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Old 5th Jul 2007, 20:46
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Big Harvey
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Bristol, UK
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We did this trip last year as our honeymoon.

The plane was a bit of an old crate, and nothing special at all, but it got us there and back safely, and reasonably punctually, which is about all I ask of a cheap flight.

The hotel was fine, although no way would it be considered 5-star by Western standards. We already knew from reading reviews on Tripadvisor and elsewhere not to expect it to be 5-star, and we were very happy with what we got considering how little we paid!

The room was large and spotless. The bathroom was equally spotless, although a little small for a place billed as 5-star.

Food consisted of a buffet. The choice was excellent, and did change just about sufficiently over the course of the week not to get boring. The Egyptian/Middle Eastern stuff was excellent, the Western-style dishes a bit more hit-and miss. I never heard of anyone getting ill from it while we were there, unlike an establishment just up the road, whose guests suffered a high incidence of something quite nasty! I think there were a couple of premium restaurants where you could pay extra, and order from a menu, but we were quite content with the buffet.

Taba is set in stunningly beautiful surroundings, but the only problem (for people like my wife and I who don't normally do package holidays) was that literally all there is in Taba is a few resort hotels and a golf course. There's none of the 'real Egypt'. We had a fantastic, relaxing time, the beach was clean and lovely, the snorkelling was way better than either of us had expected, and we even enjoyed the excursion we took to Petra in Jordan, despite the fact that we normally do our sightseeing independently.

The hotel staff were friendly, obviously well trained, and professional. We generally felt very well looked after during our stay.

A week was just about the right length of time for us though. Any longer, and we would have felt the urge to don our backpacks and go off into the sunset, exploring the 'real' Middle East.
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