ladyfirst

I am travelling down to Red Sea through Israel (Eilat) and then want to stay 3-4 nights with my family (2+3) in one of nearby territories -on the right in Taba, Egypt or on the left in Aqaba, Jordan.
When in Aqaba, we would stay at Radisson Blu Tala Bay Resort; in Taba - at Taba Heights Marriott Red Sea Resort or Hilton Taba Resort & Nelson Village. What is the better place to stay?

Our priority - good beach, good food, activity for kids.

Would be happy to hear your recommendations!

DaddyRabbit

Go to Jordan for security reasons. Egypt is too crazy now.

ladyfirst

Why Egypt is crazy? Even Taba?

obscure2k

Please follow this thread in the FT Middle East Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

ladyfirst

Just back from a wonderful trip to Jordan, Israel and Taba (Egypt) with all my family (including 1.5 year old son). Wonderful vacation. Felt everywhere safe.
In Petra we stayed at the bedouin camp. In Taba - in Intercontinental Taba Heights (5*). Interestingly, the hotel in Taba (with half board) costed us around the same as bedouin camp.

stiwi

While Jordan is more expensive than Egypt overall, Taba is not a tourist hot spot as Petra. Also considering a general crisis of tourism in Egypt, I would expect Taba to be extremely cheap especially being closer to the border...

I would pick Aqaba over Taba.

ladyfirst

Aqaba didn't offer so attractive prices. Triple more expensive.
Plus, diving in Taba looks more interesting and the resorts territories are considerably larger.

IAN-UK

IF you are OK with a resort-style stay - and there's nothing wrong with that - then Taba is good value: there are high quality chain hotels with solid facilities, at great prices. BUT nothing else. The beach areas are generally not too attractive, so you'll want to be somewhere with good pools.

Aqaba has a good places to stay and more in terms of infrastructure. The place to stay are more expensive than Taba's. BUT you get the opportunity to spend serious money to get see Petra.

discoverCSG

I agree with IAN-UK. Taba has nice resorts but little else. I spent one night at (I think it was) the Hyatt there in 2005, straight off an EWR-TLV/SDV-ETH itinerary. There was good food and it was nice and relaxing, but there was nothing to recommend staying any longer.

Aqaba is a real city - there are restaurants, you can walk to this or that, etc.

ladyfirst

Agree. It all depends on what you want to do and to see. After spending 3 days in one of Petra's bedouine camps we wanted nothing esle but good diving and a comfort resort stay. Aqaba as a city didn't looked for us that attractive that we would want to stay there. Neither the beach/diving options.

Thumper

I stopped participating in OMNI years ago to avoid these types of conversations. Jordanian infrastructure versus Sinai infrastructure - and by infrastructure I refer to electricity, roads, running water, crime, security, an organized tourist industry - simply cannot be compared. Jordan is another world many rungs above that area of Egypt. Your narrow interest in diving is probably why you found the area to be what you were looking for.

I chose the article I chose because it was relevant to the exact geography being discussed, and was the biggest example. For a more recent litany of law enforcement and respect for tourists in Sinai, there are numerous search engines that can supply you with other citations.

IAN-UK

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Back on topic:

Taba "town" is a bit of a dump and the beaches are not inspiring, but the higher category resort hotels do a very good job: and they're inexpensive. Aqaba would be more expensive, but has more to offer.

Aqaba is more easily accessible as Taba's airport is not much used by civilian/commercial flights. The best way to get to Taba is through Sharm, then bus or taxi. On the other hand, charter flights to Sharm make Sinai a cheaper destination than Jordan.

Worth noting is you can do both places! Travelling across Israel might be a challenge, but there is a Nuweiba (Sinai) to Aqaba ferry. I used it a few years' back and it was a perfectly comfortable trip on the luxe ferry.

Thumper

Quick note that Sharm El Sheik is 220 KM from Taba, Eilat airport is 10 km away.

With a US passport it took 7 minutes to get from Egypt into Eilat to get to the airport. From Eilat into Taba you simply walk over. Passport stamps are by request, otherwise you don't even stop.

JDiver

For political views and discussions, please do so on OMNI/PR, not here. (Yes, posts have been deleted.)

Thanks,

JDiver
senior moderator

Leviticus

Looking at the current security situation, even the more zealous international travel warnings actually exclude Red Sea resorts and transits at CAI, they tend to focus on downtown Cairo and Alexandria.