Joined: 10 Aug 2005
Posts: 1
| I recently went to the Hyatt in Taba heights and only have good things to say about the hotel....
It certainly paid to do a bit of research first because the Hyatt was apparantly and i'll have to agree the best hotel in the area...
The staff were extremely helpful and couldn't do enough for you...the room we had was clean and modern and spacious with a gorgeous power shower and a balcony which all the rooms seemed to have as standard....
The hotel was built to look like a nubian-style village and was very lush with plenty of palms and established trees and plants everywhere....this really added to the privacy we felt and plenty of plant strewn pathways only enhanced this...at night we sat above one of the many pools on a circular platform central to the complex and the resort looked beautiful....
The beach was clean and large and the jetty really was a fantastic idea for all you avid snorkellers out there like myself...no other hotel had one and the snorkelling the the right hand side of the jetty was amazing!! We saw puffer fish, lion fish, blue-spotted sting rays, eels, an octopus, and plenty of the usual colourful fish usually present in the Red Sea. We met people who had seen turtles too...the only thing I would say is that the snorkelling equipment hire cost £8 per day, but still you cannot go to the Red Sea without doing some snorkelling! There really wouldn't be anything more you could see diving
that you wouldn't see snorkelling here....if you snorkell when the tide is out thats a really good time as more fish seem to be concentrated on the reef....
The food was good and buffet style....there was plenty of choice....
The swimming pools were lovely and the Breeze bar served gorgeous fresh juices - try the strawberry and melon ones!
We took a box of wine each in our luggage and didnt get even half way thru them but if you want decent wine I suggest you do this as the only affordable wine on the menus is egyptian wine and its not good! Beer prices were reasonable but more expensive in the bar than in the restaurants...
Anyone thinking of going to Taba and not Taba Heights, forget it...! You will be sorely disappointed as most of Taba itself until you get to Taba Heights, is a building zone and is very sparse and rubbly, with plenty of grey concrete half finished hotels....Taba Heights is totally different and consists of four hotels....
The Tree Corners hotel up the road has a good shop which sells a waterproof colour fish guide and the esso garage sells cheap bottles of water.....
There are three tour operators at the hotel so don't think that the one offered to you is your only option....we went with Libra and went to a welcome meeting on our first day and booked some tours but I suggest you look into Peltours and Longwood too, as I suspect some of Longwoods may be better....
Don't bother taking US dollars, bad idea as you get fleeced by the currency exchange...I wish I had just taken egyptian pounds only....
We found the local Egyptians to be very friendly but be careful if you go to Cairo on a trip...don't let anyone take your picture for you, everyone wants your money!! You have to tip here for everything, toilets included!
We left for Egypt on the day of the bombs in Sharm El Sheik and I have to say, we felt very safe where we were....the security is very tight everywhere and anyone who goes into the hotel gets bags searched, and there is a checkpoint up the road too for everyone who wants to pass.
get your visa if you want to go out of Sinai, at Taba airport when you land...otherwise you will have to pay huge taxi fes to go back to the airport to get one....it is £15 for a visa and you will need one if you plan to go to Cairo...
I would strongly recommend this hotel and would happily go back there one day!
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