• Understand
• Get around
• See
• Do
• Buy
• Eat
• Drink
• Get out

Hurghada Beach Resort

Hurghada is a resort town on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt.

[edit] Understand

The town of Hurghada has more than market streets for tourists. You can find there many different scents of the Egyptian life. Most of the hotels along the Red Sea are self-contained resorts, ideal for families who don't want to do much effort and relax for the duration of their trip. Some resorts connect, so it is possible to visit the shops and restaurants of other resorts if you tire of the same buffet dinners offered by your hotel night after night.

[edit] Get in

[edit] By plane

Hurghada is one of the main tourism attractions on the Red Sea in Egypt. Because of that, it can be reached from major airports in Europe and the Middle East. Prices depend on the time of the booking and the airline. Most major airlines in Europe and the Middle East can fly you straight to Hurghada without having to stop in Cairo. If you are in Cairo, you can also fly to Hurghada on Egypt Air Express, which is the national airline of the country and a subsidiary of Egypt Air, which is now servicing domestic locations in Egypt. Prices vary from around 400 Egyptian Pounds to as high as 900 Egyptian Pounds depending on the seaon and depending on how early you book your tickets. The earlier you book your ticket ahead of your intended date of travel, the cheaper the price. The Egyptian Pound is rated at a $1=5.43EGP

[edit] By boat

International Fast Ferries [1] runs fast boats to Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai peninsula, currently running four times weekly. The ride takes 1.5 hours and costs 250/450 LE one-way/return for foreigners. Warning: this ride is notoriously bumpy and prone to cancellations.

[edit] By bus

You can reach Hurghada by bus from Cairo. The trip usually takes approximately 7 hours depending on the operator. Known operators include the Super Jet. There are a number of Stations which include one in Medan El Giza in northwestern Cairo, Ramsis Station in downtown Cairo, or Almaza Station in the Heliopolis district in northeastern Cairo. Your hotel or a travel agency associated with your hotel will be able to arrange excursions to nearby attractions, including Luxor. Luxor is about 4 to 5 hours by bus, and your tour operator will be required to leave and return at designated times in order to travel in a police escorted convoy (of approximately 150 other tour buses.) There is also a new highway which is currently being built to service people to be able to go from Hurghada straight to the west to cities such as Assiut and and Kenna.

[edit] Get around

[edit] See

Of course, the main reason to visit Hurghada is for the beautiful Red Sea, which is excellent for diving or snorkeling. If you aren't licenced to dive, it is often possible to snorkel and see incredible coral reefs and hundreds of varieties of tropical fish just 10 meters from the beach. Again, either your hotel will have dive escorts on site, or they can arrange a scuba diving expedition with guides. In late March, the water is still quite cold (21 Celsius), so a wet suit is necessary, and even snorkeling in a bathing suit is too cold after about 10 minutes. It is also windy in late March; sustained 20 MPH are common. Make sure your Beach resort Hotel provides wind screens on the Beach. Hurghada has a variety of activities for those who enjoy the sea and the beach. Activities include scuba diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, para sailing, jetskis. You can also ride a glass boat (a boat with a glass bottom) where you can see the amazing coral reefs and underwater scenery. For those of you who want to have a desert adventure you can also ride motorbikes or beach buggies into the desert.

• Excursions to Cairo and Luxor are available from Hurghada, as well as desert adventures and safaris by jeep, camel or quad bike and numerous watersports and diving activities.[2]

[edit] Do

Hurghada offers many activities not to be found anywhere else on Earth. Quad-biking hundreds of miles into the Sahara desert for tea with a Bedoin tribe, then camel-riding across Biblical plains to see remote and ancient wonders; diving and snorkeling around a vibrant and colourful coral reef; boat trips to the unpopulated Big and Little Gifton islands; swimming in the warm sea; good shopping; excellent and varied cuisine from across the world... if you were to choose to stay in your hotel complex for the duration of your break, you'd miss out on so much more than you bargained for.

Those new to Egypt will find Karkaday (a drink made from an infusion of hibiscus, served hot or cold and reputed to have many health benefits) and Chi (local version of tea, usually served in a glass) offered everywhere. Both are delicious, and will usually come replete with a smoke on a "sheesha" pipe, known in the West as a "Hookah". Sheeshas are used for smoking molasses tobacco in various flavours, with the smoke passing through water before inhalation through a long tube attached to the bowl. Although they may resemble a device used to smoke illicit substances in the west, (i.e, a bong), sheesha contains nothing illegal.

Visits to Cairo and Luxor, and indeed multi-stop breaks, are popular from Hurghada. Sharm-El-Sheikh and the Sinai peninsula (containing two of the oldest Christian temples in the world, St Catherine's and St Anthony's) is but a short hop away.

[edit] Buy

You can buy many souvenirs from the shops that are spread inside the main town and along the beach.

[edit] Eat

Hurghada offers a huge variety of cuisine, including fast food, western restaurants, oriental food, and many others. Just recently opened is the beautiful surroundings of the all-new Hurghada Marina Boulevard - set upon a picturesque backdrop of the majestic Red Sea, here you can find up to 15 different high-class restaurants, rangning from Sushi to Fish & Chips, Continental to Thai and much, much more.[3]

[edit] Drink

There are various things to drink including both alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. The alcoholic drinks can mostly be found in bars and inside hotels. Hurghada has a very western atmosphere so it is much easier to drink than in other areas of Egypt. Non alcoholic drinks include conventional drinks like canned drinks, sodas, or juice, as well famous Egyptian drinks such as sahlab, karkadeh, mirinda, yansoon, gansabeel, irfa, and many others.

Over the years Hurghada has developed a bubbling reputation for its cosmopolitan nightlife scene, alongside the many bars within the new Hurghada Marina (http://www.hurghadamarina.com), Papas Bar (http://www.papasbar.com) has two venues (one inside the marina, the other next-door to the Shedwan Hotel in downtown Dahr). The world-renown Hed Kandi Beach Bar (http://www.hedkandibeachbar.com); still the world's first and only Kandi beach bar, is located on Sheraton Road at present, with a scheduled move to the marina around the middle of August 2008.

Global leader's in dance music Ministry of Sound Beach Club (http://www.ministryofsoundegypt.com) operate a varied 7-nights-a-week schedule, ranging from disco grooves, through to R&B/hip-hop and house/techno. There are also many other discos and late-night bars dotted around the city, generally speaking ask your guest relations or tour guide to recommend you a venue suited best to you.

[edit] Sleep

[4] is a directory of cheap holiday deals from the UK to Hurghada.

[edit] Budget

[edit] Mid-range

Sonesta Pharoah Beach Resort, Safaga Road, Hurghada Egypt, +2065.346.1001, [5]. Sunrise Holidays Resort, Coronation Road, Hurghada Egypt [6] Sunrise Chrystal Bay Resort, Hurghada Egypt Sea Star Blue Rivage, Hurghada Egypt Giftun Beach, Hurghada Egypt

[edit] Splurge

The Oberoi in Hurghada 5 star deluxe hotel

[edit] Get out

There are many nightclubs and discos in Hurghada. Most of them can be found in hotels, although are few bars and discos on which are outside on their own.