Jaz Hotels

JAZ Makadina

JAZ Makadina is a 270-room resort on the Red Sea at Makadi Bay, and it is smaller and calmer than the megaresorts either side of it. The beach mixes sand for swimming with coral you can snorkel from the shore, which is the main reason to be here and a reason to pack reef shoes. Two pools, one heated for winter and one for children, plus free access to the Makadi Water World park next door, which is where the family case is made. Dining is deliberately compact: the Al Masry main restaurant does buffets with live cooking stations, and the Aqua Restaurant and Bar handles the poolside and beach hours, with three bars between them. Guests rate the food and the service highly and the entertainment programme much less so, which is an accurate summary of what this resort is trying to be. Rooms run from a superior double through family categories to a junior suite. The minibar is charged separately despite the all-inclusive band, and so is the spa, motorised watersports and the airport run. The rates we have sampled swing widely by season, from 184 dollars a night in December to 364 in October, and the low end is unusually cheap for a resort scoring 9.0 with us. Hurghada airport is about thirty-five minutes away. Book this one if the snorkelling, the food and the water park are the point, and look elsewhere if you want a large pool complex or a lively evening programme, because neither is the strength here.

JAZ Soma Beach

Jaz Aquamarine Resort

Jaz Aquamarine is a very large family all-inclusive in Hurghada, for families who want 22 water slides and a beach a toddler can stand up in. It has 1,001 rooms, nine restaurants and seven bars, and a pool count the resort's own materials put somewhere between 17 and 20. The private beach is genuinely shallow, which is the best thing about it for small children and the worst for anyone who wants to swim out. Guests praise the pools and the slides, the family amenities, the size of the rooms and the family categories, and the staff. The complaints are that very shallow beach, the scale of the place, limits on the a la carte restaurants and food that varies. The thing people wish they had known is that the resort is built around pools rather than a deep-swim beach, and that the specialty restaurants need planning rather than turning up. The plan covers the buffet meals, the snacks, selected drinks, Wi-Fi and the Kids Club for ages four to eleven, with the specialty restaurants limited by length of stay or by reservation; premium imported labels, the Mividaspa and the airport shuttle are extra. Treat the a la carte allowance as something to book on arrival day. The 50-square-metre Family Double Room Deluxe Swim Up puts the pool at the terrace, and the 35-square-metre Superior Twin Sea View is the value room. Adults who want to swim properly from the sand should look further down the Red Sea coast.

JAZ Aquaviva

JAZ Aquaviva is a family all-inclusive at Makadi Bay, for families whose week is a water park rather than a beach. It is about 30 minutes from Hurghada's airport, with 487 rooms, eight pools that are partly heated in winter, and included access to Makadi Water World next door. The private sandy beach is three kilometres away at a sister hotel and reached by a free shuttle, so this is not a resort you walk from the room to the sea. Guests praise Makadi Water World and the slides, the kids' club and the family entertainment, and the staff and the animation team. The complaints are that shuttle to the beach, and a la carte dining limited to one complimentary dinner in a whole stay. The thing worth knowing is that the single dinner needs booking 48 hours ahead, so the buffet and the dine-around carry the rest of the week. The plan covers the Amaraya main restaurant and the Madinat Makadi dine-around, with that one a la carte dinner per stay by reservation, local beer, Egyptian wine and local spirits by the glass, limited-speed Wi-Fi, daily bottled water with a tea and coffee set, and the Jazy Kids Club for ages four to twelve alongside the water park; imported alcohol and special cocktails, the spa, the water sports and the airport transfer are extra. Book that dinner on arrival day. The Family Room and the Family Suite are the categories built for the audience. Anyone who wants the sea outside the door should book the sister hotel on the beach instead.