I will try to help you with advice when choosing a tour to the Braika Bay hotel. Impressions about the hotel and about the rest itself are positive - we got a calm and high-quality rest. Food, territory, staff - at a good level. I recommend the hotel, now maybe in order:
Territory, location of the hotel:
Among all the hotels in Marsa Alam, I considered options for 5 star chains Jazz, Hilton, Corners and Sataya. I chose Braika according to the following criteria - an acceptable price for me, positive feedback from vacationers, a windless bay for winter, a habitable green area, not a great distance from the airport, a large common area with a sister hotel Royal Braika, a quality reef. The hotel has been operating for over 15 years, everything is a bit tired, but making up for the polished newness and concrete (example sataya) it is a huge oasis with palm trees, lawns and flower beds, which for me was more meaningful than new furniture, tiles and trestle beds.
Check in:
We arrived on a direct flight from Kyiv quite comfortably, a night flight. Egypt greeted us with rainy and cool weather (at night about 13-17 degrees) From the airport half an hour time to bus ride, including a couple of hotels in front of us, The first impression of the quality of the main hotel lobby is excellent. Check-in was around 7 am, the keys to the room were received at 12 o'clock. In general, there are 2 options here: either immediately resettlement with an additional payment of about 25E per person, and you can remove all questions, including breakfast. Or after 11 o'clock, when breakfast ends, resettlement begins. Until 2 p. m. , as per the rules, no one was tortured here, for which many thanks to the administration!
Hotel buildings:
the most elite with a sea view 11-12. in second place is 10 (it stands perpendicular to the first two. in third place is 6-7-8 buildings (they are located on the second line, 300 meters from the sea. The most uncomfortable is building 5 and 1-2-3-4 (5 is located on the mountain, in the far corner of the hotel, 1-2 near the entrance area and the noise of the kitchen). We were initially given the 5th building, the surcharge in the 20th moved us to the 6th building, to a room with a great view of the garden and the sea. Rooms are indicated by 4-digit numbers, the first this is the building number, the second digit is the floor. For example, we had the number 6210, which means building 6, floor 3 (first floor 0).
Sister Hotel Royal Braika
After a ten-day acquaintance with the traditions and rules of the hotel, I want to note that hotels have a single space in terms of territory, beaches, pantone, pools, bay, and animation. The difference is in the color of the sleeve tag (for vacationers Braika it is blue, for vacationers Royal it is golden) and the color of the towels (Brayka is white-blue, Royal is white-yellow). Plus their restaurants and bars, but in the evening I think no one will check you both in the restaurant and at the bar, and it is mirror for the rest of the two hotels. There is a slight superiority in prestige for Braiki Bay, but in my opinion it is conditional. I recommend, with a sufficient difference in the price of these hotels, to choose Royal Braika. This hotel has its own beautiful infrastructure, beautiful buildings, swimming pools, quality food and even water slides.
Weather and rest in January:
We were in the Marsa Alam zone of Egypt for the first time in January, although we have been visiting Sharm and Hurghada for about 15 years, and in winter. In my opinion, December in Egypt is the end of the summer season (water and air are at a comfortable 22-26), and this time January turned out to be so capricious - quite cool and windy. Of the ten days of our vacation, the sky was overcast for a couple of days, a noticeable wind blew for three days, the air temperature fell from 24 to 18 in the afternoon.
In general - the weather was on the verge. Therefore, I recommend taking a tour in winter closer to the departure dates in order to understand the weather conditions. Nevertheless, the daytime sun closes all questions, and every day I was on the beach and sunbathed. Having already returned home, I monitored the weather - it went to warming, apparently there was a cyclone for the whole of Egypt. The main plus of the winter Braika is in a calm bay (the whole rest we had a yellow flag on the pontoon). Braika's pools went through a major overhaul during our vacation, and in Royal there was cold water everywhere.
The contingent of vacationers - Ukrainians, Russians, Germans, Poles. There were enough people for socialization, and at the same time very comfortable in terms of, for example, the number in the restaurant.
Food quality is average. Vegetables, fruits, meat and fish were daily in sufficient assortment.
Animation norms. The main one was the Italian Paolo, and about 4 assistants.
In total, they were satisfied with the rest in Braika Bay!
The level of service leaves much to be desired. The bed linen was never changed in a week, they only made the beds and then every other day, not to mention how to twist some swans. Moreover, they left tips and they also brazenly extorted them. Shampoos and toilet paper had to be begged through the Reception, soap was not brought for a week. Beach towels are also constantly asked through the Reception to be changed. The iron was delivered three days later. In short, the service and food is a nightmare. Don't go here with kids.
The only plus is a large and green area, similar to a botanical garden, and a sandy entry from the sea. But all this does not cover the level of this service and is not worth the money that they want for it. In the pools the water is cold, the tiles are broken. The rooms are old and broken. In short, I still feel sick from this hotel, I have never seen such horror anywhere else, and they declare themselves as 5 stars. The Internet is very weak and only at the reception. They settled with the child a couple of hours earlier and demanded $ 25 for this.
Departure is great. There is good free parking near the terminal. Registration without a queue. Large waiting room. So what if you walk to the plane ladder.
Arrival - our flight was one. It took time only to buy a visa ($25 for each). The baggage was picked up quickly. It took a little more time to buy a local Etisalat SIM card for $15.30 gig, first 15 main ones go, and then another 15 additional ones. They didn’t understand right away, they installed the application and Google translator to help for the concept of the remainder. the Internet was always and throughout the territory and for communication and for cartoons and for games. Neither on the territory nor in the rooms wi-fi - no, only at the reception.
It's good that a lot of people went to this hotel. Therefore, the bus was filled with tourists only from this hotel and without any arrivals directly to the hotel (35-40 minutes). Because of this, a queue formed at the settlement and putting on bracelets. The room was given on the first floor in the building with a view of the pool with slides. The slides are open until 16:00, the child managed to ride the slides and swim in the pool. And this despite the fact that the departure from Zaporozhye was at 10:15. Everything was very fast upon arrival.
As for the hotel: the territory is large, green, well-groomed, people constantly worked on the lawns, tore the weeds on the lawn grass with their hands. The pools were not all working, they were partly under renovation. In the pool opposite the restaurant, the bottom is terrible!! ! very traumatic, small chipped sharp tile, and the water was cool to say the least, the sea is much warmer!! ! We only needed a pool with slides, and even then for half an hour for a child, and even then not always, there was enough of the sea. They left the room at 9:00 and returned at 16:00 - 16:30 to clean up for dinner.
Food is a separate and not very pleasant topic. yes, there was a variety, but for us adults everything would be fine, but it was difficult to feed a child. In the morning, scrambled eggs in a kilometer queue, milk rice porridge, milk, cereal, pastries. At lunch - water with Galina Blanca cubes, rice, pasta on the street with a queue, in principle, like for everything, lettuce and cabbage leaves, cucumber, tomato, if you have time, green pepper. There were steamed vegetables. From meat - chicken and beef goulash. I was strained with the seats, I had to wait until someone got up, then interrogate clean appliances, and if the place is on the street, then you serve yourself a table for another 15 minutes. This is very briefly about lunch. Dinner is even sadder. Dinner is scheduled at 18:30, seats are taken from 17:30-17:45, and the door to the dining room opens at 18:00. You will come at 18:30 - problems with queues and places. maybe not everyone goes to dinner, but in the evening you need to pass the time somewhere. The evening menu was a little different from lunch. There was a baked chicken twice, not bad, and once a duck. The side dishes are the same, the potatoes are generally cooked just the same. Sweets - yes. Fruits - sweet juicy orange, very sweet pomegranate, persimmon, melon - no. And then you don't always get it.
In the evening, live music was played above the restaurant on the second floor in the lobby bar.
Well, now !! ! SEA !! ! it's just great!!! ! The reef is LIVE, which you will not find in many Sharm hotels. And there are a lot of them!! ! From the pier and to the left and to the right, but with a wave it’s hard and unclear, but the most buzz at 7 in the morning is not from the pier, from the shore of the lagoon and to the left side !! ! Quiet, clean, almost empty, the sun shines. . . The right side is also not bad. No, you just have to see it! There are not many big fish, a lot of small multi-colored clouds above the corals! The reef is amazing!!!
Very comfortable lagoon for kids. Fine, warm, around the fish swim. Even in shallow water there is something for a child to see through a mask.
But it's hard to find comfortable places on sunbeds even at 06:30. And this despite the fact that you can use the sun loungers on the nearby Braika. Someone uses these sunbeds just to keep things there, and themselves, either in the sea, or with a child. All this with such a reef is solvable.
We also really enjoyed the hike in the desert. To do this, you need to go to the right border of the hotel, there sits a security guard who writes down your room number, the number of people and the time of exit, and everything is a real desert and unfinished "ghost" hotels. Beautiful coast, beautiful photos 1.5 km 15 minutes walk and another lagoon with a reef. The lagoon of the Aurora Hotel. but you need to go prepared - water, mask, fins and headgear. Our hike turned out to be spontaneous, there were only two bananas in the bag, there wasn’t even water, but the child endured it without problems, we didn’t even expect this from him, he really liked it and was impressed. Especially the shells, albeit not quite whole, which did not fit in his two small palms. He needed all the shells at once and with him, but there are quite a few of them.
I don't write for animation. There was some kind of nursery there, ours was enough for a little bit. They did not pay attention to the adult, because the end was early, everyone got tired and adjusted to the "small". It suited us.
Once there was a fire show... on the right side of the hotel on the seashore at 20:30. Just stand, it’s not even under your feet, it’s not even comfortable to stand, the wind blows. Well, in general, for an amateur.
I liked the hotel, although the number of rooms leaves much to be desired, but given how long we were in it from 21:30-09:00 and from 16:30 to 17:45, then in the shower, then behind the door at a table with a view to the pool and bar. For a dollar every day they twisted figures from towels (a flower, an elephant, a monkey, a snake, a swan).
In the near future, two more three-story buildings will be launched on the territory. Now they are empty, but it is clear that the interior is being renovated. After this, there will be more people, either it will be better, or...
But in general, we liked almost everything and the rest was a success! The main thing is to go with a good attitude and positive!!!
Good luck with your holiday!! ! I will be glad if my review will be useful to someone.
We chose between Hilton (service, reserve) and Braika (green area and excellent beach). As a result, the beach won and Braika was chosen.
Since we read the reviews, watched the reviews on youtube, we were ready for the fact that the service would not be up to par.
Therefore, the numbers did not come as a shock. Moreover, they expected the worst, but everything was not so bad.
Of the minuses of the rooms - "contrast shower" - the water changed during the shower, the temperature from cold to hot. The pressure also kept changing. On the 2nd and 3rd day, the hot one disappeared altogether, they reported to the reception - late in the evening 2 plumbers came with heating elements in their hands and reported that the heater had flown on the boiler. As I understand it, they wanted "rewards" (otherwise, why was this visit). I'm not at all sure that it was a breakdown, and they turned off the boiler on their own initiative. Since before that there was a similar case with a safe.
It was initially closed and we did not bathe with it for a couple of days. On the third day, the safe repairer came, although we did not report anything to anyone about problems with him. It seems to me such Egyptian small tricks : )
The furniture in the rooms is tired, the door jambs are broken (the lock was closed if the door was slammed hard), the balcony doors "tapped" in the wind, the Conder was old noisy, but worked well.
Nutrition.
The weakest point in the hotel. At the same time, we are not gourmets at all, but it was extremely difficult to choose at least something tasty. We love beef, but here after the first couple of days we gave it up - it was always dry and tough. The same applies to any grilled cutlets, lyuli, fish. The chicken saved somehow, but it was often overdried, especially if it was done on the grill. That is, the variety of food was average Egyptian, just tasteless cooked. Although there were incomprehensible "glimpses" for the first couple of days and the last couple of days.
We explained this to ourselves that the team of cooks was changing, although this may not be so.
In a word, this is our worst food in Egypt for many years.
Rescued fruits and sweets - this is all right in the hotel.
Beach.
As noted by many - this is the trump card of the hotel. Almost all the time of our stay in Braika there was wind, but this did not affect swimming at all - the water in the bay was always calm. Corals and fish in Mars are more impressive and majestic than in other resorts. Everything is wilder and more natural. In a word, in this aspect, an unambiguous offset.
As for the turtles, I did not see them in our bay, although other vacationers said that they sometimes met them. But the fact that a dolphin swam into the bay and we swam completely freely with him is a reliable fact.
In general, this dolphin swam all day long (we saw him for the first time at about 9 am and swam with him for about 20 minutes, then we swam with him closer to dinner, friends said that he was there until the evening). In a word, this dolphin made us (and not only us) a day. Impressions skyrocketed. Only the lazy did not take a picture with him : )
Tours.
We took from the guides, as the host guide was local (Selfi tour) and his prices were not very different from the "Internet". But the organization of excursions was not up to par. Later we learned that there are similar excursions in the diving center, but there they recruit a group only from their hotel and guaranteed safety. We didn’t go with them, but if we knew, we’d better give preference to them (especially since they are a little cheaper there).
Although on the excursions we saw dolphins and turtles and even a sea cow, although we were honestly warned, the probability of seeing it is 1% out of 100. But we were lucky.
Territory.
There are 2 hotels in the bay:
Brayka Bay Reef Resort (Brayka Bay for short)
Royal Brayka Beach Resort (Brayka Beach for short)
Sometimes they are confused, the names are twisted (I saw the names of Brayka Reef, Royal Brayka Bay, Brayka Front) and for me it was a question of how many of these hotels there are in total, which confuses when choosing.
The infrastructure of the hotels is common, with the exception of restaurants and rooms
Internet
The hotel has Wi-Fi, it is only at the reception and its quality is not very good. They wanted to take cards at the airport, but the only Etisalat counter was closed, and I did not see other operators there. There was some kind of muddy one at the exit from the airport, I didn’t even remember its name. Some of the tourists even wanted to take a card there (for lack of alternatives), but they did not have change from 50 dollars.
But this is for the best, because in the end they took the cards in the morning at a meeting with the guides. It was Orange, the most affordable 9.5 gig for $15. Immediately, the cards with the guide were activated, only after that the guide took the money.
The Internet connection was excellent both on the territory and everywhere where we were on excursions, after 9 days I even had 2 gigabytes left, and my wife had 4 in general. , synchronized photos and videos with cloud storage, did not limit themselves in one word. Therefore, if you are traveling with a Selfie Tour, then do not rush to buy a card at the airport - it is both cheaper and more reliable with guides. There were tariffs from the guide and "fatter", if anyone needs it, but these were enough for us.
Marsa Alam Airport.
Why am I writing about him, since I did not find information anywhere. After the last visit to Sharm, when we were cowardly at the airport and stumbled on several "cordons", especially on the road, this issue was important for me, as it generally spoiled the impression of the rest specifically. Everything here was civilized. Yes, there were small queues, but there was no "lawlessness" in Sharm.
Well, plus the fact that there are very few flights (respectively, the people) did not contribute to the flea market. The airport itself is air-conditioned, there were enough seats for everyone, so the Marsa Alam resort is a huge plus in this matter.
Well, and also the absence of Russians both at the airport and in hotels - from Russia, fortunately, they still don’t fly to Marsa Alam, and single "stray" tourists through Hurghada did not make the weather, behaved quietly and did not show themselves in any way : )
Minuses:
1. There is no conder! The heat is stuffy, the only place with Wi-Fi, but there is no conder!
2. Part of the furniture is old and worn out. Although the other one seems to have been recently changed.
3. The staff is more or less adequate, but here the roulette depends on who you get.
Pros:
xs except that a large hall.
Territory.
minuses:
1. Behind the magnificent bridge there is a bay and a green area with trees, apparently pipes are leaking there and the sewer stinks all the time.
2. Sewerage, judging by the state of the swamp behind the bridge, perfectly falls into the water, and only thanks to the ebb / flow of the tide is this swamp at least a little but cleaned. Here it must be added that it all goes to the bay, where everyone swims...
3. Due to the old age of the hotel, there are many places where some kind of pipe wires or just holes stick out.
Pros:
1. Plants are constantly taken care of and the whole territory is green, which is a big plus.
2. The lighting is very atmospheric and it is very cool to walk at night.
Rooms.
Minuses:
1. The beds are not new at all, and the mattresses are smelly.
2. At the third bed, on which the children should sleep, the planks fall out / spread and holes appear.
3. The rooms are dim and in one of the rooms that we were given, a couple of lamps did not work.
4. The hoods in the bathrooms were not cleaned at all.
5. The shower holders were new 10 years ago or more.
6. Room cleaning: 1 time in 3 days. If you ask very much, at the reception, then you can do it more often, but you will get very significant looks in your direction. This is explained by the fact that these are anti-covid measures.
Pros:
1. Rooms are spacious and authentic.
2. No problem, you can bring to mind, but why spend money on it.
3. If you are lucky, you will get a very cool view of the sea, and when you go out - to the mountains.
Main restaurant:
Minuses:
1. monotonous and poor.
2. strained with napkins, 1 per person, but you can also ask.
3. In the evening, because of the grill, it is impossible to breathe on the terrace and nearby rooms.
Pros:
1. Consistency, if you eat rice with chicken, you will always get them.
2. Very diligent and attentive waiters.
3. If you come to the opening of the restaurant, you can take a cool cocktail.
Paid evening restaurant:
Minuses:
1. Perhaps the problem is only with me, but I was very poisoned.
2. You can't really choose anything for children.
3. The final price for 2 is not 50 euros, but 51 for food, a trifle, but a little not pleasant.
Pros:
1. Although I got poisoned, it was really VERY tasty.
2. Gorgeous atmosphere: moon, stars, candles, beach, dinner, it's worth it!
3. View of the entire hotel in the light of the moon with pleasant music - ready to get poisoned again for this.
Dive center.
It is not for us, but more for foreigners. I wanted to dive with divers, but they never explained to me how much it costs. The price fluctuated, then 60 euros for 1 dive, then first you need to take a course for 250, with 2 dives, and then 60.
And finally.
Reef, not even so REEF!! ! It's worth the trip just for that!
The food is normal, salads, meat, fish, fruits (melon, peaches, 1 time watermelon), all sorts of cakes.
The sea is warm, the entrance is both from the shore and from the pontoon.
But all the days there was a wind of 10 m/sec, sometimes it calmed down in the evening, it is difficult to swim out of the bay because of the current and the "whistle" on the right.
The fish came across different, but not to say that in Sharm there are much fewer of them...
I chose Mars on the advice of one of the local members of the forum, they wrote that in late May - early June there is no wind, but as it turned out, this is not so...
In terms of nutrition, there is no children's menu, everything else is simply not possible to eat! If anyone says that this is because of the quarantine, such bad food, I’ll clarify, before that we were in December, also during quarantine, but we haven’t seen such a redneck food yet! The rooms were cleaned twice during a week-long stay, the bed was changed on the last day, which made us laugh the most, the beach towel was also changed twice, but with a fight and a trip to the reception! In the dining room (it is impossible to name the restaurant), the air conditioner does not work, as in the rest and at the reception, and this is in the heat of 40!
The territory, green, but not well-groomed and dirty, pools with broken mosaics and floating garbage! The furniture is all old! Service is good only at the bar on the beach! And in the lobby bar they asked for $1 for a bottle of ordinary water! We do not recommend this hotel at all!! ! Have a good holiday everyone! We hope that our review will be useful to someone and protect from a bad holiday!! !
This is the third time in Egypt, so there is something to compare.
The first day it became clear that this is the worst hotel I have ever been in this country.
Room - old furniture and faulty safe, no Ukrainian. TV, broken door to the balcony (constantly jammed and almost never opened)
+ constant cleaning, added water.
Wi-Fi - at this hotel you can forget about it.
Air conditioners - it's just absurd not to turn on the equipment in the food room! Nowhere in the hotel, except the room, air conditioners were not included! The heat was unbearable, it was impossible to be indoors, not to eat / drink coffee.
Meals - I personally compared food to food in the school cafeteria. There is no variety, and the last straw was that in a 5-star hotel, local entrepreneurs organized a bazaar and sold mangoes ($ 12 kg). HOW?
As in a hotel of this level, still included, is it acceptable? There is no 24-hour access to coffee or food. The bars were constantly running out of ice. There were no refrigerators with water, so just to have a drink on the beach you had to stand in line!
Entrepreneurial activity in Brayka Bay is flourishing! Taking advantage of the fact that the nearest town is 100 km from the hotel, souvenir shops and pharmacies located on the territory of the hotel, will take the last skin from you, they say - go look for cheaper, in the desert.
With each new settlement, a viber group is created with guests, the owner and a hotel guide. It publishes events, entertainment and comments from guests. Yes, most guests were dissatisfied with the service and attitude of the staff.
Finally. This hotel positions itself as a Ukrainian hotel in Egypt, where Ukrainian stars and artists gather. This justifies the price per stay.
Also justifies the trip the beauty of the beaches, the lack of crowds by the sea.
However, if you are traveling to Egypt for the first time, choose another place to stay, because your impression after a trip to such a wonderful country will be spoiled by this hotel.
I do not recommend!