Tag: Egypt Hotel Reviews View All Tags
Political Hotels
Winter Palace Luxor is Fit For A French President
Where: CORNISH EL NILE ST, LuxorDecember 26, 2007 at 9:51 AM | 0 Comments
Many presidents and prime ministers seem to take the downtime of the Christmas vacation as a chance to get away from their responsibilities and actually have their own vacation--who can begrudge them that?--and the French President Nicholas Sarkozy is no exception. But combine his exotic destination with his new top-model-and-singer girlfriend and the story gets a bit more media attention.
Apparently Sarkozy and his girlfriend Carla Bruni--their relationship was only made public this month, and she's previously been linked to Mick Jagger, Donald Trump and Eric Clapton--have checked into the fit-for-a-president Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor for a few days of vacation in Egypt. It's situated on the east bank of the Nile and perfectly located for touring those incredible sightseeing spots like the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple.
The presidential couple are also planning to spend a few days at Sharm El Sheikh, but will be using a private villa for accommodation there. Back at the Winter Palace Luxor, we're not sure how much the kind of room and service expected by a French president will be putting them back, but if us humble people want a room there next week (this week is fully booked), the rates start at a relatively reasonable €345 (almost US$500) for a deluxe room with a view over the Nile.
[Photo: sarahvb]
Related Stories:
· President Sarkozy Takes Carla Bruni to Egypt [IHT]
· Hotels in Luxor [HotelChatter]
· Political Hotel coverage [HotelChatter]
Cubicle Dreamin'
Cubicle Dreamin': Cruise the Nile, Sleep at the Old Cataract
November 5, 2007 at 10:50 AM | 1 Comment
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Amanda K "walks like an Egyptian. Ooh wey oh. Enjoy.
Fancy a float down the Nile? I do, but I want to stop at the Old Cataract Hotel near Aswan in the south of Egypt. For a start, I just love the name, "Old Cataract"; although these days the Sofitel tag normally gets hung on the front of that.
The history of the Old Cataract goes back to its opening in 1899 when plenty of rich Nile-cruise travelers began finishing up their trips there. Agatha Christie was one of them and she liked it so much she set some of the scenes from Death on the Nile here.
The modern day version of the Old Cataract has 123 rooms and 8 suites, and I'd like a night in a suite. They look like the elegant yet inspiring kind of place where Agatha Christie would have stayed. At night I think I'd eat in 1902, the French restaurant at the Old Cataract, before setting off to sail the Nile once more ... Ah, if only I'd been born a century earlier and I could have met up with Agatha, too.
Related Stories:
· The World's Best Colonial Hotels [UK Times]
· Hotels in Egypt [HotelChatter]
· Travel Stories in Egypt [Jaunted]
[Photo: TrevorLowe]
Egypt Hotel Reviews
The Charm of Sharm el Sheikh
December 12, 2006 at 3:25 PM | 0 Comments
What to do in Egypt when you grow weary of the Pyramids of Giza and the ancient Sphinx...when the tales of Cleopatra's romantic and political connections and influence to the Roman Empire get old... when the sprawling city of Cairo seems like one big dusty drag and you just wanna go pool-hopping?
Then get yourself over to Sharm el Sheikh at the Southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula and do a little dunk at the Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort. This area of shore along the Red Sea is reputed to offer the best diving in Egypt.
Here the Hilton chain takes advantage of the waves and throbbing sea with a 401-room resort that has six pools, a beach, and a jetty out to the "house reef." It's more relaxing than a handful of hieroglyphs.
Tripadvisor reviews boasts that the resort is popular with Russians and Eastern Europeans; the pools are kept deliberately cool to offset "the devils' anvil" (what Omar Sharif called the sun in "Lawrence of Arabia"), and it gets big points for liberal towel dispensation.
On the downside, it suffers from a slow funicular that brings you from pool to lobby level.
And food? Did someone say food? There's an Italian restaurant, a Lebanese restaurant, a main dining room and, of course, the Seashore Pool Bar & Restaurant, not to mention the usual American fare if you want it - pizza, burgers, and the standard US breakfast buffet. There's also four bars, a health club, Jacuzzi, massage, dive center, and steam rooms, plus a cyber café.
Ask the hotel concierge about the shuttle vans over to the nearby resort strip in Na'ama Bay for a change of pace, or take a desert exploration trip for a bit of sand in your shoes. One day outings to Petra in Jordan are available, so you can get back to feeling like a big dusty drag.
[Photo: Danrees]
Related Stories:
· Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Egypt Hotel Reviews
Clean Sunglasses and Perfect Service in Sharm El Sheikh
November 30, 2006 at 9:19 AM | 0 Comments
Where is Jennifer? Okay, perhaps the right question is who is Jennifer, but blogger whereisjennifer is in Egypt right now, raving about how wonderful the Grand Rotana Resort at Sharm El Sheikh is. Not only is the price good (as she mentions, thanks to the terrible intermittent terrorist attacks that make this Egyptian destination just a little less popular), she scored an upgrade to a "super-deluxe ocean view room". But the largest chunks of praised are reserved for the swimming pool and the employees who lurk there:
Friendly pool employees jumped to adjust our pool chairs, put up our umbrella, bring us refreshments, clean our sunglasses, and practice their commendable command of the English language. We were in heaven. Everywhere we went, employees were standing by to treat us like national treasures.
Whether or not you want someone else actually cleaning your sunglasses is another question (we can live without it ourselves) but plenty of reviews from other happy customers seem to support Jennifer's rave.
And if being waited on hand and foot at the pool all holiday isn't your thing, from the Grand Rotana Sharm El Sheikh you can also get into diving, snorkelling, windsurfing, horseriding and even camel riding and desert safaris. They just probably don't clean your sunglasses for you out in the desert.
Related Stories:
Grand Rotana Resort and Spa reviews [TripAdvisor]
Egypt Hotel Reviews
Hotel Heaven in Egypt...If You Can Get There
September 14, 2006 at 12:22 PM | 0 Comments
With review titles like "Heaven," Brilliant," and "Wonderful Staff, Wonderful Hotel," it's safe to say the Le Meridien in Luxor is worth a stay. With 228 rooms, some overlook the Nile and others the courtyard, amenities run rampant, and hotel staff is touted as excellent again and again.
Guests can swim in the pool while peering over the ledge at the sailors on the Nile. Jet up into the sky on a hot air balloon or dine in a "sailing felucca." So there is plenty to do and the property is great but we are always interested to read up on the staff:
What a fantastic holiday we had. We can not fault the hotel and all of the staff. All of the staff were helpful and so friendly. it they appeared more like a family of staff. Rooms were cleaned daily. We requested extra pillows at reception one day and ten minutes after returning to our rooms there was a knock on the door- pillows had arrived.
Voila! A little hotel heaven in Eygpt. Le Meridien and Luxor have done their part in providing a top hotel with superb service. Now if only the political climate would clear up maybe we'd have the guts to jaunt to Egypt without considering a Vegas substitute instead.
Related Stories:
· Le Meridien Luxor Reviews [TripAdvisor]
