A sea-view apartment in Sharm El Sheikh: where the view is honest and how to check it

'Sea view' is the most expensive phrase in Sharm El Sheikh listings and the most elastic. It sells both a panorama of the bay from a top-floor living room and a strip of blue between two blocks that you see if you stand on the terrace and lean. The price difference between those two flats is substantial; the difference in wording is nil. This article is about how the sea view works in Sharm, where it is honest, how it differs from 'first line' and how to check it before any money changes hands.

The view and the line are not the same thing

A first-line flat may see no sea at all if its windows face the courtyard or the road. A fourth-line flat on a hill may see the whole sea if it stands above everything else. In Sharm the terrain makes the second case ordinary: the town climbs from the water in terraces, and the upper streets of Hadaba, Montazah and the heights above Naama Bay look over the roofs of the neighbours below. So the first question is not 'which line' but 'what do you see from this room, on this floor, in this direction'.

In the Dommare catalogue the view and the distance to the water are two separate fields. The view is split into 'sea' and 'sea, partial': the second means the sea is visible, but not from every main window or not as a full band. That is more honest than one word for everything.

The views Sharm has

• Open sea with a horizon — upper floors on the cliffs of Hadaba, Ras Um Sid and above Naama Bay; Tiran Island is visible from Montazah and Nabq, and from parts of the coast the mountains of Saudi Arabia on a clear day.
• The bay — Naama Bay and Sharks Bay: the water is closer, but the view is framed by headlands and hotels on the shore; it is lively — boats, the lights of the promenade.
• Sea over the roofs — the heights above Naama Bay and upper Hadaba: a band of water above the neighbourhood, wide or narrow depending on the floor.
• Sea between the blocks — the 'partial view': at an angle from the terrace. This is the view most often sold as a full one.
• Reef and lagoon — Nabq: shallow water in several shades near the shore, the line of the reef, open sea beyond.

Where to look for an honest sea view

Hadaba stands on cliffs: the upper floors of the blocks along the edge look at the open sea, and that is the area's main asset. Montazah is the same with the view towards Tiran; in our directory Royal Residence 4 is described plainly as a building of 16 apartments facing the Red Sea and Tiran Island. In Sharks Bay the land steps down to the water, so 'a lot of what is built here looks over the sea', as the area card says, and the premium for the view there is real. Naama Bay offers the bay view from the upper floors of the blocks on the heights — Delta Sharm and Riviera Sharm stand exactly like that, high above the bay. Nabq offers the lagoon and the reef from the first lines, but the buildings there are lower and further apart, and the view depends more on the precise position.

Descriptions of areas and compounds come from the Dommare directory; every card names its sources. We quote no percentage premium for a view: it differs in every compound and moves with the market — see current prices in the catalogue with the 'sea view' filter.

How a view can be spoiled

Sharm is being built. An empty plot in front of the building does not secure the view; it is a risk: in two years a block taller than yours may stand there. Ask the management and the neighbours what is planned on the adjoining plots, look for site fencing and developer boards nearby. Check whether your view rests on the fact that the neighbouring block 'is not finished yet'.

Second, trees and palms. A young garden closes the first and second floors within five years. Third, hotel buildings on the shore: a hotel may add a floor or put a pavilion on the beach. Fourth, your own balcony: a glazed loggia or the awning of the neighbours above changes the angle. All of this is checked with your eyes on site and in conversation, not from photographs.

How to check the view at a viewing

1. Stand at every main window — living room, bedroom — not on the terrace. What do you see without leaning?
2. Photograph the view at eye level sitting and standing: the seller shows it standing, you will live sitting.
3. Look in the direction the view runs: what stands between you and the water, what may appear there.
4. Come twice — in the morning and at sunset. West-facing windows in Sharm are a plus for the view and a minus for the air-conditioning.
5. Ask about the floors above and below: are they for sale, with what view, at what price. The price difference by floor is the best answer to how real the view is.
6. Ask the management for the site plan: where the free plots are and what may be built on them.
7. Noise. A flat with a bay view in Naama Bay hears the promenade until late — that is part of the view.

How much to pay for a view

The view is the one feature of a flat that cannot be bought later: the layout can be changed, the finish renewed, the furniture replaced, but the window faces where it faces. That is why the premium for a real view holds at resale better than the premium for a renovation. But it is justified only for a view seen from the main rooms and not at risk from construction. Do not overpay for a 'strip between the blocks': a buyer will not pay you for it either.

If the budget does not stretch to a top floor with a panorama, the sensible compromise is not a 'partial view' on the same floor of the same building, but a flat higher up and further back: on the hill, on the second or third line, with an open horizon but without the first-line premium. Hadaba and the heights above Naama Bay have many such flats.