Always sunny, great people, beautiful surrounding .
Disadvantages:
Quite costly, too commercial to some peoples taste .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
----------Writers Notice--------- This review is based on personal experiences and opinions, I do not claim it to be the truth, nor am I responsible for any assumptions you might make.
---------Introduction--------- Hurghada is a coastal town in Egypt, that stretches for about 30 miles along the shore, but does not really go deep into the desert, a perfect town for tourism, and the battle for pieces of private beach by hotels have made this town so wide I think, because offering your guests a calm spot on a private beach, how is that not attractive right?
I have been in the town, during Ramadan, I have been coraldiving, sunbathing, I have been into the desert, and have been in the greatest hotel you can get for your money.
-------------Going There-------------- Flying from the Netherlands, and ofcourse that gives trouble if you do NOT have a passport, which, at that time, I did not. Egypt is in Africa, and you should be well aware of that. First of all, you will need an injection, because getting sick there is not too hard. After alot of hassle, rebooking ( we missed the flight ) and going abroad to fly the day after ( took the train to Belgium ).
-----Getting Settled------------ Well, landed, and the heat hit me in the face, it was 8PM on a sunday in October, and it was 34 degrees celsius, be aware when you are flying from a country with a cold climate.. Well, when we got there, neverminding their promise, they gave away our room to somebody else. Our booking agency was truely great, and for only 2 euro a night extra, we got put in a 4 star hotel, instead of a 3 star hotel, well worth the costs.
------The Hotel---------- Sindbad Aquapark, I will be dead before I find something negative about this hotel...The only downside is that they only had one song for the elevator, so if you forget alot and go to your room like 4 times before you go sunbathing, you will notice that the same song is chanting, but thats all. The staff was great, you only had to think of a pillow and they came to give you one. The toilets were used by alot of Russians ( I do not mean this racistic, but every time a Russian went to the toilet, it seems like they can't be bothered to aim, I feel bad for the cleaning crew. )
But they were always made clean, by one man, one man that also took part in the Ramadan. He is working, day in day out, 14 hours a day, cleaning the pee of some lazy Russian, and everybody else ofcourse, and not a second ungratefull that he works for a salary I can not even buy 1 drink in the hotel from. ( like 5 Egyptian Pound and 60 Piastres ( cents ) an hour, which would be about 60p an hour ) I talked to him, and he always cleaned one toilet in the back extra, so I had a very clean toilet, and to thank him I gave him 20 pounds on the last day, which is a huge ammount to them, and spending 2 GBP for a smile still burned in my mind, definatly worth it.
The room was great, the pool was undescribeable, and I do not know how come, but there were so many extremely beautiful girls walking around it felt like I raided a fashionshow. I was single and 15, can you blame me for enjoying my day?
--------Surroundings--------- Looking from the hotel balcony, I could see the really impressive Red Sea. when you walk outside of the hotel, passed the guards ( still no idea why there were guards, so they probably did their jobs ) and then you see a 2 lane street. I guess we looked like we needed a cab, because every Egyptian with a spare seat honked, hoping to rake in a few EGP. Important to determine the price before he starts driving. The sky is just awesome, first winterday it was 39 degrees and it took me 2 days to find a faint cloud, a tiny one aswell.
------Trips-------
- Downtown
A must, downtown, the shops, the people, the internet cafe, the signs saying 'Prices are not negotiatable' and after that walking away with a product for half price. It is pretty, and there is a MacDonalds. One thing about this MC Donalds, they determined their own size, so if you order a portion of small fries, you would get a portion almost the size of the British 'Large fries'. Ignorant as I was, ordered the large fries, haha, that was like 500 grams or so, insane.
- Mahmya
Mahmya is an island about 40 minutes by boat from the Hurghadian coast, the boattrip is amazing, blue sea, blue sky, and a dolphin here and there. When you get there, it looks gross, because looking on the wrinkled water, coral just looks like a deep laying oilstain. However, after short instructions, you can get underwater, and boy is that pretty. The coral is amazing, and also quite big. However, if you move around too cheerful, which you probably would when you just saw something that pretty, you get the water in your mouth. And in case you did not know, its the most salt water you will ever swallow, and even the acid in your stomach gets annoyed by it. However, there are facilities on the island, such as a lunchroom, toilets, and covered places to sit/lay.
Sidenote: I was 15 and single, and I will never forget the ladies that thought being on a island ment walk around topless, I have never seen so many pretty girls just having a talk with you while you try not to stare at her perfect shaped breasts too obvious. For a reason there were English speaking, Russian speaking and German speaking groups, we decided to go for English, because the mood was better.
- The Desert
Under guidance we went into the desert, this time we joined the German group on the way there. We were with about 12 people in the back of a big offroadcar, with the exhaust detoured to the top of the roof, so it would not get filled with sand. Because Egyptians in general are not too rich, they were videotaping the thing, so you would buy the DVD, getting them money. The cameraman was ON TOP of the car, sometimes hanging upside down next to the car to get a cool shot.
Insane, but it did get cool results. When we arrived there we had food, I had white grapes, and I loved them, and contrary to what I was told, I did NOT get sick. After taking a trip on the back of a camel ( scary, but worth it, and again this is against payment, if they can charge you for a fart they would, they are nice, but have to be crafty to make enough ) we went to watch through a telescope, amazing to see the surface of the moon ( looks just like the face of a 14 year old geek ) and to watch stars.
After having food and relaxing in the 'cold' desert ( still 24 degrees, but the locals put on like 4 coats, being used to 46 degrees and all ) the ride back was not what we looked forward too, but the drivers were kind, and stopped once on the way back, so we could get our stomachs sorted out, or maybe he just did not want to clean up our vommit otherwise, but it seemed like he cared for us.
-------Conclusion--------
The town is great, the things you can do are great, and the staff at the hotels are nice. Some are fake nice, and some are truely nice ( like the man that cleaned the toilets, he was truely a man ), but you will always get great service. The weather is perfect, and all your memories will be sunny, even though the act on itself was not that impressive, it is so great in your memory, because you just feel good. Definatly worth going to, for any purpose you might have.
----- Our Costs ----- - Flights: 520, for 2 retourflights from Amsterdam. - Hotel: 83.80 a night, for either one or 2 persons, same price. - Shops: for Tshirts, gifts, about 70? but this truely depends on you. - Food: The dinner was at the cost of the hotel, drinks were standard, 1 beer, 1 coke, 24 EGP, which is about 2 pound 50. - Trips: Desert was 70 euros, including food and camel, Mahmya was 115 euros, but with the pretty coral and all the toplessness, worth it ;) Downtown costed like 1 euro for all the cabtrips we made, and the rest was cheap.
To have a careless relaxed week of vacation here, I would recommend reserving about 1100 euros / 800 pounds per person. Not cheap, but sure as hell worth the money.
PS, it is doable as family, but just sunbathing and romanticly walking is much more fun if you are just a couple. Recommended for honeymoons, reasonably rich couples, and people that really really love their children.
________________FINAL STATEMENT_________________ Hope this was informative and not too much of a bore, tell me if I should remove anything/add something.
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