HURGHADA

'Hurghada' (ar.: ''Al Ghardaqah'', الغردقة) is an Egyptian city and a tourist center on the Red Sea.
The city was founded in the early 20th century, and since the 1980s has been continually enlarged by Egyptian and foreign investors to become the leading seashore resort on the Red Sea. Holiday villages and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for sailboarders, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorklers.
Hurghada stretches for about 40 km 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 Russians, Czechs and Germans. Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village. Today Hurghada counts 40,000 inhabitants and is divided into three parts: Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part; Sekalla is the modern part, and El Korra Road is the most modern part. Sakkala 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 to and from Cairo and direct connections with several cities in Europe.
Hurghada is known as a party town, and with its many clubs, life could be said to begin there at night. Nearly every hotel has its own discotheque; some well-known local hubs are "Calypso" and "Papas Beach". There is also a Ministry of Sound nightclub which opened in 2007.
Hurghada has become an international center for aquatic sports like windsurfing, sailing, deep-sea fishing, swimming, and above all snorkeling and diving. The underwater gardens offshore are considered some of the finest in the world, justifiably famous amongst divers. The warm waters here are ideal for many varieties of rare fish and coral reefs, which may also be observed through glass bottom boats.
The city provides a gateway to diving sites throughout the Red Sea. Its central location provides access to dive sites. In addition, Hurghada is known for providing access to many uninhabited offshore reefs and islands.

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Notable places near Hurghada

Notable places near Hurghada

★ Sharm El Naga - a village, around 40 km (25 mi) south of Hurghada. Its beach contains possibly the most beautiful reef cliff in the region.

★ El Gouna - an artificially created and privately owned luxury hotel town, about 25 km north of Hurghada. Its beauty comes not only from its quiet and cleanliness, but also from the fact that the town consists of several islands separated by channels and connected by bridges. Besides 14 hotels and 2 marinas, there are also three-hundred private villas and apartments, and some five hundred more are under construction. It is sometimes called Egypt's Venice.

★ Al-Mahmya - a tourist beachfront camp on the protected Giftun island, 45 minutes by boat from Hurghada.

★ Soma Bay - a tourist resort situated 45 km (28 mi) south of Hurghada, with various hotels including Hyatt Regency, Inter-Continental, Robinson Club and Sheraton.


★ Sahl Hasheesh - a tourist resort situated 20 km from Hurghada airport.

★ Makadi Bay - a dreamy beachside resort, just 35 km (22 mi) south of Hurghada. Makadi Bay is an oasis of quality beach resorts providing a location for scuba diving and snorkeling.