Hurghada is a city in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt. It is a tourist center located on the Red Sea coast.
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 snorkelers.
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, Russians, Poles, Czechs and Germans. Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village. Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants and is divided into three parts: Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part; Sekalla is the city center, and El Memsha (Village road) is the 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. The airport has undergone massive renovations to accommodate rising traffic. Hurghada is known for its watersports activities, nightlife and warm weather. Daily temperature hovers round 30 degrees Celsius most of the year. Numerous Europeans spend their Christmas and New Year holidays in Hurghada, primarily Germans and Italians.
A recent oil spill might have damaged the marine life and beaches, but the extent of the damage has not been officially reported yet.
Hurghada has become an international center for aquatic sports like windsurfing, kiting, sailing, deep-sea fishing, swimming, and above all snorkeling and diving. The offshore reefs are considered some of the finest in the world. The warm waters here are ideal for many varieties of fish and coral, which may also be observed from a glass bottom boat. There are about 200 dive points near Hurghada beaches with ship wrecks, colourful corals and underwater animals – turtles, dolphins, lion fish, belugas, even sharks.
The city provides a gateway to diving sites throughout the Red Sea, owing to its central location. In addition, Hurghada is known for providing access to many uninhabited offshore reefs and islands
Resorts near Hurghada
There are some Resorts Near Hurghada City Which Also Considered as Tourist Cities Such as :
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 2 marinas, there are also 300 private villas and apartments, and some 500 more are under construction.[citation needed] 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 centres, horse stables, gokarting, shopping arcades, bazaars, a wide selection of restaurants and bars, night clubs, an internet cafe, an automated teller machine (ATM), a pharmacy, the El Gouna international school, a nursery, a private hospital, a marina, an airport, the only casino on the Red Sea coast, a private radio station, a post office, a real estate office and an 18-hole golf course designed by Gene Bates with a unique aqua driving range.
Soma Bay
A tourist resort situated 45 km (28 mi) south of Hurghada, with various hotels including La Residence des Cascades, Inter-Continental, Robinson Club, Sheraton , Kempinski & Caribbean World Resort Soma Bay .