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
Hurghada is divided into three main districts :
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 .
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.
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. Sahl Hasheesh
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. Soma Bay
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
