There are many reasons to choose Egypt as a luxury holiday destination. For some, Egypt’s year- round sunshine proves the major attraction with well-developed resorts, great beaches and excellent hotels.Ancient Egypt’s antiquities with the magnificent temples at Karnak, Luxor and Edfu and the Pyramids of course prove the greatest draw for many other visitors. For a growing number of tourists though, it’s the clear blue waters of the Red Sea that proves the irresistible draw for snorkelling or scuba diving in the beautiful coral reefs lining the coast.
If your idea of a luxury holiday is scuba diving or snorkelling, Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh are the places you should be!Hurghada Hotels cater for the single traveller, couples and families and are perfect for a relaxed beach holiday if that’s what you want or can be the ideal base for diving holidays in Egypt. Those with a taste for luxury holidays are well catered for in Sharm el Sheikh hotels with a choice of sumptuous five-star resorts complete with private beaches and fantastic international cuisine. Those on a tighter budget can base themselves in compact, family-friendly boutique-style three-star hotels that are intimate, welcoming and very human scale.
Hurghada’s warm Red Sea waters are ideal for the rare fish and coral reefs that make this place so popular with the diving community. Most dive sites are suitable for all levels of diving ability, from outright novice to seasoned expert.Divers are rewarded with a rich and varied marine life that includes moray eels, turtles, grouper fish and blacktip sharks. The Bottlenose dolphin is particularly populous in Hurghada’s waters, and the chances of meeting pods on a dive are very good!And even if you are a non-diver, you can still enjoy the sights of the underwater world of the Red Sea by booking a trip on a small submarine where you can dive to a maximum depth of 22m with around 50 minutes of bottom time.
Egypt holidays to Hurghada can also take advantage of sports on, not just under, the water too! Hurghada is the top Red Sea destination for wind and kitesurfing and is rapidly gaining a great reputation as a wake-boarding destination too. Hurghada offers good, strong, winds throughout the year, sustained by the mountain ranges just behind the town and Giftun Island offshore. The coast is also fairly flat without fringing reefs, creating the perfect conditions for wind and kite surfing. Many Hurghada hotels also offer less extreme and more relaxed watersports from banana rides to snorkelling excursions, pedal boats, canoeing, catamarans, glass-bottom boats and parasailing.
If diving doesn’t float your boat so to speak, perhaps Nile Cruises past the ancient monuments and temples would be more suitable.