Bel Air Azur Resort

The Bel Air Azur Resort is on the El Corniche Road, inside the urban fabric of Hurghada: three kilometres from the centre, seven from the international airport, five metres above sea level. It is the district of the city's older hotels, where the Azur group has three other houses facing the same stretch of coast, and that explains a detail guests often mention: the beach is served by a walkway out to the sea and by a small marina, and the reef in front is one of the few left intact this close to the built-up area.

The property counts 215 rooms and suites, all of them large, from 42 to 74 square metres, with a balcony or terrace facing the central pool, satellite television, a minibar and a kettle for tea and coffee. The style is the classic one of Egyptian resorts of the nineties, renovated: arches, columns, warm colours. The formula is all inclusive, with the main restaurant, the poolside one, the Bordiehns for candlelit dinner and six bars spread between the lobby, the pool, the marina and the beach.

On age the property is clear, and there is no need to lean on the portal: the Azur group's booking system records the house as Bel Air Azur Resort (Adult Only +18), and the same wording appears in the address of the direct booking page. The threshold is therefore 18, it coincides with the one the portal gives for check-in, and it applies across the whole property: the beach, the pool, the restaurants and the wellness area are an adults-only environment, with no mixed areas.

There is a single pool, of fresh water, at the centre of the complex, and the website states that it is heated in winter: it is the fact that counts between December and February, when on the Red Sea the north wind cools standing water. The portal describes it as a set of freshwater basins totalling eight hundred square metres. No indoor pool is on record. The beach is private, with loungers and parasols.

The spa is paid for and includes a sauna and steam baths, massages and a wide beauty offering, from face and body treatments to manicures and hairdressing; the portal also confirms the steam bath. The rule on swimwear in the sauna is declared by no source, as happens almost everywhere on the Red Sea: it has to be asked at reception. The gym, by contrast, is included in the stay, together with the billiard room and the four squash courts; the two tennis courts are paid for and are played in the evening, when the temperature drops.

Out of the water there are diving, snorkelling, windsurfing, table tennis, darts, aerobics, daytime entertainment, shows and live music in the evening. The private parking is free, the wifi is free, reception is open twenty-four hours and there are a cash machine, a souvenir boutique, a beauty salon, a barber, a laundry service, a doctor on call and a paid airport transfer. Pets are not allowed.