Amphoras Aqua

The Amphoras Aqua is on the cliff of Om El Seid, the promontory that in Sharm el Sheikh carries the name Hadaba, in Salah Taher Street, some forty metres above sea level, with the Red Sea in front and the mountains of Sinai behind. It is the third house of the Amphoras group after the Amphoras Beach and the Amphoras Blu, and until recently it was called Shores Golden: under that name it still appears in some portal addresses and in the names of the official photographs.

The difference from its sister houses is that here the beach is not below the hotel. The Aqua uses the private beach of the Amphoras Blu, 600 metres away, and a free shuttle runs between the two addresses at regular intervals. Anyone who wants to wake up and find themselves in the water should know that before booking; anyone who spends the day in the pool, on the other hand, has more basins here than elsewhere.

Pools, rooms and the table

There are two pools. The main one measures 1100 square metres, is designed with a beach effect with one part cut into artificial rock, has a heated section, a heated whirlpool zone, a shelf for sunbathing while staying in the water and a bar you reach by swimming. The second is 200 square metres, again with a beach effect, and is flanked by a water slide. Around them are gardens dense with palms.

There are 250 rooms, furnished in dark oak and warm tones, with a marble bathroom and a private terrace facing the garden or the pools. The two declared categories are Standard Garden View and Standard Pool View; the fittings include a safe, a television, a minibar and air conditioning, and the house provides accessible rooms and both smoking and non-smoking rooms.

Meals are at the main restaurant, as a buffet, with breakfast from 7 to 10, lunch from 12.30 to 14.30 and dinner from 18.30 to 21, and at the Alexandrina, which faces the main pool; there is then the pool bar for snacks. The formula is all inclusive. Among the pastimes there are volleyball, billiards, table tennis, evening shows, a gallery of shops, a wellness centre with massages and a fitness room. Neither a sauna nor a steam bath is on record, and consequently there is no published rule on swimwear.

The minimum age, and a contradiction

The booking portal is precise and writes that young people aged 14 and over are welcome: that is the threshold this entry reports. The official website presents the house as a refuge for adults alone and calls it an Adults Friendly Resort, but publishes no figure, so it does not contradict the portal: it simply leaves it unconfirmed. One jarring note in the website's list of services should be flagged, though, where cots and high chairs for babies appear together with extra beds. It is text the group uses for its sister hotels that are open to families too, and it clashes with the formula declared at the top of the page. Anyone who wants the certainty of not finding small children, or anyone travelling with a fourteen-year-old, should have the rule confirmed in writing at the time of booking.

Among the services there are free wifi in all areas, a reception open twenty-four hours, room service, multilingual staff, free parking, a souvenir shop, a hairdresser, car hire and paid laundry. It suits anyone looking for the all-inclusive formula at a modest price who spends the holiday by the pool. It suits less anyone who wants the sea a step away or a many-sided spa.