Le Royale Sonesta Collection Luxury Resort Sharm El Sheikh

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“ Arrived 23rd February for 7 nights and thought the hotel and it's facilities were great. The rooms were fantastic with super king size beds with built in mattress toppers (they were all the talk around the pool), 42" flat screen TV with 48 channels including English sports and movies, nice big bathroom with double sinks, bath and shower. Tea & coffee making facility and a free large safe.
3 large pools, 2 of which were heated. 24 hour outdoor free bar if all inclusive with branded soft drinks & local spirits & beer which everybody found OK.
The down side was having to go to the other part of the Sonesta Beach resort to eat at their restaurants as Le Royale has none of it's own except for light breakfast and lunch at the pool bar which everybody found adequate.
All staff were very polite and nothing was too much trouble and the security were there to stop other guests from the Sonesta Beach resort coming into and using the Le Royale facilities.
Highly recommended if you just want to spend a week or 2 just chilling by the pool on the lovely double or single sunbeds with thick mattresses.

“ Top Tip: Tip the pool boy when you 1st go to the pool, pick your sunbeds and tell him those are the ones you want for your stay and they will be ready each morning at 7am, so no need to get up early to beat everybody to the best beds.
Tip the pool bar staff and they become good friends and your drinks will be on the bar waiting. Take time out to acknowledge the chef as well.
Room 5109 was the room we were in on the 1st floor and didn't get the sun which meant the room was always cool.

“ I think the last two reviews on tripadvisor set out the issues that you face with this hotel and ultimately the location and the food that let it down. I can understand why many of the reviewers have given the hotel five stars, but I really question their frame of reference for giving it such high praise. Indeed I was certainly taken in by the glossy photographs from the hotel website and the lack of a balanced review on trip advisor. I would strongly recommend that before booking the hotel you check google earth and understand the location of this hotel. As someone who has been to Egypt 15 times I think I have a good frame of reference to offer a balanced opinion on this hotel.

The positives are that the Le Royale looks every bit as good as on their glossy website and from the trip advisor pictures. The rooms are the best standard rooms we have stayed in and cannot give high enough praise for the comfortable bed and pillows. Great TVs and channel options. The hotel has three pools, but one was not heated (Caesar) which was disappointing as the website says they are all heated and this was the main reason for going to this hotel because of the time of year. Luckily the hotel was very quiet so we were still able to find a quiet location round the other two pools, but I do wonder how it would feel if it was any busier. Special mention goes to the fantastic sunbeds which are really comfortable and the pool guy is really, really helpful in ensuring you are comfortable and have enough towels (thank you Ahmed).


As many of the other reviewers say breakfast and lunch is served by the Bybalos bar which is open 24 hours and is a great location to catch up with your fellow guest. The clientel was mixed nationalities and we met some lovely people from both england and belgium.

Breakfast is fine and as described in previous reviews. The lunch for me was great with a freshly prepared meal available meal between 12 - 4pm). The choice is limited and we suggested to the management that they may be add a special each day. I had a cheese burger most days and was probably the best I have had in Egypt and was more than happy. Nice to see that all soft drinks were branded and served from their bottles and cocktails were not bad, if a little sweet. In addition I can recommend the gin and tonics which were very drinkable however the wine is the normal poor quaility that you get in all Egyptian hotels.

Now for the negatives, the location of the hotel is right on the busy main road and there is a fair amount of background noise from the road, which you do get used to during the day but could be a problem for light sleepers at night. We turned our air con fan on and that continous drone masked most of the noise so did not affect us after the first night. Also as spoken about before in previous reviews planes do fly directly overhead but did not really find this a major issue. We had previously spent four night at the Hyatt and noise was similar.

The walk to the beach was exaggerated in previous reviews and I timed it at six minutes from the Le Royale boundary to the beach entrance. This was a gentle stroll and quite pleasant. The area dedicated to Le Royale guests is fine with the same comfortable sunbeds and towels. However the beach area (and the whole of Naama Bay) is the worst I have ever seen in Egypt by a country mile. I agree with the previous reviewer about the smell of diesel and too much boat activity. For someone who comes to Egypt for the snorkelling I did not go in the sea once. I would hate to think what this area is like during a busy period and if you were going to come to Egypt for the Red Sea experience you would be deeply disappointed.

The other major problem already well documented by other reviewers is the food quality when eating in the Sonesta Beach Hotel which is part of your all inclusive. Again having had the benefit of eating in many five star egyptian hotels I can honestly say that this food is the worst both in presentation and quality we have ever experienced. Spoke to hotel management about this and they claim that the Sonesta Beach is a five star resort and I find it unbelievable. The evening meal becomes functional part of the holiday and not an enjoyable experience, which is made slightly bettter by going early and sitting outside rather than inside the Dome restaurant. Like other reviewers found the food very salty, canteen like and they seemed to have a real problem keeping it warm and fresh. On a plus neither of us had any tummy troubles.

Closing on a plus the general staff are all excellent especially the pool guy and the hotel management were quick to respond to any areas of concern. In closing if you want a pool based holiday with beautiful rooms and not too worried about your food Le Royale is fine but I think there are much better located hotels in Egypt for similar money.

“ Top Tip: Room 5051

“ This hotel has a problem calling itself five star. The food is served in the nearby shabby and Russian equivalent of butlins, sonnesta beach. The food is poor and definitely not five star. The room was lovely and clean. The staff were pleasant and helpful. The wifi was charged at £5 per half hour. The all inclusive drinks were unpleasant.wine was only served with food and the main staple free drink was fizzy watery beer! It gave us stomach ache. The beach which is reached via sonnesta beach is cramped and busy. This is largely a resort for Russian nationals!