Hurghada
Is a city in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt. It is a main tourist center and third largest Egyptian city (after Suez and Ismailia) in Egypt located on the Red Sea coast.
The city was founded in the early 20th century. Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village but since the 1980s has been continually enlarged by Egyptian and foreign investors to become the leading coastal resort on the Red Sea. Although a town in its own right Hurgada’s current major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long stretches of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkelling. Holiday villages and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for windsurfers, kitesurfers, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorkelers. Hurghada is known for its watersports activities, nightlife and warm weather. Daily temperature hovers round 30 °C (86 °F) most of the year, during July and August temperatures reach over 40 °C (104 °F) . Many Europeans have chosen Hurghada for their regular Holidays, specially during the Winter season and spend their Christmas and New Year holidays in the city. Tourism from Russia dropped drastically after the Metrojet Flight 9268 plane crash in November 2015.
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 holidaytourists from Europe. Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants and is divided into: El Ahia and El Helal, the northern part; El Dahar (Downtown) is the old part; Sekalla is the city center; Al Kawther is the modern part; El Memsha (Village road) is pedestrian road stretching over 4km. Along the El Mamsha you find many of Hurghada’s new hotels. Dahar is where the town’s traditional bazaar, the post office and the long-distance bus stations, Go Bus and Upper Egypt Bus are situated. The city is served by the Hurghada International Airport with scheduled passenger traffic connecting to Cairo and directly with several cities in Europe. A new terminal was opened in 2015 to accommodate rising traffic.
The village, which later evolved into what is now the city of Hurghada, was settled in 1905. It acquired its name from a plant which has grown naturally since ancient times. By then it was only a fishing village. Oil was discovered in the area in 1913, but actual production and export only began in 1921 under British oil magnates. During the reign of King Farouk a recreational center was built in the city, but after President Nasser’s nationalization of Egypt’s industries it was turned over to the armed forces. During the War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt, Shadwan island east of the city in the Red Sea, was fortified and held by Egyptian troops and used as a radar post. On 22 January 1970, it was the site of Operation Rhodes, a heliborne assault by Israeli troops which occupied the island for 36 hours.
Good to Know
Country
Egypt
Visa Requirements
Egypt Entry Visa is required For entering Egypt including all Cities.
Languages spoken
Arabic, English
Currency used
Egyptian Pound (EGP), Unites States Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR)
Area (km2)
460.5 km2
Municipalities
Athough a town in its own right Hurgada’s current major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long stretches of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkelling. Dive sites around Abu Ramada Island, Fanadir, Giftun Kebir, and Giftun Soraya are popular. Tourists also visit shipwrecks such as the El Mina or the Rosalie Moller. The beach at Hurghada is not secluded, out to Sigala the beach is then followed by coastal holiday villages and then desert.
Hurghada has a subtropical-desert climate, with mild-warm winters and hot to very hot summers. Temperatures in the period December–January–February are warm, while November, March and April are comfortably warm. May and October are hot and the period from June to September is very hot. The average annual temperature of the sea is 24 °C (75 °F), ranging from 21 °C (70 °F) in February and March to 28 °C (82 °F) in August. The highest temperature recorded occurred on June 12, 2013 and was 46 °C (115 °F), while the lowest record temperature was recorded on February 2, 1993 and was 0 °C (32 °F).
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