Sighseeing in Hurghada

Sightseeing in Hurghada

Hurghada cannot look back on a long, pharaonic past, in contrast to the rest of Egypt. Only with the expansion of mass tourism Hurghada developed in the 1980s and 1990s, first from a fishing village and secret tip for divers and surfers and then to a destination for package tourists.
Hurghada today is like no other place for a carefree beach holiday and also provides a variety of restaurants, bars and discos, but "real" attractions in the traditional sense (buildings, etc.) are rather rare, but Hurghada offers remarkable natural sights under and above the water.
The beginnings as a resort began in the early 70s with the construction of the Sheraton Hotel. Since then, the original small fishing village has developed into a growing city. In November 2006, the population of Egypt was given as 160,901. The actual population in 2012 can only be estimated and is certainly not estimated too high with 180,000 people living here.
Hurghada is the capital of the governate (administrative district) "Bach El Ahmar" (Red Sea). It stretches about 30 km along the coast and is divided into four districts. To the north is El Dahar, the oldest part of the city (also known as Downtown). Here, many hotels are located directly on the sea, beyond all administrative facilities such as the Courthouse and the Office for passport services. Also the Suq can be found - based on the famous Khan el Khalili market in Cairo you can buy souvenirs of all kinds here in an oriental atmosphere. The district is dominated by the large Nasr Street, which extends from the southern part of the beginning of the so-called Sekalla Square alongside of the port to the end of town to the north.
Dahar is the most original of the districts. Here you can get especially in the evening a sense of the "real" Egypt away from the hotel, if you walk through the busy streets: in shops run according to the Quran recitation and Arabic music, cafes sound for their guests with TV (of course fullest volume), it is loud on the street discussing the price for children clothing, go through the middle of a market cars and motorbikes and honking their way free. Governate administration building Hurghada So it is not surprising that especially in the evening the majority of people are on the road Egyptians going about their daily errands, for which it is simply is too hot during the day.
Abdel Moneim Riad Mosque in Dahar was for many years the symbol of Hurghada. It was built in the early 1970s.

Also in Dahar, just a few meters away there is also the Coptic church “St. Shenouda Cathedral”. Construction was completed in 2011. Before that there was a tiny church that was no longer adequate to the growing Christian community in Hurghada.
South of Dahar follows Sekalla(or Is-Siqalla). This part of town is marked very touristy and is essentially determined by the Sheraton Street, which runs parallel to the sea to the south and a large number located at the sea side at smaller resorts. The beginning starts Sekalla on Sekalla Square and the harbor and extends south to the beginning of the "right" hotel zone with the big 5 * resorts. Along the Sheraton Road are an innumerable amount of shops, restaurants and coffee shops. In Sekalla live very many European Residents, ie Europeans, who have moved their center of life to Hurghada. The side streets of the Sheraton Road, Sherry Street and School Street (Sharia El Madares) blooming on the evening. The offer is here more for Hurghada's inhabitants as for tourists. In Sekalla is the Marina, the marina Hurghada, next to the proper port. If you want to take a breath again and just want to walk in peace, the Marina is recommended as the local retailers do not actively approach customers as in other places.
Hurghada's newest attraction is the El Mina mosque next to the Hurghada Marina. It was completed after a long construction period in 2012 and is a fine example of modern Arab architecture. The two minarets towering over Hurghada. Visitors are welcome outside of prayer times. Women can borrow a galabeya and cover at the entrance to cover their hair, arms and legs with cloth.
Next to the mosque is the fishing harbor with fish market, which is also worth a visit. Here the freshly caught fish is sold from the Red Sea. Mubarak / Horreya 5 (shortly after the airport on the right direction Sekalla) and Mubarak / Horreya 2 () are public housing projects from the Mubarak era, the managed-cost condominiums. These are five-storey block of flats settlements.
Continue south to the airport, there are still Mubarak / Horreya 6 semi-detached houses. South of Sekalla and thus the level of the airport there is the area of El Kausar (El Kawther). This runs along the major Hotel Promenade "Mamsha", starting with the hotel Mashrabeya in the north along until it ends at the Hotel Grand Plaza in the south. Along the Mamsha by many shops with typical Egyptian souvenirs, also many cafes and the large shopping center "Esplanada Mall". Another duty free shop is also to be found here. On the inland side, an ever-growing residential area has developed in which there are many luxurious residences with private swimming pool and many villas. Esplanada Mall Hurghada.
The southern part of Hurghada, the hotel zone with the large hotel complexes, colloquially known as Magawish, named after the northernmost hotel of this district. Magawish stretches for many miles to the nearest town almost Sahl Hasheesh. On the seaward side, large hotel complexes alternate with fallow land, until you reach the hotel the Sunrise chain. Here is again a proper shop street such as can be found in Sekalla. In addition, here is the shopping center Senzo Mall, particularly known for the large supermarket Spinneys. On the landward side are mainly villas and maximum 3 storey dwelling houses. Individual properties are z.T. directly beside each other, z.T. but are located a few hundred meters distance between. Walking is due to its not recommended at this road, otherwise you sometimes have to run a long time without sidewalk along the road of wasteland and desert, to find cafes without shops.

City Tour Hurghada

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Hurghada Aquarium The aquarium is located in El Dahar, across from General Hospital, next to the City Beach. The entrance fee is 15 LE. There are about 30 aquariums of all sizes, in which you can see many domestic species in the Red Sea, including three freshwater pools with Nile fish. The water in the pool, the glass panes, as well as the area for visitors are very clean and well maintained, everything makes a good Impression, quite comparable with similar institutions in Europe.


In addition to the pool hanging multilingual panels on which the names of the fish are mentioned Here it would have been better still provide further information on the fish to learn more about their way of life. Who are interested should bring a fishing guide. Beside the aquarium, a coffee shop with terrace overlooking the sea is located, where you can have a drink afterwards.

Aquarium Hurghada

There are about 30 aquariums, where you can see many native species in the Red Sea.

Sand City

Sand City Hurghada is located opposite the Senzo Mall. The entrance fee is 70 LE and For this you can view over 60 reliefs and statues.

All figures are made only from compressed sand and water, which is rock hard. As a protection against wind and rain, the surfaces of the statues are treated with varnish.

There are up to 10 m high statues that represent a mixture of all areas, of course, many Pharaonic art. Napoleon, Zeus, Poseidon, Cleopatra, Ganesh, Eros and Caesar, as well as modern "heroes" such as King Kong, Jack Sparrow and Spiderman are on display.
The Creation of Sand City took six months and there were 29 artists from different countries involved.