7 Things You Can Strike Off Your Bucket List By Visiting Hurghada
Although you may have never heard of Hurghada, it is Egypt’s most popular tourist resort and the best Red Sea destination for water sports enthusiasts. Its location makes it a fantastic base for desert exploration, marine adventures, and historic sightseeing. Whatever your particular interests might be, you’ll find something to cross off your bucket list in Hurghada.
#1. Scuba dive around shipwrecks
Scuba divers are spoiled for choice around Hurghada. With its tranquil blue waters, Gota Abu Ramada is a popular diving spot for beginners. It’s a wonderful place to meet the local marine life, including eagle rays, clownfish, lionfish, and triggerfish.
The Straits of Gubal is famous for its shipwrecks, including SS Thistlegorm. This is a WWII cargo ship discovered by Jacques Cousteau in the 1950s. And Shadwan Island to the southeast boasts 5 shipwrecks along its Sha’b Abu Nuhas coral reef. The Carnatic sunk in 1869 is covered in coral and provides a home for marine life. Watch out for pipefish, lionfish, and triggerfish.
For deeper dives, ensure you’re wearing a thick wetsuit made for diving and using appropriate equipment. A dive computer watch can help you plan and carry out more complex dives. If you book a guided dive or scuba diving lesson with a reputable scuba diving school like Dive Hurghada, they can provide the appropriate equipment (including diving computer) and ensure it is sanitary and safe.
#2. Ride in a submarine
If you want to explore underwater without getting wet, why not go for a ride in a submarine? Sindbad Submarines operate underwater tours aboard submarines that carry up to 44 passengers 65 feet below the waves.
Rows of large portholes on each side of the submarine provide views of beautiful corals and colorful fish. An even larger oriel window at the bow provides panoramic views or the surrounding water. If swimming is not one of your strengths, this is the only way you’ll be able to view the magic of the seabed in real life.
#3. Ride a camel across the desert
For centuries, the only way to cross the deserts in North Africa and across the Middle East was to join a caravan where camels were used to carry trade goods and riders over long distances. Today, you can experience this unique form of transportation by riding a camel into the desert near Hurghada. There are Bedouin settlements west of Hurghada you can visit to enjoy a Bedouin-guided camel ride across the sands.
#4. Enjoy a quad bike desert tour
If you prefer metal and an engine to a saddle and camel, why not take a quad bike tour of the desert? Dune buggy, jeep, and quad bike tours of the desert are popular in Hurghada. Atop a fast-moving quad, you can explore the wadis between the red mountains and admire the resilient acacia trees that grow there. Quad bike tours are also another way you can reach the Bedouin villages from Hurghada.
#5. Enjoy Bedouin hospitality
The Bedouin people who live in the desert are famous for their hospitality. While visiting Hurghada, you can arrange to visit a Bedouin village to meet the local people, learn about their culture, and maybe join them in a traditional meal. Just like in the movies, you’ll recline on colorful cushions arranged on the ground or inside a tent.
There are many tours organized by hotels in the area that visit Bedouin villages. Try to find one that includes exhibitions of traditional dancing and music as well as Bedouin cuisine. This is a great way to learn about Bedouin culture in the desert.
#6. Stargazing
One of the great things about deserts is that there’s little cloud cover and even less light pollution to block your view of the stars. For that reason, astronomical night tours from Hurghada are popular. Many hotels can connect you with a local tour guide who will not only transport you to the best places to view the heavens, but they’ll also supply a telescope. This may be the best chance you ever have to observe the constellations shining clearly in the night sky.
# 7. See the wonders of Ancient Egypt
Hurghada makes a great base for exploring some of the world’s most fascinating archaeological sites. It’s a 5-hour road journey or a 45-minute flight from Hurghada to Luxor, home to the famous Valley of the Kings. And it’s a 5-hour road journey or 1-hour flight to Cairo and the pyramids.
Within Luxor, you’ll find the ruins of ancient temples side-by-side with modern buildings in the city center. On the west bank of the River Nile, you’ll find the ancient tombs of Egypt’s great Pharaohs. But if you want to see the last surviving wonder of the Ancient World, head to Cairo to see the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Spinx.
Image by マサコ アーント from Pixabay
Author: Robert Baker - Outsidepursuits