Hurghada

Eat

Hurghada offers a variety of cuisine, including fast food, western restaurants, oriental food, and many others. KFC and McDonald's, and local fast food GAD, are present. There some Syrian restaurants in the Sheraton Road and more in the Marina, Indian, Thai, Sea food and Lebanese

Drink

Those new to Egypt will find karkaday (a drink made from an infusion of hibiscus, served hot or cold and reputed to have many health benefits) and chi (local version of tea, usually served in a glass) offered everywhere. Both are delicious and will usually come replete with a smoke on a sheesha pipe, known in the West as a hookah. Sheeshas are used for smoking molasses tobacco in various flavours, with the smoke passing through water before inhalation through a long tube attached to the bowl. Although they may resemble a device used to smoke illicit substances in the west (a bong), sheesha is legal.

Alcoholic drinks can usually be found in bars or hotels. Hurghada has a very western atmosphere so it is much easier to drink than in other areas of Egypt. Non-alcoholic drinks include canned soft drinks and fruit juice, and traditional Egyptian drinks including the aforementioned karkadeh, yansoon (aniseed tea), ganzabeel (ginger tea, reputed to have digestive benefits), irfa (cinnamon tea), and sahlab (a hot, drinkable pudding thickened with orchid-root starch and typically flavored with cinammon). Lemonade is also available both cold and hot, and may be made with mint.

Over the years, Hurghada has developed a bubbling reputation for its cosmopolitan nightlife scene, alongside the many bars within the new .

There are many bars, nightclubs and discos in Hurghada. Almost every hotel comes equipped with its own disco coupled with the world's first Hed Kandi Beach Bar, other nigh…

Sleep

Large tour operators such as Tui have their own resorts or block bookings with newer local groups like Jaz. These are often the "all inclusive" variety. These may not appeal to the independent traveller, but they can still be a good base for exploring the area. There are plenty of internet sites to find reviews and book these.

Stay safe

In 2018, there were complaints of guests falling ill at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel because of possible food safety issues, including undercooked food and lapses in cleanliness. Two British travellers died; the BBC reports travel agency Thomas Cook removed its clients from that hotel and in some cases arranged to fly them home.

Because of the heat combined with inadequate food hygiene, gastrointestinal ailments are common (sickness and diarrhoea). The better tourist resorts do make an effort to have good hygiene, but nothing is ever certain.

Go next

Luxor – The obvious and popular next destination. It can be done on a day-trip, though that's a bit mad, and most of a 20-hour day. Ask around for reputable operators: a cheap tour will be overcrowded, first too cold then too hot in a poorly-sprung minibus, and you will see less of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings and a whole heap more of the driver's uncle's souvenir shop. Aswan – Reached via Luxor but less hassle then it. Once a week there's a ferry across Lake Nasser to Wadi Halfa in Sudan, the only surface route between the two countries.