The three districts

Hurghada has three districts: Dahar (old downtown), Sakalla (new downtown) and Village Road (hotels part).

The most exciting is Sakalla, where you can find the best bars and discos and a lot of souvenir shops, duty free shop, oriental cafe's and banks.
Dahar has its oriental charm - if you want to experience real egyptian atmosphere, you have to go there and visit bazaar.
Village Road is the most quiet and clean place in Hurghada. There are shops, restaurants and bars, but still the touristic atmosphere you'll find in Sakalla and the real, oriental life - in Dahar.

The Red Sea Arabic

The Red Sea Arabic name of the Red Sea is "Al Bahr al Ahmar". There is no short explanation why it's called "red". It is probably from the planktonic algae (Trichodesmium Erythraeum) which has been found in that sea. When those algae are dying, the blue color of the water is changing into red-brown. The Red Sea has 2250 km (from Suez Canal to Yemen in the South) . It's the warmest sea in the world from 19C in the winter up to 32C in the summer time.

There are 45 coral reefs in Hurghada area. In the Red Sea you can find more than 50 wracks. The most famous one, "Thistlegorm" which was sunken in 1940, can be seen after 4,5 hour trip by boat from Hurghada (depth: 29 m).

Transportation

There is no problem with transportation in Hurghada. Minibuses and orange blue taxis are available at any time. You'll find alot of them on the streets, honking to get you in:). There are two kinds of buses: public and private(in arabic "mahsoos"). To know which one is public and which one private, you have to ask the driver (bus?; mahsoos?). If it's a bus, just get in and don't ask about the price, mention only the place you want to go to. When you are exiting the bus, give to the driver or to bus-boy 1 or 2 LE (egyptian pound. If you're going to take a private bus or taxi, agree on the price before.

Shopping - Bargain

That's the rule in most of shops in Hurghada. Normally the price is one third less than shopkeeper originaly quotes. The best is to pretend you are not so interested about the object you want to get, otherwise shop assistant changes in one second into great salesman:).
If bargaining really annoys you, there are few shops called Ramstore (souvenirs), where the prices are on the products. The best supermarket - where you can find the biggest variety of products is Abu Ashara; there are few in Hurghada, the biggest one is in Sakalla, in front of Waves Resort.

Information for women

Bear in mind when in Egypt it is an islamic country. Dress appropriately to gain respect. Short skirts are not recommended or swimsuits. Ignore any unwanted cat calls of hello in the street.

Information for smokers

There is not much variety of cigarettes marks in Egypt. You can get here: Marlboro 7.5 LE (red and white); L&M 4.5 LE (red and blue). If you prefer menthol cigarettes, better take some from home with you.