Hurghada is a city in the Red Sea
Governorate of Egypt. It is a main tourist center and second largest city
(after Suez) in Egypt located on the Red Sea coast.
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, notably
Italians and Germans. Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village.
Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants and is divided into three parts:
Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part; Sekalla is the city center, and El Memsha
(Village road) is the modern part. Sakalla is the relatively modest hotel
quarter. Dahar is where the town\'s largest bazaar, the post office and the
long-distance bus station are situated.
The city is served by the Hurghada
International Airport with scheduled passenger traffic to and from Cairo and
direct connections with several cities in Europe. The airport has undergone
massive renovations to accommodate rising traffic. Hurghada is known for its
watersports activities, nightlife and warm weather. Daily temperature hovers
round 30 degrees celsius most of the year. Numerous Europeans spend their
Christmas and New Year holidays in the city, primarily Germans, Russians and
Italians.