Despite being ardent travellers for many years, my wife and I had never been to Egypt put off by all the negative reviews of the place: third world street hassle, unsafe, unclean etc - so it was after a great deal of research and a little against our better judgment that we booked a week's stay with Thomas Cook at the Arena Inn, El Gouna.

El Gouna - The Resort

To give an honest appraisal, one must first be aware that there are two very different sides to Egypt. El Gouna is a completely man made resort made up of clean, perfect buildings, safe walking streets, a lack of street urchins, thieves and dirty people. It is a resort with a superb, safe, family friendly atmosphere, a fair smattering of good restaurants, a good selection of shops and some good quality hotels. Transportation around El Gouna is remarkably cheap with a plethora of Tuk Tuks, little three wheeler Piaggio style taxis, that will take you anywhere in the resort for a set fee of LE10, that's just £1.20. There are no rip offs, the place has a warm summer evening Mediterranean feel and a great vibe which will make you instantly fall in love with Egypt, especially Tamr Henna Square where there is almost nightly entertainment.

The Arena Inn, El Gouna

According to the hotel management, 2011 is the last year that the hotel will be taking bookings from the two major UK tour operators. The reason for this is that the hotel guests now comprise mostly of Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians. They will, I believe, be taking bookings via Discover Egypt whose prices are much higher than Thomas Cook and Thomson. So, if your idea of a holiday is to mix only with British people, forget this hotel.

The Arena Inn itself was a great little find. In all honesty it is a little worn at the edges but has a dedicated and amazing staff who are all so very friendly and willing to give of their time to ensure your total holiday satisfaction. The pool has its own dedicated towelman who does a two card shuffle with your beach towel cards to entertain you. There are two pool volleyball nets and a great view from the main sunbathing area directly over the Red Sea lagoon. Every hotel pool has its pest though and the Arena Inn's came in the form of Ibrahim, a very friendly and affable chap but an overly ubiquitous visitor to your sunbed trying to sell dolphin trips and other various excursions to tourists. A polite and firm 'No' should be all it takes, but you will still see Ibrahim plying his trade weaving in and out of the pool area throughout the day. He is a nice young man, a lot of fun, but is an acquired taste when you're trying to peacefully soak up the sun or get stuck into a book. Much better and cheaper tours can be had elsewhere via your tour operator or from the nearby tourist info bureau.

The hotel has its own spa and offers a range of treatments carried out by both Thai and Egyptian girls. We had several done by the Egyptians and can only applaud the professional and relaxing manner in which they performed their skills. It was deeply relaxing and one good tip is to barter with the spa manager for a discount or, if you're having more than one treatment, a bulk discount.

The hotel restaurant serves a great selection of breakfasts (there is a resident eggman outside who makes eggs, omelettes and pancakes to order), but there is naturally no bacon because it is a Muslim country. I found this strange as every Turkish hotel I've been to (all still Muslin run) offer bacon. However, the quality of the breakfast foods was generally very good and the staff were amazing headed by head waiter Romany - but with such a varied choice of restaurants so close at hand in the Downtown area (literally two minutes walk away), a better and more varied lunch and evening dining experience can be had elsewhere. If you love Egyptian food, then try Abou El Cid, fantastic atmosphere and a varied menu of authentic local dishes. They are a little slow on service but it's well worth it as all the Egyptians eat there. If you like fine dining, "Upstairs" is a great restaurant (also in Downtown) which offers surf and turf as well as the local delicacy Roast Camel in chocolate sauce!

The rooms at the Arena Inn are smallish but perfectly adequate as a base with working aircon and showers and a wonderful cleaner who, if you befriend him, will make the most amazing animal shapes out of your towels, creating scenes on your bed from out of fresh bouganvillia flowers, remote controls and plant leaves. He made our rooms spectacular each day and we tipped him accordingly.

The Arena Inn has its own little section of beach on the Red Sea lagoon with windbreaks, beds and parasols made of wicker which look lovely. Right on top of the sea water, they look beautiful but beware, the soft sand mud bank is very slippery. One woman did not heed the advice given whilst we were there and broke her ankle on the first day of her holiday!

While there are no doubt better, newer, more modern hotels in El Gouna, The Arena Inn for us provided the perfect base for a chilled out holiday and its location was absolutely perfect. If you don't mind keeping yourself to yourself or mixing with our continental friends from Germany, you'll love it. If you prefer only Brits for company, then look elsewhere. You will be outnumbered heavily by our continental neighbours!

Excursions - Hurghada and Luxor

Of the two places we ventured outside El Gouna, Luxor and Hurghada, the difference to our lovely safe resort could not be more stark. The atmosphere, particularly around the main tourist traps within Luxor, the Karnak Temples and Valley of the Kings, was threatening, filthy, poverty stricken and dangerous. Everyone from children to the elderly had their hands out expecting tips just for being there and even the tomb guards in the Valle Of The Kings were corrupt, allowing tourist to take photos (against the strict policy of the site) but then threatening to take your camera/phone away and/or call the police and put you in prison if you didn't hand over cash to keep them quiet! Everywhere you moved, hawkers would be in your face hassling you to buy cheap tourist tat, not giving up when politely told La Choukran! (no thank you). It was incessant, relentless and more tiring than the heat. If you so much as ventured near a shop or made eye contact with a vendor, they would presume you wanted to buy and you would be subjected to the most horrendous pressure which was, for every Brit I met, so off-putting. One day, they may learn that if they allow tourists to browse, they might sell a lot more!

The Nile in Luxor, whilst beautiful at sunset, was a filthy hovel in the side streets along its banks near to where our tour group were taken by the papyrus factory, with young kids trying to get on the coach and steal tourists' belongings whilst we were in the factory. Everywhere around looked very third world, dangerous and seedy - and it was!

Hurghada on the other hand is one big building site with tens of thousands of unbuilt and semi-built hotels and apartment blocks and very little to do save for water sports and scuba diving. Again, it is very dirty (for some, that can be a rustic charm in itself) but unless you like all inclusive holidays where staying within the confines of your accommodation is all you have to do, be aware of the pitfalls of venturing into the maze of streets unless you're very confident, bold and open-minded.

Conclusions

El Gouna is a world away from the real Egypt that we experienced outside. Classy, clean, sophisticated, peaceful, tranquil even and a wonderful experience which we would return to again. As for the rest of it, ancient relics aside which were breathtaking, you can keep Egypt. For those who love water sports, all inclusive holidays and can accept the culture of poverty and how it makes the locals react to tourists, it is the perfect holiday destination, one being rapidly dominated by the aggressive Russian tourist who are literally everywhere. For us though, it was one of those holiday destinations on our list to visit - our Marmite moment. We're glad we did it and ticked it off but won't be returning any time soon. If we do, it would only be to El Gouna and the lovely Arena Inn with its amazing staff. That hotel we both heartily recommend.