Ali Baba Safaga Hotel

The diving pier is close by, and you can kite nearby with kitelocals_egypt or rent a quad for a desert trip. The hotel is good value: rooms are basic but very clean, and housekeeping even folds your clothes. Breakfast is good, with an omelette every day, and the restaurant may be the best in the area. Service was very good too. I’d book breakfast and dinner. And don’t forget the house cat.

I tried the first-floor veranda restaurant for dinner and was pleasantly surprised by the food and prices. My half-kilo chicken kebab order came with four sticks in total, which seemed like extra. The tomato soup and baba ganouj were tasty too. It’s a small place, and I left very happy with it.

After a long trip, I was met with a really bad attitude from the receptionist. They wanted payment upfront, but I didn’t have cash on me, and the manager was called as if I might leave without paying. When I asked for the internet password, I was told to wait a few hours. It felt like payment had to happen right away while the service might come later. There are better places to book.

A small, ordinary cafe with salads, soups, grilled and fried fish, chicken and beef, plus pasta and pizza. The service is good, it’s clean, and the karkade tea is nice. On the downside, the food wasn’t boiled, and the WiFi was slow, only 0.3 Mbps.