Brayka Bay Reef Resort

After struggling to select somewhere to go for some winter sun am very pleased we ended up here. Although the lack of water in the pool was a bit of a disappointment (should be full again soon), the place was really well looked after, clean and very relaxing. Entertainment was very much what you made of it, although the hotel bar did have a bit of a wetherspoons feel about it! I recommend going to the 'Bedouin Tent' at the end of the beach after dinner in the evening and just chilling out with a sheesha pipe and some beers (not in the all inclusive but worth it for the peace and quiet). The food was fine, no complaints and no stomach problems, some of the salads look a bit recycled but there is a very wide choice and the meat is freshly cooked in front of you. At the end of the day, it would be a shame to think the whole spread was all thrown away at the end of each meal as it would be such a terrible waste. During what was probably the coldest week of the year there, the temps were easily in the twenties every day, although the breeze was a bit chilly in the evenings. The onsite dive centre is a definite plus (although it did practically double the price of our holiday... 'tis not the cheapest diving in the world), incredibly convenient and good staff, by no means a cowboy outfit. The house reef/bay is great for diving/snorkelling or just swimming, which is a big plus as a lot of hotels in this area have no beach equivalent as they just go straight onto reef. The waiting staff were good fun and helpful - although we did tip them a bit which probably helped - a little in Egypt goes a long way for these guys!!! All in all, definitely worth a visit and great value for money (we paid £290 each through Thomson).

just returned from brayka bay, great holiday hotel is immaculate all gardens and grounds really well kept with loads of staff, weather was about 20ish which was ok. kids had own room adjoining ours. beach is fantastic with own house reef you only have to walk out waist high and look under to see some great fish and coral, sea is very shallow warm and safe for kids or weak swimmers. food was ok with lots to choose from just check your chicken is cooked properly. go on hammatta boat trip as this is very good, all the staff on the boats are very knowledgeable and make you feel very safe, never did i think me and my 11yr old would be snorkelling in the middle of the sea but we did and it was great, the boat takes you out to uninhabited islands and gives you time to spend there. entertainment in the hotel is a bit poor as it is mostly aimed at italians but it was watchable, english are the minority in this hotel mainly italians/russians but we were made to feel very welcome, staff will do anything to please. all in all a great first visit to the red sea and will go back

04/12/2006 We have just returned The Brayka Bay Reef Resort at Marsa Alam, Egypt. I have to report that this was one of the best value for money holidays that we have ever experienced! From the time we stepped off the plane to the time we left, we were treated like royalty! The med hotels rep. took us trhough customs in double quick time and we were greeted with a welcoming drink in reception. The suitcases arrived at the room 2minutes after we did. All tht staff from gardeners to management were polite, friendly and courteous. Food was excellent! Neither of us were ill, and we tried just about all the food that was available during the week. Snorkelling around the 2 excellent house reefs was a complete joy. All in all for a quite, relaxing pre christmas break in the sun, in clean friendly surroundings we could not find any fault with this resort. Highly recommend all inclusive holiday! Rob & Yvonne Somerville

I stayed at the Brayka Bay in November, having also stayed there a week earlier in the year. Accomodation is good, rooms large, clean and airy. Facilities are good, tennis, pool. volleyball. (couldnt find the table-tennis table though) Snorkelling is very good, with reefs both sides of the bay with a large varity of marine life. In fact, saw turtles on both visits. food was good and varied, with always an outside barbeque as an extra choice. On both occasions though, myself and companion suffered mild stomach upsets for at least a day each. On the November visit we were very aware that the garden staff were spraying what smelt like raw sewage onto the grass and vegetation. This had a horrible stench. This was going on all day. with the high winds that you get at the Brayka Bay I am sure a lot of the spray was inhaled by guests and endd up on utensils and plates for those that chose to eat outside. I wonder if any other guests were aware of this?

I returned yesterday from here and whilst the washing machine works it's magic i'll tell you all about it. It's my fourth time to Egypt though the first time for my other Half and i went with a reasonable knowledge of what to expect from here and other sources. I'd arranged the accomodation and transfers independently and we were duly met at the airport and taken straight there, no que and no fuss. Our room was a beach front, worth the extra few pennies as some of the rooms certainly don't have a great view. The reception is very grand in appearance but along the same lines as most of the big hotels, the actual site of the hotel is however massive and covers the length of the bay. We soon realised that the Brits were in a minority here, not a bad thing as far as i'm concerned and in fact one of the Brit's there was an absolute disgrace who should be extremely ashamed about her behaviour and next time go to Magaluff where she would fit in nicely. The downside is however that virtually all the entertainment is in Italian, the team are all young Italians who will make the effort to speak English if they know you're there and are all nice guys. The dive centre is German owned and consists of virtually all German staff, my initial visit became a hand gesture discussion until the one Brit guide stepped in and we didn't look back from there. Naomi and Boris are the English speakers, the Egyptian guides also all speak good English but the Germans hardly any. We were lucky enough to dive with the Dugong at Abu Dabbab the second time, huge turtles and the odd reef shark at Abu Nawas. The house reef is also superb, the best i've seen anywher in the world. Whatever your rep tells you there are no Dolphins at the Dolphin House Reef this time of year, Boris in the Dive centre will tell you where to go to see things, there are Sharks at Elphinstone thought and they're big uns. Facilities wise. The mini golf course advertised doesn't exist, the billiards tables are pool tables on a slant with broken cues and there are no table tennis tables, also mentioned. We went for a relaxing spa one night, and just as we are about to step in, realise it's freezing cold (You're supposed to pay for this privilege). We left without charge. On the beach you're reasonably left alone, the man who try's to sell you the horse riding has a very pitiful looking small horse that he happily throws anyone, any size onto and a pair of unimpressed looking camels. The quad biking was possibly the highlight of our stay, the guide doesn't speak much English but you can have a lot of fun and it's extremely invigorating, well worth the money. The main restaurant serves a very good mix of food, bear in mind it's Egypt and you need to expect different hygene standards, i would suggest a course of actimel before you go out and expect a slight upset stomach, it's no surprise and i've had one every time i've been here. The beach bar (apparently there are two but we never found the other one) is masterminded by Ahmed Said who is a gem amongst the staff, they get packed at sundown time but close quite early. The pool bar closes remarkably early, they're reasonably efficient but struggle with lots of people. The main bar Tiffany's was a let down, there is clearly a shortage of bar staff here which means the managers do the tending and are clearly not up to the job, they sem to give the staff a very hard time here and as a result they're surly and miserable. The front desk were fine apart from one who repeatdly told me my credit card didn't work, he suggested i get a cab at my expense to get cash out. When i returned with a receipt from the dive centre to prove it did work the manager smoothed things over. In summary i wouldn't go back because there are lots of other places i want to visit but for a couply chilling holiday it's a good number here.

The resort was very good, and very clean. We mainly went for the diving, and chose the resort as Thompson were offering a cheap deal. We opted not to take Thompsons dive packages (which I think was with a dive company based at another resort), and instead go with Extra Divers, a German company that are located within the hotel. Extra divers were very good, although after Reef Tax, Guides and equipment hire they were quite expensive, but I think all companies are probably much the same. The guides are friendly and are good at spotting interesting sealife, which they point out along the way. The house reef is amazing, with a number of coral reef pinacles and walls. Within metres of the beach you are surrounded by all sorts of fish, triggers, puffers, lionfish, stonefish, angelfish, butterflyfish, pretty much anything you could expect to see. They also take you out in a Zodiac or minibus to various other divesites nearby, or arrange 1 day boat trips to a number locations including Elphinstone and Dolphinhouse. The resort itself is lovely, if a bit resorty, with themed buffets for all inclusive, and an Italian entertainment team, but we didn't really notice them much. In the evenings we took walks along the beach, (Other side of the bay from the dive centre), with torches, and if the tide was right the tops of the reefs came right upto the beach. Then you could see lots of moray eels, octopus, etc. Very good holiday.

Shortly after arrival and on the face of it, this seemed like a good and well run hotel with ok facilities. The 5 star Egyptian rating would not compare to international standards however and the 4T Thomson rating seems very ambitious. The first impression of the hotel was clean, spacious, light and airy with good pools and beaches. The rooms although simple were also clean and of a good size, slightly dated, but ok. The staff on the whole were a credit to themselves and the hotel being helpful, polite and friendly. The advertised ‘house reef’ was understated and we found this on the whole to be excellent. It has 2 sides, (north and south of the bay) so is in effect 2 house reefs, abundant with fish and coral. This is coupled with an excellent dive centre on site run by Extra Divers. This centre is a very professional set up with excellent customer service, good boats and guides. The only downside I could find was the amount of rubbish in the water on the south side of the bay during the last 2 days that had been washed in from out at sea. I have done over 100 dives and had never swum in that amount of discarded household waste (mostly plastic bags, bottles etc) – a shame as this is a potential gem. No efforts were made to clean it up whilst we were there (I did pick up what I could and filled by BCD pockets on my last 2 dives). My partner and I have run a catering business for many years in the UK that was one of the first to be awarded‘Gold’ for food hygiene and management from our Local Authority (Environmental Health Department). I have major issues with the way the food out there is prepared and served. In the main restaurant, breakfast, lunch and dinner are all served buffet style, with cold foods being left at room temperature and in the open (25 – 30 degrees C) for hours only to be brought out again at the next mealtime and left in the same conditions or ‘recycled’ into different dishes. I was also concerned to see how easily flies could land and feed on these foods and how many times I recognized the same foods over several meal times in different dishes. The same applied to hot foods but these were kept warm (but not hot for every dish served which is just as dangerous) and for the majority in containers with hinged lids. The consequences of this are obvious – it makes you ill which is entirely unacceptable. Unless you want to starve for a week or come home early as we did (but only by a day and via Hurghada at a cost of £250 as there are no other flights) you really have no choice but to put up with this as there are no local alternatives. We are now back in the UK and awaiting lab results on tests done but will be ok as we are fairly young, fit and otherwise healthy. If you have children, are elderly, pregnant or not strong enough to be ill in this way please avoid this hotel as high risk groups like this can be seriously effected by food-borne bacteria. Put simply it has the potential to kill you if not diagnosed and treated quickly and this makes me really cross as I would treat this just as seriously as any potential carbon monoxide poisoning for example. Perhaps even more so as food hygiene seems to be viewed as a bit of a joke by some tour operators and hotel owners. Amazingly, bad food is accepted by so many of their customers when they have presumably paid enough for food that should be both tasty and safe to eat. I think this may be down to the reasonably priced all inclusive packages offered by Brayka Bay. I believe the offer of free drinks has taken money from their catering budgets and the results are plain enough to see. Don’t be duped by this. The soft drinks are cheap syrup based drinks served in fairly tatty plastic beakers and old glass tumblers (if the syrup lines are not kept clean in these machines it is a source of poisoning as well) and the spirits of a very poor quality and not very nice to drink. The beer was bottled however but only given out in the same tumblers/glasses (1/4-1/2 a pint in size) to regulate supply and the wine was from wine boxes and ok but not great. Personally I would much rather pay for safe, tasty, good quality drinks, especially when on holiday and even more so if the offer of free drinks puts my health at risk. Last year we stayed at the Coraya Beach Hotel and found this to be a much better hotel in every respect and by far except for the house reef. To finish, in my opinion, the Brayka Bay Resort needs to downgrade their star rating or improve their food and drink offerings to be honest and fair to their clientele. Thomson needs to revise their hotel review procedures urgently by finding out for themselves first hand what the hotels they advertise are really like. They seem to rely too heavily on customer satisfaction surveys (a good way to gather and hold/sell information about their customers). The only brochure guide they offer is related to these surveys and subsequently can be very misleading but convenient as there is someone else to blame if not entirely accurate. They should be using experienced and qualified people to properly asses each of their establishments’ regularly and 1st hand. Tour operators are ultimately responsible for their customer’s safety and this should always take priority over profits.

Would recommend Brayka to anyone - 2 of us went - 1 week came back 11th October - not too busy so plenty of room for peace and quiet if desired. - get to the north end so the wind blows the noise of the piped music away to the south. THE GOOD: Fantastic location, not too far from airport. Great house reef - off beach snorkelling a must - saw the usual suspects + blue spotted stingrays and crocodile fish within the first 100m out - starts off shallow and gets deeeper both north and south sides but still so so clear! - just follow the reef round! Take boat trips from the dive centre (dive or snorkel) - We booked with Thomspon, thier trips were twice the price for the same! - Also the Dive trips from the centre have a max of 20 people at a time (only 16 on our trip out to see the dolphins). Food a plenty & pretty good overall - everything from basic fruit & cereals at breakfast, freshly prepared pasta & BBQ at dinner to the more exotic (don't ask me want it all was - but give it a try). Rooms: very clean & simple. We were fortunate to have a beach front over by the dive centre - not too far from the main building/resturants, but far enough away from the hussle and bussle of poolside. Didn't use the pool - Why when there's that beach and all that sea? THE BAD: we both suffered a little from 'Egyptian tummy' - don't bother with the Imodium - go see the the pharmacist (round the side of the Spa/Gym) £5 will sort you out! That piped music - Why is it always Celine Dion? AHHGH! THE UGLY: those camels! Go there - enjoy!

Just returned from a weeks all inclusive holiday at the Brayka Bay Hotel with my sister in law to be, this hotel was fantastic!! Hotel is in the middle of no where so dont be worried on the transfer from the airport when you dont see a person or building for miles! We were made to feel so welcome from the moment we arrived with drinks laid out in the hotel lobbey, we were then shown to our ground floor room (2015) which was a good size and spotless, concierge arrived with our luggage about 20mins later. Room had air con, fridge (which the hotel will stock on request), powerful shower, balcony. Beds are hard but were no problem after a couple of nights. There is one main restaurant which serves all meals buffet style, in the morning there are freshly made omlettes and pancakes cooked to order along with all the other usual hot and cold items. Lunch is a basic buffett with pasta cooked to order. Evening meals are also buffet style but with a different theme each evening, there was always a fish or meat item that was cooked freshly on the BBQ outside every night.. The food was good but was not always hot, we were very careful not to have ice or anything that could have been washed in tap water and we still managed to get upset tummies for two of the days - this did clear up quickly with immodium. Food was repetitive but then when you are catering for that many people its what you expect. There are also two restaurants on site which, if you are all inclusive are subsidised. Only problem is that to recieve your discount you need to book one day in advance. Food at both is great and extremely cheap with the discount. Two course meal for two cost around £5. Swimming Pool is big and clean (could do with re-tiling) with a swim up bar. Beach is very clean and snorkelling is a must! I can only describe it as like being in a huge tropical fish tank. We hired the masks and snorkels from the dive center, cost about £12 each but were good sets and well worth it. Even if you do not like swimming/snorkelling in the sea, the water around the coral is shallow enough to stand in and see plenty of beautiful fish. The other good thing about this hotel is that because the majority of people who stay dive (and are therefore out for most of the day ) you never have a problem getting a sunlouger by the pool or on the beach. Everyone did seem to go to bed early though. We ventured in to the hotel nightclub one night and i think we were the only guests, the rest (about 8) were hotel staff. Evening entertainment was not great, mainly tailored for the itallians. The hotels spa treatments were great, with so much choice. We had facials, pedicures, manicures and massages all at a fraction of the price we would have paid at home. They also have a sauna and steam room. All staff were fantastic and could not do enough for you, make the time to speak to them and you will be so well looked after. House keeping were great, even if they did come round at 8am! although this was no problem, house keeping became our alarm call for the whole holiday and would always come back 20mins later when asked. We were treated to petals and sculptures made from towells on our beds everyday! We travelled with Thomson who offered plenty of interesting trips, but do have to admit that we did none of them!! We loved the pool and the snorkelling too much to go anywhere! You could easily spend a week in this hotel, all inclusive without being bored and not spend a single penny! Our rep Wael was great, nothing was too much trouble for him. A credit to Thomson!!! Last word, go to Egypt and stay at this hotel if you want a relaxing beach holiday, this resort is too far out (unless you dont mind a 12hour round coach trip in one day!!) to visit the Valley of the Kings or the Pyramids - Thomson does offer trips to both but we felt it was too much in just one week. Dont be put off about Egypt, it would not have been a destination i would even have considered (my holiday buddy booked it!!) but it was fantastic and i will be deffinately be going back to this resort and this hotel! Tips: Dont take a beach towel, hair dryer or iron - the hotel provides all of these Keep hold of small notes for tips Be prepared to haggle in the hotel shops Noisy Fridge - Unplug at night, we did and didnt have to mop up in the morning Dont forget the Immodium Have a great time, Louise & Gemma

Having heavily researched the internet, and reading every review about the hotel, we felt we must give back our opinions of this hotel. Starting from the beginning we flew with Astraeus (who we'd never heard of) but what a very good airline. Good food and very good legroom, as i'm 6ft 4. We didn't pay for extra legroom seats and very glad we didn't as the standard seats offered plenty of room. On arriving at the hotel check in was swift, and escorted to our room with our luggage turning up about 15 mins later. HOTEL: The hotel is in the middle of nowhere !! There is nothing outside of this hotel. No shops, no nothing just desert. BUT if you are looking for a chill-out holiday, this is the place to go. Our room was very large, very clean, fridge, tv etc etc etc and daily cleaned. The hotel grounds are beautiful, well kept, lots of lawned areas, palm trees and paved walkways around the whole of the complex.Very few children were there, there is not a lot for them to do, if they wanted more than just the sea i wouldn't really recommend it for children. The hotel/bar staff were always very friendly and could never do enough for you FOOD: We were all inclusive and would strongly recommend upgrading to this if you are only half board. The food was very good with a wide variety at each mealtime, fish/beef/chicken etc cooked on a bar b q with a wide selection of potatoes/pasta/veg/salad.We were not ill at all and only heard of 1 person who was slightly ill for a day.All ice and washing of food is done with bottled water. ENTERTAINMENT: As the hotel is in the middle of nowhere the entertainment is all based within it, the Italian Entertainment team put on a number of daily activities, beach gym/aqua aerobics etc etc with a daily evening show in the amphitheatre. STUFF TO DO: Other than sunbathing you can snorkel in the fantastic bay that the hotel is built around, with some of the best corals and fish life i have ever experienced. There is a dive school on site,offering a good mix of house reef and boat dives. As per the previous review both Boris and Naomi were very helpful and always willing to chat/pass the time of day. At the moment you can't go and see the Dugong in Abu Dabab as there is financial wrangling going on with the hotels/dive boats wanting to attend etc etc but this should be sorted fairly soon. However, you can see Ali in the hotel lobby and he will take you there by taxi, snorkel with you and show you the Dugong/turtles/barracuda etc and even dive down for you to take a close up picture with your camera. Take the time to walk to the far end of the bay on the south side (at night) and sit on the bench and just take in the view of the stars and listen to the sea lapping away-HEAVEN We spent two weeks here and were not bored once. We loved it. If you want a chill out/relaxing holiday then this is definately the place to go. If you want clubs/bars/restaurants then look for a different resort as quiet is the trend across all of Marsa Alam. Would we go back-Definately !! We are looking at booking again and we've only been back 2 days. We found no need for bug spray, we weren't bitten at all and didn't hear of anybody else getting bitten. We could go on for pages as to how much we thorougly enjoyed this hotel but i'm sure you've got the drift of it by now. All in all a fantastic place and can't wait to go back