It is this time of the year! The time where you decide to slow down the gear, shut off your mobile and start using your laptop for a more interesting purpose: Booking a vacation!
In your search for a new place and a new itinerary, it is indispensable to consider Egypt as a destination of travel, because this is the country that caters to all desires.
In the summertime, the beach is usually the prime attraction for travelers. Then, it’s no other than the Red Sea, the place of fantastic marine life and coral reefs. You can visit many cities and each city has its own taste. Today, we will introduce you to Hurghada.
Hurghada is the capital of the south Red Sea governorate. Located at 450 km away from Cairo, it can be easily reached by car, bus or Airplane. This city hosts 1 one of the biggest and newest airports in Egypt.
Hurghada offers a very unique combination of modern life, luxury hotels, and outings, as well as semi-primitive life offered by the local areas, shops and old town streets. People in Hurghada are friendly and well versed in speaking in many languages, especially Russian and English.
The old town, or Sheraton Road (Al Fondok) is the main street in Hurghada and the first touristic attraction, where you will find so many bazzars and local shops for garments, gifts and jewelry, as well as local restaurants and cafes serving all types of Egyptian and international foods. Renowned coffee shops’ brands are available there like Costa Coffee, as well as international fast foods chains like McDonalds, Kentucky and Pizza Hut.
Al Kawthar, Al Hadaba and Arabia areas are the uptown places in Hurghada, where you can find modern and luxurious hotels (Marriott, Hilton, Steigenberger) as well as private beaches (Coral Beach, Old Vick and Dreams). In addition, you can find international bistros like Hard Rock Café and Coffee Shop Company
In addition to this, if you are into nice night life and live performances, there is a lot of pubs and bars in different areas like Little Buddha and Papa’s Bar.
Also, the nice Marina there offers a relaxing place to walk peacefully and enjoy a quick snack right by the sea. But when you are in Hurghada, you have five essential activities that you must do to get the local experience and have the vacation of your life time:
Dive with Dive-Hurghada
Being in Hurghada is mainly about enjoying the treasures under the sea and going back home with beautiful memories that would last forever. And this is exactly what Dive-Hurghada offers to all travelers and clients. They operate with the highest levels of professionalism, totally abiding by the safety rules and directions dictated by PADI international. The team is very friendly and act as if they are all a big family. Our diving instructors can help you and all your family members (including kids) learn all levels of recreational scuba diving and other diving specialties. Also, most of the dive masters and fellow instructors can speak different languages to facilitate communication with the clients. They offer the largest variety of diving sites in south red sea. Whether you are interested in daily diving or looking forward to adventurous dives in exotic areas, Dive-Hurghada are there to cater to your needs and help you enjoy. And once you book with them, you get sometimes a very nice T-Shirt for free!
Situated in a small street from Sheraton Road (the street that has Super Market Abo Ashra by its corner). The restaurant is one step down the street level and it offers a rich variety of typically Egyptian home-made recipes such as white rice with vermicelli, okra with red sauce and lamb meat, white beans with red sauce, bechamel macaroni, grilled kofta, nd kebab, grilled and fried chicken or meat, stuffed pigeons, molokhia, lentil soup, tiny macaroni soup and other. The food there is very tasty and very clean.
The funny part is that when you enter the restaurant you are offered the menu, which is an A4 paper in a plastic cover where all the items are written with a pencil; this would allow the chef to erase the items that are finished and no longer available for serving. So, make sure to be there from 2:00 pm to 06:00 pm to ensure that you can get what you order!
Eat Exquisite fish at Star Fish
Star Fish is an EXPERIENCE of its own! You cannot not to eat there! The most luxurious restaurant in Hurghada in Sheraton road to your right-hand side in the direction of Mohamady Howaidak roundabout. This restaurant offers a wide variety of fish and seafood at affordable prices.
The experience starts right after you enter the restaurant. You find all types of fresh fish, shrimps, crabs, lobsters, eels, squids and mussels available for your choice.
After they take your order, you are escorted to your table where you can enjoy a jar of cold lemonade and a variety of salads (tahini, baba ghanoush, toumia, stuffed aubergine, stuffed tomatoes) accompanied by freshly baked bread.
If you are a conservative eater, stick to a seafood soup bowel, and the traditional grilled/fried fish that you are used to eat back home. If you are an adventurous traveler, we would recommend you try the following:
- Seabass or Grouper with creamy potatoes in the oven
- Squids in the oven with sour cream
- Red rice with caviar in the oven
- Herring with tahini salad
- Caviar with mayonnaise salad
- Grilled Shrimps
- Fried Calamaris
This is heavy food but it sure is worth the try. Don’t worry about those extra pounds you might gain! After all, you are on a vacation. Enjoy it!
Of course, these are not the only things you can do in Hurghada. You can still have plenty of activities all day long and party your head off all night long in other different places. This is the beauty of this city. You can relax and get crazy all at the same place, even at the same time. So, wait no more! Pack your luggage, book your ticket and come over! It’s a one in a lifetime experience that you owe it to yourself to try.
Dalia Saleh - Clients Relations Manager