Jaz Elite Asteria

The resort offers 633 rooms and suites arranged across a series of low-rise buildings, so nothing feels like a tower block and most rooms sit close to a pool, the gardens or the sea. Interiors are bright and contemporary, with the art-led styling that defines the Jaz Elite brand. Every room comes with individually controlled air conditioning, a flat-screen satellite TV, minibar, kettle, safe and a private bathroom with walk-in shower, plus a furnished terrace or balcony to call your own.

Superior Rooms

Superior Rooms are the starting point and a generous one at that, with a king-size or twin beds and a choice of outlooks over the pools or out towards the Red Sea. They suit couples nicely, with sea view options well worth securing for that first-coffee-on-the-balcony moment.

Deluxe Family Rooms

Deluxe Family Rooms make up a large share of the resort and are designed with parents in mind, offering extra space and flexible bedding. Pool side options put you steps from the water, which makes mornings with younger children refreshingly simple.

Swim-Up Rooms

If you like the idea of sliding straight from your terrace into the water, the swim-up rooms are the ones to book. Available in both superior and family configurations, they open onto shared lagoon-style pools, so the morning dip happens before breakfast is even mentioned.

Suites

At the top of the range sit the suites, including Executive and Royal options, some with swim-up access of their own. The larger layouts bring together a separate living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, which works beautifully for families or two couples travelling together, while the Grand One-Bedroom Suite is a tempting upgrade for a special occasion.

Whichever grade you settle on, the practicalities are well looked after, with daily housekeeping and 24-hour room service on hand. Light sleepers and view-chasers should note that outlooks vary between pool, garden and sea, so it is worth telling us what matters most when you book and we will point you to the right corner of the resort.

Jaz Elite Asteria sits within Sahl Hasheesh, a purpose-built, gated resort community curving around one of the Red Sea’s most sheltered bays, around 27 kilometres from Hurghada International Airport. The setting is calm and manicured, with a long seafront boardwalk linking the bay’s hotels, so an evening stroll along the water is part of the daily rhythm here.

A short ride away, Sahl Hasheesh’s Old Town gathers shops, cafes and restaurants around a pretty pedestrian promenade, ideal for a change of scene after dinner. The bay itself is a favourite with snorkellers, who come for the coral and the quirky sunken city sculptures submerged just off the beach.

Hurghada proper lies to the north, where the marina offers waterfront dining and a livelier evening atmosphere. From the resort you can arrange boat trips to Giftun Island and the white sands of Orange Bay, quad biking in the Eastern Desert, or a full day excursion across to Luxor for the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple, one of the great day trips in all of travel.

Days at Jaz Elite Asteria revolve around the water. Four outdoor pools thread through the resort, heated in the cooler months, including a quieter adults-only pool and a dedicated children’s pool. The seven-slide aquapark brings out everyone’s inner teenager, while the 250-metre private beach offers sandy lounging with a coral reef sitting just offshore, so some of the Red Sea’s famous snorkelling starts more or less at your sunbed.

• Pools: four outdoor pools heated in winter, an adults-only pool and a children’s pool
• Aquapark: seven water slides for big and small thrill-seekers
• Beach: 250 metres of private sand with snorkelling on the reef just off the shore
• Mividaspa: massages and treatments alongside sauna, steam bath, hammam and jacuzzi, plus the Mivida beauty salon
• Fitness and sport: a modern gym, beach volleyball, table tennis, aerobics and yoga sessions
• For children: the Jazy Kids Club for ages four to twelve, a playground, games room and evening mini disco
• Evenings: entertainment staged around the resort’s amphitheatre

The spa deserves a special mention. Mividaspa is the wellness signature of the Jaz Elite brand, and its circuit of heat and steam experiences followed by a massage is the ideal counterpoint to a morning on the slides. Add on-site shops for essentials and souvenirs, and you will find very few reasons to leave the bay at all.

Dining is where the Jaz Elite concept really shows its hand. Classic Holidays sells Jaz Elite Asteria on an all inclusive basis, and here that means far more than a single buffet: the resort’s JAZ Flavors approach lets you roam across six restaurants, with selected drinks served from mid-morning until midnight.

The heart of the operation is Aurora, the main restaurant, where generous buffets of international and Egyptian cooking are served at breakfast, lunch and dinner, with live cooking stations and both indoor and terrace seating.

Evenings are when the a la carte collection comes into play. La Dolce Vita handles the Italian side of things, from fresh pasta to familiar classics, while Ginger turns out pan-Asian dishes and Casa Bonita brings a splash of Mexican colour and spice. Amoura celebrates Arabic and Egyptian cuisine, a lovely way to eat a little closer to your surroundings, and down on the sand White Sands serves grills and lighter dishes, doubling as a relaxed lunch spot with sea views. Look out, too, for the teppanyaki tables, where dinner arrives with a flourish of knife-work and flame.

Between meals, the bars keep the day ticking along. Bar 22 in the lobby is the spot for a smartly made coffee or an aperitif, the Margarita pool bar passes cold drinks straight to swimmers, and the Cool Breeze beach bar handles sundowners by the water. There is even a theatre bar for a nightcap with the evening show. With snacks through the day and a la carte dining woven into the package, you can genuinely eat somewhere different every night of the week without reaching for your wallet.