In an extended travel feature for the weekend, Larry and family take a short hop from Cairo to the shores of the Red Sea, to a place he spotted from the platform of the London Underground on a gloomy winter’s day, beguilingly branded Egypt’s ‘Best Kept Secret’…
About 30km south of Hurghada, Sharm’s burgeoning competitor, through flat desert flanked by the distant Red Sea mountains on one side, and glimpses of the Red Sea itself on the other, sits Somabay. Tantalising billboards count down the kilometres as you approach; images of lush fairways, golden sunsets and colourful reef dives contrasting against the shimmering, almost luminescent sand. Amid this arid, barren landscape, they are a beacon to a promised land, a modern apocrypha, bidding pilgrims of a different sort to a contemporary arcadia.
As you enter, the first thing of note is quite how big Somabay is. The resort map is deceptively compact. This is not a place where hotels sit on top of each other, there are roads between properties and facilities, and a ‘limousine’ service can be ordered (as well as a resort shuttle) to take you between places – definitely worth noting if you’re on an itinerary (as I found on my first appointment to get me to a kite-surfing lesson).
Five hotels make up the resort, and all were fully booked during our stay – though you wouldn’t think it, as the place seems to absorb people – testament to Somabay’s enduring popularity. We opted for The Sheraton, modelled on the great temple at Karnak – complete with rams lining the driveway – and you get the sense of this splendour as you arrive. The huge lobby opens out onto the resort pool, past a cascading pyramid fountain and decked out by other pharaonic motifs from Luxor.
Rooms and villas are spread throughout well-tended gardens, each rendered in right angles with shaded wooden pergolas. Inside, fittings are modest but comfortable and sympathetic to how you might perceive a contemporary Egyptian residence. In fact, if you were going to create a beach resort in a desert setting, this is how you might do it. The design feels a little dated and there are, admittedly, areas that need a facelift (it’s 20 years old, after all), but there’s an effortless, unfussiness to it – and you can’t fault the hospitality. Within hours, we felt settled, there was plenty to explore and entertain, not to mention the pool providing hours of amusement for our 9-year-old.
So, about that kite surfing. 7Bft (as in 7 on the Beaufort Scale) ranks in the top 3 of kite surfing destinations in the world. From its aspect, you can see why. It’s as if this little bay were designed especially; it benefits from a shallow shoreline, a secluded beginners’ area and then wider ‘surfing’ stretch across the rest of the bay, overlooking the mountains in the distance. Crucially, it also benefits from some 300+ windy days each year from a solid off-shore.
Except I was there on one of the other 65. But, in fact, it proved a welcome respite from our little nest of vipers. The Kite Hut has the atmosphere of a Hawaiian surf shack, complete with cafe, roof terrace and chill-out sofas. People sipped beers and lattes in glasses, played beach volleyball, and swapped stories of base-jumping and skydiving and other adrenaline-fuelled activities. They seemed completely chilled out, like a Battle of Britain squadron waiting for the order to scramble at the first puff of wind. As much as I fancied the chance to kick back, I decided a date with my daughter, howling with excitement on the banana boat, a better prospect, so took the shuttle back and hit the beach. My kite-surfing days may have to wait.
Beyond the watersports, there’s a more leisurely draw to Somabay, too: golf. The course here is designed by golfing legend, Gary Player, who’s created a number of the world’s leading courses. He describes in his own words that Somabay’s links course is akin to Pebble Beach, and there are some unique features; when you get on to holes 4, 5 and 6, you’re practically overhanging the coral. It’s one to tick off for any golf enthusiast.
While my enthusiasm knows no bounds, my golfing skills are about as finely tuned as a flat piano. A slice I can’t correct turns every game into a battle of wills – against my own frustration. So, would I be slamming ball after ball into that aforementioned coral? Scaring the fish?
As it turned out, while the little one enjoyed the joys of the on-site waterpark, I spent a rather enjoyable afternoon through the front nine – giving myself a sporting chance, admittedly. The setting is exemplary, those seafront holes are stunning, and this being set in the desert there’s the occasional tee that feels like one big bunker. My scorecard may have read more like a lottery ticket, not to mention the sport of chasing down a pair of short-tempered Germans, punctuated by bursts of British politesse; “Fore! Frightfully sorry, old boy. Mea culpa, mea culpa.”
Fortunately, there was one activity we were all over. And, again, one that Somabay draws its guests from globally: diving and snorkelling.
And here, after countless destinations with dive sites and never having been, I was absolutely delighted to have had my inaugural dive. Not for me a swimming pool in Pimlico, or a disused quarry in Cornwall. No, I can say I had my first at one of the best-preserved reefs in the world. I’d previously dismissed diving due to the rigours of a PADI course, but here was a ‘discovery dive’, and they’re so equipped as to have a sheltered lagoon to go through drills before venturing onto the house reef. But pedestrian this most certainly is not.
It’s as if the fish take you seriously. Snorkelling on the surface, they scatter, but here, 10 metres down, you’re among them, they’re indifferent to you, and at times curious. As I marvelled at the multicolour, out of the blue gloom a pair of divers emerged, one affecting a curious hand signal, upturning his fingers and pointing. Then I saw it: an octopus crawling across the coral. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and went in for a closer look.
Before me, from one eye, he stared me down, frowning, and his ochre body went the colour of stone, its smooth texture creasing to imitate the rock. It was an extraordinary site, and to see it in the flesh. Just as quickly, sensing I was no threat, his expression relaxed, his colour returned and he went about his business rambling and poking around the coral. As did my instructor Mido and I, turning back and following a shoal, back to the ladder. It was an experience that made the trip.
Dinner at the Sheraton’s main restaurant is as extensive as the life on the reef. It’s a buffet, sure, but always varied, and we arrive on oriental night. There are broad sushi platters, curries Thai and Indian, as well as staples for the less adventurous (and health conscious) of salad bars and a carvery, and a whole Levantine section of brick ovens and grills, not to mention a boundless dessert trolley.
For the most part, all-inclusives are a frightening prospect where Brits are concerned, but there’s a civility here despite the obvious draw. It’s bustling, but that simply adds to the atmosphere, and people make an effort, too, making dinner feel like something of an occasion. Of course, there are also options to go off piste. Sea View, on the beach, offers a great catch-of-the-day selection (worth it beyond the somewhat pedestrian pizzas and panini) and the signature L’Emporio serves excellent Italian fare, complete with white tablecloth settings to raise the bar, if the take on some of the Italian dishes are a little, shall we say, unconventional.
For a resort that’s as established as it is, there are developments still going up all around the site, such is the scale of the peninsula. Chief among these are residences rather than hotels, with some 500 already established and a further thousand in development (and already sold off-plan). There was a new development along the 7th fairway of the golf course, the Soma Breeze, the alluringly named Reeftown, and newly on offer this season, villas under their Stayr banner based over in the Marina, a village-like development complete with boutiques, bakery, coffee shop, and supermarket, even a kindergarten.
The idea of ‘living’ here, whether buying or renting, and working remotely, has a certain appeal when you consider you then have free rein across the resort. Think of being able to walk into the Sheraton in London and just use the pool at will. Or going for a reef dive on your doorstep. Or simply spending an afternoon on your private 2km beach.
Village life, too, feels a lot more relaxed and homely than the hotel treatment. Casual dining at Sobar, with its rooftop bar, offers a welcome change to the hotel formats, and nearby Baladina for some distinctly authentic Egyptian food – in portion sizes that would shame Americans – and the waft of hookah pipes, gives a real sense of authenticity and completes the picture of experiencing the resort as if one might live there.
So, concluding our visit, and craving a little independence, we hired a residence and decided to make Somabay our own. The 2-bed maisonettes over in the Wadi Jebal on the other side of the peninsula are affectionately known as ‘bird boxes’ (based on the design); open plan living areas upstairs open onto a balcony with sea views, and bedrooms downstairs are both en-suite, all in Scandi-style minimalism.
It feels a little away from the action (preferable to some, of course), so golf buggies are a must if you want your independence and don’t want to feel cut-off, but it benefits from its proximity to the Cascades hotel and Thalasso spa (something Mrs L was happy to take advantage of). Within minutes of arriving, a cup of tea on the balcony proved a welcome respite to the poolside activity, dance beats of aqua gym classes and chorus of kids we’d been hearing for the last three days.
More respite came from the aforementioned spa. I hadn’t thought to try it, but when Mrs L arrived back at the lodge, glowing both figuratively and verbally about how amazing it was, I had to give it a shot. It boasts the biggest in the Middle East (winning accolades, to boot) and is noticeably palatial. Arabian architecture adorns what is billed as an ‘aqua tonic’ treatment. The whole thing is an experience; a series of pools of heavily salted water with powerful jets positioned at various height to effectively massage your body as you follow the course. The attendant is on hand, barking orders above the roar of the tumbling rapids (“Turn! Do your stomach!”). Each feels like you’re being pummelled by a volley of Lilliputian cannon fire. By the end, showered and suited, I felt like I’d been through a Paras’ assault course, but invigorated I most certainly was.
Walking back to the villa, I was struck again at the apparent isolation I sensed; the gardens in the desert setting, the residences under construction, the grounds of those we were in requiring finishing touches, but as I passed through the lobby of the Cascades hotel, I caught a glimpse of a map of the peninsula. It painted a future vision of Somabay, complete. Residences as distinct districts, facilities complete, the stretch of desert I ran past during my perimeter lap now a second 18-hole championship course. I stared at it for some time, inspecting the detail, fantasising over what was to come. It promised to be – indeed, is already – a destination. It might not yet be the promised land but Somabay is, indeed, a vision.
Rooms at The Sheraton Somabay Resort start from £100 per night for a double room on a Bed & Breakfast basis. Residences at Stayr start from £50 per night or £570 per month for long-term rental (with a minimum stay of 3 months) for a Soma Breeze one-bedroom apartment. For more information about the resort, including details of activities and other hotels, please visit www.somabay.com.
