Four of us have just returned from a 2 week stay at the Coraya Beach. From start to finish we had an amazing holiday. I could go on forever about what a lovely hotel this is. Check in was so easy and we were given such a warm welcome. We have previously stayed at the Movenpick in El Gouna and the Iberotel Grand Sharm in Sharm, both of which are lovely hotels, but we really found the Coraya to be something quite special. This was mainly down to the extra little touches we found here (which I won't spoil by telling you) and the fantastic staff who really couldn't have been more friendly or helpful.

The hotel itself was beautiful and immaculately kept. The rooms were spacious and well-appointed. There was plenty of space around the pools, which were lovely and it was easy to get a sun lounger any time of the day. The beach was also lovely and here there was a waiter service for drinks. It was extremely hot while we there but there is plenty of shade to be found.

The Coraya is the only hotel in the bay to actually sit on its own beach and so has direct access to the sea and the coral. If you do come here, snorkelling is a must. You can also go round to the jetty the other side of the bay (a 10 min walk) to see the fish straight off the jetty (very handy for taking pictures) and I would definitely recommend going round there. Having had a quick look at the hotels the other side of the bay I thought the Coraya was much nicer (but I may be a bit biased!).

We ate at both the buffet and the A la Carte restaurant, both of which were included in the AI, the food at both was fantastic. The breakfast was very good, and both lunch and dinner at the buffet were varied and tasty. There was plenty for kids and vegetarians, and even though we stayed for 2 weeks we didn't eat the same meal twice (excepting the amazing fillet steak at the A la Carte of course!). The waiters in the buffet restaurant were so friendly and welcoming, it really made eating there a pleasure. They were very talkative and so polite. If you are polite to them it is very much appreciated (especially as some guests barely acknowledged their existence). They work extremely hard (18 hour shifts for weeks on end) but always manage to find a smile and make you feel like extra special guests. The barman at Zuzu's bar was also very welcoming.

The hotel makes a big effort to vary the feel of the buffet and despite the fact the restaurant was huge it never felt like a canteen, the service was extremely good (we were told off several times for trying to serve our own wine!) and the restaurant was decorated differently each night. In the day you are also offered tea and cakes, fruit and ice-creams galore!

In the evening the hotel is quite quiet, which suited us well as we ate late, had a nice quiet cocktail, a quick game of pool and then headed to bed. The entertainment was a little bit hit and miss, but that wasn't a problem for us. In the day the animation team were great, always inviting us to take part in the various activities even though we never said yes!

I would recommend paying the extra for all inclusive as this will soon pay for itself. A bottle of wine was about £13 and cocktails £6.50, as the hotel is in the middle of nowhere you don;t have much choice but to pay this. I believe it cost us about £12 pppn to upgrade so well worth it. In fact we probably got our money back in the amount of water we drank! Having unlimited laundry, restocked minibar and 30 minutes Internet access a day came in very handy. If you have already booked half board it is possible to upgrade to all inclusive (Pharoah's club) when you arrive.

Whilst at the Coraya we went quadding in the desert (through the hotel company on the beach) which was amazing (but make sure to ask for a helmet). We also took the bus trip to El Qusair. While I wouldn't say this was the nicest trip, as El Qusair wasn't the biggest town and there wasn't much shopping to be done, it was well worth going as a reminder that the real Egypt is not all 5* luxury.

We had such a great holiday I don't really want to spoil your impression of the hotel but I must say a little about Thomsons. If you want to book excursions do so at the welcome meeting as the rep might prove quite hard to find afterwards - we never saw him again. The flight was ok, we didn't book meals but ended up buying them on the way back as all the crisps and sandwiches had been sold on the outbound leg. Since Marsa Alam is a small (but quite nice airport) there is not much food to buy before take-off, so I would suggest buying the onboard meal.

Would we go again? Absolutely. We're missing it already and as soon as we can afford it we will definitely be back!

Been back a week from Coraya Beach and can't wait to go again. We have travelled the world but always been a little wary of going to
Egypt but not anymore the hotel and staff were absolutely superb they were very polite and nothing was too much trouble we had lots of fun with the waiters and chefs, I had my birthday there and our table was covered in rose petals then after the meal we could hear this racket and it was the waiters and chefs coming through the restaurant beating a drum and singing to me first in their own language then in English then we had dancing it was brilliant as I have had more birthdays than I care to remember but that was fun. Max and the animation team worked hard in a difficult situation as most of the guests just wanted to chill out. Public areas and bedrooms were spotlessly clean and I loved the Nubian village atmosphere with it's little cobbled streets and archways and the gardens were beautifully kept. We were on the all inclusive package and it was well worth the money we paid we tried the free massage and were so impressed we all had another three whilst we were there! The manager at the hotel was a lovely man always around the hotel and not sat in an office and he quite often ate in the buffet restaurant and got his own food like the rest of us, so all in all a fabulous holiday in a beautiful hotel superbly run and with fantastic staff what more could you want it was definately 5*

My partner and I have just returned from a fantastic holiday in the Coraya resort. This was our first trip to Egypt and we were a little apprehensive after reading other reviews about upset stomachs and the food on offer. However we needn't have worried because the food was excellent and there was always plenty of variety on offer. We'd been warned about the possibility of diahorrea and took medication with us but it wasn't a problem and we didn't see anyone else there who was ill. Our guide explained that an upset stomach is usually caused by mixing different types of meat due to the way the animal is raised (ie the beef has a much stronger flavour in Egypt because the cattle are not castrated and are not fed any chemicals) so as we stuck to one kind of meat all day we had no health problems.

The hotel is spotlessly clean and the staff are eager to please and very friendly. There is lots to do within the hotel and in the surrounding area and we were certainly never bored. We were told that it was best to take egyptian pounds and US dollars although euros are used more commonly than US dollars. Taking travellers cheques is not a problem and they are easy to change within the bank outside the hotel however you cannot pay for goods in Egypt using travellers cheques although this was never a problem for us.

The temperature was 37 degrees celsius and this was steady and did not get much hotter throughout our stay. We chose the all inclusive option which worked out as an extra £12 per person per day when we booked and this was by far the better choice as it meant a breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet was included, as were all drinks and ice-cream throughout the day including bottled water and the mini bar. This also meant that we had virtually nothing to pay to settle our bill at the end of our stay.

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed the stay here - the hotel staff definately give you the 5 star treatment - and we hope to return to this resort next year.

Me and my partner have just come back from the Iberotel Coraya Beach Resort. Generally we were very pleased with the hotel facilities and the staff could not do enough for you.
Our room was immaculately cleaned and little gifts were left in our room.
However we did have a few problems with the reception staff not giving us the correct information and not getting back to us about certain problems. They told us for example that the whole of Egypt no longer accepted US$ travellers cheques and were very adamant about this. However this was not the case and we did get them exchanged at the bank just outside the hotel (but not before our stress level had risen us considerably). The currency mostly used here is Egyptian Pounds or Euros and it is best not to take travellers cheques as they are hard to change.

Heat - may I give a warning to anyone considering coming to this resort. Whilst we were there the temperature had nearly reached 47 degrees Celcius which can considerably hamper your enjoyment of the holiday. So be aware. PS: the thermometer outside the breakfast area does not work so don't rely on it giving you the correct information.

Tummy problems - unfortunately for me & my partner, we were both taken ill with stomach cramps (myself for the first 4 days of our 7 days holiday, then my partner had it and finally on the day of departure I got violent diarrhea and vomiting which resulted me in being on a drip). If you are prone to getting stomach problems on holiday may I advise you not to come here because I think the combination of the heat and food/drinks etc only makes matters worse. We did see a lot of people that had stomach cramps and one particular woman we saw looked pretty bad indeed and was taken away in a wheelchair. I still do not know what caused my acute gastroenteritis and cannot point to finger at the hotel but I have been told by a doctor that you are more likely to get this type of thing if you go to Egypt than anywhere else.

Diving/Snorkelling - I would have loved to been able to comment on the diving but because we were both ill, we had to cancel all our diving with Coraya Divers. They seem a nice bunch and their centre is 10 mins away on the other side of the bay. We did go to the Dolphin House with them (snorkelling) but the trip there and back was very tiring (50 mins in minibus and back again just to get to their boat and 1 hr getting to the Dolphin House and back again) and I would not recommend it as we did not see any dolphins anyway. You will be better off snorkelling on their house reef. And if you are a diver, be aware their boat are not station in Port Galib but much further away.

As for watersports, there was that much there if not any.

Generally speaking we could not fault the hotel All Inclusive nor the staff. But the heat and stomach problems really ruinned it for us.

If you have any questions, please contact me.