Full of Italians. Food disgusting. Clean rooms nice weather but caters solely for Italian guests. English beware. This hotel has rave reviews but I cannot for the life of me think why?

I stayed at the Badawia resort with a good friend of mine for a week. The first impression of the hotel was good - everything looked clean, the staff were friendly, albeit a bit hard to understand (they prefer to speak Italian, rather than English). No wonder either, we were the only 4 Dutch guests, the rest were ALL Italian.

Rooms were clean and large enough, but the shower left something to desire.

The location of the resort is perfect if your main purpose is snorkeling/diving - the house reef is beautiful and easily accessible using the jetty. A great variety of fish can be found, as well as sea turtles (we spotted 3 of them!). Beware of the big yellow triggerfish though, they can be a bit mean, and are quite common to the Marsa Alam reefs.

The all-inclusive deal is a bit strange though - we went with the "hard" all inclusive deal, which includes alcoholic beverages, but not at every bar in the resort. Also had to pay for bottles of water, and orange juice. Tipping the barman helps, though! ;)

Throughout the day and night, the Italian animation team tries to keep the Italians busy in a rather noisy way - loud music, aerobics, and a lot of Italian talking/singing. Undoubtedly great fun when you understand Italian, but quite annoying when you don't!

Food was decent, but a bit boring after 7 days - best to stay away from the salads in Egypt too, since they are usually washed in tap-water, which is not very agreeable to European stomachs (as I painfully found out).

The shops in front of the resort pack a variety of Egyptian trinkets, and the owners of the shops will absolutely try everything to make you buy something - if you're in a hurry to get somewhere, avoid the shops, but if you're looking to chat/smoke waterpipe/drink tea, those shops can be quite amusing.

All in all, the Badawia resort is an excellent choice for Italians, and a good choice for everybody else, maybe doing an Italian language course before going there helps the experience a bit.

I stayed 5 days in Badawia, Overall the resort is like a paradise and excellent place for relaxation. I liked the style of the resort, it gave me impression that I am living in Bedouin village. Rooms are big enough & clean as well, but bathroom facilities need to be improved. Stuff were very helpful & special thanks for Silvana the Guest Relation that helped us in choosing our journeys.

If you like to have some massage, go to the health club & for women, ask for Amira. She’s a talented girl in such massage.
Don’t forgot to visit Port Ghaleb & take the Submarines trip.

We have just returned from the Badawia after a two week stay. The hotel and staff were brilliant - maybe not 4 star by English standards but perfect for a "get away from it all holiday!" The hotel is rustic and has a feel of the natural Bedouin life style. The pods are charming and the layout is compact and beautifully maintained. We were apprehensive before we went as we had not read many good reports but we could find little fault with any of it. The hotel is situated on the beach and the pool and sun lounging area is large and well maintained. There are plenty of sun loungers on three different areas of the beach and around the pool. The pool is large and has a pool bar open from 10.00-10.00 every day.
The rooms are large, clean and very well looked after, have a fridge and small free safe. Towel sculptures appeared on the beds everyday!.
The food is basic but there is plenty of it, can be a bit repetitive over a fortnight but was of good quality.
The hotel is situated between the beach and the desert and there is nothing else around. The nearest hotel is 2km away and Marsa Alam is 42km south. The town is a building site and did not warrant more than a quick visit! it will no doubt be the new Hurgharda in 10 years time so enjoy the peace and quiet now!.
We were the only English family in the hotel for the fortnight and the Egyptian staff treated us very well. They are not keen on the Russians - who do not treat the staff with much respect, and they were thrilled to practice their English on us.
The animation team put on an activities programme every day
( water aerobics, stretching, belly dancing, latino dance classes, volley ball etc) and they are very friendly and keen for all to join in. They do however respect your wishes to do nothing and lounge around all day if that is what you want! They are a lovely group and are happy to sit and chat about life and the universe in their broken English
The reception staff are helpful, some have better understanding of English than others but they all went out of their way to provide us with whatever we wanted. There is internet access available at a small fee. There are a few shops on site selling the usual Egyptian gifts and souvenirs, a chemist, and facilities for mailing postcards. There is a Clinic on site with an English speaking doctor there 24 hours a day.
All inclusive deals are good - 3 meals a day with all you can eat and drink. The pool bar and lobby bar are open all day and serve local spirits, beers and soft drinks. Water is available from the water fountains in both these bars. Tea and coffee is also free, we did however take our own Nescafe as we have experienced Egyptian coffee before!
The majority of guests were Eastern European and many were there simply for the diving experiences around Marsa Alam. The dive school 3WILL is well run, professional and most of the staff spoke very good English. There are several dive offers including courses, boat and shore dives. The dives can be costly if you need to hire equipment and most of them include extras for access to private beaches or nature reserves. We did a shore dive and a boat dive and the corals were amazing. it was however very windy while we were there and the sea was extremely rough so the boat trip was challenging.
The beach was a little disappointing in that the sea had a very strong current and the jetty access across the corals was unfinished. Access into the "lagoon" was over sand and corals - beware of the stonefish!
We also took a trip into the desert on quad bikes and watched the sun setting. Great fun although sadly the desert is littered with rubbish which rather spoils the view!
Nearest ATM is at The Tulip Resort 2km up the road and if you need money for diving the boss is happy to run you up there free of charge! Best to have Egyptian pounds or Euros in cash. Most prices in the hotel, dive school and shops were given in Euros but they would take Egyptian pounds or US dollars!
Although we did not visit it ourselves we heard on the flight back that Port Ghalib is well worth seeing - how the other half live. Good restaurants and amazing layout and the only place to go if you have had enough of the sun lounger!
Perfect for a lazy, sun worshipping break from the UK.