Hurghada was founded in the early 20th century. It was a small fishing village for many decades, but it has grown into a major red sea resort due to Egyptian and foreign investment that began in 1980. Holiday resorts and hotels provide facilities for diving, snorkeling, quad safari, windsurfing, and kitesurfing. This city had a great reputation for water sports, nightlife, and warm weather. Daytime temperatures are around 25 in the wintertime, and during summertime is around 45 c. Hurghada is a popular holiday destination for Europeans and Russians, especially during winter, and some spend Christmas and new year there. Tourist numbers from Russia dropped significantly after the Petrojet flight plane crash in November 2015.
Hurghada extends for about 36 kilometers s along the coast but does not reach far into the surrounding desert. The resort is a destination for Egyptian tourists from Cairo, the delta, upper Egypt, and package holiday tourists from Europe. Hurghada has a population of around 350000 and is divided into the following suburbs :
- Al hayaa on the north of hurghada
- El dahar and el helal old town .
- Sakkala – downtown (city center)
- El kawsar – opposite the airport
- Village road and magawish to the south of the city.
Many of Hurghada’s hotels, restaurants, and shops are located along el mamsha, which is a promenade around 3 kilometers long. dedicated to Hurghada tourists in small cities or districts like :
- El Gouna which lies around 20 km to the north of the city, was constructed in the years of 1990s, but the famous businessmen family of Sawiris, very big city, where there nearly you can find everything which you need: shores, lots of categories of real estate, hospital, schools, American University, german university, great Bibliotheque, sports club, water sports, hotels, resort, mosque, church even, small airport.
- Sahl hasheesh which lies around 17 kilometers to the south of the city, very luxurious place where were constructed very prestigious, expensive hotels, resorts, and real estate by some Egyptian businessmen.
- Makadi which lies around 35 km to the south of the city , it is bay inthe city has very special coral reefs and resorts like cleopatra madaki , and madinet makadi where there are lots of hotels like iberotel and solimar plus steigenberger , and hotels of grand makadi .
History
The village, which later evolved into what is now the city of Hurghada, was settled in 1905. It acquired its name from a plant that has grown naturally since ancient times. By then, it was only a fishing village .oil was discovered in the area in 1913. Still, 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. Still, after president Nasser nationalized Egypt’s industries, it was turned over to the armed forces.
During the war of attrition between Israel and Egypt, shedwan island east of the red sea was fortified and held by Egyptian troops and used as a radar post. On 22 January 1970, it was Operation Rhodes, a heliborne assault by Israeli troops that occupied the island for 36 hours.
During the October war in 1973, Hurghada was a target for Israeli operations. Israeli forces also occupied shedwan island with over 32 casualties to the Egyptian army and only 7 to the Israeli army.
Sightseeing
- Marina: which lies close to Sakkala street, a very modern place where there is a nice promenade to have a walk enjoying the view of the sea and luxury boats and yachts. There are lots of national and internal restaurants and cafes with high levels of service in the marina.
- Grand Elmina mosque: the biggest mosque in Hurghada which was constructed by inhabitants donations and was opened in the year 2011, the capacity of the mosque 1600 square meters, could have 6000 people during pray time, plus court outside the mosque 3600 square meters, inside the mosque there are wonderful Islamic decoration and lamps, in addition to two minutes with 80-meter height.
- Church: the main church in Hurghada is located very close to el Dahar Platz, named Shenouda, the third church. It was constructed recently and present to the tourists to visit it individually or in groups during city tour trips in Hurghada.
- Aquarium: there are two aquariums in Hurghada
* first one in old town opposite the main governmental hospital
* second one opposite rixos resort which is much bigger than the old one.
- Mamsha: which is a very clean and wide promenade, and the best place to take a walk with friends and family, containing various restaurants like Macdonald, KFC, pizza hut, and cafes, plus sports activities like renting bikes.
- Senzo mall: the biggest shopping center in Hurghada, around 70000 square meters, spinneys company has the administration of the mall, and there is a food court, court area plus international shops like timberland, Adidas, reebok, etc
- Hurghada city center: which lies in dahar, next to Hilton plaza, a big market of carrefour, and 6 modern halls of cinema, cafes, restaurants, and shops.
Excursion in hurghada
- Giftun island
- Safary
- Catamaran
- Quad safari
- Diving
- City tour
- Quad safary
- Mahmya
- Aqua park