| Coordinates: 27°15′28″N 33°48′42″E | |
| Country | Egypt |
| Governorate | Red Sea |
| Founded | 1905 |
| Elevation | 14 m (46 ft) |
| Population (auto) |
|
| • Total | 261,714 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| Area code(s) | (+20) 65 |
Hurghada is a city in the Red Sea
Governorate of Egypt. It is one of the country’s main tourist centres
located on the Red Sea coast.
Overview
The city was founded in the
early 20th century, and until recently it was a small fishing village. But
since the 1980s, it has been continually enlarged by Egyptian and foreign
investors to become the leading coastal resort on the Red Sea. Holiday resorts
and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for windsurfers, kitesurfers, yachtsmen, scuba
divers and snorkelers. Hurghada is known for its watersports activities,
nightlife and warm weather. Daily temperature hovers round 30 °C
(86 °F) most of the year, during July and August temperatures reach over
40 °C (104 °F). Many Europeans head to Hurghada for their regular
Holidays, especially during the Winter season and spend their Christmas and New
Year holidays in the city. Tourism from Russia dropped drastically after
the Metrojet Flight 9268 plane crash in November 2015.
Hurghada stretches for about
36 kilometres (22 mi) along the seashore, and it does not reach far into
the surrounding desert. The resort is a destination for Egyptian tourists
from Cairo, the Delta and Upper Egypt, as well as package
holiday tourists from Europe. Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants
and is divided into:
- El Ahia and El Helal, the
northern part; - El Dahar (Downtown) is the old
part; - Sekalla is the city center;
- El Kawsar is the modern part;
- El Memsha (Village road) is
pedestrian road stretching over 4 km.
Along the El Mamsha you find many of Hurghada’s new hotels, restaurants, and shops. Most of the newest and biggest hotel resorts located in the area between Mamsha to Sahl Hasheesh (Village road). After Sahl Hasheesh you find Makadi Bay with its hotels. Dahar is the oldest part of the town, where the town’s traditional bazaar, the post office and the long-distance bus stations, Go Bus and Upper Egypt Bus are situated. The busiest area is its “city center” Sakala, which is spread along Sheraton Road. There are some hotels, shops and restaurants along Sheraton Road.
The city is served by
the Hurghada International Airport with scheduled passenger traffic
connecting to Cairo and directly with several cities in Europe.
A new terminal was opened in 2015 to accommodate rising traffic.
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 which has grown naturally since ancient times. By
then it was only a fishing village. Oil was discovered in the area in 1913, but
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, but after President Nasser’s nationalization of Egypt’s
industries it was turned over to the armed forces.
During the War of
Attrition between Israel and Egypt, Shadwan island east of the city in the
Red Sea, was fortified and held by Egyptian troops and used as a radar post. On
22 January 1970, it was the site of Operation Rhodes, a heliborne assault
by Israeli troops which occupied the island for 36 hours.
During the October War of
1973, Hurghada harbor was target for four Israeli operations forces also, occupied Shadwan Island with over 32 casualties to the
Egyptian army, and only 7 to the Israeli army.
Tourism
Although a town in its own
right, Hurgada’s current major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing
to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long
stretches of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the
year and have become popular for various water-sports, particularly
recreational scuba diving and snorkelling.
Dive sites around Abu Ramada
Island, Fanadir, Giftun Kebir, and Giftun Soraya are popular. Tourists
also visit shipwrecks such as the El Mina or the Rosalie Moller. The beach at
Hurghada is not secluded, out to Sigala the beach is then followed by coastal
holiday villages and then desert.
Demographics
Russian residents
Hurghada has 4 schools for
Russian children, which are: Galaxy, Our Traditions Dina and The World of
Knowledg (the Russian School Hurghada); as well as the newsletter MK
in Egypt. Much of the signage in the city, as of 2015, is in Russian. In
June 2015 MK in Egypt publisher Yulia Shevel stated that there
were about 20,000 Russians in Hurghada, giving it Egypt’s largest Russian
population, though only about 3,000 were officially documented. Russian
women staying in Hurghada often marry Egyptian men through an ‘urfi process.
In 2017 the Russian Consulate
was open in Hurghada.[12]
Climate
Hurghada has a subtropical-desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWh), with mild-warm winters and hot to very hot summers. Temperatures in the period December–January–February are warm, but in the evenings temperature may drop from an average 20 Celsius degrees to 10. November, March and April are comfortably warm. May and October are hot and the period from June to September is very hot. The average annual temperature of the sea is 24 °C (75 °F), ranging from 21 °C (70 °F) in February and March to 28 °C (82 °F) in August.
The highest temperature
recorded occurred on June 12, 2013 and was 46 °C (115 °F), while the
lowest record temperature was recorded on February 2, 1993 and was 0 °C
(32 °F).
| Climate data for Hurghada | |||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 28.0 (82.4) |
30.7 (87.3) |
34.3 (93.7) |
41.3 (106.3) |
39.4 (102.9) |
46.0 (114.8) |
40.8 (105.4) |
38.6 (101.5) |
38.2 (100.8) |
38.2 (100.8) |
34.4 (93.9) |
30.3 (86.5) |
42.6 (108.7) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 21.5 (70.7) |
22.6 (72.7) |
25.2 (77.4) |
29.1 (84.4) |
32.9 (91.2) |
35.3 (95.5) |
36.2 (97.2) |
36.1 (97.0) |
34.3 (93.7) |
31.1 (88.0) |
26.8 (80.2) |
22.7 (72.9) |
29.5 (85.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 15.7 (60.3) |
16.8 (62.2) |
19.3 (66.7) |
22.8 (73.0) |
26.1 (79.0) |
28.9 (84.0) |
29.7 (85.5) |
29.9 (85.8) |
28.0 (82.4) |
25.2 (77.4) |
21.0 (69.8) |
17.1 (62.8) |
23.4 (74.1) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 11.0 (51.8) |
11.4 (52.5) |
14.0 (57.2) |
17.8 (64.0) |
21.9 (71.4) |
24.8 (76.6) |
26.4 (79.5) |
26.2 (79.2) |
24.2 (75.6) |
20.9 (69.6) |
16.6 (61.9) |
12.5 (54.5) |
19.0 (66.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 5.6 (42.1) |
0.0 (32.0) |
7.5 (45.5) |
9.1 (48.4) |
13.4 (56.1) |
18.8 (65.8) |
20.9 (69.6) |
20.9 (69.6) |
17.0 (62.6) |
13.8 (56.8) |
9.2 (48.6) |
6.0 (42.8) |
0.0 (32.0) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 0.4 (0.02) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.3 (0.01) |
1.0 (0.04) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.6 (0.02) |
2.0 (0.08) |
0.9 (0.04) |
5.2 (0.21) |
| Average rainy days (≥ 0.01 mm) | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 2 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 48 | 46 | 46 | 43 | 42 | 41 | 45 | 46 | 48 | 53 | 51 | 51 | 46.7 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 265.7 | 277.6 | 274.3 | 285.6 | 317.4 | 348.0 | 352.3 | 322.4 | 301.6 | 275.2 | 263.9 | 246.7 | 3,530.7 |
| Source #1: World Meteorological Organization (1971-2000) | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: NOAA (mean temperature, record high and lows, humidity and sun 1961–1990) |
| Climate data for Hurghada, Egypt | ||||||||||||
| Hurghada mean sea temperature | ||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| 22 °C (72 °F) | 21 °C (70 °F) | 21 °C (70 °F) | 22 °C (72 °F) | 24 °C (75 °F) | 26 °C (79 °F) | 27 °C (81 °F) | 28 °C (82 °F) | 27 °C (81 °F) | 26 °C (79 °F) | 25 °C (77 °F) | 23 °C (73 °F) | |
Resorts
near Hurghada
El Qoseir
El Qoseir is one of the
Egyptian gateways, and one of the oldest cities on the western coast of the Red
Sea. In the past it was known by various names, such as Thagho in
the pharonic period, Leucos Limen in the Hellenistic and Ptolemaic
period, and Portus Albus in the Roman period. In the Islamic
period it was given the name El Qoseir, which means “a small
palace or fortress”.
Located between Hurghada and
Marsa Alam, El Quseir used to be an important port. Many people traveled from
there to the land of Punt to buy ivory, leather and incense.
During the Ottoman and the Islamic periods, Egyptians and Muslims from North
Africa traveled from El Quseir as pilgrims to Mecca. It was also the only port
importing coffee from Yemen. During the French occupation of Egypt, El
Qoseir was the arrival point for Arabs and Muslims from Hegaz coming to fight
beside the Mamalic against the French army. The most important sites in El
Qoseir are the fort and the water reservoir. The water reservoir was El
Qoseir’s only source of drinking water 100 years ago.
El Qoseir El Adima is another
important site as well. It was the old Roman port where hundreds of amphora and
old pottery artifacts were found. Even the police station is located
at a historical site. There are now many bazaars here, as well as cafes, coffee
shops and restaurants offering sea food. There are several 300-year-old
buildings here: the Ottoman fort and the old mosques El Farran, El Qenawi and
El Senousi.
Makadi
Bay
A Tourist Resort located
30 km south of Hurghada dedicated only to hotels, shops and clubs. There
are no settlements with locals. The place features good sandy beach.
Sharm El
Naga
A village, around 40 km
(25 mi) south of Hurghada. Its beach contains a beautiful reef cliff.
Soma Bay
Soma Bay A tourist resort
situated 45 km (28 mi) south of Hurghada, with various hotels
including Palm Royale Soma Bay, La Residence des Cascades, Robinson
Club, Sheraton (Kempinski – opening August 2008) & Caribbean World Resort
Soma Bay ( opened December 7).
El Gouna
A privately owned luxury hotel
town, about 25 km north of Hurghada. Quiet and clean, the town consists of
several islands separated by channels and connected by bridges. Besides 14
hotels and 3 marinas, there are also 2200 private villas and apartments, while
many more are under construction. It is promoted by some as Egypt’s Venice.
It is built on 10 km of beachfront and has unique and diverse
architecture.
El Gouna provides diving and
watersports centers, horse stables, go-karting, shopping arcades, bazaars, a
wide selection of restaurants and bars, night clubs, an internet cafe, four
bank branches, many automated teller machines (ATMs), two pharmacies, the El
Gouna international school, El Gouna national school, a nursery, a private
hospital, three marinas, a library, an airport, one of several casinos on the
Red Sea coast, a private radio station, a post office, a museum, real estate
offices and an 18-hole golf course designed by Gene Bates with a unique aqua
driving range.
El Mahmya
A tourist beachfront camp on
the protected Giftun island, 45 minutes by boat from Hurghada.
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