I love luxury hotels with a history; they don’t just provide somewhere luxurious to rest your head at night but they also provide you with walls that could tell you a million and one bedtime stories and the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan, Egypt is no exception.
As strange as it may seem, the Old Cataract Hotel was our reason for choosing Egypt as our holiday destination; not the famous temples or pyramids of Egypt but this legend of a hotel which was built in 1899 by Thomas Cook.
I’m not going to lie, check in was okayish however the Sofitel Platinum benefits were overlooked and the concierge service felt almost non existent during our visit but lets not dwell on that as I need to show you why you need to visit Aswan.
The Old Cataract consists of two buildings (something we didn’t realise at the time of booking our room) – the Old Hotel (New Cataract Wing) and the Nile Building (Nile Wing). The Old Hotel has a mixture of rooms – including all the garden facing rooms along with the suites however all the rest of the Nile view rooms were located in the Nile Building built in the 1960’s.
So of course, not really understanding this we ended up having three rooms during our stay (not great when you have totally overpacked!) – so are you ready to have a snoop inside a few rooms including two very special suites.
So let’s start with two of the rooms we stayed in –
This is a luxury room located inside the Nile Building – ultra modern with stunning views over the pool, the old hotel and the Nile.
We then changed to a Prestige Suite in the Old Hotel as G wanted to stay in the Old Hotel as this was the reason why we had travelled all the way to Egypt. The suite was large with high ceilings however we had a smaller balcony than in the Nile Building.
The staff were kind enough to let us a snoop inside the Agatha Christie Suite where she wrote her famous murder mystery, Death on the Nile – super lush! (the suite not the murder)
After paying my respects to him a few months ago in Oxfordshire, it felt only right to go snooping inside the Winston Churchill Suite and what a beauty it was! The balcony is just incredible and had that old world charm about it which made you feel like you were stepping back in time. I could picture Winston having a cigar on that balcony watching the world go by.
And of course there has to be a library at the Old Cataract and it wouldn’t be complete without a Dummies guide..
Hey gym that I used twice while on holiday! The hotel even has an indoor hotel which is great if you get sunburnt in minutes like I did while using the outdoor pool – I’m a pale princess!
The outdoor pool is probably the coldest thing you will find in the whole of Aswan – a welcome relief from the 38 degree heat!
If there is something that the Old Cataract Hotel exceeds at is the food and beverage – the staff were incredible (and were ever so helpful with my gluten free dietary requirement) and the food was just amazing. If only breakfast could be served like this every day!
The terrace was my favourite place in the whole hotel; the music, the views and just the old world elegance that ticked all the boxes in making this hotel a firm favourite of mine.
But if the terrace isn’t for you there are plenty of little spots to relax in dotted around the hotel..
..Or maybe the bar area
And if the above photos haven’t made you think of booking a night at the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan then these glorious sunsets sure will!
So what do you think? Will you be booking a night to stay at this gorgeous iconic luxury hotel?
xx
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