Marsa Alam, south Egypt - Far from a big town, but enough to do, with a good restaurant, swimming pools and high service. Scuba Diving, snorkling? This is the place!

I’ve been to Egypt many times, but I’ve never experienced such a high level of cleanness of the rooms and pools (cleaned many times during the day), so much attentive and polite staff (without requiring any tip - but you cheerfully give them coz they afford it).
The hotel is close to the airport, which is good (Marsa Alam as village is about one hour drive from airport)
The room was big enough and extremely clean. When we had any problem, the staff came immediately to repair it! (also not very usual for Arabic countries) We had a sea view for a small charge but it was worth it ...sitting in the evening on our balcony, watching stars above the sea - simply great.
Food is very good, everyone can find something for himself and never leaves hungry. Deserts are amazing and almost every day there is an outside grill with fish or pork served by the chef. Waiters are very observant and fast, always ready to bring you what you want.
The beach is clean, every evening being cleaned and swept. You can find enough beds and umbrellas. The entrance to the sea is very shallow and it is not possible to walk in to dept for swimming - you must use a jetty (800m) to get to the beginning of the reef full of nice fish. Sometimes waves are high, but not often and snorkeling is very enjoyable. There is a guard for a whole day which makes you feel safe. In the shallow water you can see flatfish, many kinds of shells, starfish and even octopus (in the morning)
We also went for trips with local diving centre on the beach - our first and recommended trip to Sharm el Luli was a disaster. Well, yes, the environment was nice, white smooth sand, turquoise sea.. but the reef was very weak...it took ages to get there from Tulip (almost 2 hours) and there was nothing to do and nothing were to hide in a shade, you had to be for almost 4 hours on a direct sun...and it was expensive. After we complaint about this, the staff offered us a discount for another trips which we used - Sea Scope was fantastic, it sails away from Port Ghalib, which is about 20 minutes from Tulip. We saw many nice coral reefs, various fish and many sea turtles. We didn’t see dugongs, but when you are lucky, you might see them. Another trip was to Abu Dabab - focused on snorkeling. Also very great, guided and we saw many nice fish and turtles again. It’s wonderful to swim with them.
We took a taxi to a city El Quseir (about 1 hour drive - 40 euro) the driver showed us a city, very old mosque, nice church and we had a nice tea time on the shore.
The ONLY problem about this hotel we had was the tennis court. It was a clay court and in March it was in very bad condition - it was impossible to play, so we took our equipment for nothing (staff almost didn’t know they have a tennis court). Unfortunately Internet is for charge and works only in the lobby.
All in all, this hotel is really worth to visit and this year in March we are coming back!

With a bunch of divers we again went to Marsa Alam the third week of october. Only two days before start we were informed that the original hotel couldn't open doors: problems with electrical power was the reason they gave us. (We saw the hotel: it was still in the construction phase and it will take several months before clients can be welcomed). Everything had to be changed in a hurry and we choose Tulip Resort with the Orca Diving Base. We knew Orca from earlier diving trips ( twice to Dahab ) and its quality. The hotel was unknown to us but we took the risk: as a diver you don't always want a five-star-plus hotel....
As a matter of fact, we were impressed. Even arriving too late we still got something to eat. The reception and staff immediately started to help us in a most friendly and attentive way: it was the beginning of a week never to be forgotten. Diving was sometimes rather difficult even for people with 1500+ dives: current could be very strong and unexpected.
Arriving back at the hotel was arriving in an oasis. The calm, friendly and so helpful staff always were there.
Quality of food was very good: an immense choice and range. If you left table hungry, it was your own fault. There was so much, one could not taste everything. All kinds of food. One day they prepared mexican, another they it was italian, and so on. An immense choice. Desserts and sweets you hardly can immagine. Simply too much.
Rooms were clean, spacious and equiped with flatscreens. Who wants to see fishes on TV if one can see them in reality ? Every morning the rooms got cleaned.
The pools were cleaned every evening after closing time, and even the walls got a good scrubbing. Not the easiest job on earth, I have the experience at home with my own pool.
Cleanliness surely is considered to be at a very high standard and the staff acts accordingly.
During our stay we saw the new part of the hotel being prepared: new lawns, pools, palmtrees.... I suppose opening will be in just a few days.
I surely would recommend this hotel, to families, with children, or even to divers. Everybody can find there something he likes: the more sportminded, the one in need of some rest, a family with children...
Afraid of water: walk on the jetty ( about 600 m in length ) and look into the water: you always can see fishes. The jetty ends at the drop-off of the cliff where one can enjoy the beautifulness of the underwaterreefs: a marvel. A very nice place for the daring-one to snorkel.
From the jetty-head the poetic one can admire the colourfull sky in late afternoon when the sun sets behind the hotel in the desert.
It is quiet boring to mension "excellent" as the rating for service, value, cleanliness..., but that is my opinion and after about twenty journeys in Egypt (ranging from 1 week to 5 weeks) I can consider myself as more experienced, and believe me, I have seen other hotels.
The hotel, coloured in vivid yellow and red, can surely be recommended. I hope to be back there one day with my family or with other divers. Inch'allah.

We spent the second week of October 2011 at the Tulip Resort. Great. It was certainly a good and relaxing diving holiday.
The location of the hotel is such that, besides going diving, there’s not much reason to leave the hotel grounds. Lots of sand around and a few other hotels (in different states of readiness). The reception was very friendly. Lots of good Egyptian humor. And all personnel throughout the week was always very friendly and helpful. Almost all spoke different languages so never a real problem of understanding each other.
The rooms are in a bunch of separate buildings nicely spread out over the grounds. Some have indeed sea-view but that’s only sideways so not too exiting. But who’s sitting on their balcony anyway? The room was spacious and in good condition. Staff turned the two single beds into a double with one mattress without any problem. All appliances (tv, aircon, lights etc.) worked well. The room was cleaned and the bed made everyday. The bathroom looked a little bit used, repaired here and there and could have been a bit cleaner but nothing major. There was the well-known sign on the wall saying we would only get new towels if we dropped the old towels on the floor but even though we hung them up we still got new ones every day (doesn’t really do anything for the environment; small minus point there).
The pools were in good condition and were cleaned every evening. Enough loungers and pool towels all day both around the pool and on the beach. The beach is small and the water until the coral reef is quite shallow, no real swimming directly from the beach. There’s a quite long jetty (~800m) from the beach over the coral reef. Do not forget anything in your hotel room because it takes a while to walk up and down. Great snorkeling at the end of the jetty, stunning underwater world but with the frequent strong winds there can be a bit of waves.
The restaurant is good. For one week certainly without too much repetition. Although they could make a bit more vegetarian food (‘only bit of meat’ doesn’t make it vegetarian). The presentation of the food was fabulous. The dessert buffet and the salad bar were just too good. Enough tables inside and outside and very good service. The ‘juice’ at the bar was more lemonade but watered down it was quite okay to drink. Also the wine went down very well. No hangovers from the local liquors either. There was nearly every evening something called ‘live entertainment’ during diner. The Derwish dancers were awesome but the regular singer could have stayed at home. Also there were regular shows in the hotel’s open air theatre but we didn’t see any so we can’t tell if they were any good.
The Orca dive centre which is on the premises is also very good. Diving is possible from the jetty on the house reef but also on a large number of places north and south of the hotel, easily accessible with the dive centre minibus or zodiac. They also organize diving and snorkeling trips further away.
Besides diving, snorkeling and swimming there’s a fitness room (looked okay through the window), a pool room, a tennis court and a spa. But all is mainly about diving and snorkeling. So if you don’t dive or snorkel, you may want to bring a book or two.