Sharm and The Hyatt in March 2012. Great stuff.

I have said it before, but will say it again...when I want winter sun from the UK I always seem to end up looking at the Long Haul, and ever increasingly exotic and expensive destinations! With only one week off, I really did not want to spend a lot of my time getting to the destination, and I had a very limited budget. So once again, I opted for Egypt, this time as 100 % relaxation was needed (not dashing around monuments!) Sharm El Sheikh was the choice, the reasons = only a 5 hour flight, the price was good and once there, its not just a sitting in the sun destination thanks to the coral.

After a few hours of Internet research, the holiday was booked as a package via Sunshine.co.uk. This option worked out a lot cheaper than booking the hotel, flights, parking and transfers separately.

We flew with Monarch from Manchester on an Airbus 320-200, the aircraft seats 174 passengers in a 3-3 format. Monarch claim a seat pitch of 28'' in the regular seats.The seats on the aircraft seemed closer together than that and at 17'' wide were to narrow for some passengers, the seat also felt very hard. But, on the dot of 09.00 the flight left Manchester and the crew were very good. The flight was just over 5 hours long, just about long enough on that plane!

The transfer to the Hyatt Regency was swift and check in at the hotel very smooth, so by 19.00 we were sat on the balcony of the bar, admiring the view over the Red Sea and the relatively warm evening.

Upon check in we were informed that we had been upgraded to a sea view room, the resort was very quiet and I think all the guests were put in this block of the hotel. The Hotel is stunning,  a low level resort, set in beautiful gardens. it is a beach side resort located between some of the top dive sites in Sharm. The Near Garden and Far Garden. This can save you a lot of money as you can get to these popular Reefs from the beach as opposed to a boat trip each day.  

Standard Room at the Hyatt Regency, Sharm El Sheikh

The Beach.

The hotel has good facilities and has six restaurants

• Souk, • Sala Thai, • Cafe Fresco,
• Stars Music Bar, • Beach House Bar & Grill,
• Cascades Pool Restaurant & Bar, • Azure Lounge
the Souk is the most fun once you get used to the concept! It is an out door eating courtyard. The Choices are The Pasta Bar, The Meat Bar, Sweet Counter, The Bar!! The Asian Bar, The Arabic Bar and the Seafood Counter. As you arrive you are given a bag of 'Coins' each with a value, all the food in the souk is priced in this currency. I loved this place as the choice was good, the food was a high standard and all freshly cooked and the Arabic Metze delicious.

The Souk

The resort is good for families as it has a few pools, a water slide and a lazy river, but best of all the Coral.

After a relaxing 7 days it was time to go home, we had our room until 15.00 at no extra charge. All in all it was a fantastic stress free stay and I would recommend it to anyone.

The company Sunshine.co.uk were very slick, on line once I booked the package, parking & transfers, the email I recived included every voucher needed ,as well as an ATOL declaration of your purchase. I did not deal with the customer service part of the company as I did not have any problems. I was very happy with my transaction and would use this service again.