Renaissance Alexandria Egypt

private beach not so private

We stayed at Renaissance Mariott in Alexandria originally for 3 days which we shortened to 2, in mid August at the height of the holiday season for Egyptians. The hotel is fine, the rooms are a bit small, but quite confortable. The service is quite good too except for the reception (see below). Nothing to complain about, except that the hotel is really cold. We were the only customers who were non Arabic and therefore not veiled and fully clothed. The temperature is probably adapted to the main clientele, which seem to be from other Arabic countries and Egyptian. Not to complain about it, in Rome do as Romans do, and I have to admit that we were really idiots not to have thought about it, but we didn't even try the private beach and the swimming pool since all the women were in the water fully clothed and we only had our skimpy bikinis and would have been the equivalent of "soft porn". A bit of a disappointment since the reason we went to Alexandria was to enjoy the nice weather and the beach after hot and dry Luxor and very polluted Cairo. We did hear that the beach resorts in the suburbs of Alexandria are more "Western" and you can actually wear a bathing suit without feeling paranoid.

We did have wonderful seafood but not at the hotel (see restaurant tips).

As for archeological sights there really aren't any of interest compared to all the rest in Egypt, and the Museum was closed so we didn't even get to see that. The only thing we saw was the Catacombs. Not worth going to Alexandria for.

Unique Quality: The views on the sea and the city are OK, but I've seen better Mediterranean views in the South of France and Greece and Italy and Spain. The hotel is way too cold and the food is average.

The only real complaint we had with the hotel was the slowness of the reception. We had taken the night train from Luxor to Cairo and driven straight to Alexandria, which the travel agent had said was 2 hours, but was actually closer to 4. So were pretty exhausted on arrival at the hotel. We had to wait another 2 hours for the room, and the receptionist was not even apologetic about the wait. Although to be fair, Egypt is not a place to be in a hurry. Same thing at check-out. They took for ever to check the mini-bar and give us the bill.

Overall, not worth the expense of going to Alexandria and staying in a Marriott.