Relaxing in El Quseir

Stayed at the Flamenco Beach Resort, tour operator Turchese.

El Quseir offers very little to do other than lying on the beach admiring the reef fish... In the second half of November we found a pleasant temperature. The first 4 days were very windy, but perhaps that was a good thing, because when the wind stopped blowing you really felt the heat. The hotel beach faces the reef; you can't swim unless you catch the right week of high tide or go beyond the pier, with a 35-metre drop in the water... For hotel guests a swimming area has been marked off with buoys (from 70 cm to 1 metre 30 at high tide).

EXCURSIONS: - the centre of El Quseir, a little town full of tourist markets that have nothing authentic about them... - Utopia Island, a day on a boat that lets you snorkel at the Seven Pillars site. Very beautiful, stunning reef, and the final destination, Utopia Island, is a strip of sand where you can swim without a care.

Why go? If you're passionate about diving and fish, this is the place for you; they're truly spectacular and you can see them from the shore even in just a few centimetres of water. A good chance to spend the winter with a few hundred euros.

Why escape? The all-inclusive village is a real cathedral in the desert; apart from sea, sun and fish there's nothing else, and it gets dark at 17.00. If you want to see the real Egypt, take a Nile cruise, which is much more interesting.