I went with a friend and never having been to Egypt I was a little wary, but when we arrived it was fine! You do have to buy a visa when you get to Hurghada airport which is £13.
You definitely have to respect their culture and I found it really interesting and fascinating. The hotel is set in lovely, well looked after grounds-with plenty of flowers and plants from all over the world. The staff are very friendly and can not do enough for you, although the beach bar staff are a little bit less so-Im not so sure why though. The rooms are spacious with a tv, plenty of wardrobe space and balcony. All with controllable air conditioning (ours did break down but with a few words to reception got fixed) and there are power cuts , a couple a night but only lasted about a minute or two (but this is prob because they are trying to run so much off of the generators!).
The staff do try to sell you trips and spa treats around the pool this where bartering comes in! We did a cleopatra spa that lasts two hours that includes sauna,steam room, jacuzzi, body massage, body peel, face massage and mask-it was so relaxing and highly recommended.
We also took advantage of the intro diving session in the diving centres swimming pool. We took a trip out to Luxor for fantastic-trip included breakfast, lunch, a personal tourist guide, entry to valley of the kings and luxor temple. It is 4 hours driving each way though and we had to leave at 3am to get there fairly early before it gets too hot (it was 40c at 7.30am!) but even though it gets very warm when we were there (5th - 12th Sept) there was a gentle breeze and it is a dry heat unlike the weather that is humid in England (well when the suns out!).
They accept euros and the egyptian pound in the hotel and in most places in and around Hurghada. They also love it if you learn a little arabic or at least say thank you (shookra). The reception staff are very friendly always with a smile as were the waiters. Food was varied and they do a wide selection from French, English,Egyptian, German, Italian and Russian-and there was no one complaining of a dodgy stomach! The majority of people there were German, Russian and some Egyptian-but when we told the staff we were English they really were welcoming-and they love football!! Drinks are great with again plenty of variety. They supply you with towels for the pool and beach, you have to get a card (5euro deposit which you get back). The guys who are at the bazaar inside the hotel are rather pushy but they are trying to earn a living and as long as you barter or say that you arent buying anything they are fine.
On our last night we had a photo shoot with the photographer they have their. The member of staff that sold it to us said that we didnt have to buy anything if we didnt want to, but the photos were 3.50 euros each if we wanted any. We had a brilliant photo shoot with the photographer, we went throughout the grounds and beach, lovely photos. But once we got back and were choosing the photos he got rather disgruntled that I couldnt afford to have that many photos (I am a student! And I had 12 photos in the end). So we did have a word with the bloke that sold it to us (I dont think he spoke very good English), so if you have it done and you are a bit worried with the price, definitely say at the beginning of your photo shoot how much you are thinking of spending. We got our photos and had them put on a disc too- but when I got home mine werent on the disc- but luckily having a father who is also a professional photographer it wasn't that much of a prob!
On our way back, at the airport a man took hold of my friends suitcase and took us to the front of the queue then asked us for some money - luckily I had read about this on tripadvisor- we said we havent got any money!:/ And he just left us alone.
The mosquitos are a bit immune to the insect repellant though!
But all in all we had a brilliant time and are planning to go back but for 2 weeks this time and to go to Cairo to see the pyramids and do some diving!!!
We would def book with sunshine.co.uk again as you can see exactly what you are getting and how much it all costs individually.
- Calimera Hotel Hurghada
- Hurghada Calimera Hotel
- Calimera Golden Beach
