Where we stayed · Sahl Hasheesh, Egypt
The Red Sea from a ground floor terrace
The Oberoi at Sahl Hasheesh, an adults-only pool, and Luxor three hours up the road when you want a day off the sand.
Sahl Hasheesh, Egypt
The Oberoi at Sahl Hasheesh sits on a long stretch of white sand on the Red Sea, and the thing it gets right, before any of the rooms or the food, is the service. It is the calmest arrival we have had in Egypt.
The lobby is open air and full of light, with Egyptian detailing rather than international hotel neutrality. Check-in happens around you rather than at you, and then you are walked to the room.
The rooms are generous and properly finished, floor to ceiling windows looking at the sea and the gardens, and a private balcony or terrace. If you have the choice, take a ground floor terrace. The sea is a short walk and the water is genuinely clear enough to snorkel straight off the beach.
The pool area is doing more work than most. There are several pools, deliberately different: one for children, one adults-only and quiet, and jacuzzis distributed through the rest.
“Take the ground floor terrace. The water is clear enough to snorkel straight off the beach.”
From the journalEating and the day around it
There is a beachside grill for casual meals, sandwiches and burgers and the like, and several more formal restaurants covering international and Egyptian cooking. The range means you are not eating the same register every night, which matters on a longer stay.
What to do beyond the beach
The Red Sea is the reason to be here. Snorkelling and diving are arranged from the property and the visibility and marine life are the draw.
Hurghada is a short drive, with kitesurfing and windsurfing, beaches, and the Hurghada Museum and El Gouna Mosque if you want a day with some content in it.
Luxor is about three hours by road and is the serious excursion: Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut. Tours run from the resort. It is a long day and it is the one we would not skip.
The desert behind the resort takes 4x4, camel or horse, with sandboarding for anyone who wants it.
The Red Sea is the point and the hotel knows it. Book the terrace, book Luxor, and let the rest of the week look after itself.
From the journal · The Travelling T · Written May 2022
