Hurghada

The city was founded in the early 20th century. Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village but since the 1980s has been continually enlarged by Egyptian and foreign investors to become the leading coastal resort on the Red Sea. Holiday villages and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for sailboarders, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorkelers. Hurghada is known for its watersports activities, nightlife and warm weather. Daily temperature hovers round 30 °C (86 °F) most of the year. Numerous Europeans spend their Christmas and New Year holidays in the city, mainly Germans, Russians and Italians.

Hurghada stretches for about 36 kilometres (22 mi) along the seashore, and it does not reach far into the surrounding desert. The resort is a destination for Egyptian tourists from Cairo, the Delta and Upper Egypt, as well as package holiday tourists from Europe, notably Italians and Germans. Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants and is divided into three parts:

Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part;
Sekalla is the city center;
El Memsha (Village road) is the modern part.
Sakalla is the relatively modest hotel quarter. Dahar is where the town’s largest bazaar, the post office and the long-distance bus station are situated.

The city is served by the Hurghada International Airport with scheduled passenger traffic connecting to Cairo and directly with several cities in Europe. The airport has undergone renovations to accommodate rising traffic.

Resorts near Hurghada

Al-Qusayr:

Al-Qusayr is one of the Egyptian gateways, and one of the oldest cities on the western coast of the Red Sea. Located between Hurghada and Marsa Alam,

Makadi Bay:

A Tourist Resort located 30 km south of Hurghada dedicated only to hotels, shops and clubs. There’s no settlements with locals. Place features good sandy beach.

Sharm El Naga:

A village, around 40 km (25 mi) south of Hurghada. Its beach contains a beautiful reef cliff.

Soma Bay:

Soma Bay A tourist resort situated 45 km (28 mi) south of Hurghada, with various hotels including Palm Royale Soma Bay, La Residence des Cascades,Robinson Club, Sheraton (Kempinski – opening August 2008) & Caribbean World Resort Soma Bay ( opened December 7).

El Gouna:

A privately owned luxury hotel town, about 25 km north of Hurghada. Quiet and clean, the town consists of several islands separated by channels and connected by bridges. Besides 14 hotels and 3 marinas, there are also 2200 private villas and apartments, while many more are under construction. It is promoted by some as Egypt’s Venice. It is built on 10 km of beachfront and has unique and diverse architecture.

El Gouna provides diving and watersports centers, horse stables, go-karting, shopping arcades, bazaars, a wide selection of restaurants and bars, night clubs, an internet cafe, four bank branches, many automated teller machines (ATMs), two pharmacies, the El Gouna international school,El Gouna national school, a nursery, a private hospital, three marinas, a library, an airport, one of several casinos on the Red Sea coast, a private radio station, a post office, a museum, real estate offices and an 18-hole golf course designed by Gene Bates with a unique aqua driving range.

Al-Mahmya:

A tourist beachfront camp on the protected Giftun island, 45 minutes by boat from Hurghada.

The city was founded in the early 20th century. Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village but since the 1980  has been continually enlarged by Egyptian and foreign investors to become the leading coastal resort on the Red Sea. Holiday villages and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for sailboarders, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorkelers. Hurghada is known for its watersports activities, nightlife and warm weather. Daily temperature hovers round 30 °C (86 °F) most of the year. Numerous Europeans spend their Christmas and New Year holidays in the city, mainly Germans, Russians and Italians.