Jaz Lamaya Resort

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Quick Verdict

Jaz Lamaya Resort is the reason people book Coraya Bay. This 389-room five-star sits on a sheltered horseshoe bay about 7 km north of Marsa Alam International Airport, and the thing that makes it special is not the buffet or the pools — it is the reef that starts a few meters off the end of the hotel jetty. Guests who have never snorkeled in their lives come back from the first swim babbling about parrotfish and turtles. Divers use it as a base for Coraya Divers, one of the best-regarded centers in the southern Red Sea.

The rest of the resort is solid rather than spectacular: four pools with slides, a kids’ club, a spa, a lively animation team and the Aqua Coraya water park 150 m outside the gate with entry included. What you need to know before booking is that this is a real all-inclusive with real edges. The a la carte restaurants in Madinat Coraya are chargeable, imported spirits are chargeable, and the spa’s sauna and steam room are chargeable. Price it as a mid-range all-inclusive with an exceptional reef attached, and it is one of the best-value five-stars in Egypt.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Outstanding house reef, snorkeled directly from the jetty	No swimming from the beach itself — jetty entry only
Aqua Coraya water park 150 m away, entry included	A la carte restaurants are chargeable, not included
10-15 minute transfer from Marsa Alam airport (RMF)	Only local-brand spirits are in the drinks package
389 rooms, all with a balcony and sea or garden view	Room decor is dated even where it is spotless
Coraya Divers on site, German-managed, house-reef diving daily	Evening shows and music carry to nearby rooms
Very low nightly rates for a five-star	Sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and tennis all cost extra

The Resort at a Glance

Detail	Info
Rooms	389 rooms and suites
Restaurants	Al-Diwan (main buffet) and Morgana (beach restaurant), plus chargeable dine-around a la cartes in Madinat Coraya
Bars	Mawal lobby bar, Nesma pool bar, Morgana beach bar, Awtar night club
Pools	4 swimming pools including a children’s pool with slides, plus water slides
Water park	Aqua Coraya, roughly 150 m from the hotel, entry included
Beach	Private stretch on Coraya Bay; sea access by jetty to protect the reef
Airport	Marsa Alam International (RMF), about 7 km — roughly 10-15 minutes
Address	Madinat Coraya, KM 65-67 El Quseir–Marsa Alam Road, Red Sea
Brand	Jaz Hotel Group (Travco); formerly Iberotel Lamaya Resort
Adults-only?	No — this is a family resort

Rooms and Suites

All 389 rooms and suites face either the sea or the gardens, and every one has a balcony or terrace with seating. That is not a small thing: on a low-rise campus like this, the balcony is where you drink your coffee at 7am before the reef fills up. Standard fittings run to individual temperature control, an LCD TV, in-room tea and coffee, a stocked minibar, a safe and a direct-dial phone. Bathrooms are generously sized by Egyptian standards, with a hairdryer and shaving point.

Superior Rooms

The Superior category is the workhorse and comes in pool view, garden view and bay view flavors, at around 37 m². These are big, bright and — by every recent account — kept genuinely clean, with housekeeping that gets specific praise in reviews. The design language is very much late-2010s Red Sea: dark wood, cream fabrics, tiled floors. Nothing is broken; nothing is fashionable either. If you want a swim-up option, Jaz sells Superior Swim Up rooms with direct pool access, which are the smart family choice if you have kids who never leave the water.

Deluxe and Family Rooms

Deluxe Sea View rooms step up to roughly 45 m² with a proper view over the bay, and they are worth the modest supplement purely because the bay is the whole point of the hotel. Families should look at the Superior Family category, which gives you a partitioned second sleeping area rather than a rollaway shoved into the corner. Larger suites exist but they are not the reason to come here — the money is better spent on the sea view.

Our Pick

Deluxe Sea View. The supplement over a Superior Garden View is usually small, and waking up to Coraya Bay is a materially different holiday from waking up to a hedge. If you have two children under ten, take a Superior Family Swim Up instead and accept the garden aspect.

Food and Dining

Al-Diwan (main restaurant)

Al-Diwan is the buffet and it is where you will eat almost every meal. It has a terrace overlooking the sea, live cooking stations and the usual international-plus-Egyptian rotation across breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is good rather than great: strong on grills, salads, fresh bread and fruit; weaker on sauces and anything that has sat under a lamp. The terrace tables are the ones to fight for. Themed evenings — Egyptian, Italian, seafood — break up the week.

Morgana Beach Restaurant and Bar

Morgana is the beachfront snack and light-lunch spot, and it is the most pleasant place to eat on the property. Come off the jetty at 1pm, order something grilled, have a cold drink with your feet in the sand. It is included in the all-inclusive plan and it saves you from the buffet at lunchtime, which is the single best dining decision you can make here.

The a la carte restaurants (read this carefully)

Jaz Lamaya sits inside Madinat Coraya, a small resort village shared with sister hotels, and the concierge can book you a table at Nino’s (traditional Italian), Sofra (Egyptian and Levantine) or Momo (Asian), all a short walk away in Jaz Dar El Madina. These are the best food in the complex — and they are not included in the all-inclusive rate. Jaz’s own booking terms state plainly that a la carte restaurants are outside the all-inclusive benefits. Some UK and European tour operators bundle one a la carte visit per stay into their package board; if yours does, use it. Otherwise budget for them as paid dinners.

Bars and Drinks

Mawal is the lobby bar — tea, coffee, cocktails, the civilized end of the evening. Nesma is the pool bar and hands out ice creams as well as drinks. Morgana doubles as the beach bar. Awtar is the late-night club for anyone still upright after the show. The drinks policy is standard Egyptian all-inclusive: local beer, local spirits, mixers, cocktails made with local spirits, soft drinks, tea and coffee are included; recognizable imported brands are a paid upgrade. If that matters to you, read our guide to what all-inclusive alcohol policies actually cover before you book.

Food Quality Verdict

Consistent, clean and varied enough for a week, without ever being memorable. The most common complaint in recent reviews is not quality but repetition, which is the buffet’s fault rather than the kitchen’s. Eat lunch at Morgana, hit the terrace at Al-Diwan for dinner, and pay for one night at Nino’s — that combination works.

Beach and Pools

The Beach

Coraya Bay is a sheltered horseshoe of turquoise water backed by desert hills, and Jaz Lamaya has a wide private stretch of it with loungers, umbrellas and shade. Here is the crucial detail almost nobody tells you before arrival: you do not walk into the sea from the sand. The bay’s fringing reef starts almost at the shoreline and is protected, so all swimming and snorkeling is done from the hotel’s jetty, which runs out over the reef flat to a ladder in deeper water. Once you are in, it is glorious — hard and soft coral, huge shoals of anthias and butterflyfish, regular turtle and occasionally dolphin sightings, all within fin-kicking distance of the ladder. Getting a nervous six-year-old down a ladder into open water is a different proposition, and families with very small children should know that in advance.

The bay is also well sheltered from the prevailing north wind, which means snorkeling is possible on days when open-coast resorts are being blown out.

Pools

Four swimming pools spread across the gardens, including a dedicated children’s pool with its own slides, plus water slides for the main pool area and aqua-gym sessions run by the animation team. They are pleasant, well-maintained and — the perennial Red Sea question — heated in winter, which matters between December and February. The real ace, though, is Aqua Coraya, the water park about 150 m outside the hotel; entry is included in your stay, and it is a proper park with multiple large slides rather than a token splash pad.

Activities and Entertainment

Daytime

Diving and snorkeling dominate. Coraya Divers, a large, German-managed center with an excellent reputation, is about five minutes’ walk along the beach and runs daily house-reef dives plus boat trips to sites like Shaab Marsa Alam; boat trips and equipment are charged locally. Beyond the water there is windsurfing, a tennis court (chargeable), table tennis, darts, billiards, beach volleyball, a jogging track, a full gym with cardio and weights, a yoga floor and aerobics classes. Excursions to Luxor, the Bedouin desert, Port Ghalib and dolphin house reefs are sold at the tour desk.

Evening

The animation team runs a nightly program in the amphitheater — folklore shows, cabaret, live music, guest games — that is enthusiastic and loud. That is a plus if you want atmosphere and a minus if your room is near the action, which is exactly what recent reviewers say. Awtar picks up afterwards for anyone who wants a dance floor. Madinat Coraya’s little promenade of shops and cafés is the alternative for a quieter stroll.

Kids’ Club

The Kids Club and playground run a full daytime schedule with an experienced team, backed by the children’s pool with slides, a children’s buffet, high chairs and cots. Combined with the water park next door, it is a genuinely strong family setup — enough that Jaz Lamaya deserves a look alongside the properties in our best all-inclusive resorts for families guide.

Spa and Wellness

Mividaspa handles massage and beauty treatments, and the health club adds a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. Be clear-eyed about the pricing: treatments are chargeable as you would expect, but so are the sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, which some guests reasonably expect to be part of a five-star all-inclusive. The gym itself is free and properly equipped. Book treatments early in the week — the spa fills up fast when the wind blows and nobody can snorkel.

What’s Included vs Extra

Included	Extra cost
All meals at Al-Diwan buffet and Morgana beach restaurant	Nino’s, Sofra and Momo a la carte restaurants
Local beer, wine, spirits, cocktails, soft drinks, tea and coffee	Imported and premium-brand spirits
Snacks and ice cream at the pool bar during service hours	Fresh-squeezed juices and bottled premium drinks in some outlets
Entry to Aqua Coraya water park (150 m away)	Diving courses, boat dives and equipment rental
Four pools, kids’ pool with slides, sun loungers and umbrellas	Sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, tennis court
Kids Club, playground, animation and evening shows	Spa treatments and massages at Mividaspa
Gym, yoga floor, aerobics, jogging track, table tennis	Motorized water sports and excursions
Wi-Fi in public areas	Room service and laundry

This is a true all-inclusive — the board basis is the default, not an optional package you have to buy on top. The caveats are the a la carte restaurants and the imported spirits, both of which are normal for Egypt but both of which catch people out.

Pricing and How to Book

Price Ranges by Season

Season	Months	Typical per night, two adults
Low	May–September (very hot)	$120–170
Shoulder	March–April, October	$150–210
High	November–February	$180–250
Peak	Christmas, New Year, Easter	$250–330

Marsa Alam inverts the Mediterranean pattern: summer is cheapest because it is brutally hot, and the November-to-February window is peak because 26°C and flat seas are exactly what northern Europe wants in January. Rates change with season and availability — confirm the current rate and exactly what’s included before you book.

Best Time to Book

Book Christmas and New Year eight to ten months out; those dates sell through at Coraya Bay because the reef is a known quantity. For everything else, six to twelve weeks ahead is fine, and late deals genuinely appear in June through September. Our Egypt resort guide covers the seasonal picture across the Red Sea in more detail.

Where to Book

Booking.com carries the property under its legacy Iberotel Lamaya URL and usually has the sharpest room-only-to-all-inclusive comparison. Jaz’s own site runs “Super Saver” all-inclusive rates that are often competitive and occasionally better. UK and German tour operators bundle flights, transfers and sometimes an a la carte voucher, which can beat both on total cost — check what board upgrade you are actually getting before you assume the a la cartes are free.

Compared to Nearby Resorts

Steigenberger Coraya Beach is the adults-only alternative inside the same Madinat Coraya complex, sharing the same bay and the same reef. If you have no children and want calm instead of animation shows, that is the better booking — you give up the water park and the kids’ club, which you were not going to use anyway. Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort is the larger, more polished, more expensive option further south, with a bigger pool complex and a stronger brand-standard product, but its reef is not in the same league as Coraya Bay’s and the airport transfer is longer. Put simply: Jaz Lamaya wins on reef and value, Steigenberger wins on peace, Hilton wins on hardware.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Jaz Lamaya all-inclusive?

Yes — all-inclusive is the standard board basis, covering all meals at the Al-Diwan buffet and Morgana beach restaurant, plus local-brand beer, wine, spirits, cocktails and soft drinks. The important exclusions are the a la carte restaurants in Madinat Coraya (Nino’s, Sofra, Momo), which are chargeable unless your tour operator has included a voucher, and imported-brand spirits, which cost extra.

Can you snorkel directly from the beach at Jaz Lamaya?

Not from the sand. Coraya Bay’s fringing reef is protected, so the hotel routes all swimmers and divers over a jetty that runs out past the shallow reef flat to a ladder in deeper water. Once you are in, the snorkeling is exceptional and starts immediately. Families with toddlers or nervous swimmers should factor in the ladder entry.

How far is Jaz Lamaya from Marsa Alam airport?

About 7 km — a 10 to 15 minute drive. It is one of the closest five-star resorts to Marsa Alam International (RMF), which is a real advantage over resorts further south that involve an hour or more of desert road after a long flight.

Is there a water park at Jaz Lamaya?

Yes, indirectly. Aqua Coraya water park is roughly 150 m from the hotel and entry is included in your stay. The hotel also has its own water slides and a children’s pool with slides on site, so you get both a splash-pool option for small children and a full slide park for older ones.

Is Jaz Lamaya good for diving?

Very. Coraya Divers, a large German-managed center with a strong reputation, sits a five-minute walk along the beach and offers daily house-reef diving plus boat trips to southern Red Sea sites. Courses, boat dives and equipment rental are charged locally and are not part of the all-inclusive package.

What was Jaz Lamaya called before?

It operated as Iberotel Lamaya Resort before Travco’s Jaz Hotel Group rebranded its Egyptian portfolio. Booking.com still uses the old slug in the property URL, which occasionally confuses people comparing prices across sites — it is the same hotel.

Final Verdict: 8.3 out of 10

Jaz Lamaya is a straightforward proposition and it delivers on it. You are buying a clean, well-run, slightly dated five-star with a friendly team, decent buffet food, four pools, an included water park and — the actual product — one of the finest house reefs attached to any hotel in Egypt, ten minutes from the airport. The repeat-guest rate at Coraya Bay is remarkable, and it is not because of the interior design.

Mark it down for the chargeable a la cartes, the local-only spirits, the jetty-only sea access and the evening noise, none of which are dealbreakers but all of which should shape your expectations. Mark it up hard if you snorkel, dive, or have children who would happily spend seven days going down a water slide. If you want quiet and no kids, book Steigenberger Coraya Beach next door instead. For everyone else in Marsa Alam, this is the sensible, high-value pick.