Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay

Kempinski Soma Bay is a spacious seafront resort for divers who want the day to have somewhere comfortable to land. You have the Red Sea, lagoons, pools, restaurants, bars and a substantial spa within the same address, so the evening can be as active or as idle as your legs require.

The setting also works for couples and families. Family rooms are available, babysitting can be arranged, and the resort offers children’s outdoor play equipment, a kids’ club and a children’s pool. The hotel website is available in English and Arabic; the language information concerns the website rather than the hotel team, so it is best not to treat it as proof of an English-speaking reception.

You are in Hurghada, Egypt, at Soma Bay on the Red Sea coast. The resort sits directly by the beach, with its own private beach area, sun terrace, loungers and umbrellas. This is a self-contained coastal base rather than a town-centre hotel, which matters once you have stopped looking for somewhere to park your fins and started looking for somewhere to sit down.

Hurghada International Airport is 23 miles away, around 34 minutes by car. The resort lies between Hurghada and Port Safaga, while The Breakers Diving and Surfing Lodge Soma Bay Beach is about 0.8 miles away. Nearby cafés, bars and restaurants are several miles from the property, so the four restaurants and two bars on site will usually be the practical evening choice.

The rooms are arranged for proper downtime rather than merely somewhere to drop a suitcase. Every room has air conditioning, a seating area, a flat-screen satellite TV, a private bathroom with a bath, and a balcony or terrace facing the lagoons or the Red Sea. A minibar and tea- and coffee-making facilities deal with the small but important business of getting cold water or a hot drink without leaving the room, while room service covers the days when the sofa wins.

For a couple, the super-king-bed rooms make the straightforward choice, with Sea View and Side Sea View options when the outlook matters. Twin-bed rooms suit dive partners who have been sharing a boat all day and prefer to stop sharing a mattress at night. The Deluxe Suite adds a separate sitting area and lounge access, making it the more comfortable option when three people are travelling together or when you want room to spread out beyond the balcony.

A mosquito net, daily housekeeping, bathrobes and slippers are also part of the practical kit. Children of any age are welcome, and cots or extra beds can be requested according to the room selected. In other words, the accommodation covers both the simple couple’s base and the more generous family arrangement without turning the room choice into a spreadsheet exercise.

Food is handled on site, with four restaurants and a breakfast buffet to get you moving before the first boat or the first serious swim. The named restaurants include The View Restaurant, Al Mar Restaurant & Bar and Bamboo Shoot Restaurant. Their individual cuisines and serving schedules are not set out here, so the useful takeaway is choice rather than a promised menu that may change before your next visit.

There are two named bars: Beachcomber Bar and Sultan Bar. Add the on-site coffee house and snack bar, and you have options for something lighter than a full restaurant meal. Breakfast can also be served in your room, and special-diet menus are available on request.

A small piece of fine print deserves attention: drinks are not included with the buffet dinner. The hotel also operates an evening dress expectation at some resorts, with smarter casual clothing requested for dinner; flip-flops and very casual beachwear are not the safe assumption. Your kit bag can stay by the door, but dinner may require something slightly less aquatic.

The resort gives you several ways to spend a surface interval without turning it into another organised expedition. Several swimming pools are set among lagoons, with a lazy river for a slower circuit, while the private beach, sun terrace, loungers and umbrellas provide the simpler option: find a place, sit down and do very little.

For recovery with a more structured purpose, Spa & Thalasso includes spa facilities, a relaxation area, sauna, steam room, hot tub and massage treatments. There is also a fitness centre with fitness and yoga classes. That is enough choice for a gentle stretch, a proper workout or a decision to do neither after all.

Away from the water, you can use the tennis court, squash facilities, table tennis and billiards. Golf is within 1 km, and windsurfing, cycling, bike tours, cooking classes, themed dinner nights, live music and evening entertainment add alternatives for couples travelling with different ideas of relaxation. A kids’ club, playground and babysitting keep the family side of the resort practical as well.

Check-in starts at 15:00 and check-out runs until 12:00. Early check-in and late check-out can be requested, which is useful when flights and dive schedules refuse to cooperate. An airport shuttle is available, and the hotel also offers car hire, a concierge, a tour desk, currency exchange, an ATM and luggage storage.

Free public parking is available on site without reservation. Wi-Fi is free throughout the property, and the 24-hour front desk keeps the practical side covered beyond normal daytime hours. Laundry and dry-cleaning services are available, while a minimarket on site is useful for the small items that somehow remain forgotten until the suitcase is already closed.

Families can request cots or extra beds, subject to the room selected. Children aged 13 and over are treated as adults for the hotel’s occupancy policy. Egyptian couples must present a marriage certificate at check-in, and cash is an accepted payment method. The hotel is non-smoking in its rooms, with a designated smoking area on the property.