Overall, this is a great hotel for a bit of exposure to the sun, sea and beach. Good for diving and snorkelling. If you wished, you could spend a whole stay here without leaving the grounds of the hotel (judge for yourself whether this is good or bad). This is not a place to go if you are looking for noise, shopping, lots of music and dancing (although there was a tiny amount of those).

We spent 7 sunny days in the Movenpick which is located about 2 hours from Hurghada airport. It’s in the desert about 3-4 miles north of El Quseir (a 5 euro taxi ride when booked from the hotel). We stayed in room 1206, a seaview bungalow with a kingsized bed. The room had a balcony facing northeast (so with limited direct sunlight). Thick walls so very quiet. Some 2 storey accommodation available; we personally like the domes of the single storey bungalows and would avoid the 2 storey accommodation.

Good time of year to go, although was windy on a few days - apparently fairly windy from the end of November to April and this can limit the snorkelling (and to a lesser extent the diving). Weather is 24-26 degrees in December and sunny. Generally fine for sunbathing, but better in sheltered areas (there are good windbreaks on the beach).

Loved the hotel itself. Although built in 1995, it was in good condition. As in common with most hotels in Egypt, the star rating wasn't accurate - it's a good 4 star hotel (which is how it is rated on certain websites) rather than a true 5* (we hear you need to try the Oberoi in Hurghada if you want true 5*). Having said that, we also hear that the Movenpick is one of the best hotels on the coast, and from our experience we would recommend it.

We liked the facilities such as the sauna (no cooling room, big sauna, Jacuzzi, variable (un)dress code), the massage was okay (male masseurs only). Mountain bike hire was cheap; you can cycle to El Quseir (via a busy asphalt road) or into the desert (try the ghost city, an abandoned phosphate mining village). Didn’t use the tennis, squash or archery facilities. Horse riding was good with rides into the desert, along the beach and in a menage area. Giant chess set was fun. Didn’t play table football, pool or table tennis. Gym was small with little cardiovascular equipment. Can run along the beach to and through the neighbouring Radisson grounds – markers for distances every 500m. Care going in opposite direction – there’s an outpost and we were stopped by some soldiers and gently quizzed.

Diving was okay. Excellent school (google “subex”) – helpful and competent instructors and good modern equipment (apart from steel tanks). Apparently books up in high season – book in advance. House reef, occasional dolphins, but little large marine life. Great snorkelling, but woman renting out snorkelling gear not v knowledgeable (she is separate from the diving school). Day trips and zodiac trips available, but we didn’t use them. Canoes and pedaloes were available for hire. This is not a resort for watersports like windsurfing/parascending etc.

Beach was not large and the back of it bordered on the road – this was okay as the hotel was not full.

Food in restaurant good. We were on a half board tariff. All drinks (including water) were extra. We were initially concerned about food in Egypt, but this restaurant was excellent in terms of hygiene. No problems. There are other restaurants too, but a premium needed to be paid for them. A daily complementary bottle of water is provided in the room.

Other guests were German, Italian, French and English in that order of frequency. As such the TV channels were not geared towards English (2 news channels. 1 movie channel, a cartoon channel and the discovery channel in English. There were sports channels and the Arabic channels were sometimes in English with Arabic subtitles. All the rest were German/Italian/French). English library books were a little limited – do bring your own reading material. A little too much smoking in the indoor communal hotel areas for our liking, although this was well separated in the dining room with a separate room for smokers.

Internet access available for laptops for the duration of the stay for a flat fee and there were also 2 terminals available (you pay for these by the hour).

Cashpoints in hotel and a bank desk were also available. Note that as the bank is not under the direct control of the hotel, the service differs from that elsewhere. It closes early if the teller needs to go home early and they will not go out of their way to be helpful. Personally, I find being served whilst the teller is holding a telephone conversation with a friend (I presume it was a friend by the intermittent peals of laughter), with no eye contact with me not ideal. Having said that, that was better than being told to go away when I arrived 15 seconds after midday by their clock (the bank closes at midday; the hotel’s clock still read 11.59am), or turning up 10 minutes before closing time to find that they had decided to go home early. Surly service was better than no service – on one morning, they decided not to open at all!

Excursions and taxis could be organised by a tour company called New Line Tours which has an office in the hotel and in El Quseir. Their prices are cheaper than most tour operator organised trips and these leave daily, unlike the tour operator trips. Beware though – the guide provided for the 1 day Luxor trip we took was appalling – we would hire the taxi and buy the entrance tickets ourselves next time. Having said that, we did get to spend 60 minutes in the guide’s relative's shop so it wasn’t a total waste of time – he asked me for my professional advice, so he got something out of it. We, on the other hand, were disappointed to have only been given 6 minutes at the final sight – the Temple of Hatshepsut – before it closed. Shame that we had to travel 10 hours and pay 75 euros each to do that. We would recommend using New Line as a taxi company to go wherever rather than hiring a guide from them: as a taxi service they were very good; as a tour operator, they were poor.

Don’t bother visiting the “Dolphen Shopping Centre” opposite. There are 3 poor quality tourist shops with aged goods and there’s a pharmacy. No food and water supplies in date in the tourist shops. The reason the shops say they don’t stock much food is that the electricity is regularly turned off and they can’t keep food cold. I don’t know how the pharmacy manages to keep their stock cool... Still, it’s very cheap and you don’t need a pesky prescription.

Service – excellent. This was where the hotel excelled. Nothing was too much trouble. Roberta, the guest relations manager, in particular was excellent. Good security around the hotel. Was impressed to see the general manager turn up at dinner time to make spot checks on what was going on.

Overall, a wonderful week. A good hotel with superlative service. We probably wouldn’t go there during peak season, but it was great when things were quiet. Recommended.

Garry & Katja

I arrived at this hotel after 10 hours on a scary overnight bus at 5:30AM. (I was very dirty and smelly.) I felt like most resort staff would have been rude or worse, but when I arrived (my reservation not until the following day) the Movenpick the staff and manager acted as if I belonged there, sent me off for an amazing (free) breakfast and had a room ready (at least 6 hrs before check-in) when I was finished. The hotel grounds are beautiful, and it would have been one of my favorite hotels even if they hadn't treated me so exceptionally. You will not regret staying at this resort! I even named my trip advisor screen name after this resort. I've stayed at many 5 star hotels and resorts before and since this trip and have enjoyed none more than this. For a full -on adventure take the bus from Cairo!

We returned from Egypt last night and couldn't wait to tell all about it ! The hotel is fantastic ! The staff all do their outmost to help where possible and answer to your needs.
The diving center is very well organized and with friendly staff.
My husband did some beautiful dives and I went snorkling on the
house reef and saw the most beautiful fish and corals ! A complete new world for me.
The buffet food was very good and various dishes were available.
We also tried the other restaurants and all were of good quality.
Our room was very spacious and spotlessly cleaned every day.
We always look for peace and quiet during our holidays and must
say that the hotel was perfect for that! Never a crowd or lack of chairs, loungers or tables. Very relaxing atmosphere.
We wish to thank the complete staff for making this holiday so
perfect for us! We will hopefully return !
Luc and Martina Belgium

A clean comfortable hotel on a beautiful reef lined bay .
The staff were very friendly and attentive - although the hotel was only 2/3rds full so we may have seen it at its best. The room was spotlessly clean and the king sized bed very comfortable. The restaurants were a mixed bag - the buffet was OK and the clifftop a la carte (Seagulls?) was fine, we're vegetarians and didn't feel we missed out too much.
The complex is big - low rise spread across a large area - but nicely enough done. We had paid extra for a seaview and the room overlooked the beach - but you could have been quite a long way away from the main block and beach.
The beach is private and smallish but well kept and there were plenty of loungers when we were there. There are lots of umbrellas and windbreaks which we were glad of as it got both hot and breezy. The main attraction is the sea- the reef is accessible right from the beach and you seemed to have as good a chance of seeing big and brilliant fish by snorkelling as diving. The dive school police the bay so theres no fishing, motorboats etc and the fish are completely fearless. The dive school (Subex) were very good with us and will lead all sorts of courses and expeditions. Theres not a lot to see outside the hotel unless you make the trip across to Luxor.