Amphoras Beach

The hotel was fantastic I could not fault anything. The food was great and my room was spotless and very modern. I enjoyed the Splash Pool Bar. Mahmoud the Bar Man was very friendly and gave great service. I also meet Mostafa the Bars Manager who was a great character who is doing a good job. I have no hesitation in recommending this hotel and will be back.

We stayed at Amphoras Beach from September 25th to October 2nd in two renovated Superior rooms, 4 people. Overall, our stay was not bad, and I believe the resort has genuine potential, but at the moment I would rate it around 3 stars rather than 4 or 5.

What we liked

First of all, the size of the resort is a real advantage. It is not huge, and from the entrance to the beach it takes around 5–6 minutes on foot, perhaps 10 if you walk slowly. Even though the resort was fairly full during our stay, it never felt excessively crowded, including on the beach. This is definitely a plus.

We stayed in renovated Superior rooms, which are now apparently the majority of the rooms. They are not luxurious, but they are new, clean and well maintained, and have everything you need for a week: a spacious bathroom, perfectly finished white walls, a new bed and mattress, balcony, new TV, a basic but quiet minibar, well-distributed lighting and a simple but perfectly adequate wardrobe.

A large part of the resort’s life revolves around the beach area. Here you find the main pool, the small aquapark, the Lebanese restaurant, which also provides snacks throughout the day including lunch, and a very pleasant little bar with sofas which is probably the most elegant and relaxing bar in the resort. There is also an area dedicated to activities, from tug-of-war and darts to beach volleyball and beach football.

The concept of the Ultra All Inclusive is both a positive and a negative.

On the positive side, there is certainly no shortage of food and drinks. At some bars, and at certain times depending somewhat on the mood of the staff, you can even get decent international alcoholic drinks. The possibility of having dinner at the different à la carte restaurants without a strict limit is also a real advantage. Even the shisha is included in the All Inclusive, which is quite unusual in Sharm, although unfortunately the one we tried was not particularly strong or impressive.

Breakfast was good, with eggs and crêpes cooked to order.

Another positive aspect is that the resort clearly wants to improve and grow. You can see this in the availability of the staff and particularly the Guest Relations team. I genuinely believe that if you return in a year, you may find a noticeably improved resort.

A special mention to Rouf (I hope I have spelled his name correctly), an experienced head waiter who showed real professionalism, Yousuf, cleaner of my rooms (5203 and 5206) and to Mario, as he likes to be called, one of the lifeguards at the pool. Mario was genuinely cheerful and welcoming.

A point worth knowing before booking

The clientele during our stay was roughly split between Eastern European guests, particularly Russian guests, and Italian guests.

Among the Italian guests, a significant proportion appeared to come from Campania. Without making generalisations or judgments about people based on where they come from, this did have an impact on the overall atmosphere of the resort. Depending on what you are looking for, the atmosphere can at times be quite lively and loud, rather than particularly quiet and relaxing.

This is certainly not a criticism of any specific nationality or group of guests, but rather a point about the overall atmosphere that I think is worth knowing when choosing the resort.

What could be improved

There are, however, several things that currently prevent the resort from making the leap to a higher level.

Our rating was also affected by an unusually windy week, with the sea pontoon often closed or access to the sea restricted. Of course, this is not the resort’s fault, but it does highlight one of the main limitations of the location. We had also considered staying in the Faraana/Farsha area, which is very popular with Italian visitors, and the difference became quite noticeable.

There is no direct access to the sea from the beach itself, and the resort is largely built on different levels and terraces. This is not necessarily a problem, but it is something to be aware of when choosing the resort.

There were also quite a few renovation works taking place. To be fair, the works were generally well managed and not excessively noisy, but they are visible and they do restrict access to some areas. For example, I had read quite a lot about the Panorama Bar and its beautiful sea view, only to discover that it was under renovation during our stay. Our room was also in an area where the access route passed through a section affected by construction work (see photos). It is not ideal for a holiday experience.

The staff were always polite, but the service generally remained at a fairly basic level. In other resorts, tipping can sometimes make a significant difference to the service; here, we did not notice the same effect. In my opinion, more staff training would make a considerable difference.

The food is another area that needs improvement. After two years of visiting several resorts in Sharm without any particular problems, this time both I and members of my family suffered from what is commonly known as “Pharaoh’s Revenge”. Perhaps we were simply unlucky, but it inevitably made us question the food and hygiene standards. I cannot say that the resort was definitely responsible, but it is something worth mentioning.

Another rather surprising detail is that drinks in the main restaurant are self-service. If Amphoras wants to move up a level in terms of quality, I believe this is something that should be reconsidered.

We tried two of the à la carte restaurants, Red Dragon and the Lebanese restaurant.

We went to Red Dragon twice. The first time, both the food and service were very good, which encouraged us to return. Unfortunately, the second visit was quite different: both the food and the service were disappointing. The Lebanese restaurant had good service, but the food did not particularly convince us.

The Ultra All Inclusive system also deserves some clarification. The resort clearly states that the offering varies from bar to bar, which is fair enough. However, even where Ultra All Inclusive options should be available, their availability sometimes seems to depend on the individual bartender’s willingness to provide them. It occasionally felt as if staff were encouraged to limit access to some of the included options. This is frustrating, especially when the resort is promoting an Ultra All Inclusive concept.

The sea itself is actually quite nice when the wind and waves allow you to enjoy it.

The swimming pools, however, are a little strange. With the exception of one pool, most are no deeper than around 1.50 metres. They therefore feel more like very large shallow pools than places where you can properly swim. Towards the end of the day, the appearance of the water in some pools was also not particularly reassuring.

The animation team was average. Nothing exceptional, but not terrible either. It also seems to depend on which team is working, as I understand that the animation staff rotate between the three Amphoras resorts. Some teams were much better at getting guests involved than others.

One final point

I would also suggest that the resort be more careful with pre-arrival requests.

Before our arrival, the hotel sent an email asking guests to provide their room preferences. We requested two rooms close to each other. The response was essentially that they would see what was possible.

If you specifically ask guests to provide their preferences, I think it would be better to make a genuine effort to accommodate them, or at least clearly explain that requests cannot be guaranteed. Otherwise, it creates unnecessary disappointment before the holiday even starts.

Overall

Would I return? Probably yes.

The price-to-quality ratio is good, the resort is a manageable size, the renovated rooms are genuinely nice, the beach area has a pleasant atmosphere, and most importantly, you can clearly see that the resort is trying to improve.

I actually think Amphoras Beach could become a considerably better resort in the future. If I were to return in a year or two, I would be curious to see how much progress has been made.

For now, however, I would say that it has good potential, some very positive aspects, but also too many inconsistencies to be considered a truly high-level 4–5 star experience.

For us, 3 stars feels fair at this stage.