Makadi Bay hotel review: Our stay at Jaz Makadina

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Makadi bay is a purpose-built resort on the red sea in Egypt. It is around twenty minutes south of Hurghada. We’ve written this Makadi Bay hotel review based on our own visit to the Jaz Makadina hotel.

Spoiler alert: we loved this small all-inclusive hotel. The service was consistently brilliant and sitting directly on the beach it was perfect for snorkelling in the crystal clear red sea.

Where is hotel Jaz Makadina?

Jaz Makadina is located on the beachfront in the centre of the Makadi Bay resort. Makadi bay is on the Red sea coast of Egypt, the closest airport being Hurghada (around 20-30 minute drive away).

The hotel is well positioned within the resort, with a jetty directly outside the hotel which is the perfect place for boat trips or to look down on the colourful fish without getting wet.

We chose Makadi Bay because there is snorkelling directly from the beach which isn’t the case in all the Hurghada area resorts.

What is Jaz Makadina hotel like?

Jaz Makadina is a fairly small hotel compared with some of the neighbouring ones within the resort. We actually really liked the size of it and felt that it was perfect for families.

It meant we could allow our children to wander freely and there was no danger of them getting lost. We felt the hotel had a lovely relaxed atmosphere, making it very easy to relax and enjoy the holiday.

What is the accommodation like?

The hotel rooms and suites are located in blocks around a central gardens and pool area. As a family of five we had to book two bedrooms as there weren’t any rooms that sleep five (this was the case in almost all hotels in Egypt).

We had a Superior queen/ twin room and a superior family queen. Unfortunately despite having requested rooms that were next to each other they were in separate blocks within the complex.

The girls (aged 11 and 14 at the time) were keen to have the twin room but we weren’t happy for them to be in a completely separate block from us. Luckily, Adam’s parents were also staying while we were there (they were arriving later the same day).

The hotel receptionist was great, noticed the other booking with the same surname and asked if they were part of our group. Having confirmed this they were able to put the girls in a room that was adjoining their grandparents room- win win!

Inside the rooms

The first section of both the twin and family rooms are the same. With a good-sized bathroom and large double bed. In the family room there is an extra area, (which can be closed off with a curtain) containing two single beds.

All rooms also have a balcony beyond the twin bed/ children’s section. The layout mostly works well but would mean that if you were in the room with young children and then wanted to sit out on the balcony in the evening you would need to sneak past them sleeping to get back to the adult area.

For us this wasn’t a problem as our children are older so tended to go to bed at a similar time to us.

If you’re a family of four that would rather have a little more space, adjoining twin rooms would be more spacious and offer more privacy than one family room.

What other facilities are there in the Jaz Makadina?

Although it’s not huge, the Jaz Makadina has enough to keep our family entertained. The pool and beach are the obvious biggest attractions but it’s not all that there is.

Hotel pool

The hotel pool is a good size and was never overly-busy while we were there. It is central to the hotel and the restaurant overlooks it.

The main pool is divided into two sections with a smaller heated section, including a very shallow area ideal for younger children.

The larger section of the pool is not heated but when we were there in April we found the water temperature to be perfect to cool down from the heat.

The children also really enjoyed the water-polo net that was available to play with.

Tennis courts

There are tennis courts that you can book with rackets and balls available free of charge. I had read that it was difficult to book the court at suitable times (it was far too hot for us playing tennis in the middle of the day!)

However the court is floodlit so Adam and Benjamin managed an early evening game of tennis when the temperature was much more manageable.

The beach

There is a path that promenades along the whole of the beachfront in Makadi bay- ideal for a stroll. The beach is straight across from this path and easily visible from the hotel pool area.

Each hotel in Makadi bay has it’s own beach area which is signed. There are plenty of sunbeds and shades with each pair of beds as well as windbreaks for if the breeze gets too strong (this didn’t happen while we were there).

There are lifeguards on the beach and being a bay the water is calm and felt really safe for kids.

The beach was the highlight of the holiday for me as from the beach we were able to snorkel on the house reef. I did this two or three times every day and never got bored of the multitude of colourful fish.

Right next to the hotel there is a a jetty that extends into the azure waters. This pier is used for diving in the house reef and going on boat trips. There are steps down from the jetty to the house reef area, although it isn’t far at all to swim to the reef from the beach so we usually did that.

The jetty makes a lovely place for an evening or afternoon stroll as well. It gives lovely views back to the beach and peering down into the water there are usually plenty of fish and other sealife to spot without even getting wet if wanted.

Organised activities

There is an entertainment team that organises family activities most days. These ranged from yoga to easter egg painting and volley ball matches.

I think my favourite was a synchronised swimming display one afternoon which was very impressive. They were clearly a proper synchronised swim team not just the hotel staff, I imagine they rotate around all the local hotels.

Funnily enough the one English person on the entertainment team is from my home town in Yorkshire!

Information about the upcoming activities was posted on a noticeboard by the pool. There is also a kids club but we didn’t use this so I can’t comment on what it was like.

Our kids (and adults) did enjoy using the table tennis tables, which was a good break from the pool every now and then. Bats and balls were provided next to the tables.

Hotel Gym

There is a very small hotel gym (which we didn’t use). It’s over 16s only, which my 14 year old nephew was very disappointed about! As well as the small indoor gym there is also a small area in the centre of the gardens with a further small selection of gym equipment for outdoor training.

What is the food like at Jaz Makadina?

When booking any all-inclusive hotel one of the biggest questions is, what’s the food like?!

We don’t stay in all-inclusives regularly so are by no means experts but we do know nice food! We all really enjoyed the food on offer, and there tended to be something to satisfy everybody in the family at each meal.

What food is included?

There tends to be some kind of food on offer at most times of the day. Breakfast was 7- 10 but then ‘late breakfast’ starts just after this in the poolside bar.

The ‘late breakfast’ I think consisted mostly of bread, pastries and fruit. We had the full buffet every morning!

Most of the meals are buffet style/ help yourself, with each guest being eligible for one ‘a la carte’ meal per stay.

What is the buffet restaurant like?

All main meals are served in the buffet restaurant which is next to the pool. There are lots of indoor tables, which we sometimes enjoyed at lunchtime to take advantage of the aircon. There are also lots of tables outside around the edge of the restaurant and by the pool.

We were a large group of eleven so it wasn’t always easy to find space all together. We did occasionally splinter off into two groups but the hotel staff were absolutely brilliant at trying their best to find us a table together, moving tables around if needed.

I thought the buffet itself was really large, with lots of options, so it would be difficult not to find some kind of food for even the fussiest eater.

Breakfast

Breakfast tended to be the same everyday. It included lots of standard western cooked options e.g. pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs cooked for you however you wanted.

There are also cereal, cakes galore, granola and fruit as well as bread with cheese, meats etc.

I really enjoyed some of the Egyptian options including delicious freshly made falafel, tahini and fried eggplant/ aubergine.

Lunch/ dinner

Lunch and dinner tended to have lots of western options including fries and pasta as constants (always a winner for kids). There were also lots of other cuisines.

For dinner there was a range of themed nights including a seafood night and Egyptian night. There was also some element of the evening meal cooked on the barbeque every evening too.

We found all the food to be really tasty and although we were eating in the same restaurant every day there were so many options that you could eat differently on each occasion.

What drinks are included at Jaz Makadina?

There’s a full range of soft drinks included and local wine and beer. There is also a pretty good cocktail menu using local spirits which was good. I wasn’t keen on the local wine so mostly stuck to cocktails!

The kids loved ordering their own mocktails from the cocktail list too.

What are the A la carte options like?

Jaz Makadina is part of the Jaz hotels group which includes lots of hotels in the area (it was difficult for our taxi driver to work out where to go when we arrived!).

There are a range of restaurants in the central ‘souk’ area as well as some in neighbouring hotels. Within our hotel the aqua restaurant is an Italian restaurant which was also one of the evening à la carte options.

Included in the all-inclusive stay is one a la carte evening meal. We were informed when we arrived that this needed to be booked in advance and the hotel receptionist wasn’t confident about booking our party of 11 together.

We chose the grill restaurant and gave 2 days notice. Luckily the hotel concierge worked their magic and got us the booking. Although we all really enjoyed the food in the buffet restaurant it was really nice to have a different meal on one occasion- the food was great in the grill restaurant too.

What to do in the evening at Jaz Makadina?

There is some form of entertainment on every evening. This ranged from acrobats to karaoke, singers and dancers. The entertainment that we saw was all generally very good but there isn’t a large area for sitting to watch.

The younger children enjoyed the kids disco which usually preceded the main evening entertainment.

The outside bar area was lovely but my main criticsm would be that it isn’t really large enough, with enough seating. This was mostly a problem straight after dinner and during the evening entertainment when there was the most people around.

There is another bar, Sultan bar, which is upstairs and also has a small outdoor terrace. We often went up there where there was usually a bit more space.

They had TVs in the Sultan bar where the staff put on the football- there was a negotiation between people in the bar over which of two matches to put on and it was eventually agreed to switch between the two every 15 minutes!

The children (and adults) enjoyed the pool table up in Sultan bar too.

Scuba world divers at Jaz Makadina

There is a dive centre onsite at the hotel, which myself and the girls made use of. We did a discovery dive at the house reef which we all really enjoyed.

The scubaworld website has full details of the dive packages and courses that they offer. I’ve also written a full review of our dive experience.

If you don’t fancy diving we saw loads just snorkelling from the beach including frequent rays, puffer fish and clown fish (Nemo).

What other activities are available around Jaz Makadina?

If you’re after more than just diving, swimming and snorkelling there are plenty of day trips that you can organise from Hurghada.

ATV/ quad bike trips

There was frequently a guy on the beach selling quad bike trips. They weren’t cheap so decided not to go for it but my sister-in-law and two nephews (11 and 13) did go on a trip one afternoon.

She had been drawn to the fact that there was no transfer and the trip left directly from the hotel and that the boys were able to drive their own quad bikes.

What this actually meant is that they drove down the main road for quite a way at the beginning of the trip. Apparently there were also signs on the bikes saying that it was meant to be for over 16s to drive so I’m not completely sure safety was taken very seriously.

Despite the danger element they all survived and enjoyed the experience but I’m not sure I could recommend it.

If you do fancy a desert experience either in ATV or 4×4, I would be more tempted to go with this option instead which has great reviews and includes a transfer by minibus to start your ATV experience in the desert rather than by road.

Luxor Day Trips

We stayed in Luxor for a few days before arriving at Jaz Makadina so had already seen the Luxor sights. If you aren’t able to fit in a stay in Luxor during your Egypt itinerary, I would highly recommend a day trip as it is amazing.

This tour includes Karnak temple and Valley of the Kings and comes highly rated.

Shopping in the Souk Makadi

Central to all the Jaz hotels (just behind Jaz Makadina) is the souk Makadi. It’s a pleasant evening stroll to have a look in the shops here, mostly selling souvenirs.

It isn’t quite the authentic experience you would get visiting the souks in Luxor or Cairo but makes a pleasant wander.

Jaz Makadina staff

I can’t write a review without mentioning the amazing hotel staff. All the staff were very attentive, generally spoke almost perfect English and really couldn’t do enough for you.

My father-in-law is still in touch with one member of staff via whatsapp (mostly to chat football!).

Overall we all really enjoyed our stay at Jaz Makadina and would recommend it for a family holiday. The hotel is relatively small compared to some all-inclusives but we found this a positive.

For Chloe and I the highlight was the amazing snorkelling straight off the beach. The brilliant staff and delicious food added to the experience.

If you’re planning a trip to Egypt and want to also combine with a stay in Luxor check our our post on where to stay in Luxor– we loved our budget option of Villa Belzoni.