Having stayed all inclusive at the Iberotel in Sharm el Sheikh, and found it to be good value and quality, when we visited Luxor, we decided to stay at the Iberotel Luxor. The hotel is situated on the banks of the Nile and when we were looking at phots of different hotels, this is what appealed to Little miss, the fact that the pool is on the Nile. The hotel information told us that there are lovely views of the river, its West Bank and the Theben hills from the restaurant and pool, and when we arrived we found this to be totally true. It is located in the centre of Luxor, 10 min walking distance from the Luxor Temple and 20 min from Luxor Airport. So, given that we wanted an all inclusive clean hotel close to all of the “sights”, this looked to be exactly what we wanted.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS...
Given that we had lost all of our luggage en route to Luxor airport and arrived with nothing but what we were standing in, first impressions were not good. However, I did notice that the transfer time was about 20 minutes and the hotel was located on a bustling road right next to the Nile. The large spacious lobby had chairs and tables dotted around, with a reception desk at the side. We were quickly shown to our room and the staff were helpful enough to take details of the luggage loss (3 cases!) and made an
attempt to contact the relevant people although given that it was late they didn’t have a lot of chance of that happening!
There are 185 rooms in total overlooking either the Nile, the road and the lobby. The rooms are accessed via lifts (2 of them) and long quite dark corridors fitted with a rather unnecessary dark patterned carpet. Once inside the room, I cheered up somewhat!! The room itself was large with a king size bed and a single bed next to the patio doors leading on to the balcony. All of the bed linen was clean and was changed daily so we never had a horrible grubby holiday feeling. The single bed was nice and sturdy- clearly a sofa bed but one which wasn’t flimsy so I had no worries about it collapsing as little miss slept. Also in the room were two bedside tables with shelves for books and magazines, a dressing table, and a wardrobe with shelves and hanging space. This is the only problem we had- storage space- we could have done with some kind of drawer space, and if we had clothes this could have posed a problem; that’s not quite true. The hanging space was limited but even when we had our clothes there was enough for we three light travellers. The bedroom also had a large satelitte tv, air conditioning which worked and wasn’t offensively noisy, a mini fridge, hairdryer and free safe. One of the really good things it had was a large laundry bag which could be handed in when filled and that washing was done free of charge-it meant we went home with not very much washing. Leading from the bedroom was a balcony big enough for table and chairs and which we found handy for storing sun lotions and potions and pool stuff- balls, airbed etc. I do like to have a balcony because otherwise I feel as though i am becoming swamped with outdoor stuff. The bathroom had the usual toilet, large sink with a mirror covering the whole wall, bath and over bath shower, which was nice and powerful, so no trickles of water for us. The bathroom was nice and clean and cleaned daily, with fresh towels being brought to the room every day.
RESTAURANTS AND BARS
There are several restaurants and because we were all inclusive we used Cote jardin restaurant which was a large room, with a selection of salads, hot dishes, cheeses and desserts, plenty to choose from and different dishes each day. The food could be eaten on the terrace and was open for breakfast from 5.30am-10am, lunch from noon- 3pm, dinner 7pm-10pm, and for all inclusive guests drinks were available all day, and there was the option of snacks in the afternoon. As the name suggests the Pool Bar is at the pool side, nicely shaded with a pool table. Open from 9am- sunset as all inclusive guests we could also get food and drinks from this bar. We also ate in the Italian restaurant, Romance, which was decorated in typical Italian style, was reasonably priced and served a nice selection of pizzas and pastas and chicken, beef and fish dishes. Guests can also eat on the 5 star Lotus boat which cruises down the Nile. The main bar is the Karkadeh Bar which served a selection of drinks snacks and cocktails. This featured a singer who also did karaoke songs but this seemed to be quite random and depended on when he wanted to turn up and leave!!
OTHER BITS OF INFORMATION...
The hotel did have some entertainment twice a week in the form of dancers and musicians, on the evenings when food was served outside on the terraces. There is a pool actually on the Nile which is big enough for a good swim but because it’s deep all the way round, children need to be swimmers or wear some floater. Feluccas and boats can be hired from next to the pool and we spent several enjoyable sunsets floating down the Nile. On the terrace is a table tennis table which is free of charge as well as a book borrowing/swapping library. On the way to the pool below the terraces there is a giant chess board although I didn’t see anyone playing chess.
We had a very enjoyable stay in luxor. The hotel is clean and comfortable and serves good food and plenty of it, with not a case of poorly stomach amongst us. The staff are friendly and helpful and all areas including the entrance toilets and pool toilets were kept consistently clean. At the entrance to the hotel there were security guards and guests had to go through a scanner so we felt more than safe being there, even when himself had to fly back to cairo one night to collect our cases leaving only Little Miss and myself. There are also some shops selling the usual stuff and an excellent beauty therapist offering a range of treatments including the ever popular hair braiding! A great place to stay, close to all sites with fantastic views and a friendly atmosphere. Recommended.
Thanks for reading.
Daniela x
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