Steigenberger Aqua Magic

A water park by the sea

The Steigenberger Aqua Magic opened on 1 January 2014, designed from the start as the family counterpart to its neighbour, the Steigenberger ALDAU Beach. The two hotels share the beach, separated from the Aqua Magic by a promenade lined with restaurants, cafés and shops; the water sports and dive centre is on the beach.

The water park is included in the stay: six slides, a pirate ship, a 400 m lazy river and a water play area for children. Around it are seven heated pools, an asset from December to March.

It is a park on a hotel's scale. Families who want dozens of slides should look instead at the Pickalbatros Jungle Aqua Park, in the Neverland leisure city; those who want the sea within walking distance and slides sized for children find the right balance here.

Which room for which family

The hotel has nearly 300 family rooms, many with a separate bedroom for the children. That is the real choice to make. With two young children who go to bed early, the Family Suite and its separate children's room leave the evening to the parents; the Family Junior Suite gives more living space, with no door between parents and children. The Aqua Suite, the largest, suits a long stay or older children. A couple, or a family with one child, can take a Superior or a Deluxe, with a balcony or terrace; the Economy Room, with no view or balcony, has the lowest rate.

Four rooms are adapted for guests with reduced mobility.

A day with children

Times are local.

In the morning, the Magic Flavors buffet (7 to 10.30 am) includes a children's buffet; late risers have the continental breakfast at Magic Palappa until noon. Then the clubs take over: Magic Tots for little ones, Magic Teens for teenagers, and a playground.

At lunchtime, you stay in the park: the Magic Splash Bar overlooks the slides, the Magic Breeze Bar serves ice cream and drinks by the lazy river, and Magic Blue, on the beach, serves a light lunch and ice cream from 12 noon to 5 pm.

In the evening there are four restaurants. Magic Flavors serves its buffet, Magic Orient Oriental cooking with a late sitting from 10.30 pm to midnight, Magic Palappa Italian food by the pool. Magic Sky, on the roof, serves a four-course menu facing the sea and the mountains: the table for a dinner for two while the children are at the club. Palappa and Magic Sky require a booking.

The Magic Souk, an open-air market with Arabian and African décor, hosts folk music and dancing in the evening; it also has a cash machine, a hairdresser and a doctor (charged). For parents, the Planet Spa offers sauna, hammam and massage, and a shuttle runs once a day to Hurghada's traditional centre.

Sabaro's view

For whom: families with children of all ages, ideally with two children, who want a family suite.

Strengths: a water park and a beach in the same stay; heated pools; two-room family accommodation; a 9.2/10 rating on Booking.com from nearly 2,800 reviews.

Good to know: the hotel is very large; the beach is across the promenade and shared with the ALDAU Beach; the park has six slides, enough for children but less so for thrill-seeking teenagers.