Hi, We have just arrived back from a fantastic weeks break at this hotel. We were here from the 24th of Feb till the 3rd of March. When you step off the plane and board a coach, it will take you about 50yds, and you get off again at the arrival terminal. You will be asked to get into 2 queues, If you are just staying in the sinai area, you will not need a visa. However,if you plan to go to Cairo or Luxor on an excurtion, than you will need to get a visa, £13. Once you are told of your bus,you will probably be asked for cash to put your cases in the hold. Just ignore them and get on your coach. After about 40 mins, you will arrive at the Radisson. Your journey will have taken you through the Sinai mountains. There will be an armed guard sat in the front, suited and booted, for your saftey. Once you arrive the bellboys will take your bags to your room. You will be taken to a conference room where your credit-card style key will be issued along with a pool towel card each. The rooms are lovely, and have 2 double beds, tv, fridge, a marble bathroom with loo, basin bath and shower. It will have a hair dryer and shaving point. They use a 2 pin plug. The all inclusive package consists of all you can eat breakfast, mid morning snacks, lunch, mid afternoon snacks, ice-creams and a dinner at night. If anyone looking at this is worried at the prospect of not finding anything to eat will, like us be very surprised. Every thing that you get at home, you can have there. I would only say, not to have ice in your drinks. Alot of these reviews tell of bad tummys, but ill bet that most of that is down to sunstroke. The food is great at the Radisson. Drinks are by the glass, and are free until 11pm, even tea will be charged after this time. Trips are good, and vary from a day out to see Petra, the Dead sea, St. Kathirines monastarey, and even a couple of hours Quad biking in the Sinai mountains. There is an on site dive centre, and camel rides. The staff are friendly, and will even take you to your room on there golfcarts if you are feeling lazy. This holiday was up there with the best of them for us, i hope it will be for you. Weather for our week was high 70s, but got dark around 5.30. The nights were pleasent, no need for jumpers. The only thing that could be improved was the nightly entertainment, or should i say lack of. This hotel had alsorts of people, but were mainly brits, from toddlers to oaps. I hope this is useful info.

We stayed at the Radisson SAS Resort in Taba from the 10th-17th February 2006. This was our first visit to Egypt, but most certainly this will not be our last.

On arrival at Taba airport we found the passport control area to be small, crowded and slow moving, which wasn't helped by the build up of long queues for the different visas which are required, depending on which areas you intend to visit.

The coach journey to the resort was very uneventful, we were accompanied by an armed guard and warned about possible road blocks for security reasons, but the fact that we were passing through the area at the exact same time that Egypt were playing in the final of the African Nations cup meant that we were allowed to pass through check points without any security checks, obviously Terrorists don't strike when there's a football match on the T.V.

Like many others we went here for a week of relaxation and sunshine. Relaxation is easily achievable at this resort because it is both quiet and spacious and seems more suited to romantics and the older generation than to families with young children. Although the sun shone 6 out of 7 days there was a chilly wind that blew on and off throughout the week keeping the temperature a little lower than expected, but still like a British summer, apart from 1 gloriously hot day which reminded us of the reason we chose this country in the first place for our vacation. To be fair though February is still a winter month even in this part of the world as was witnessed by the fact that the locals were wearing long sleeved fleece sweaters when we were wearing tee shirts and shorts.

The rooms are adequately equipped and comfortable, the cleaning men (no maids in this country) are very friendly and do a first class job, which is also true about the rest of the cleaning staff who keep the resort clean and tidy at all times.
The gardens, although still being developed are well maintained with lots of varied plant life including flowers, shrubs and cacti.

The mountains behind the resort create some fantastic photo opportunities with the way the sun casts different shadows throughout the day and can be particularly breathtaking in the early morning sun.

The pool was quite large but a little chilly at this time of the year, it was nice to see that it was constantly being cleaned and maintained along with the sun lounging areas.
The animation team were friendly and worked hard to create a fun atmosphere, but we felt that when they were not working it seemed a little too quiet and would benefit from having background music playing as they do in Caribbean resorts, this helps to create a holiday feel-good factor.

The food in the restaurants was not as some people have said in earlier reviews, "bland and repetitive" and of a "poor quality", far from it, there was always plenty of choice at breakfast and lunchtime, with evening mealtimes being theme nights, we had French, Greek, Italian, Mexican, South American and International gourmet evenings during our stay. The breads in particular were especially tasty. Even our 15 year old son who is a typical teenaged fussy eater managed to find plenty to choose from. Just because it has a strange name don't let it put you off, try it and enjoy.
The red wine served with the meals is quite reasonable and seemed to evaporate from the glass very quickly, the problem was getting it replenished, you have to be very alert to catch the waiters eye, having said that this was the only complaint we had concerning the restaurant.

The bar staff too were very friendly, but the standard of drinks available is not as good as at other resorts we have stayed at throughout the world, in fact, when drinking cocktails it was pot luck as to whether you got 2 drinks the same in consecutive rounds. However, the beer, was good as was rum and coke.

The evening entertainment was limited and not of a very high standard with only 2 singing acts covering the whole week, they did 3 nights on the run each and on the last night there was no entertainment at all.

Tipping in the resort is optional with 'tip boxes' dotted around the various bar areas, restaurants and lobby.

The shops on the resort are fun to look in, but don't forget bartering is a way of life out here, which can be a bit tedious at times.

The reception desk staff as at other resorts we have stayed at, were arrogant and unhelpful, when our son went to ask them to tighten his All Inclusive wrist band he was asked to return at a later time, this happened 5 times over 2 days and in the end we went to see Ann the customer services manager who got them to sort it out in minutes.

There are plenty of trips available to choose from at this resort but most seemed to be set at extortionate prices and families with 2 or 3 children would find it very difficult financially to justify paying for these excursions. As much as we would have liked to have visited Petra or Cairo we decided that £400 or more for 3 people was a ridiculous amount of money to pay.

The worst part of the holiday was Taba airport on the day of our return. It starts with tipping the bus driver for unloading your bags, this we expected, then you have to tip the man for putting your bags through the security scanner, then tip the man for putting your bags on the scales whilst checking in, the man checking you in doesn't expect a tip although we guess he gets a share of the 'scale mans' haul. We didn't like to refuse to tip anybody in case they decided to make things difficult for us. Finally when you get through all the security devices and past all the security men (talk about job creation schemes throughout the airport, it's unbelievable) and can head off to the toilet, you get a man blocking your way with a wad of toilet paper in his hand, now for woman this is an essential need so they obviously have to pay for it, even if you manage to get past he will follow you in, it's not acceptable. Come on Egypt, get this antiquated system sorted out.

Hotel looks lovely, shame about the Staff were very rude unhelpful, stingy with drinks, they would pour an already opened bottle of beer into your glass which was flat and not give you a fresh one. Rubbish as this is suppose to be a 5*. Food OK, everyone suffered in the hotel from upset belly.
Would I go back.... NO.
Only thing going for this place was the coral reef, beautiful fish and great for snokling and scuba diving. Oh and the cleaning staff, they were great and freindly.

Well where to start? We went here for relaxation and sunshine. We got it and we didn't get Taba tummy (the Pharoah's Revenge!)so the resort, which really is in the middle of nowhere, must rate 3 out of 5. Lets start with some good points:

The hotel was clean, the bedrooms large (we could have held a party for 25 people on our balcony)and well-appointed and the staff were very friendly and helpful. All towels were provided so there is no need to take any at all unless you intend to use them outside the complex, eg, on a diving trip.

In February the weather was reasonable although we did have a few cloudy and quite cold days. On most days though it was possible to sunbathe on the beach from 9am until the sun went down behind the mountains (which are spectacular) just after 4pm.

There were plenty of sunbeds, windbreakers, parasols, etc and although the hotel was full it never seemed crowded except sometimes at dinner.

Despite there being no mention of a need for a visa from our tour company, Thompson's, an entry visa is required. If you intend to remain solely on the Sinai peninsula this is issued free at the airfield (sic) on arrival. If you intend to travel further afield (eg, to Cairo) you need a full visa which can also be issued at the airfield. It costs £13 and lasts for 2 weeks. Either way, expect a delay after the long journey as everyone on your flight will need to queue unless they have applied before leaving home.

Keep your passport handy! For security reasons there are many road blocks and the police often board your coach to check that you have the necessary documentation with you. Incidentally, all coach trips to and from the hotel carry an armed guard or two for your protection. This can be unnerving at first but you soon get used to it and we encountered no trouble.

It was windy for much of our stay and the red flag was flown on the beach on many days. This restricted the opportunities to snorkel but on calm days the water was fantastic with dozens of exotic fish. For those less adventurous, many fish could be seen from the floating jetty or by simply wading into the Red Sea.

The food was a downside of the holiday for us. Breakfast was OK if you avoided the cooked fare. "3 minute" boiled eggs had clearly been alloted their 3 minutes some hours beforehand and were as hard as nails! However, the fruit, yoghurt, breads and jams come highly recommended and the coffee was OK.

The problem with lunch and dinner was that the food was bland and repetitive. Worse, the quality of the meats was poor so that everything was tough. Salads weren't bad but the tomatoes had a rather 'stale' taste to them. Certainly I think the quality of the food was down to poor raw materials rather than poor chefs. The kebab meat (koftas, etc) was the best bet and the BBQ lunch at the outside restaurant was not bad at all on some days!

You can drink for nothing until 11pm thereafter it costs a fortune (about £4.50 per drink). The problem was that you could only drink wine with a meal. The red wine was fine but anything else tasted like paraffin! Beer and spirits could be had from the bar. The lager was Ok but a bit lacking in body. Most of the local spirits had a rocket fuel taste to them. We ddcided that the best bet was either Gin and Tonic or Bloody Mary. Beware of having too many of the latter though since the tomatoe juice seemed to be full of E numbers!

Another downside was the lack of any tea or coffee making facilities in the room. This meant that, unless you had come equipped, you had to make do with water (free everywhere in bottles) until you made it down to breakfast. We managed to scrounge a kettle and then spent the rest of the fortnight scrounging tea bags, milk, cups, etc. I suppose it added a little interest and excitement !

Talking of bringing your own, we found it hard to buy any essentials from the few shops on the complex. Make sure you have enough suncream, medicines, batteries, etc. However, if you want some 18 carat gold or a fez, then no problem at all! You can get sweets, crisps and chocolate. I had the misfortune to break my sunglasses and had to choose a replacement pair from the 6 pairs available for sale! I warn you, that there is nowhere in the immediate vicinity to walk to to see or buy anything!

We went on 3 trips. First we went into the desert for evening to star gaze with the Bedouwin. This was great fun as we sat around their camp fire drinking tea and eating freshly prepared breads with them. We also got to smoke a bubble pipe. Our astronomer guide gave an excellent talk and we were able to observe the stars through two radio telescopes. The tribesmen also prepared a very acceptable BBQ supper.

Next we went to St Katherin'e Monastry near the point where Moses is said to have received the 10 commandments. This was a great experience albeit a distinctly chilly one as the temperature in the desert mountains remained at around 4 degrees all day. If only we have been sufficiently warned by our rep. This trip also took us to Dahab for 'shopping'! We imagined it would be a short stop on the return journey to buy a few tacky souveniers but we were taken to a 'Mall' which sold gold, perfume, etc. Sadly we had not enough money on us to buy anything other than a beer in a local cafe. Be warned!

Our third trip was to be an overnight trip to Cairo. Cairo is about 6 hours away by coach and although there is a day trip, we felt the overnight stay would break the journey and also provide greater time to view the sights. As it happened, we were the only couple to book for this trip and it promptly cancelled at the last minute.

Our only remaining option, since we really wanted to see Cairo, was to pay £175 each for a one day trip by air. This we did. At an ungodly hour we were coached to Taba airfield and the 30 or so of us were loaded onto a small ancient turbo-prop for the 75 minute journey. Actually it was quite enjoyable flying across the desert although the plane bounced around quite a bit through turbulence. In Cairo we had a 1st rate guide who took us around by coach to mosques, the Cairo museum (King Tut exhibition), the pyramids and sphinx and finally a papyrus manufacturer. It was a great day and Cairo was such an eye-opener in many respects. I had no idea that the sphinx was so close to houses and only 100 metres from a KFC and a Pizza Hut ! Some of the living conditions of the people in Cairo have to be seen to be believed as does the traffic, the litter and the toilets! The flight back was also tubulent but we eventually "arrived" as opposed to landed at Taba with a huge bump and a slew across the airstrip at about 9pm. A great day out and highly recommended. Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe was also memorable.

Tipping is everywhere and everyone expects it. If you go to the Sinai, remember to tip the cleaner, waiter, barman, driver, guide, guard and anyone else who provides you with any kind of service. We were told the average wage is about £50 a week so the staff, etc, rely heavily on our generosity.

On the whole we enjoyed ourselves although without the trips I think we would have gone 'stir crazy' and started to dig an escape tunnel! We certainly came home with a suntan.

Would we go again? Having been to that area once I would say not but equally I would not say to others that they should not visit if they have never been before. Next time we might try a trip down the Nile.

We were told that the best time to visit Taba is either April or May when the weather is hot but not too hot! In February it was around 19 degrees on the beach on most days although it did drop as low as 13 degrees in the daytime once or twice.