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Hurghada
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Hurghada City is the capital
of Red Sea Governorate located on the western coast of the Red Sea,
500km south-east of Cairo, and was initially developed in 1909 by
British engineers engaged in oil exploration. By the 1920s a primitive .
small village was established, but development
soon started to promote the town as
a scuba-diving tourist destination . Since the 1980s Hurghada has
grown from a small fishing village to an internationally renowned resort
town on the Red Sea
Governorate . It became an international center for aquatic sports
like windsurfing, sailing, deep-sea fishing, swimming, and above all
snorkeling and diving. The unique underwater gardens offshore are some
of the finest in the world, justifiably famous amongst divers.
Hurghada’s warm waters are ideal for many varieties of rare fish and
coral reefs, which may also be observed through glass bottom boats.Hurghada
is merging the old with the new, and boasts some of the
finest hotel chains in Villages Road and the tourist districts
around it like Sahel Hasheesh , or north of it
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Hurghada is divided into three main districts :
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El Dahar:
district this the old part of the town
with its souks, fishermen joints and local shops, it gives you a taste
of real Egyptian life and excellent shopping of local artifacts .
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Sekala
: it is
the tourist district, that was born around the old port. It is a
vibrant area with many hotels, stores, shopping centers, cinema, clubs,
and restaurants, there everything is opened till late hours at night .
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Al Ahyaaa: district
located north of Hurghada along the coastal road and AlAhyaa is a
native resident area and some newly hotels
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Out and about Hurghada
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El
Gouna
is a tourist resort, developed since 1990. It is located on
Red Sea
Governorate
22 km north of
Hurghada
International Airport.
El Gouna is famous as many resorts for its waterspouts,
including scuba diving,
windsurfing,
kite surfing,
waterskiing,
parasailing
and
snorkeling
in addition to a golf course . There are two main beaches, Zeytuna
Beach
located on its own island and
Mangrove
Beach.
A network of canals allow many houses to have their own strip of beach,
even hundreds of meters inland. Most of these canals are crossed by
small stone bridges.
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There are three centralized areas in El Gouna, housing shops, bars and
restaurants: Downtown, Tamr Henna square and the Abu Tig
Marina.El
Gouna has a fully equipped hospital. The town hosts El Gouna
International School, an Environmental Geographic Information System and
a small private airport for charter aircraft. There are also three
marinas:
Abydos marina, the Abu
Tig Marina and the Abu Tig Marina Extension, currently in its last phase
of construction, which can receive super yachts.The
town also houses a small museum with some 90 exhibits (including statue
replicas and an exhibition hall of contemporary Egyptian paintings by
Hussein Bikar)
which opened in 1996.
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Sahl Hasheesh
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Sahl Hasheesh
International Resort Community is located approximately
18 km
south of Hurghada, and is set to
become the largest fully integrated resort community on the Red Sea
coast of
Egypt. The
community enjoys expansive views of the
Red Sea mountains and coast line,
clearly exhibiting the beauty of physical natural landscape. The
location is also highly accessible by all means of transport.Sahl
Hasheesh encompasses an area of approximately 41 million square meters (4100 hectares)[2],
about two-thirds the size of
Manhattan
in
New York[2].
The overall land area is to be developed in phases, on the basis of an
original master plan and design intent which is to create distinct
neighborhoods, each with a unique character and theme.
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Soma
Bay
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Soma
Bay
is a peninsula surrounded on all sides by the sea. About
5 km in length and
2 km wide, the peninsula is accessed via a 7 km private road through a single controlled
entry gate.
Soma
Bay
features some of the best Red Sea
diving with its house reef and a variety of nearby diving sites.
The 5 resorts (Sheraton, Robinson Club, La Residence des Cascades,
Kempinski and The Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge) also have access to
an 18 hole, par 72 championship golf course and golf academy designed by
Gary Player.
Soma
Bay
also features one of the largest spas and
thalassotherapy
centers in the region. Water sports are particularly popular due to the
prevailing winds which are perfect for windsurfing,
kite surfing
and sailing
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