Hurghada

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Al-Mahmya: a tourist facility on the protected Giftun island off the coast near 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 American, European and Arab investors to become the leading bathing resort on the Red Sea. Holiday villages and first class hotels provide excellent aquatic sport facilities for sail boarders, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorklers.

Hurghada stretches for about 40 km along the seashore, and it doesn't reach far into the surrounding desert. The resort is a destination for package holiday tourists from Europe, notably Russians, Czechs and Germans. Until a few years ago it remained 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. Many restaurants, bars and shops, small pubs and internet cafes are available all over Hurghada.

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.

Main street of a bazaar at El Dahar, downtown Hurghada

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 disco. The most famous ones at the moment are "Calypso" and "Papas Beach". Renowned for belly dancing, Arabic and Nubian folklore, is "Alf Leila Wa Leila" ("One thousand and one nights"). It is a big open-air area, which offers a bit of everything.

Hurghada has become 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. 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 prime diving sites throughout the Red Sea. Its central location provides favorable access to very famous dive sites. In addition, Hurghada is known for providing access to many uninhabited offshore reefs and islands.

[edit] Notable places in proximity of Hurghada

Sharm El Naga - a village, around 40 km 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 quietness 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 south of Hurghada, with various hotels including Sheraton, Robinson Club and Hyatt Regency.
Sahl Hasheesh - a tourist resort situated 20 km from Hurghada airport.