Types of Tourism in Egypt
BEACH HOLIDAYS
Hotels on the entire coast of Egypt either have their own equipped beaches, or are attached, along with other hotels, to some, but necessarily equipped beaches. This is a source of unconditional savings for tourists: you do not need to pay for “beach service”. Sunbeds and umbrellas, as a rule, are already on the beach, visitors are given beach towels. But all this is true only if tourists use the beach of their hotel, or the one to which it is “attached”. If tourists use the beach of a neighboring hotel, then a place on a sunbed is no longer free (sunbathing on the sand is not accepted in Egypt), although you can swim freely.
It should also be borne in mind that many hotels in Egypt have “not ennobled” beaches, that is, the bottom near the coast is covered with coral fragments, which is why it is not always convenient to enter the water directly from the coast, but there are platforms for this case. Such beaches also have a clear advantage: very close to the coast there are real coral reefs, exactly the same as around the coral islands, where they are taken on a boat trip. Check top-medical-schools.org for travel information in Egypt.
Absolutely on all beaches you can rent equipment for water sports: at least fins and a mask with a snorkel, and as a maximum – a boat and scuba gear. Any prices are negotiable, you can and should bargain. Catamarans and canoes are reluctant to take, occasionally there are those who want to ride on jet skis, but this pleasure is not cheap.
The most popular resorts in Egypt are Hurghada and Sharm el – Sheikh.
Hurghada – the beaches here are the best on the entire coast. They are gentle, with fine and clean sand. There are no corals that complicate the entrance to the sea, as in other resorts. Most of the hotels are located on the coast and have their own beaches.
Sharm el Sheikh. The most convenient beaches for swimming are located in the Naama Bai Bay: sandy, with a convenient entrance to the sea, without coral reefs. The beaches in the new promising areas of Sharm are coral. There is a nature protection zone and hotels it is forbidden to clean the bottom of corals. On almost all beaches in these areas, corals start at the very edge of the water and stretch for 15-30 meters. This is inconvenient for families with children, but it gives an advantage to lovers of underwater fauna and flora.
Other resorts in Egypt are relatively young, but already quite promising. Among them: El Gouna, Makadi and Soma Bay, Safaga, Marsa Alam, as well as resorts on the Sinai Peninsula: Dahab, Nuweiba, Taba. There are not so many vacationers here, and the towns have not yet turned into fashionable resorts and thus retained their national flavor.
Windsurfing.
The most popular and developed place in terms of windsurfing in Egypt is Hurghada. The wind blows here almost the whole year, which is very favorable for practicing this type of recreation.
In recent years, windservers have settled in other places: Dahab, Safaga and El Tur.
EXCURSIONS
Those who do not like to sit still and are looking for adventure will find many interesting sights for themselves.
Giza architectural complex. This includes the Great Sphinx and the three Great Pyramids of Cheops, Khafre and Menkaure. The latter has three more small satellite pyramids.
The Great Sphinx – a giant statue with the body of a lion and the head of a man looks out from Egypt to the East along the thirtieth parallel. It is carved out of a limestone monolith that forms the bedrock of the Giza Plateau and measures 72 meters long and 20 meters high. It is weathered and worn, beaten, covered with cracks and crumbling.
The Egyptian pyramid of Cheops in Giza is the oldest and at the same time the only wonder of the world that has survived to this day. It got its name from the name of its creator – Pharaoh Cheops (about 2551 – 2528 BC). Because of its huge size, it is sometimes called the Great Pyramid and is placed first in the list of wonders of the world.
At a distance of about 160 meters from the pyramid of Cheops, the pyramid of Khafre (Khafra) rises, the height of which is 136.6 meters (previously 143.5), and the length of the side is 210.5 meters. Visually, the pyramid of Khafre, which has retained 22 rows of facing, seems to be higher than the pyramid of Cheops. The effect is achieved due to the fact that its base is at a higher level. In general, from those points to which tourists are taken, the Khafre pyramid seems to be the center of the entire ensemble.
The Pyramid of Mycerinus (Menkaure) is the smallest and “youngest” of all three pyramids of the Giza complex. The pyramid of Menkaure, the grandson of Cheops, is located 200 meters from the pyramid of Khafre. Its height is 62 meters, and the length of the side is about 109 meters. Initially, it was 4 meters higher, but retained the length of the sides, because sand deposits protected the lower part of its lining.
From Sharm El Sheikh, Mount Moses and St. Catherine’s Monastery are accessible – a holy place marked by the Bible, visited by thousands of pilgrims. According to the Bible, here Moses received from God the famous 10 commandments written on stone tablets. At the foot of the mountain there is a monastery, which received its name in honor of the holy martyr Catherine, who was executed for refusing to renounce Christianity.
Numerous small valleys begin in the mountains outside the city of Thebes, the most famous of which is the Valley of the Kings, or “the valley of the royal tombs of Biban el-Muluk”. The most famous tomb of the Valley of the Kings is the tomb of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamen, who died at the age of 18, became one of the most famous rulers of ancient Egypt due to the fact that his tomb was the only royal burial that has come down to us not plundered.
In Abu Simbel , not far from the city of Aswan, there are two of the most famous cave temples of Pharaoh Ramses II and Nefertiti, which are among the most famous monuments of ancient Egyptian culture. They were built in 1257 BC. by order of Ramses II. The huge, 20-meter-high statues of Pharaoh Ramses II, framing the entrance to the temple, have become today the same symbols of Egypt as the pyramids and the sphinx.
The greatest buildings of the New Kingdom era were the temples, or “houses” of the gods, as the ancient Egyptians called them. One of them is the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut (1525-1503 BC) in Luxor, dedicated to the goddess Hathor.
