Sol Y Mar Sharming Inn Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El-Sheikh

air con wasn't working properly but we spent most of our time scuba diving so we only spend the nights in the hotel. nice location, nice staff, clean rooms, and the pool is something the hotel can boast about.

The key on travel in Egypt is to not be naive to their way of life and beliefs I would suggest you research the area you are travelling to so as not to arrive blind with no idea what to expect.

If you are expecting a typical English holiday of cheap food and booze, Egypt isn't for you, this is not a country that thrives on this, for obvious reasons! Also Alcohol isn't cheap here.

Tipping is customary, and you may feel obliged to tip everyone so if you're not comfortable with this than don't let them carry your bags, open doors for you, etc etc in some restaurants check the bill as the more expensive restaurants add on a service charge, this however is normally written somewhere on the menu.

Don't feel obliged to go into any of the shops in Naama Bay, they will all generally say the same thing "hello.......where are you from...........I give you my business card........etc etc" . We found that 9 out of 10 of them were ok if you respond with a polite but assertive "no thank you ...." And carry on walking, they will still try and persist but just keep walking. This can be annoying, but you have to accept you are in the tourist town of Naama Bay and these people are just trying to make money from the tourist industry (granted they could do with a few lessons in the best way to do this).

All the meals we had were great, Recommended Restaurants in Naama Bay:

You do have to travel to Naama Bay if you want to eat out (which I would suggest rather than all inclusive as the meals at the hotel are very sub standard) however they do supply a rather rickety looking FREE bus to and from Naama Bay at certain times

Porto Fino - they bring out a platter of fresh fish for you to choose from and there shrimp cocktail is gorgeous !! **** Restaurant in my opinion. A little expensive but worth it.

Little Buddha - again a little more expensive but great food the steak in here was fantastic. Also this place turns into a little gem of a funky house bar when the restaurant has finished with great cocktails upstairs!!! Not too commercial either

Onions - This was without doubt our favourite place to eat, not posh by any means but good quality food at cheap prices, in fact very cheap and the staff are very good, if you are not happy with the meal you have chosen they will change this for you. We also found this was the only place where we weren't pushed into to going to eat.

In fact on that note both these restaurants were recommended by the taxi driver at our hotel, they phone through to the restaurants and this is where you will receive the best service as the waiters meet you from your taxi opening doors for you etc etc. Very polite!

The Sol Y Mar Sharmin inn stay was very pleasant and very clean, we found the staff were very helpful and offered a great service, Mohammed at the pool bar offers a fantastic service we found him very pleasant polite and again a great sense of humour.

They also have a lovely shish bar in the restaurant which is very good for a relaxing evening.

The evening entertainment left a little to be desired but all the staff are as helpful as they can be and very high spirited.

They also offer a bus to and from the beach, which if you go down to the jetty you can see some amazingly odd looking fish swimming around very close to the shore.

Overall we had a great holiday although the Sol Y Mar Sharmin Inn is a no frills hotel I would recommend it, it keeps you away from all the hustle and bustle with a short ride to Naama.

Oh one more thing - i wouldn't recommend getting any currency from Thomas Cook as they gave us the completely wrong exhange rate which made our holiday VERY EXPENSIVE and we found you got more for your money if you retrieved it straight from the bank out there anyway.

When we booked the holiday we went on a B&B basis as we were told that there were lots of facilities around the hotel. However this was rubbish, we would have had to take a bus/taxi each night into Naama to get food. As such we upgraded to all-inclusive. The food was ok and sometimes was very nice. We went into Naama for one evening and went to the Hard Rock cafe, we went early at 7pm and avoided all the crowds, usually it is 1 1/2 hours wait, we were 5 mins. Food was very cheap and very good quality but the drinks were expensive compared to uk prices, £1 for a can of coke (same as the hotel and most areas in Egypt though).

The pool was very clean and not overcrowded; it also had plenty of sunbeds, which is a rarity in most resorts. The towel system, where you get free tokens for towels and can change them as often as you like throughout the day and hand them back to be cleaned at the end of the day, receiving your token back to use again was fantastic. By paying the towel guy a tip (£2) he will put your towel out each day if you want them to.

Bar staff were less interested in customer service than looking at and flirting with young women. Health and safety is non-existent, our 10-year-old daughter was served rum and coke!!

No children's activities unless they speak German as the kids club, which runs from 10-1pm and 3-5pm, was solely German speaking. The only kids play area was out of the way and poorly lit for evenings with the sun going down at 6pm requiring adult supervision after dark. Games room was limited to table football, table tennis and pool but cost £1.50 per 15 mins per person unless they were all inclusive.

No evening's entertainment until 9.30pm each night by which time we were very tired.

Constant harassment from the locals of "What is your name?" "Where do you come from?" "Come into my shop..."

The locals expect tips for absolutely everything from the moment you get to the airport right up to checking in on the way back, indeed a tip was expected for putting the airline baggage boarding tags on the bags at the airport.

'Customer Service' are not words these people are aware of, in the hotel a plate of chips took 1 hour to arrive!!!!

Bottled water is an extra charge at £1 for a 1.5 litre bottle even if you are all inclusive.

The rep from Thomson was more interested in making a sale than telling truth and wasn't at all interested in the customers after having made that sale. Trips are a lot cheaper going through official companies in Naama Bay.

The public beach which is a five min walk away costs to enter. There are no sandy beaches the beach areas are set up on cliffs with treacherous steps down to the sea. The private beach is a 10 min bus ride away and is free but there are limited spaces and no guarantee you will get on the next one with frequency at 1 hour intervals.

The jetties to get from the private beach to the snorkelling were well thought through and the snorkelling itself was fantastic.

We didn't go on the Cario trip after hearing from other guests how disappointed they were, saving ourselves £450 for 2 adults and 1 child. However we did do the Red Sea trip to Ras Mohammed and despite the strong freezing cold winds and the chaos at the port would recommend this trip to any snorkeller.

We would not go back to Sharm as it is just too new to tourist trade and needs to mature a lot.

My mother and i booked this trip the day before we left and were just looking for a cheap all inclusive hotel in the sun. the hotel is really nice and clean but the rooms are a little dated, in particular the bathroom was not great but everything worked fine so can't really complain.

The staff are fantastic and will do anything to help you.

Food is not great and quite repetative.

Hotel taxi service is great and will drop you off and pick you up from wherever you want, very trusting as they didn't charge until he brought us back to the hotel!!

The daytime entertainment was brilliant, there were always activities going on for you to join in with, darts, table tennis, water polo, ect...

Overall had a great time and will be returing this summer!

My partner and I have just returned from the Sharming Inn Hotel and are so relieved to be back in Britain!

Our arrival at Egypt airport was chaotic! We were overwhelmed by Egyptians trying to carry our luggage in return for tips. Please be aware that you won't get anything for nothing out here! Everything comes at a price; they want tips just for showing you where the toilet is!

We were impressed by the presentation of the hotel. It was very clean and spacious with lovely furnishings. However, when we arrived, we were told to leave our luggage outside until after we'd checked in. We were quite distressed about this as the queues were long and we couldn't see our cases from where we stood. The reception ensured us they were safe and that they'd be brought to our room. They didn't give us a choice in the matter and, of course, we had to tip!

The restaurant was clean and well-presented. However, the meals were so bland and repetitive; every day was the same as the last. Also, the drinks were brought to you by a waiter; there was no 'help yourself.' This service was dreadful as they'd take ages to take your order and then ages to bring it to you! Sometimes they'd forget to come back and you'd have to re-order, by which time we'd have finished our meals! We found that the staff served paying guests before all-inclusive guests. We had to wait ages at the bar sometimes and often felt overlooked. Towards the end of the holiday we preferred to go out to eat in Naama Bay which was cheap enough but not something we'd budgeted for seeing as we'd paid for all-inclusive!

All in all we were very disappointed and wouldn't return. However, everyones different and I'm sure there were many others who went away very happy!

Before venturing to the Sol-y-Mar Sharming Inn, we read the reviews on this site and almost didn't go! However, arriving at the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised.

Most of the Sharm area is still under development, but that didn't matter to us, as we were busy every day, either in the hotel complex or out and about. The beach is a five minute walk...however, it's man-made and on a cliff, so only step access to the sea.

Great hotel, clean and tidy. Rooms - again, very clean - bedding and towels changed every day, the housekeeping staff even fashioned the towels and sheets into little models of babies, swans, camels and flowers!

Food - very good, what we'd expect from a Four star hotel. We found it varied day-to-day (the tomato soup is to die for!) although the typical 'Bacon and eggs' Brits may not be satisfied with the continental-style breakfasts. We were all inclusive, so we'd have 3 meals a day...all in all, very satisfied with the food.

Staff v friendly and sociable. Jewellery shop in the lobby has some lovely pieces, it's worth bartering if you see something you fancy.

We'd recommend taking the Lazy Day Boat Cruise if you're offered any excursions from your tour operator. Includes a trip to Tiran Island, with stop-offs for snorkelling through the coral reefs with a guide, and buffet lunch.

Overall, Sharming Inn is a good place to stay if you want to relax in comfort.

I went to the Sharming Inn with my boyfriend for New Year 2005.We had a wonderful time, we went all inclusive and found the food, service excellent.

We originally booked to stay in a chalet. Most of the chalets are excellent but ours was obviously one of the oldest built so we moved into a hotel room.

If you ask for a chalet make sure you get one that is away from the main hotel.

New Year was amazing and the hotel really impressed us.

Out of the hotel i recommend you go to the old market, its an experience!! Make sure you bargain with the cabbies before you get into them.

ok lets start hotel not too bad my son liked the pool gotta say was a bit cold food was boring like we were robots eating the same everyday shuttle bus was good for naama bay but timing was odd mayby change for families wanting to go and come back early service was ok minibar waiter was rude would knock on door and just barge in and woud still carry on knocking on door even when i put 'DO NOT DISTURB' on the door,

not very helpful staff if you speak english they dont understand you,tip go to naama bay in the evening as pizza hut will cost about £10 for 4 adults and the hotel restaraunt will cost £20 for 2 adults what a rip off for vegetables and mash.tip always go to naama bay for everything eg i brought sun tan lotion and a rubber dingy from the hotel cost me £35 gbp naama bay same would cost £12 max and top tip always haggle you get a bargin or go to a shop in old sharm called CAMEL BAZZAR at main entrance goodies are fixed price and are CHEAP i enjoyed the week but if i went back would go to a 5star only.overall weather was hot hot hot 30 degrees everday lethal tan clear skies no clouds top top tip if you go from uk for monet exchange go to the holiday inn across the road they have a bank inside exchange rate is double from the hotel for more info contact and wil give good tips and yes a must do is the seascope nice one happy holiday

I was in Sol Y Mar Sharming Inn from 19 Sep to 26 Sep.

I can say that the hotel is good however very bad management!!

The Food is almost the same every day!

The rooms good

Not alot of facility in the hotel

The best thing in the hotel is the stuff they are just great, they will do the their best to help you, the management make them work hard like slaves 15 hours per day and more some time and get paid nothing, really poor them.

I do advice this hotel to any one that have a small budget!

If you need more info let me know!!

The hotel is situated in a development area, which at the time we stayed there, was like a huge building site, with our completed hotel in the middle. By now I expect a lot of the development to be complete, but check first!

The hotel was clean and tidy, with a lovely pool area. The rooms we spacious and clean with clean bathrooms. Towels and linen were changed every day also. The room attendants even made animals and flowers with the towels on the bed most days, sometimes decorated with flower petals too!

There were no balconies in the rooms, just large sliding doors and railings, which didnt matter too much as it was nicely airconditioned indoors, and swealtering outside!

We went on all inclusive. What a BAD IDEA.

The food was dreadful. Little choice, and the breakfast didnt even have fresh juices, or any distinguishable cereals. We have an evening 'barbeque' round the pool, where the food was sitting for hours in the heat. They served afternoon tea and cake, for those on AI, which was left on a table round the pool in searing temperatures.

We ended up eating out, which was an additional expense we had not bargained for. Tip: The Movenpick hotel serves an excellent breakfast and is open to non residents.

They had a ticket set up for AI. You got your tickets from reception, as often and as many as you wanted, then 'paid' for your drinks with the tickets. It was bizzare; 2 yellow tickets for a coke, 5 red tickets for a beer, etc. You ended up with a wad of paper tickets all over the place!Hopefully they have now realised the simplicity of a wristband system instead!

I wouldnt recommend this hotel due to its position; a shuttle bus to the beach, which at the time didnt have any facilities, although if you were on AI, there was a little counter where you could get a stale sandwich and a warm drink on the beach.

The shuttle bus was an antique without brakes - you did need to make sure you had adequate insurance to ride on it!