We were lucky enough to find a flight that routed us through Sharm and we spent 1 day there. I had originally wanted to go to a few more places in Egypt besides Cairo,such as Alexandria, Aswan, Luxor and Sharm El Sheikh but we cut our trip short last month because I was getting sick and we were not liking Cairo at all.
Sharm reminds me alot of Cancun, a town built exclusively for tourist. If you want to go to an over priced, artificially cultivated city than this is the place for you. Most hotels are in the old market district which is rather loud with thumping, old disco music blaring well into the evening. We were lucky enough to stay at The Lido which is on the far end of the street. You can hear the music but it is not unbearable. At the airport it was easy enough to get a cab, but all the prices are set and again its for tourist so its over priced and the taxis can't drive down the old market rd so we had to schlep our bags to the other end where our hotel was. We did take the hotel shuttle back to the airport and at least we didn't have to take the luggage all the way thru town.
There are many, many things to do in the old market- lots of eating, drinking, dancing, shisha smoking and shopping establishments. Reminded me of spring break for the older crowd. The beaches were there but roped off and empty of any kind of snorkeling view so you had to book a snorkel trip if you wanted to do this. Its on the Red Sea and the water is clear and cool but for my money I much rather go to Aqaba in Jordan. Its a real town with reasonably priced accommodations etc and you can snorkel right from the beach.
I was happy to find the Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) still open there and I did get a pin to add to my collection. The HRC's in Turkey, Jordan and Cairo have closed and I was disappointed I couldn't get my pins.
A word of caution don't go to the dimly lit side streets with little shops unless your in a group. There were warnings from several people saying tourist get locked in a store until they purchase something. Also don't go with anyone claiming they can take you on a low budget tour. Book any tours thru a reputable company and/or hotel. Many times these scammers want a deposit and then never come back to get you. I did feel safe there but the vendors were somewhat pesty trying to get you into their store. Just say "Chokran La" No Thanks and keep walking. You can haggle with vendors over prices, if a price is marked its pretty fixed but if there is no price on the item you can haggle. Sometimes if you buy more than one thing they will give you a discount or a free gift and if your the first customer of the day you usually get a good deal too. Old Market is open during the day but it really comes to life in the evening, so enjoy the beach or a tour during the day and eat, drink and be merry in the evening.
I didn't even feel like I was in Egypt, mostly because everyone there is a tourist. There were lots of German and Europeans there, fat men wearing banana hammocks instead of board shorts.
Tip: You can have a free visa if you are just going to the Sinai area, but if you are going to Cairo or any other place you do have to pay the 15 dollars for the visa.
on to Turkey.
There are many, many things to do in the old market- lots of eating, drinking, dancing, shisha smoking and shopping establishments. Reminded me of spring break for the older crowd. The beaches were there but roped off and empty of any kind of snorkeling view so you had to book a snorkel trip if you wanted to do this. Its on the Red Sea and the water is clear and cool but for my money I much rather go to Aqaba in Jordan. Its a real town with reasonably priced accommodations etc and you can snorkel right from the beach.
I was happy to find the Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) still open there and I did get a pin to add to my collection. The HRC's in Turkey, Jordan and Cairo have closed and I was disappointed I couldn't get my pins.
A word of caution don't go to the dimly lit side streets with little shops unless your in a group. There were warnings from several people saying tourist get locked in a store until they purchase something. Also don't go with anyone claiming they can take you on a low budget tour. Book any tours thru a reputable company and/or hotel. Many times these scammers want a deposit and then never come back to get you. I did feel safe there but the vendors were somewhat pesty trying to get you into their store. Just say "Chokran La" No Thanks and keep walking. You can haggle with vendors over prices, if a price is marked its pretty fixed but if there is no price on the item you can haggle. Sometimes if you buy more than one thing they will give you a discount or a free gift and if your the first customer of the day you usually get a good deal too. Old Market is open during the day but it really comes to life in the evening, so enjoy the beach or a tour during the day and eat, drink and be merry in the evening.
I didn't even feel like I was in Egypt, mostly because everyone there is a tourist. There were lots of German and Europeans there, fat men wearing banana hammocks instead of board shorts.
Tip: You can have a free visa if you are just going to the Sinai area, but if you are going to Cairo or any other place you do have to pay the 15 dollars for the visa.
on to Turkey.
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