Jaz Elite Maraya

Accommodation at Jaz Elite Maraya runs to 202 rooms and suites in low rise wings threaded through the gardens, and the mix is unusually generous: well over half the keys are family rooms of around 52 m² or more. Every room has a balcony or terrace facing the gardens, pools or sea, individually controlled air conditioning, a flat screen TV, a tea and coffee tray, a stocked minibar, a safe, free Wi-Fi and a bathroom with a walk-in shower.

Which room would we book at Jaz Elite Maraya?

What All Inclusive at Jaz Elite Maraya includes

Meals centre on Yummy, the main restaurant, with buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner, live cooking stations and regular theme nights, and late risers can take a lighter breakfast at the pool bar between 10.30 and 11.30. Through the day there are snacks, grilled bites and ice cream, and the bars pour local beers, wines, spirits, cocktails and soft drinks from 10am until midnight.

Your stay also includes one à la carte evening under the Madinat Coraya Dine Around programme: choose between MoMo, Nino’s and Sofra, book at least 24 hours ahead, and that first visit is free of charge, with further visits usually possible at a local charge. Premium imported labels and one or two outlets at Souk Coraya, such as the crêpe and ice cream shop and the Narguila oriental café, sit outside the standard package.

Bars at Jaz Elite Maraya

• Miro’s Lobby Bar, for coffees by day and cocktails after dark
• Twisty Pool Bar, with swim-up seating in the main pool and the late risers’ breakfast
• Breeze Bar, up on the roof and our tip for sunset over the Red Sea
• Cafés and a food court at Souk Coraya, a few minutes’ walk into the resort village

Two large pools anchor the heart of the resort, wrapped in lawns and pale stone terraces with the sea as the backdrop, and the swim-up seats at the Twisty Pool Bar mean a cold drink never involves leaving the water. Both main pools are heated in the cooler months, so a proper swim is on the cards even in January, and our customers tell us loungers are rarely in short supply.

Character wise, this is a resort of gentle background music rather than poolside decibels. The terraces nearest the bar are the sociable spot, while the seafront lawns and the coves below stay noticeably quieter, and the five Family Junior Suites enjoy pool access straight from their own terraces. Fresh crêpes, ice cream and snacks appear through the day within a few steps of the water.

• Two main swimming pools, heated in winter
• Swim-up pool bar
• Late risers’ breakfast served at the pool bar
• Sun lawns and quiet seafront terraces
• Towels, loungers and parasols provided

The shoreline at Jaz Elite Maraya, honestly described

The resort fronts the open sea on a low shelf of raised reef, with two small coves cut into it, sunbathing lawns above the water and two jetties, each watched by lifeguards, carrying you out over the coral to deep, clear water. It is a different proposition from a classic long sandy strand: you enter the sea from the jetty steps, and reef shoes make the coves more comfortable at low water.

When you want sand between your toes, the sheltered horseshoe of Coraya Bay itself is around ten minutes on foot along the landscaped promenade, where the neighbouring Jaz resorts share a gently shelving sandy beach that is ideal for a relaxed swim.

Snorkelling the Coraya house reef

This stretch of coast is the reason many of our customers pick Jaz Elite Maraya over better known Red Sea resorts. The house reef sits directly in front of the hotel, open to the northeast and in good enough shape that Coraya Divers describes conditions as workable almost every day of the year. Expect dense hard and soft corals, butterflyfish, parrotfish and drifting clouds of anthias within minutes of leaving the jetty, with morning light giving the best visibility.

Diving from Jaz Elite Maraya, Marsa Alam

Coraya Divers, one of the largest and longest established dive operations on this coast, runs the base in Coraya Bay and works hand in hand with the Jaz resorts. Beginners can learn in calm, sheltered water, while certified divers have guided shore dives, boat trips and courses to push on with. Diving, courses and motorised water sports are payable locally rather than part of the All Inclusive board.

• Elphinstone Reef, the legendary wall dive reached by boat, famed for pelagics
• Abu Dabbab, a seagrass bay around 30 km south, known for green turtles
• Sha’ab Samadai, the Dolphin House reef where spinner dolphins rest

Mivida Spa and Beauty Salon looks after the pampering at Jaz Elite Maraya, with massages, facials, body treatments and salon appointments bookable locally and charged separately from the board basis. For a wider menu, the main mividaspa complex sits at sister hotel Jaz Lamaya, a short walk through the resort village, adding sauna sessions and a longer treatment list. We suggest booking a slot early in the week, as late afternoons fill first.

Staying active is easy without ever feeling compulsory. Aqua gym sessions and aerobics run through the day, a jogging track loops the resort for cooler morning runs, and gym facilities are shared within the Madinat Coraya complex. Racquet sports players are covered too, with a floodlit tennis court and squash within the resort village, both carrying a local charge.

• Massages and body treatments
• Beauty salon
• Sauna at mividaspa nearby
• Aqua gym and aerobics
• Jogging track
• Table tennis, darts, boccia and billiards
• Floodlit tennis court (local charge)
• Squash at Madinat Coraya (local charge)

Madinat Coraya is a purpose built resort village wrapped around Coraya Bay on the El Quseir to Marsa Alam coast road, about 65 km south of El Quseir. It is a self contained little world: a handful of hotels, a palm lined promenade along the water, and Souk Coraya at its heart with shops, cafés, ATMs and a food court, so evenings offer somewhere to wander without ever leaving the enclave. Everything within the village, including the dive base, the Dine Around restaurants and the sandy bay, is walkable from Jaz Elite Maraya.

Arrivals could hardly be easier. Marsa Alam International Airport is only around 5 km away, which makes this one of the shortest hotel transfers anywhere in Egypt.

For a change of scene, the marina district of Port Ghalib offers waterfront restaurants, shops and an evening promenade, with a shuttle bus available locally. Day excursions along the coast and even to Luxor’s temples can be arranged, though the latter makes for a long day on the road.

Many of our customers pair a week at Jaz Elite Maraya in Marsa Alam with a Nile cruise aboard our own ships, the MS Royal Princess or the Classic Blue Shadow IV, combining the temples and tombs of the Nile Valley with the Red Sea’s finest snorkelling. We arrange the whole itinerary, including flights, transfers and guided excursions, as one seamless, protected booking.

Straight answers to the questions we are asked most often about Jaz Elite Maraya, Marsa Alam. If yours is not covered, call us and a specialist who knows the resort will talk it through with you.