This was my fourth visit to Sharm in as many years and I have got to say the Novotel Beach Hotel is perfect for those holidaymakers both young and old. Its location, facilities and wonderful staff make for a perfect break. The room I had was very comfortable and with a view to die for overlooking the beach and the Red Sea. The walk in shower was very refreshing after a day on the beach! There is a mini fridge in the room to keep your drinks cold.
The beach is only yards away from the hotel. There are plenty of sun loungers for everybody and towels are provided. Its a similar situation around the large swimming pool. For those athletes out there you can join in water aerobics or water polo every morning. For the more adventourous there is even belly dancing practice!!
Respect the staff and their culture and reward them for good service with a small tip (remember the average wage in Egypt is only £30 per month) and you will be very well looked after.
Just outside of the hotel (beach side) turn right and walk along the promenade 30 yards and turn right again. You will see a small parade of shops. The last one sells water and soft drinks at very cheap prices. A litre and a half bottle of water is 30p and cans of pop (or tonic water for your G&T) 25p. This compares to £1.50 for a bottle pool side. Ask the waiter at the pool side bar for a bucket of ice (no charge) and your drinks will be kept cool all day!
For trips to Cairo I strongly recommend using "Sun & Fun" who are located by the shops mentioned above. I have been with them twice now to Cairo and each time they have been fantastic. They will pick you up from the hotel and take you to the airport. You will be met at Cairo airport by your personal guide (and personal air conditioned people carrier) who will be with you all day. The trip consists of the Egyptian Musuem (Tutankamun), great lunch and then Giza (Pyramids). Because you have your own guide you can spend as much time at Giza as you want instead of the whistle stop visit with the usual tour rep trip. Don't forget to tip your guide and driver well - I gave them £30 & £10 respectively. Cost of the trip via Sun & Fun was £120 - about £50 less than the Thomas Cook price!!
I strongly recommend you all do the quad bikes! The best £20 you will spend on holiday. Again Sun & Fun will sort it out for you. (Don't wear a watch/bracelet etc as the ride is a bit bumpy in places and could dislodge them).
Food in the local restaraunts is as varied as you will get any where and the quality and prices are unbelievable. Also, what ever you do you must have a drink on the Roof Top Bar at the Camel Bar. A brilliant way to pass a night away (watch for the shooting stars!)
Have a great holiday!

We were dropped off at the Beach side hotel late at night, tired and hungry and straight away were very impressed. All of the staff are very very helpful and all can speak very good English. We were very happy with our rooms- lovely balcony, looking over the pool and the beautiful grounds. Rooms were clean and nicely decorated.
During the next day it gave us chance to get our bearings. The hotel has its own beach with very helpful and friendly staff who are always trying to keep you entertained with activities throughout the day, such as Yoga, Water aerobics, water polo etc.
The beach was lovely. Just as you step into the water there was hundreds of beautiful fish swimming around your ankles. It is a crime if you don't snorkel to see them. It was an amazing sight that you wont believe until you see it.
We stayed half board and there was plenty of choice for breakfast every morning. Fresh fruit smoothies, cereals, hot food etc and again, the staff were very helpful and friendly.
The pool area was absolutely lovely and on about 4 occasions we ventured up to the Palm hotel which was just over the other side of the road. On this road were men who would see you across safely and the short walk across was definitely worth it. Again, this hotel was beautiful and we made friends with a couple who were staying here and they would go back to that one if they were to come again. There was the choice of 3 or 4 pools and plenty of choice of where to relax. There was a brilliant kids area and even a skate park towards the top of the grounds.
The town centre of Sharm was about a 10 minute walk up the beach side road. Up this road was plenty of restaurants and of the ones we ate in, all served really good food which was all very reasonably priced.
In there town you must be prepared to be approached by a lot of the shop keepers but if you are not interested a polite 'no thank-you' sorts them out.
During out 2 week stay we went on quite a few excursions which were all organised by Thomas Cook. The trip to Cairo was a very interesting day and one never to be forgotten, although it was very very tiring. We went by flight which I would recommend. We went on the Jeep safari though the desert which was fantastic fun and we had the chance to have a ride on a camel, have tea with the Bedouin people and go to Dahab for a spot of snorkeling, Arabian Nights which was a very entertaining evening in the desert, again with the Bedouin people where we had chance to see the whirling Dervish and Egyptian Dancers, Ras Mohamed was a brilliant day with fantastic snorkeling opportunities at 3 different sights and our last trip was quad biking through the desert, which was very tame, but good fun was had by all.
The only thing I would say is, although we got away with it, you need to be careful with what you eat. There were some people from all the hotels around the resort who suffered with stomach problems. But our hotel, for example had a doctor on site and the pharmacies are very helpful. They can sort you out in a matter of minutes with either pills, or an injection if you need it.
I would 100% recommend Sharm el Sheikh for a holiday. We all had a brilliant time and cant fault anything about the place, hotel or staff.

We arrived in Sharm El Sheikh to be greeted by the driver for the shuttle to the hotel. We had booked for ther beach hotel and paid €200 Euros per night (7 nights). As we approached the hotel he drove into the hotel on the other side of the road (Novotel, Palm). I informed him we where staying at the Beach hotel. He said no. I went straight to the reception desk and informed them of the error. They insisted that we where booked into the Palm. Whilst booking online I ensured the booking was for the beach hotel. Anyway after a lot of heated discussion they finally offered to discount our rate as the beach hotel was completely full and also over booked. We agreed on a €83 Euro per night discount so all in all we where fine. The Palm hotel is actually brand new (Only 4 months old) and is very beautiful. The rooms are spacious and clean so where very very happy. The only problem generally is the distance from the room to the beach. Not very convenient but we just ensured that we didn't need to return to the room until the evening. Having spoken to a few other guests they confirmed that the beach hotel is in need of a makeover so that made us even happier.

This is our second visit to Sharm and we really enjoy the relaxation and the diving. There are a number of good restaurants in the centre that we know of and always return to. We had breakfast every morning at the hotel which is OK but not the best I've had. Having stayed in many Egyptian hotels they are all pretty much the same with breakfasts.......

We booked this relatively last minute via Thomas Cook. Their rep was great, we booked on trip to Ras Mohammed via the rep, the trip was great, fantastic snorkelling.

We stayed on the beach side. Hotel room: excellent size, very clean, huge bed, good quiet air con, view not great, but we were not in it very long as the external facilities of the hotel are so good.

The beach is very clean, during our stay more than sufficient beds to go around. Snorkelling from the beach is very good, we saw all manner of fish here, sting ray, parrot fish, butterfly fish, puffer fish no nemos though!

We stayed B&B. Breakfast choice is great, staff are very efficient and friendly. We ate in Al dente restaurant twice first time was good, second time was bad.

Beach bar food is good, drink prices are high and we found the staff here to be pretty unfriendly certainly in comparison to everyone else at the hotel.

Beach staff very friendly, doing their best to muster some interest in daily activities such as volleyball, water aerobics, belly dancing without being irritating or invasive. Plenty of snorkels to go around too.

Hotel is in great location, 10 minute walk along the promenade to the bay. Onto the road that separates the 'beach' from the 'palm' which seems to be a problem in some of the reviews here. The road is a dual carriageway in both directions, separated by a wide island running the full length down the middle. At the Novotel, there is an Egyptian 'lollipop man' on either side who will escort you across the road they are really friendly and are not looking for tips, seemed like they liked to use their english and would recommend you go to either Cairo or Luxor depending on where they are from! We made this journey a number of times and never found the road to be difficult to cross. Perhaps if you had small kids with lots of stuff to carry, it would be a pain, but it's certainly not, in our experience a major problem.
It's obviously more convenient to stay at the beach but if you got a good deal for the Palm, it would be worth considering as it is is new and was far superior to many other hotels split across the road ( the marriot across the road side looked really awful from the outside).
We had a great time, would recommend and would return.