Hyatt Regency Taba Heights, Taba

We went to this hotel in October, the weather was certainly hot enough at that time of year. I had seen pictures on the internet, but know from experience that often pictures can be deceiving!

We flew from Manchester, with a flight of just 5 hours, which is long enough to sample the food that the flight had to offer (Mmmmm!) and watch a film. It is not a bad flight time to somewhere that has great weather and fantastic culture. I had ...
...is small, but well organized. We seemed to get off the plane on to a coach quite quickly.

It was dark by the time be landed, so not realizing that we were travelling through the Sinai Mountains, as I couldn't see them, I presumed the driver was a typical Egyptian not able to keep the vehicle going in a straight line! They are pretty scary on the roads! But on the journey back to the airport two weeks later, realized he had actually ... more

We went to this hotel in October, the weather was certainly hot enough at that time of year. I had seen pictures on the internet, but know from experience that often pictures can be deceiving!

We flew from Manchester, with a flight of just 5 hours, which is long enough to sample the food that the flight had to offer (Mmmmm!) and watch a film. It is not a bad flight time to somewhere that has great weather and fantastic culture. I had been to Egypt before, but not to Taba. Taba Airport is small, but well organized. We seemed to get off the plane on to a coach quite quickly.

It was dark by the time be landed, so not realizing that we were travelling through the Sinai Mountains, as I couldn't see them, I presumed the driver was a typical Egyptian not able to keep the vehicle going in a straight line! They are pretty scary on the roads! But on the journey back to the airport two weeks later, realized he had actually done quite well!

The Hotel was a little drive away. My first impressions were...have they brought us to the right hotel...because this one looks expensive! It was just amazing. The staff very courteous and the welcome was pleasant. We were shown to our room and the bags followed. The room was spacious, air conditioned and had a good size bed. The balcony was large and had great views of the beach without being too close. And the bath! Wow! A sunken, tiled, square and very unusual bath! I have to say that the very young, slightly mature or possible restricted person would have struggling to get in and out of the bath, but for me, it was just brilliant! It had such a luxurious feel to it. It took a while to fill it, but it was huge!

The choice of food was very good, with something to suit all tastes. We were half board, so had breakfast and lunch. To be honest we found this to be enough though and only had lunch a couple of times during the whole holiday. We have good appetites too!

One of the best things about this Hotel in my opinion was the fact that it felt like it was pretty much your own. It really was a huge place, but you never felt it was a busy place. The beach was never packed, in fact far from it. The pool sides we not lined with people and the restaurant was set out in a way that you were not sat like sardines, it was relaxed and quite intimate. The staff were very good, attentive without being too much.

Taba is a modern village that was built to fuel the tourists staying at the Hotels that surround it. It was quiet and had all the shops you would expect to find, including a Pharmacy and a small Supermarket. There was also a Wine shop, perfume shop, gift shop, a shop selling snorkeling equipment and clothes. The owners of the shop are pleasant and much more relaxed than many other places in Egypt.

On one occasion we were offered a small bag of Hibiscus tea and refused as we thought he was trying to lure us in, but he was actually giving it to us, as seemed a little upset that we were refusing it! We were also invited in to the Wine Shop for a drink and a game of Pacman on the computer. The person working there spent a long while talking "football" with my partner and I played Pacman! But they were all very friendly.

We were invited to spend a night with the locals, which was a little worrying at first, and not something I would recommend everyone should do. But it did turn out to be a very pleasant evening and they looked after us. It was nice to see how they spent there evenings and good to spend time with them. They were all very nice people.

There is a very nice golf course in Taba, giving great views of the Sinai Mountains and the sea. I know absolutely nothing about golf, but apparently it is a very good course, but do remember to bring golfing shoes, as they were expensive to buy.

The beach was very clean and the sea was warm and full of things to see. I treated myself to an underwater camera from the village shop. I got some pretty good pictures. There was so many fish. But a word of warning that some of them are not so friendly and can actually hurt you. You also have to watch out for the coral. But the piers are placed very well so that you can bypass the coral and get straight to the safer parts. Just make sure you are aware of which fish to swim with. There are signs around to point them out.

We did see a little of the entertainment on the evenings, but to be honest, we were more looking for a quiet holiday. The few times we did venture in to the main part of the Hotel on an evening it was not packed out and still very relaxed. There was a lovely Beach bar that was lit up on an evening, with never more than 8 people sat around. It was nice to sit and read and take in the cool breeze after a long, hot day. It did get dark quite early at the time of year that we went to Taba, maybe a little too early for us sometimes, however it was appreciate some days. Being fair skinned meant that I suffered some days as the sun was so hot!

All in all I would recommend this Hotel to everyone looking for a quiet, relaxed holiday with sunshine, good food and great views. Not really a children orientated Hotel, although there are plenty of pools around. It was not an expensive holiday, but it was very luxurious and really worth a lot more than we had paid! Which I was not going to complain about! I think we paid about £600 each for flights and accommodation. We paid roughly the same to go to Dominican Republic and it was no where near as nice, and we stayed in one of the better hotels. The weather was much better in Egypt, the people more friendly and the food and cleanliness was much better. With a flight of only 5 hours too it is a much more attractive location to travel to.  

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