly) and India was REALLY bad, you learn to walk around with sunglasses on and as mentioned DO NOT ENGAGE!!

So glad to hear a few positive stories here... although we certainly aren't staying in a Hilton, we are staying cheap and basic as we won't be there .,.. plus I have very low standards anyway 😉

Egypt is great. It has loads to offer, great diving, friendly people, interesting history. You can get a bit of hassle in the touristy bits but they are easy to shrug off, just blank or say no thank-you straight away. Writing it off because you had a bad stay in Sharm is like writing of a UK holiday after a week in Skegness. Go and see the rest of the country and engage some of the locals in conversation.

To the OP, I think further up the coast would have suited you better. Much nicer beaches that you can actually walk along with fantastic snorkelling right off the beach.

Never been top sharm, then again I don't do resort holidays but a couple of years ago, went to cairo then on to Luxor. Brilliantly epic time and most of it was ridiculously cheap. Most of the people I met were top people. The tourist hard sell was pain, but ignoring them/scowling/ a polite "la shakran" (no, thanks) or "imshi" (go away) worked in all bar two cases. One thing I really do remember in Cairo was taking an unlicensed taxi from the Egyptian Museum to the Citadel, arranging with the taxi driver to be picked up in 3 hours, he came back and picked me up and dropped me at the hotel - no payment until delivery to the hotel, in other words, he dropped me off and left me without payment, my word that I'd be there in 3 hours was good enough. In Luxor, I was told to help myself to drink. I asked if I should write down what I was taking and the manageress said that would be good idea if I was likely to forget, but otherwise not to bother. I was likely so I did. I also got to drive the ferry across the Nile.
Egypt's great, but Sharm's a resort and a resort's a resort wherever it is.

Baksheesh, Effendi, baksheesh!

A cheap holiday in other people's misery...

To the OP, I think further up the coast would have suited you better. Much nicer beaches that you can actually walk along with fantastic snorkelling right off the beach.

Writing it off because you had a bad stay in Sharm is like writing of a UK holiday after a week in Skegness.

You can get a bit of hassle in the touristy bits but they are easy to shrug off, just blank or say no thank-you straight away.

A cheap holiday in other people's misery...

yeah in retrospect we maybe should have done more research on how bad it was. we went cos its sharm where you get the 'best snorkelling in the world' and guaranteed sun. we could maybe have chosen a quieter area as we're not big on busy touristy areas anyway. ah well, you live and learn. thanks for all your experiences...

It's all about Turkey 8)

I cant really describe how stress free and relaxing our 2 weeks in Kalkan was this year, we had a similar although not quite as amazing time in Chalis Beach the year before. Pretty much +- 100 miles of Fetyhie seemed to be nice!

Bear in mind i managed a stress free holiday with a 2 year old in tow 😀

I was there 12/13 years ago. There wasn't much there, a few shops, some bars, dive shacks and some hotels. The big hotels were being built just out of town.
The hotel entertainment could have been terrible but I befriended one of the russian dancers which made up for it somewhat. Also bought a shedload of beer from downtown and bribed the hotel security to bring it to my room.
A few nights in the Bus stop club and hard rock. All good.
Certainly no pressure sales/hassle at all.
I sealife was amazing. Never seen anything like it before or since.
Cairo was an absolute filth pit. Couldn't pay me enough to go back there.

If it's cheap you want, you should look at Malta in April. We had a decent hotel for £270/2 adults/week and flights £160/2 people/return.
1 decent beach on the whole island, but it's a cracker as long as it's not too busy (hence April), plenty of nice places to look at, and PADI courses are about 60% of what they are here

We've had several good holidays in Egypt both to the Nile Valley and to the Red Sea coast but I've heard various reports that it's got a bit "interesting" since their revolution. If you're going somewhere like Egypt then I think there are 2 approaches you can take:

1) Just go for the weather, pick a good hotel and stay there;

2) Accept that it's a developing country with a lot of poverty, engage with the people and treat the hassle as part of the experience whilst trying to feed some cash into their economy in the best way you can.

Looks like you're veering towards the first category but picked a bad hotel - moral: don't believe what you read on tripadvisor! Branding can be your friend here, if you go for something like a Hilton or Sheraton you can be reasonably sure of what you're going to get and for a real chillout with excellent food the 4 Seasons in Sharm is superb and has a good house reef. The Moevenpick in Naama Bay on the other hand is too big for its own good.

As for the snorkelling and diving, much of the easily accessible stuff has been ruined by careless divers and you may have to go on a longish boat trip but there's a good reason why Red Sea diving is renowned worldwide, get to somewhere unspoiled and it's amazing! Sailing and windsurfing can also be outstanding if you go somewhere like Dahab with predictable winds.

Try DAHAB it can,t have changed much since i was there, mostly young backpackers,

Scaled

If you want even more laid back Turkey, try a Gulet cruise. They're so laid back they're beyond horizontal 8).

However Turkey isn't cheap these days.

I wouldn't recommend Turkey after the harassment I got this year! We even had the waiters trying to tell me on day 1 that we weren't allowed to leave the hospital, upon leaving the resort compeltely to fly home they said we were glad we were leaving! and we didn't complain about anything or cause them any problems!!!

So my advice is stay away from Turkey!!!!

One word: Croatia

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.......

[i]and some of the people outside of the hotel remember us.[/i]

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 [b]hospital[/b]

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"!!

[i]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.[/i]

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 ([url= http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/eum.html ]at the moment[/url]). 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!