Red Sea Hurghada, once an isolated and modest fishing village, Hurghada has dramatically metamorphosed into the largest Red Sea Resort. Now a sprawling collection of more than 100 hotels, and is now Egypt's most popular resort destination. Hurghada was once just a tiny fisher village, with a location that seldom brought strangers here. Even in late 1970's this was the situation, but with the such unspoilt nature, the clarity of the Red Sea, and the endless opportunities for divers, Hurghada was destined to become an Egyptian centre for tourism.

Coral Reefs can be discovered by joining one of the many boat expeditions out to the nearby islands. Welcome aboard ! Giftun is the largest, and lies about 10 km from Hurghada, though there are many smaller islands closer to the shore.

Hurghada stretches for about 40 km along the seashore, and it doesn't reach far into the surrounding desert. The resort is a destination for package holiday tourists from Europe, Italians, Scandinavians, British and Germans. Until a few years ago it remained a small fishing village. Today Hurghada counts 400,000 inhabitants and is divided into three parts: Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part; Sakkala is the modern part, and El Korra Road is the most modern part.

Dahar is where the town's largest bazaar, the post office and the long-distance bus station are situated. Many restaurants, bars and shops, small pubs and internet cafes are available all over Hurghada. Every food taste from McDonalds to Japanese Gourmet food is available.

Sakkala is kind of the place where Hurghada comes alive, and it is clearly the most chic place around here, not far behind what El Gouda and Sharm el-Sheikh has on offer. Sakkala downtown is a dense collection of hotels, restaurants and tourist shops. The beaches of Sakkala are largely owned by hotels, but getting to use them is usually easy .

Boat trips out to the coral reefs and islands like the Giftun, are commonly sold all over Hurghada. Thanks to the condition of the corals along the beaches, this seems to be the only way to see colourful corals. Just like we see in the BBC nature programmes.

Hotels are abundant, and Hurghada is presently suffering from under-capacity. Finding a hotel room in high season can be a problem. Hurghada has luckily all ranges of hotels, from the simple to the posh and expensive. In total, Hurghada could be well over 100 different hotels and growing. Eating in Hurghada is by far best done in Ad-Dahar. In Sakkala reasonable prices and vast choice of food is readily available.