Sofitel Taba Heights, Egypt - Hotel and Holiday/Vacation Review/Information

The Sofitel Taba heights are a magnificent hotel in the small quiet resort of Taba Heights. Taba Heights resort is very peaceful, being made up of just five hotels, four 5 stars on the beach and one 4 star a bit further back on the hill. The entire resort is surrounded by the sea and by a beautiful mountain backdrop and seems completely isolated.

The rooms within the hotel are brilliantly designed and spacious, they are cleaned exceptionally well every single day. The bed wasn’t the most comfy that I have slept in but it wasn’t bad. You get two bottles of water in your mini bar each day and you get extra if you leave a tip. Two bottles is plenty, I didn’t think it would be enough but it was honestly ample. And there are fresh water machines dotted all over the hotel where they can easily be refilled anyway.

The staff were very friendly, they try to have a joke with you, and they are different to the typical staff of Sharm El Sheikh, who try to joke with so called “English phrases” that stopped being used decades ago such as “Cheap as chips”! I think there was only one time during my stay where I came across a moody member of staff. Overall they couldn’t do enough for you.

In the larger hotels there isn’t as much need to tip the staff as there are so many of them and the chances are that the next time you return to the bar, for example, it will be someone else either working there of serving you.

The pool area was beautifully designed once again, very big, and had a great atmosphere. There were plenty of sunbeds although a lot of people put their towels on the bed to save them the night before, which was annoying. One other thing that didn’t help with this was that the towels were available from seven in the morning.

There was an adult pool too for those who wanted peace and quiet, that was away from everything and it had its own bar too.

The pool bar area was great with lots of tables undercover outside and inside, that served a surprising variety of drinks, but you do need to ask for ice (which I find essential in that heat). One other issue with the bar is that almost all the drinks were served in a small paper cup, which were awkward to carry and obviously didn’t contain that much liquid. The bar also had areas where you could just get food, like a salad bar, ice cream (open 7 hours a day J), a hot food station that served something different every day, from burgers and hotdogs, to fajitas and lamb koftas, and a pizza corner which also served chips.

One issue I found here was that one of the barmen kept flirting with me every time I went in, and I’m a guy...

The main restaurant was well designed and roomy, there was something different each night along with a different theme, including things like Seafood, International, English (not the best English food I’ve tasted, and some I really don’t believe is English at all!), Oriental, Egyptian, Mediterranean and French. As with all the hotels in Egypt, the food can affect a holiday makers stomachs in a major way that can be quite uncomfortable in more severe cases. If you do visit Egypt and have stomach problems, any medicine you take from home doesn’t really work for some reason, the pharmacies do medication that works wonders, but can be quite expensive. (I didn’t have any problems staying at the Sofitel though)

When I was staying there though I did come across a piece of chicken that was given to me to be completely raw! However when we told the restaurant manager he could not stop apologising even as we were leaving half an hour later, and then brought me a huge pile of chicken. So big that everyone on the table couldn’t finish it.

The restaurant does the same thing every day for breakfast though, including a nice variety of fruit. We asked the manager if it was possible for some watermelon, (as it was served most evenings) he quickly brought over plenty and a few days later the restaurant served it every day from then on.

The entertainment in Egypt is very low key and consists of local acts. One night we had karaoke but there was only a few English songs sung, the others were French and mainly Arabic. (Which all sounded the same to me). Then there was the ‘spinning man’ who as the name suggests is someone who spins around for something like 20 minutes, now there is only a certain amount of times you can watch this before it becomes mind-numbing. Once.

And finally a belly dancer who is also only interesting for two songs, but after eight songs of doing the same thing becomes just as tedious.

There is a street festival/show in the ‘uptown’ area, located at the hotel Three corners El Wekala on the hill, which is far better, but is made up of belly dancing, some reasonable singers, and the same spinning man! (All in all I think I watched him about four or five times in two weeks). So the entertainment isn’t that good, but there is an amazing disco back at the hotel on some nights.

The guests from the five hotels are allowed to mix, you are allowed to look around the others if you wish and use some facilities such as the jetties, and they are The Sofitel, the Intercontinental hotel, The Marriott, The Hyatt and the Three Corners El Wekala and golf course.

In order to get to the ‘uptown’ area, where the street festival takes place, and there are some shops including clothes and a basic supermarket (extremely basic), you must catch a shuttle bus, which stop at the hotels every half an hour. Each bus stops at all four beach hotels before going to the Three corners and the uptown. They are packed out and it is literally a mad rush to get a seat. There are no doors on these busses, you just step on, so some people who cannot get to a seat in time are stuck standing on the steps.

Going back to the food, the hotel has an a la carte restaurant, L’ Asiatic, but the menu had about 5 choices of main course, none of which appealed so we didn’t eat there. Now the hotels all offer a ‘Dine Around’ option so you can book a table at other hotels a la carte restaurants, and if you do so you get a free starter or dessert. We went to the Thai restaurant which I personally really enjoyed. Most of these restaurants are located in the uptown area on the hill and not the hotel that says it is there a la carte restaurant, but not all of them, so you must get the bus. The real problem with these restaurants that I would like to warn everyone considering eating at them is that they advertise the menu in Egyptian pounds, the bill comes in Egyptian pounds, but they charge in US Dollars! So you may want to take cash depending on the exchange rate.

The snorkelling in Taba is nothing short of breathtaking, it beats places like Hurghada and Marsa Alam by far, but I’m afraid it doesn’t compare Sharm El Sheikh. And I’m not sure but to me it felt as if the sea was slightly colder, but still very warm. The beach was beautiful and had the perfect amount of sunbeds and wind guards so it wasn’t overcrowded. But the beach wasn’t that busy, most guests stayed by the pool and closer to the bar.

The first and second week were completely different in terms of foreign holidaymakers. The first week there was mainly Jordanian and French families; with a couple of who we thought were Russians. English was quite rare to hear and it was refreshing to hear someone else speaking it. The second week there were no Jordanians, a few French, no Russians, lodes of British and even a few Americans.

The stay overall was excellent and I would love to return in the future, there are a few issues but they don’t affect the overall holiday at all. Amazing, Thank you Sofitel Taba Heights!

If you are considering going there and want to know something else, or can think of something i havent mentioned and would like to know. Please feel free to ask in a comment :)