Right at the point of the Soma Bay peninsula, with the Red Sea wrapping around it on three sides, Sheraton Soma Bay is one of the most recognisable resorts on this coast. Its monumental, colonnaded architecture was inspired by Luxor’s Karnak Temple, and its 800 metres of natural sand face some of the best snorkelling and diving in Egypt.
First impressions here are genuinely theatrical. The lobby rises through ranks of great columns modelled on the temple halls of ancient Egypt, then opens onto gardens, three free-form pools and a long sweep of sand. The resort itself is a low-rise, three storey building of 326 rooms and suites, so nothing feels like a tower block, and a four phase renovation that ran from late 2023 to 2025 has left the whole place feeling fresh: lighter, calmer rooms, a redesigned lobby and refurbished restaurants and lounges.
The setting does a lot of the work. Soma Bay is a private, gated peninsula of around ten million square metres between Hurghada and Safaga, purpose built for holidays, with year round sunshine and none of the hustle of a resort town. The Sheraton holds arguably the best plot on it, right at the point, which is why the sea views are so consistent and the house reef is so close. Snorkellers can be over coral within minutes, divers have the well regarded Orca Dive Club a short walk along the beach, and golfers have Gary Player’s 18-hole Cascades championship course a few minutes away.
It suits couples and groups of friends who want warmth, space and a proper beach, anyone who snorkels or dives, and winter sun travellers chasing reliable sunshine with heated pools. In our view it is the all-rounder of Soma Bay: not a flashy new build, but a confident, recently renovated five star with a beach and reef position that newer hotels simply cannot copy.
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All 326 rooms and suites at Sheraton Soma Bay were refreshed in the 2023 to 2025 renovation, with soft neutral tones, better lighting and updated furnishings replacing the older pastel look. Because the building curves around the tip of the peninsula, a high proportion of rooms look out over water, and every category comes with a balcony or terrace, air conditioning, satellite TV, Wi-Fi, a safe, a minibar and tea and coffee making facilities.
The entry point, looking over the resort or the bay. A comfortable, uncluttered room with a king size or twin beds and a proper bathroom.
The same footprint as the Classic, but positioned to face the Red Sea, with large picture windows that make the most of the outlook.
The pick of the standard sized rooms, in prime positions with a fuller sea outlook and a small sitting area to enjoy it from.
A generous one bedroom suite in the main building with a separate living area and dining space, plus no fewer than three balconies to follow the sun around.
Down at sand level, with a master bedroom, sitting area and dining space, and a large terrace that opens straight onto the beach.
The larger beachfront option, adding a living room, dining area and small kitchenette, with a big terrace or balcony and access to a private pool area shared by the beachfront suites.
The resort’s flagship: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, dressing areas, a kitchenette and expansive living and dining rooms, finished with huge terraces over the Red Sea.
Dining here centres on three restaurants, a café and a spread of bars, all refreshed in the recent renovation. The food gets consistently strong reports from our customers, with plenty of live cooking and Egyptian dishes alongside the international staples.
The main restaurant, serving lavish breakfast buffets and themed dinner buffets with live cooking stations, from Egyptian and Mediterranean nights to Asian and French.
Long, easy lunches by the water, with grills, barbecue and lighter dishes, and exactly the view the name promises.
The speciality restaurant, an intimate Italian with authentic regional dishes and a properly romantic evening atmosphere. Book a table early in your stay.
Coffee specialities, cakes, pastries and ice cream through the afternoon, the civilised bridge between lunch and dinner.
Between the main building and the beach, three large free-form freshwater pools spill through the gardens, linked by lawns, palms and plenty of lounger space. The layout spreads people out well: there is a livelier stretch around the swim-up Al Farafra Pool Bar, and quieter corners on the lawns where the loudest thing you will hear is the sea.
Crucially for winter sun, the pools are heated in the cooler months, two of the three by our latest information, which keeps swimming comfortable from November through to March when the sea feels brisk. There is also a separate shallow children’s pool, and towels, loungers and parasols are provided at both the pools and the beach.
The beach is the headline act. Because the resort sits at the very point of the peninsula, its 800 metres of natural sand curve around the tip with open water on three sides. Most of the frontage shelves gently into a shallow, sheltered bay that is ideal for easy swimming, while a stretch of coral reef begins just offshore, with a jetty carrying you over the shallows so you can slip straight into deeper water at the reef edge.
This is one of the best hotels on the Egyptian Red Sea for putting a mask on. The house reef that wraps the Soma Bay peninsula is rich, healthy coral with dense fish life, and sightings of turtles, rays and barracuda are regularly reported. About five minutes’ walk along the beach, the long established Orca Dive Club runs the area’s showpiece: a 420 metre jetty out over the house reef, with electric buggies to carry divers and kit, a sheltered lagoon for training and daily boat trips to the reefs and wrecks of the Safaga strait. Complete beginners, rusty refreshers and logged-up veterans are all well catered for, and we can pre-book dive packages with your holiday.
Soma Bay is also one of the Red Sea’s most reliable wind spots, which is why windsurfers and kitesurfers come back year after year. A windsurfing centre operates a short walk along the bay and the kitesurfing lagoon is reached by a free shuttle, with equipment hire and tuition at both. Closer to your lounger there is beach volleyball and a line-up of non-motorised watersports.
Two of Soma Bay’s biggest draws sit a few minutes from the Sheraton’s door, and both are the sort of facility you would normally have to travel a long way for.
Designed by Gary Player, The Cascades is an 18-hole championship course about a kilometre from the hotel, routed over rolling desert ground with the Red Sea in view from almost everywhere and several holes playing right along the water. Player himself has spoken about how rare it is to play this close to the sea. There is a par three academy course and practice facilities too, so it works for beginners as well as single figure handicaps. We can pre-book tee times with your holiday.
Next to the golf course, the Cascades Spa and Thalasso is one of the largest thalassotherapy centres in the region, with around 65 treatment rooms and a circuit of seawater hydrotherapy pools alongside massages, wraps and beauty treatments. It is a serious wellness destination in its own right, some guests base their whole holiday around it, and Sheraton guests can book treatments a few minutes from the hotel.
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