Montazah, Sharm El Sheikh: the guide to the slope above Naama with private beaches

Montazah is the slope rising from the shore between Naama Bay and the airport road. It is an area without a resort shopfront: no promenade, no strip of restaurants, no crowds. What it has is what people choose it for: private beaches within walking distance, views of the bay and Tiran Island, small buildings and compounds where neighbours know each other by name, and Naama's facilities close by without having to live inside them.

How the area is laid out

Montazah steps down to the sea in terraces. At the bottom are Montazah beach and the hotel complexes by the water; above them the residential buildings and compounds; higher still the road and the new projects. The higher the building, the better the view and the longer the walk to the water; the lower, the nearer the beach and the less horizon. That trade-off is the main question when choosing a flat here.

Montazah's buildings are low-rise and comparatively new: many were handed over in recent years and several more are under construction. The area is being developed in a planned way — behind it stands Al Montazah Tourism and Investment, a company set up in 1982 that runs the integrated development of Montazah and neighbouring Ras Ghamila. That gives the area a coherence the organically grown parts of Naama lack.

The private beach: Montazah's format

Where in Naama a 'private beach' is rare and often an agreement with a hotel, in Montazah it is the norm of the format. Several complexes stand two or three minutes' walk from a private beach their owners use. That also explains the area's public: people come here to swim every day, not to stroll a promenade.

As everywhere in Sharm, the word 'private' has to be decoded before the deal: who owns the beach, on what basis the building's residents use it, whether its upkeep is in the service charge, and what happens to access if the beach belongs to a neighbouring hotel. The difference between lines and kinds of water access has its own article.

Which complexes stand here

Sunny Beach by Sunny Group is a residential resort on a site of about 40,000 sq m roughly 400 metres from the beach, with its own beach, pools, a shop, a restaurant, a gym and a medical point; handed over at the end of 2022 according to two agencies. Sharm Hills is a residential resort by Montazah beach with a private beach; phase one delivered in 2018 and phase two in 2020. The Royal Residence series are small gated buildings by a private beach: Royal Residence 2 (completed 2019, two minutes to the beach), Royal Residence 4 (16 flats with views of the sea and Tiran, handed over in 2023 according to an agency) and Royal Residence 5 (26 flats, three minutes to the beach; the delivery date needs confirming). Orchid El Montazah is a small project two minutes from a private beach. All facts come from the directory with their sources; where there is a single source or dates are disputed, we say so.

Who Montazah suits

• People who come for long stays and want the sea every day without the bustle of a resort.
• Couples and families who value quiet but want Naama ten minutes away.
• Buyers of small buildings: many complexes here have 16–30 flats, easier to run than a resort of a thousand units.
• For letting — guests who look for 'quiet, own beach, a view' rather than nightlife; a smaller demand than the mass market, but steadier.
• Not for those who want to step out of the door onto a promenade: that is Naama.

Daily life and transport

Shops and pharmacies are on the complexes' grounds or by the road; for a wider choice people drive to Naama or Hadaba. A car is useful, but Montazah is one of the few areas outside Naama where living without one works: the taxi to Naama is short, and the beach and the pool are next to the home. The airport is close, convenient for frequent flyers; aircraft noise does not intrude in most of the area, but when viewing a flat by the road it is worth listening for it too.

What is for sale and what it costs

Montazah offers studios and one- and two-bedroom flats in small compounds, sea-view flats in buildings of recent years and, less often, townhouses. We name no prices: they depend heavily on the view, the floor and the distance to the beach, and a from-to table without a source is worth nothing. Current Montazah listings with price, currency and date are in the catalogue linked below; the pin on the map shows how high up a building stands.

What to check at a viewing in Montazah

1. The way to the beach: walk it, see what it passes through and whose beach it is.
2. The view and its future: could a building rising lower on the slope block it.
3. Height and the climb: from the beach it is uphill home. Judge what that is like in the heat with shopping.
4. The size of the complex and its occupancy: in a small building it matters how many flats are lived in all year and who pays the service charge.
5. The service charge: what it covers, whether the beach upkeep is included, any arrears.
6. The developer and the delivery date: for buildings still under construction, a confirmed date rather than 'expected'.
7. Road and airport noise for the upper blocks — come in the evening and in the morning.