important to read before traveling to Egypt!!!
I have visited Hurghada 9 times already and my review is mainly intended for those who travel for the first time and collect information on the net bit by bit (like me before each trip), in the hope of spending a vacation not too expensive ( in any case, cheaper than in other tourist destinations during the season).
To begin with, the territories of hotels in Egypt in general, and Hurghada in particular, are always large enough so that the tourist does not have a special need to go OUTSIDE the hotel. On the territory of the hotels (all that I have visited, which are at least 4 stars) there is also a disco and shops (souvenirs, leather goods, jewelry + jewelry, printed products, a pharmacy), paid additional restaurants / cafes, a tour agency for sales of excursions, a beauty salon and a sauna (massages and other wellness treatments are to be found in them).
In those hotels where not the whole set is present, it means that you will find the rest exactly across the road from the hotel - there are usually bazaars or shopping centers (like ours, but with Egyptian flavor).
But since I do not belong to people who only need a beach holiday and like to look at something other than what the hotel offers, for all my holidays in Hurghada I have gathered information that can be useful to people like me. Below I share information for those who prefer to see more and spend less, of course, sometimes sacrificing some things for the sake of profit (which are of little importance to me), but at the same time, watching a lot of interesting things:
1) TRAVEL.
Everything that is sold on the territory of the hotel is 3 times more expensive than the same in Hurghada itself (and the hotels, for the most part, are located around Hurghada, not in it itself. Those in Hurghada itself do not differ in beauty and comfort, silence and other benefits). Therefore, it is better to make purchases in Hurghada, and not at the hotel, especially since the choice is larger and more varied. This applies to both things and fruits and excursions.
At worst, if you are scared to go, you can leave the hotel and look around, there are a lot of souvenir shops nearby and probably a tour company offering lower prices, but they all know the prices at the hotel and offer exactly the same - you have to bargain (this is a separate topic for conversation, I won’t write here. But the intricacies of bargaining need not be described, but felt in order to do it successfully. The maximum that they will throw off is 30-40%. THAT, which can be sold to tourists 10 times cheaper, is a fairy tale).
2) If you decide to go to Hurghada, the cheapest way to do it is by minibus. There are a huge number of them, just stand near the hotel and when you see her, raise your hand (although she will stop near a potential passenger without this).
The area should be called Sakkala. So say: "Sakkala. 4 pounds. " This is a tourist area with shops, cafes and more.
Another good promenade (and more beautiful than in Hurghada), but very small, located near the Sinbad Hotel. There is already almost like our shopping center and better things, but the prices are the same as ours. Souvenir "Ramstore" is also there. Souvenirs in huge quantities, not expensive, prices are fixed and bargaining is inappropriate. You can get there in the same way, it also costs 4 pounds, only you need to call it not Sakkala, but: "Sinbad Aqua Park Hotel".
-the second option is a taxi, but here you need to agree. any journey cannot be more than 5$!! ! yes, now they have a big course.
3) SHOPPING.
Personally, things there do not seem very high quality to me, but you can dig and find good bags. They will cost just a penny (if you bargain correctly) compared to our prices (and most of us have the same prices from the same place). I bought a couple of very good ones, for every day, for $ 20 apiece (I mean the last trip). If you don't bargain at all, you won't lose much, and the price without bargaining is 2 times lower than ours.
In general, products - for an amateur. From those whom I spat, our aunts simply trudged and bought like hot cakes. Therefore, it's a matter of taste, you can't advise here.
4) EXCURSIONS.
If you already went from the hotel to Hurghada, look around on social networks... you will see the pages of good private guides, go in and write to them on business. look at their prices? I am sure that (for the same excursions as in the hotel) 2 times lower. You can bargain and throw off a few more dollars for the tour, or get free ones as a gift !! ! We constantly bought a trip on a yacht to the reefs (I highly recommend. $ 15 per person in a Hurghada company and $ 25-30 in a hotel). We bought an excursion from one guide and we were pleased, but we ordered a second trip through another guide whom I can recommend and give coordinators if you want. When we went to El Gouna, the guide impressed us with his language and good knowledge of history and persuaded us to go on a safari in Luxori.
We bought Luxor from him and were very satisfied (an excellent tour for $30 in total, I highly recommend it, you will see a lot of things there).
We also went on quad bikes to the Bedouins (not bad. In a hotel $ 30 per person, on the street = $ 25 per person and our guide $ 20 + a horse ride as a gift) on a boat with a transparent bottom (do not buy, bullshit. Bottom - this is a small glass window at the bottom of the boat, not the bottom of the whole boat).
We didn't go to Cairo. Everyone complained that it was tedious and not very pleasant. You need to go there for 6 hours, with an overnight stay on the bus, to see Cairo and the pyramids.
-here is the MOST IMPORTANT POINT... All the stories of hotel guides about the low quality of such excursions are just the intrigues of competitors. For all my trips there - I didn’t see any difference (I bought either at the hotel, then - on the street and also from private guides) and I can confidently say that an interesting and well-speaking guide is like lucky... and at the hotel there are such stupid ones , what the hell is needed, but on the street in a local firm there are such - you can’t wish for the best. So - there's enough money for that. But I advise you to separate educational excursions and walking tours. And buying from trusted guides can help with this.
In any case, wherever we bought excursions, they picked us up from the hotel and brought us after - also to the hotel, no problem. But you can make friends with the guide and drive around the city on his typewriter, he does not refuse tourists, it is important for him to be friends with tourists!
5) FOOD.
Here I would like to criticize everyone who writes on the Internet about monotonous food and so on... I constantly came across such characteristics when I was choosing a hotel before my trip. No matter how much I travel to Egypt, indeed, the set of dishes in hotels is very similar and repeats. But here, at home, do we change our dishes every day?
And the fact that for lunch and dinner in every hotel in Hurghada they offer chicken and salads and rice and vegetables and beef (mutton) and by the way, fish too - not at all uncommon... it's just offered every day SIMULTANEOUSLY! Dear compatriots somehow forget to write about this. But no one forces you to eat all this at the same time (it's even harmful if someone doesn't know)!
For example, when we eat on vacation, we don’t pile everything together on a plate (pasta with chicken, turkey, beef and potatoes), but we eat, for example, chicken and rice for lunch and beef with vegetables for dinner. Although, at the same time, the restaurant offers everything together - they are trying to take into account the preferences of the entire mass of tourists in the hotel. And the next day, what prevents you from putting pasta with turkey on a plate, and fish and vegetables for dinner? And thus get a VARIETY of food? I don't see any problems! And at the same time, you don’t have to make a “garbage dump” in your stomach from different products, and then yell that the food there every day is the same.
And one more thing: my fellow traveler (this time I did not go with a friend, but with a fellow traveler whom I found on the Internet) was constantly whining, cursing and complaining about a small amount of fruit... Well, it directly haunted her that in a good hotel there was no they give ALL the fruits that exist on the planet, while she constantly said that she was in a hot country, where these fruits should be "by default" and in large quantities and in every hotel.
So, for lovers of strawberries, mangoes and grapes and all kinds of fruits... All this can be bought in Hurghada, in the same tourist quarter of Sakkala, at prices slightly lower than in our supermarkets. The taste is the same. Tales about especially sweet, garden strawberries are just
-Alcoholic drinks, although locally produced, but beer always and everywhere I saw only Heineken, the same as ours. Some wines are quite even okay, especially at dinner, but not all varieties. It happens that in one hotel, but in different bars - the taste of the same wine is different (maybe one is diluted with water, the other is not, I haven’t checked). Imported drinks - for a fee almost everywhere.
6) SEA, BEACHES, CORALS.
Hurghada differs from Sharm el-Sheikh in terms of the sea and corals in that there are practically no living corals left in Hurghada. If there are, they are so few and so insignificant that they may not be seen. However, it is full of life. Corals are dying because the yachts that bring tourists to the sea to swim, cling to the anchor precisely for the coral. And each coral reef has such a yacht (well, maybe not everyone, but - through one). I fully observed this this year, although 5 years ago the picture was completely different (in the same Hurghada). So there is no point in complaining that the yacht brought you to a dead place, because he will take you somewhere else at the request, only everything will be the same there.
Another difference is that there are very few beaches in Hurghada, near which, close by, there is some kind of reef with fish. Therefore, I strongly recommend to prepare strongly for the fact that it is worth going on a yacht. Otherwise, you will simply never be able to appreciate the beauty of the Red Sea.
7) WELLNESS TREATMENTS.
The massage course was held there with her husband at the salon in the hotel. Pretty decent massage. Prices are not cheaper than ours. It was more profitable for us to take also through a guide recommended one salon where the quality and price are very good, even we were shocked. We took several procedures - because they give another discount. From our numerous "professionals" do not differ. They can give good advice. Of course, this is not Thailand and not a Thai prof. massage, but also good. If you love massage and you just don’t have time to go to it at home, then on vacation you can pay attention to it, you won’t be disappointed. True, I thought that it was better to do this at the hotel, and not somewhere else, but now I know who to turn to. here every 6 months. I go for a massage - it's no different, by the way. . .
Hamam, of course, in Turkey is better than in Egypt... but if you really want to steam the bones - you can go there in Hurghada, in any case, after the hamam, massage is more productive and the effect is greater.
" DUTY FREE" at Hurghada airport.
Quite a decent place in terms of drinks... Since I didn’t buy cosmetics and perfume there, they didn’t seem quite “reliable” to me, but I bought Hennessy, Remy Martin and Courvoisier cognacs and they cost less than ours. And the quality and authenticity are the same. The price is 2 times lower than in hypermarkets (see today's prices). My husband bought a liter gin - it was also normal. A friend bought tequila - I tried it, everything is in order. So with drinks - well, with the rest - I don't know.
And finally:
Of course, there is not much written here for those who are traveling for the first time... you can write me questions with pleasure, I will answer.
And yet, I am not a huge fan of Egypt and Hurghada in particular, I would love to fly to the Seychelles or Ibiza for a vacation... Yes, the population there is not European, but the service, equipment, yachts, boats, and so on are top class. When I was going to go, I read about it on the Internet. . .
why i like hurghada ?
- firstly, it is cheaper than in other countries (though not to say that the prices of travel agencies were fair), and secondly, almost always - the season. Thirdly, it’s not far to fly,... for example, I’m not always ready to hang out in the sky for 8-10 hours (especially if I only need the sea and the sun, after the session and with good excursions. . . I choose Egypt for such cases).
If you fly to evaluate the service or inspect something, work there as an auditor - then you will ruin your vacation! And if you just want to relax and have fun, you don't need to spit on everything you see and are not used to at home.
I'll give you some advice that will help you have a great rest:
Behave in an unfamiliar country the way children do! That is - DO NOT EVALUATE ANYTHING from what you see! Just like children, open your eyes wider and enjoy seeing a different culture, an unfamiliar cuisine (although it has already been adapted to European cuisine), from a different human worldview and religion... And then you will be surprised to find that the WORLD PLAYED WITH MULTI-COLORED BRIGHT PAINTS AND LIGHTS, as in childhood.
Just DO NOT evaluate anything, don’t bother yourself that this one did something bad, but this one did it well, don’t gasp: “how is it possible” and “how dare he / she” - and the vacation will immediately become wonderful ! ! !!
