I visited this hotel in September 2020...and I was...

I visited this hotel in September 2020...and I was left speechless.

First, I must express my gratitude to Mr. Mohamed Abdel Wahab, general manager of the hotel. This wonderful person was a key ingredient in making my stay at Citadel exceptional - and the reason why I will come back again.

Detailed breakdown is below:

Architecture: Insane. I have never seen anything like this, and I am glad I did now. You should not observe at Citadel as hotel, but as a 1000-year old kingdom-fortress. Design, attention to details, quality of construction is out of this world. On every step, you can see that there was no compromise about cost. You just sit at Columbus cafe, observe and ask yourself how many architect and engineers lost their minds planning this marble.

Staff: Perfect mix of professionally and friendliness. You can easily see that not everybody can get a job in Citadel.

Food: Although all hotels work with reduced capacity and lower food options...This was not noticeable here. Plenty of choice, and you will not get bored even in the main restaurant (there are even crabs at open buffet!). And there are no problems with "all food tastes the same". It doesn`t, taste is fabulous.

Rooms: Big, spacious, clean....again, you don`t see savings here. Don`t expect cheap wood-frame beds, check the photos. TV-s are 40-inch, so bring your HDMI cable and USB drives.

Beach: This is a bit specific segment. Hotel has 1 kilometer of its coral reef, so open-sea access is a bit problematic. But, there are 3 lagunas:
- Northern, natural laguna. Beautiful, sandy all-the-way, nice entry to deep segment, full of fish even at knee-depth. It is protected from open-sea waves by rock formation. Also, through this beach you can go to coral reefs. The only flaw is that it can get a bit crowded
- Central, artificial laguna. I didn`t spend a lot of time here, but again, easy access to deep water and coral reefs
- South, artificial laguna. Better than central, and also, easy access to deep water and open sea

Anyhow....I give this hotel a solid 10. Due to the sheer size of the hotel, and everything it offers, you should consider more as a "Experience" than "Vacation"