Dont know any hotels there, but its a bustling resort. El Gouna is a quieter, more upmarket resort which is manmade, really pretty, set among lagoons. It also has a nice marina, so you have the choice of both the marina and downtown to wander around in the evenings, in a hassle free environment. You dont even need to haggle taxi prices, these are set at £1.50 per taxi, or 50p per person for a tuktuk. There is also three beaches here too.

Hello

I suppose it depends on what sort of experience you want . If you are happy to stay within the confines of the hotel or want to experience the "real" Egypt warts and all then Hurghada is the place .

If you want a totally relaxing holiday,if a bit artificial, with no hassle beautiful surroundings and a large choice of restaurants then El Gouna is the place .

PS

Marsa Alam is further South than Hurghada . Its in its early stages of development so hopefully they will do a better job there than they did in Hurghada.

I've never stayed in El Gouna only visited for the afternoon and would like to stay there sometime but I have to agree with Crombiestone. El GOuna appears beautiful and upmarket but is a highly sanitised, Disneylike version of Egypt lacking the buzz of Hurghada. Booked yesterday to go back to Grand in June, our third visit this year.

The Siva Grand is an all inclusive hotel about 20 minutes walk to Grand and Grand Resort hotels along a newly pedestrianised boulevard. It looks good from the outside and we have spoken to people who have been really pleased with it.

More and more British are trying Hurghada but the majority of tourists are still German and Russian.

The weather this February half term in Hurghada was beautiful, hot and sunny. Hurghada can get breezy which keeps temperature manageable.

Hope this helps, Caro

Disneylike?

I suppose the Disney like comparison may be because Michael Graves designed buildings for Disney in Florida and hotels and villas in El Gouna .

I think "film set" is kinder .

I would choose El Gouna over Hurghada every time ! but it is a second home for me.

Well... I would never have linked it to that!!!!! Just that its probably one of the best holiday destinations, if not the best, that we have ever been to! I am a bit nervous now about going back in July... just hope it lives up to our fabulous memories from last year!

Hi, when I used the adjective 'Disneylike' I was unaware of the connection of the architect Michael Grave to Disney and El Gouna - it was just the feeling I had in the marina there! It wasn't actually a criticism just an observation. After all I went to Disneyland Paris a few years ago a complete and utter Disney cynic and came back almost a convert!!

EllieDee, I'm sure you will have just a good a time as you had last year!! I'm the first to admit that Hurghada is not glitzy like Sharm or pristine like El Gouna. Hurghada could be described as a scruffy building site but I have always had such good holidays there that I love it!

Caro... glad you love Hurghada... I just found it a bit too much after the tranquility of El Gouna... we went to a quiz night there organised by Thomas Cook and was glad to get back to the resort to be honest! But at the same time was glad to see it too, if you know what I mean.

Never been to Disney so cant compare!!

Elledee

Fear not El Gouna just gets more complete and perfect as time goes on . It continually surprises us that we see something new and improved each time we visit.

Thanks for all the comments about Hurghada.Where do you fly to if you want to go to El Gouna?

About a 25 minutes transfer.

We have just returned from a week at the Siva Grand. The hotel was very nice but lots of Germans. During our say there were only approximately 50/60 british people staying there. I would recommend the hotel but the food was more catered for the German guests. However there was a very nice Italian restaurant just outside the hotel (it belongs to the complex) and their meals were to die for and very cheap. The area where the hotel is based is very nice, quite a few shops and you can easily walk out of the hotel and go either left or right to have a stroll along the promenade. Unfortunately for us we went to the Concorde el Salem in Sharks Bay (Sharm) last year and the Siva could not live up to the same standard. However both me and my husband were of the view that if both sets of management got their heads together you would have a fantastic hotel.