Remember holidays? You’d go away, get a tan, eat strange food and experience new worlds. Well, the good news is those times will come again, and when they do, Sharm el-Sheikh will be waiting. From November, Scots will be able to fly direct to the Red Sea resort once again, almost five years since terrorist attacks prompted the British government to impose a travel ban. Need something to look forward to during lockdown? Sharm’s your place.
In February I travelled out on a TUI flight from Gatwick. The first thing to say is that the people in Sharm will be almost deliriously happy to see you. At TUI’s Magic Life resort, a red carpet awaited new arrivals, with a dominoes-stack of hotel staff literally applauding us as we piled out of the minibus and into the atrium lobby. “Welcome home,” they shouted, beaming.
The resort is made up of two- and three-story ochre accommodation units dotted among swaying palm trees like kasbahs in a desert oasis. Right on its own swathe of golden, sandy beach, it is a 25-minute drive from downtown Sharm, with a free shuttle bus running between hotel and town.
At its heart sprawls an enormous central pool, but there are also eight bars, four restaurants, kids’ clubs for tots and teens, a spa, and a groaning menu of activities from archery and tennis to yoga for early risers.
The big draw, though, is diving. With wrecks, walls and reefs, plus visibility up to about 150ft and water temperatures never dipping below 22C, Sharm is the Red Sea’s premier dive resort.
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Away from the water, the essential hotel excursion is a safari to the deserts of Nabq national park. At Nabq Bedouin Village, I donned a traditional Arab kaffiyeh headdress, and set off into the desert by camel like a wonky Lawrence of Arabia. We reached a lonely desert camp in time for a traditional Bedouin fire-grilled feast, while a huge golden sun disappeared into the mountains and a starry night sky began to form.
Sharm itself — free shuttle buses run from the hotel every half-hour — is something of a mixed bag. Once a sleepy fishing village going about its centuries-old business at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, it is now a purpose-built fly-and-flop resort, with a sprawl of big beach resorts and a small but bustling pocket of waterfront bars, restaurants and clubs in its main tourist area, Naama Bay. There is a magnificent mosque and the Old Market is an Aladdin’s cave of shisha stalls and lamp shops; but it probably tells you everything you need to know when I say that its trendiest restaurant area, Soho Square, has a Queen Vic pub for anyone needing to channel their inner Phil Mitchell.
On my final night I headed to the Egyptian speciality restaurant Sofra, diving into mountains of meze, baba ganoush and vast balloons of naan bread. We toasted our trip with fresh fruit daiquiris and Long Island iced teas. Sharm sure worked its charm on me.
Lewis Nunn was a guest of TUI (tui.co.uk), which has seven nights, all inclusive, at TUI Magic Life resort from £680, including flights from Edinburgh to Sharm el-Sheikh and transfers
