I write this review as a thank you to TripAdvisor and those who contributed information about the Baron Resort. It informed our decisions and saved time. The first tip is to print off the reviews and take them with you as I referred to them several times throughout the holiday.

We stayed at the Baron Resort for one week bed and breakfast. I was tempted to go AI but glad we did not as it gave us the freedom to do other things. We went into Naama bay twice and had an evening out meal through a local tour. For the rest of the week we ate lunch and evening meals and had drinks charged to the room. For four of us the week’s bill came to £330 which is much more reasonable than the £960 bill for the AI – although it is far to say we are only social drinkers.

Rooms and whole hotel spotlessly clean and on site toilet facilities amazing (you even get a cloth flannel for the toilets near the pool area). The food on the whole was disappointing. The breakfast was good and varied (don’t expect a full English) but the rave reviews about the Indian restaurant were simply not justified. The Bella Vista Italian restaurant was the best of the lot. Two of us suffered food poisoning whilst at the Baron – but could not put it down to a specific food or restaurant.
Forget entertainment unless you enjoy staff running round in circles clapping their hands – this hotel would be a nightmare for teenagers although very good for younger families.

The hotel wins out on its location – it has a wide beach whilst other hotels along the shoreline (including the Hilton) have narrow or steep steps to small beach areas. But the house reefs of the Baron is what it’s all about – top tip visit all the reefs (along plastic pontoons) as they are all different and visit them in the early morning (well before 10 am anyway) because the light is much better. The fish and the reefs are truly fantastic, particularly as we only snorkel and don’t dive. What spoils the reefs however is the unremitting toing and froing of power boats right up to the pontoon and at high speeds. There does not seem to be too much in the way of conservation for this spectacular underwater world and it was evident in the fact that in some areas diesel and sun tan lotion were visible on top of the water. Egypt tourism must make more an effort in this respect. Bigger boats also moor off these reefs indicating how good they are but obviously putting pressure on this delicate environment.

The beach is laid out in typically battery hen sun bathing fashion – with those wanting a front row sea view staking their claim with towels by 7am!. Whilst the sand near the shore is lovely the rest of the beach is a dirty gritty type of sand. Although you cannot get access to the reef from the beach (as you would hit coral) there is access to the sea where youngsters can paddle. We noticed that other areas either side of the Baron had hardly any access to the sea – other than over rocks and old coral so the beach is a plus for the Baron. Swimming in the sea from the beach is therefore limited and may not be suitable for traditional beach lovers who like to wade in. The pontoons and snorkelling more than compensate however.

One aspect about the hotel that I do not believe anyone else has mentioned is that at dawn and at dust a man goes around the resort with a loud smoke machine to kill off mosquitoes – it must work because it is the only hot country I have stayed and have not been bitten or kept awake half the night with a rolled up magazine tucked close to my chest. In fact I did not even see a mosquito. Anyway – avoid this smoke (a mixture of diesel, pesticide and cyanide [joke]) which is blown out by the largest disco smoke effect machine in the world. Close all your doors – if you are out in the grounds when the machine starts up – run like hell – I got caught up in a cross wind which descaled my lung lining in seconds. A necessary and effective evil.

Just a quick word on the Russians – I went with an open mind having read the reviews and determined to prove the comments wrong but unfortunately they are correct. Despite the very beautiful Russian woman most Russians will pass you by as if you are invisible – even when you nod or say good morning.

We thought the Baron missed out on five stars because of the dated rooms (70s tiling etc) although one very good feature is when you open the sliding patio door the air conditioning switches off (and vice versa) – clever.

How to save Money

We booked two trips through Thomson. The first was a VIP cruise – adults only – with butler service (Cost £50 each). The reality was: a man running round the boat giving you plastic cups of soft drinks; a manic herding in to board the boat at the port; tying up with about twenty other boats out in the sea and then swimming head to toe with other snorkel swimmers to look at the reef. None of us saw many fish as we were concentrating on our guide who wanted to get us round as quickly as possible before the next boat moored up as well as concentrating on not being hit by other swimmers. The reef and the fish at the Baron are 100 times better than those experienced on this trip. Add to that the smell of constant diesel and a so- so lunch this is far from VIP – avoid at all costs.

The other trip we booked with Thomson was the stars and dinner experience (£35 each). This consisted of a trip into the desert to meet Bedouins and discover about their life, have dinner, be entertained and see the stars through computerised telescopes. Sounds great. Reality = put aside any romantic notions of drifting fine sand dunes with Omar Sharif riding a camel into the sunset. The desert is a dirty mix of what I would describe as cement dust, course sand and grit. The desert on either side of the roads are strewn with plastic bottles, bags of rubbish and mounds of rubble. It is extremely disheartening to see. We saw several wild camels rummaging through these discarded bags – not nice. The trip then took us off road to meet five other coaches into a fake Bedouin camp where we were assaulted by flies every second. The evening meal was so so – the entertainment was the fake Bedouins getting everyone in a circle and doing the hokey Cokey and clapping hands. The star gazing - which is what I really persuaded the family to go for (by this time my daughter was smirking saying ‘nice trip dad’) – was also disappointing. Although the telescopes were very professional the detail from stars was poor – we did see the planet Venus but even this was a spec in the lens. All in all this was a very disappointing trip – Don’t go. For real star gazing go to Kas in Turkey.

How to Save your Life

We went into Naama Bay twice during our holiday – teenagers will love it, parents will hate it. It is a cross between a Bangkok market on speed and a miniature Las Vegas strip. Despite other reviewers suggesting that the taxi drivers ‘know what they are doing – let them get on with it’ – it is only a matter of time (it has probably already happened) before a head on collision occurs between a taxi and another taxi or coach. Either use the shuttle bus from the Baron that goes slower or use the hotel limo service. It costs about £9 to get into Naama Bay in the hotel limo (good value if there are four of you). These drivers drive sensibly are smartly dressed and drive lovely cars. They will give you their mobile number and pick you up later – do this – do not be tempted to get a blue and white cab which are only £2 cheaper anyway.

All in all we would go back to the Baron but it’s probably not for everyone