Hurghada

The city's name is derived from the Arabic name of the Nitraria plant (Arabic: غردق‎, romanized: ghardaq). The English Hurghada comes from gharqad (Arabic: غرقد‎), a variant of the same name.[2] The tree is mentioned in a hadith, where it's called the "tree of the Jews".[3]

Hurghada Marina in 2009.

Hurghada was founded in the early 20th century. For many decades it was a small fishing village, but it has grown into a major Red Sea resort as a result of Egyptian and foreign investment that began in the 1980s. Holiday resorts and hotels provide facilities for windsurfing, kitesurfing, yachting, scuba diving and snorkeling. The city is known for its watersports, nightlife and warm weather. Daytime temperatures are around 35 °C (95 °F) most of the year, and during July and August temperatures can reach over 46 °C (115 °F). Hurghada is a popular holiday destination for Europeans, especially during the winter, and some spend Christmas and New Year there. Tourist numbers from Russia dropped significantly after the Metrojet Flight 9268 plane crash in November 2015.

Hurghada extends for about 36 kilometres (22 mi) along the coast, but 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. Hurghada has a population of 499,850 and is divided into:

• El Ahia and El Helal – The Northern part
• El Dahar (Downtown) – the old town
• Sakala – the city center
• El Kawsar – the modern southern part
• El Mamsha (Village Road) – a south pedestrianised street with a length of over 4 km (2.5 mi)• Magawish - The Southern part

Many of Hurghada's newer hotels, restaurants, and shops are located along El Mamsha. Most of the newest and largest hotel resorts are located in the area between Mamsha and Sahl Hasheesh on El Mamsha. Beyond Sahl Hasheesh there are the hotels of Makadi Bay. Dahar is the oldest part of the town where the town's traditional bazaar, the post office and the long-distance bus stations (Go Bus and Upper Egypt Bus) are situated. The busiest area is Sakala, the "city center" on Sheraton Road, where there are hotels, shops and restaurants.[4]

The city is served by the Hurghada International Airport with scheduled passenger traffic connecting to Cairo and directly to several cities in Europe. A new terminal was opened in 2015 to accommodate increasing traffic.

The village, which later evolved into what is now the city of Hurghada, was first settled in 1905. Originally Hurghada was a fishing village. Oil was discovered in the area in 1913, and in 1921 British oil companies began its production and export. During the reign of King Farouk a recreational center was built in the city, but after President Nasser's nationalization of Egypt's industries it was reallocated to the Egyptian Armed Forces.

During the War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt (1967–70), Shadwan Island in the Red Sea to the east of the city was fortified by Egyptian troops and used as a radar post. On 22 January 1970 the island was the site of Operation Rhodes, a helicopter assault by Israeli troops who occupied it for 36 hours.

During the October War of 1973, Hurghada harbor was the target of four Israeli operations.

In September 1994, drive-by shooters killed two Egyptians and a German tourist; another German man was wounded in the attack and died of his injuries after returning to Germany.[5]

In 2016, a terrorist attack in Hurghada, inspired by the jihadist group Islamic State, wounded three tourists.[6] In another terrorist attack in Hurghada in 2017, a man declared that he wanted to kill only non-Egyptians, and stabbed seven female tourists. Two German women and one Czech woman were killed in the attack, which took place at two separate resort hotels.[7][8]

Hurghada's major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its landscape, year-round hot and dry climate and long beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for underwater diving and snorkelling. Al Mina Mosque with two 40-metre-high minarets is the largest mosque in the Red Sea Governorate.[9] Hurghada Museum is the first antiquities museum in the Red Sea Governorate, it contains 2000 artifacts that tell history of Egypt.[10] Hurghada Grand Aquarium opened in 2015, it is the largest aquarium in Egypt and the second largest in Africa (after uShaka Marine World).[11]

There are diving sites around Giftun Islands, Abu Ramada Island and Fanadir. Tourists also visit shipwrecks such as the El Mina or the Rosalie Moller. The beach at Hurghada is busy and public.[12][13][14][15] Beyond the town the coast road passes through other holiday resorts and villages.

• 
  Al Mina Mosque
• 
  A street in Hurghada
• 
  Mahmya Beach
• 
  Hurghada Museum
• 
  Hurghada Grand Aquarium
• 
  Dive site near Abu Ramada Island

Hurghada has a subtropical-desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWh), with mild-warm winters and hot to very hot summers. Temperatures in the period December–January–February are warm, but in the evenings temperature may drop from an average 20 Celsius degrees to 10. November, March and April are comfortably warm. May and October are hot and the period from June to September is very hot. The average annual temperature of the sea is 24 °C (75 °F), ranging from 21 °C (70 °F) in February and March to 28 °C (82 °F) in August.

Along the Red Sea coast, Hurghada has cooler temperatures in summer.

Universities include:

South Valley University (Hurghada Branch) [25]

International schools include:

• German School Hurghada
• Russian School Hurghada
• French School of Hurghada

• Marsa Alam
• Red Sea Riviera
• Hurghada International Airport
• List of cities and towns in Egypt

Wikimedia Commons has media related to الغردقة.

• Egyptra Travel Guide from Egypt
• Hurghada travel guide from Wikivoyage
• RedSeaPages - Pulse of the Red Sea Archived 2016-07-01 at the Wayback Machine