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The beach with the hotel and pool in the background at Soma Bay. |
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Sunset at Soma Bay. |
If you are not new to my blog, you know that no matter where we go, my husband insists on a beach getaway. Hence our side trips to Okinawa and Shimoda while in Japan. Lakeside also counts…thus a side trip to Annecy with our girls and my mom when we were in France for a wedding.
A beach getaway is a must for him when we are in Egypt. For one, Cairo, as fascinating as it is, is overwhelming. Luckily, Egypt boasts lots of coastline – along the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. For our first trip to Egypt with the girls in October of 2007, we opted for Soma Bay, located on the Red Sea, about 30 miles from Hurghada International Airport.
To get to Soma Bay, you can fly into Hurghada Airport from Cairo or drive about 5 hours through the desert. We made the trek through the desert in a rented van with a driver. We traveled with my in-laws and my husband’s cousins and their families so the drive was not as monotonous or as dreary as I anticipated. Whereas our stay at Marsa Matrouh provided lots of local flavor, there isn’t any authentic local culture to be had at Soma Bay.
The Sheraton at Soma Bay is in the middle of nowhere. As you drive in from the desert through the gates down a long driveway the hotel emerges like a mirage. And what a mirage it is…Vegas baby!
Compared to Marsa Matrouh, what a deal! We stayed in a large suite close to the beach. The beach was amazing and the water perfect. The hotel was large and well maintained. It has a very large pool, water sports, restaurants, gift shops, fitness center, kids disco, kids program and nightly entertainment.
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Lively nightly outdoor entertainment. |
Our package included breakfast and dinner and the food was fine. There were nightly themes for dinner such as International (the worst night), Middle Eastern (the best), Italian etc…The girls loved the nightly entertainment which consisted of lots of dancing showcasing different styles and tribes from Egypt. It was wonderful to be able to sit outside under the sparkling night sky and enjoy the joyous dancing and music.
The girls also looked forward to the kids program. Because my younger girl was too little I had to stay with them during the kids activities. I didn’t mind it too much. It’s hard to sit out in the desert sun for very long anyway. The counselors hailed from all over Europe and they were all young and enthusiastic. The kids’ activities included lots of arts and craft, scavenger hunts, games, swimming etc. In the evenings they held Kids Disco, a fun dance party with mirror balls, DJ and group dancing. Despite the language barrier, none of the kids spoke English, many spoke German and French, the girls made friends. The girls had a lot of fun.
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Pirate games and scavenger hunt - a kids program activity. |
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My husband had a ball too. Our package also included wind surfing equipment rental. He enjoyed many afternoons out on the water.
The sand was soft and the water clear. There were small fish right by the shore and the kids spent many hours chasing them. If you walked along the beach north of the hotel, you could dive into deeper waters off a pier. No need for special equipment, just your snorkels and you were right in the middle of a first rate aquarium. In a span of 3 minutes at most, you saw everything – lion fish, puffer fish, various angel fish, rays etc…it was just incredible.
We had a great time at Soma…the rooms were wonderful, the meal generally delicious, the setting gorgeous, the sea amazing, the fish incredible, wind surfing awesome, kids program fun, the nightly entertainment – entertaining! I would recommend it highly except for the fact that it didn’t seem like we were in Egypt. Except for a Coptic bishop and his wife, our family was the only Egyptian family, and we aren’t even fully Egyptian. There were lots of families during our stay, all from Europe, with one or two Japanese couples.