Middle East - Anthony Ham [149]
MICROBUS & TAXI
Small blue microbuses travel between Port Tawfiq and Suez (25pt). A taxi will cost E£3 to E£5.
Service Taxi
Clapped-out taxis depart from beside the bus station to Cairo (E£8 to E£10), Ismailia (E£6), Port Said (E£12) and Nuweiba (E£35). There is an occasional service to Hurghada (E£35). To get to Sharm el-Sheikh you’ll need to travel to Al-Tor (E£18) and catch an onward service.
Train
Six trains daily depart for Cairo (E£4/1.50 in 2nd/3rd class, three hours) between 5.45am and 9.25pm, but they make it only as far as Ain Shams, 10km northeast of central Cairo. There is also one daily slow train (E£6, four hours) to Cairo’s Ramses train station at 3.20pm.
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RED SEA COAST
The long stretch of Egyptian coastline that meets the Red Sea, extending from Suez to Sudan, is fringed by world-class coral reefs and clear aqua waters. It is here that Moses parted the Red Sea and early Christians established the first monasteries. These days, however, the legions of holiday-makers that descend here en masse are more keen on sun-bathing than biblical navel-gazing.
Hurghada is the sprawling concrete heart of the European package tourist scene. Ravenous development has steam-rolled its way through here to leave behind some of the most unsightly and environmentally disastrous expansion this coast has ever seen. To rub Red Sea salt into the wounds, a recent spate of bombings in Egypt has put a dint in tourist numbers, scarring the coastline with the concrete husks of unfinished future resorts. Further south, Al-Quseir and Marsa Alam have mostly been spared the ‘developer’s touch’, though the government has grand plans for an expanding string of behemoth, high-end resorts.
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HURGHADA
065 / pop 115,000
If your ideal holiday involves rowdy package tours and jostling for beach-towel space on emaciated, crowded beaches in an overpriced, Las Vegas–inspired, faux ancient Egyptian metropolis, look no further! Hailed by Egyptian tourist authorities as a success story, Hurghada is a poster-child for everything that can go wrong with mass tourism. Uninhibited growth over the years has disfigured this part of the Red Sea coast with its relentless concrete spread, destroying much of the fringing reef ecosystems along the way. Nevertheless, there are a few low-key resorts that manage to retain shreds of calm, and for many touring the Nile Valley it remains the most accessible part of the Red Sea. Hurghada is the jumping-off point for boats to Sharm el-Sheikh and Sinai. For details of the somewhat belated efforts to rescue the region’s green credentials, Click here.
Orientation
Most budget hotels are in the main town area, Ad-Dahar, at the northern end of a long stretch of resorts. A main road connects Ad-Dahar with Sigala, where the town’s port is. South of Sigala, a road winds 15km down along the coast through the chintzy ‘resort strip’, which is the town’s upmarket tourism enclave.
Information
Banks are scattered all over Hurghada: most have ATMs. Many upmarket hotels also have ATMs in their lobbies.
El Baroudy Internet (Sharia Sheikh Sabak, Ad-Dahar; per hr E£5; 24hr)
Main post office (Sharia an-Nasr) Towards the southern end of Ad-Dahar.
Passport Office ( 446 727; Sharia an-Nasr; 8am-2pm Sat-Thu) For visa extensions.
Speed.Net (Sharia al-Hababa, Sagala; per hr E£10; 10am-midnight)
Telephone centrale (Sharia an-Nasr; 24hr) Northwest of the main post office.
Thomas Cook Ad-Dahar ( 354 1870/1; Sharia an-Nasr; 9am-2pm & 6-10pm); Sigala ( 344 3338; Sharia Sheraton; 9am-3pm & 4-10pm) Changes travellers cheques.
Tourist office ( 344 4421; 8am-8pm) On the resort strip.
Activities
There’s little to do in Hurghada itself other than sit on a beach and dream of more secluded places. The public