As part of a friendly trip to Egypt’s northern coast, we visited a new hotel in North Coast. To clarify, the North Coast is a high-end resort area on the Mediterranean Sea that was originally intended for local residents
But every year these places grow more popular among foreign tourists, and more and more of our guests are now interested in vacationing in North Coast, or the Egyptian Maldives, as it’s called because of the snow-white sand and azure water in this part of the country
This 250-km-long resort area keeps growing, with new hotels appearing and infrastructure expanding all the time. Now you can do more than just lie on the beach - you can also take a jet ski or boat ride at sunset
Cafes and restaurants operate along the coast, and there are playgrounds for children
Premium-level hotels host concerts, with well-known Egyptian artists performing
For a more exciting getaway, we organize private tours to Alexandria, the Siwa oasis and Marsa Matrouh
Locals jokingly divide the North Coast into two halves - the angelic and the devilish. The first stretches from Alexandria to Alamein, where prices are still reasonable. The second half starts at Alamein and extends almost all the way to Marsa Matrouh, where the hotels are premium-level and prices are correspondingly high
Let me introduce you to Hotel La Playa, located right on the border between these two “worlds”
What I liked about this hotel - it’s quiet, with none of Egypt’s “golden youth” crowd, the sea is open with no neighboring hotel next door, which lets you walk freely along the shore
The breakfast is quite decent, the rooms are nice with still-new furniture, and the staff are polite
On the downside - the menu at the “A la carte” restaurant is very limited, so for dinner you’ll need to head outside the hotel grounds
The price for a standard room in September 2025 was $160 for two with breakfast, and we were given a nice complimentary upgrade from a “standard” room to a “sea view” room
