Hurghada districts – where it is better to stay

Hurghada is a large city consisting of several districts that differ greatly in terms of facilities and infrastructure. Therefore, the success of your holiday will depend on choosing the right location of the hotel. After all, if you choose a place at random, then it is quite possible to find yourself in a comfortable hotel, but in an isolated and remote area of the city, from where you will have to go several kilometers by taxi to the nearest store or travel agency, and there will simply be nowhere to go for a walk in the evening.

We have visited and toured all the districts in Hurghada, we have lived in some of them, and therefore we will try to give them the most objective description and assessment. So, here is our overview of Hurghada districts with a map, description and photos so that you can choose a better place for your holiday:

Sakala district

This is the very center of the city, both tourist and administrative (Sakala district on the map). The main Sheraton Street passes through Sakala, Marina promenade, pedestrian street are also located here Sheri, the main city El-Mina mosque, a huge number of shops and supermarkets, travel agencies, and, in general, everything, everything, everything. All the city life and tourist fun is right here.

Sakala district is mostly built up with residential buildings, but there are also hotels. Basically, accommodation here is simple and inexpensive, hotels without their own beach and territory. There are only a few options for hotels on the first line with a territory and its own beach, and a few hotels without a territory on the second line with a beach across the street. But in general, it should be objectively noted that if beach holidays are in the first place for you, then it is better not to settle in Sakala, rest here is all a slightly different type of taxi: walking along Sheraton Street and pedestrian zones, shopping, trips on excursions, visiting nightclubs. Although, of course, all this does not exclude a beach holiday, it's just not the best place for beaches here.

Sheraton street in Sakala district

• Marina Embankment
• In the evening on Cherie Street

El Dahar

El Dahar or Old Town is another city center, but compared to the Sakala district, it is really old and not quite touristic (El Dahar on the map). There are only a few hotels near the shore, and mostly built up with houses of local residents. In our opinion, for tourists it is rather an exotic and colorful area where you can come for a walk for a change to get to know more about how the locals live and visit the local markets of El-dahar.

But we could not find the reason why it is worth choosing this area for recreation. Well, unless you really like one of the few local hotels or they will have a very favorable price. Well, in El Dahar, you can rent inexpensive housing on a monthly basis, but you need to understand that you will not live in a clean area and next door to local residents, and not other tourists.

Old Town and El Dahar Market

• El Dahar Fruit Market
• Coptic Church in El Dahar

El Kawsar and El Mamsha districts

There is confusion with these areas, in which another name Mubarak-2 (Mubarak 2) gets involved. As far as we were able to unravel this and understand, it turns out that El Kawsar is a large urban area in which the tourist area of El-Mamsha runs along the coast, and the small residential part of El-Kauser is also called Mubarak-2. In general, everything is confusing, but the bottom line is that all these areas are one place. It is located directly opposite the airport, and very close to the central Sakala district (El-Kauser/El Mamsha on the map). Sheraton shopping street, pedestrian Sheri Street and Marina Embankment can be reached from here by taxi for $ 1-2, or even on foot.

So, El Kauser and El Mamsha are a large and developed area, and, one might say, the tourist center of the resort. Through El-Mashma along the chain of hotels on the first line stretches the longest and most pleasant walking area of the resort on Youssef Afifi Rd or Village Road or El-Mamsha Park (El-Mamsha Park). Its length is almost five kilometers, and throughout this length there are four- and five-star hotels, travel agencies, shops and shops, shopping centers. The famous Little Buddha nightclub is here, Hard Rock Cafe is here too, not to mention hundreds of other cafes and restaurants, including international chain McDonalds, KFC. At the same time, walking here is much calmer and more comfortable than in the central Sakala district, where merchants will grab your hand.

The beaches in El Mamsha are also decent – sandy, with a smooth clean bottom. The facilities on the beach and its arrangement, of course, depend on the specific hotel, but given that all the hotels here are of high class, there is no need to doubt the condition of the beaches.

In general, if you need a hotel with a magnificent sandy beach and a place to walk and shop in one place, then you can't think of anything better than the El Kauser or El Mamsha area.

In the area of El-Kauser/El Mamsha

• The famous Little Buddha Club
• McDonalds in the El Mamsha area

El Ahia

El-Aheya, also spelled Al-Ahiaa, is located far to the north of the city, 15 kilometers from the center (El Achaea on the map). There are several dozen hotels with their territory on the first line, but outside their walls there is a real wilderness, there is nowhere to go for a walk. And to get from here to the center and tourist walking streets in the Sakala area, you will have to take a taxi 15-20 kilometers, or take city minibuses with a transfer to the terminal in El Dahar. The beaches here are shallow, the bottom is poorly cleaned of rocks and corals and not sandy, and the approach to the depth is carried out on pontoons or bridges that go into the sea for hundreds of meters.

In El Achaea, you sometimes have to enter the water on pontoons

Southern District (South Hurghada)

After Al-Mamsha, the southern district of the city begins, for which, as far as we know, there is no independent name. Everyone calls it differently: South Hurghada, Safaga (Safaga Road) or Senzo (after the name of the largest shopping center Senzo Mall). It is located at a respectful distance from the center, up to 20 kilometers, what is its main drawback (Southern district on the map). The fact is that there is not much to do and walk in the area itself, except around the Senzo Mall shopping center, and in some places there will be several kilometers to the nearest civilization or other hotel. So if you choose an unsuccessful hotel here, you will "sour" the whole vacation in it without the opportunity to go out somewhere. But if you decide to get out for a walk and for shopping in one of the central districts, you will have to fork out a lot for a taxi.

Therefore, we would recommend choosing a hotel in the south of the city with extreme caution and care, and only if you are ready to spend most of your vacation in the hotel and on its beach.

In the south, there may be nothing outside the hotel

El Helal

The small district of El-Helal adjoins El-Dahar from the north, and there is no clear border between them (El Helal on the map). But at the same time there is a big difference: if El Dahar is an old city, then El Helal is, on the contrary, a new one, built up with expensive and elite real estate, mostly owned by foreigners. There are only a couple of expensive "star" hotels on the first line, and a lot of expensive accommodation rented by tourists. The area is very tiny, there is no infrastructure in it, and in our opinion, it is not very interesting for recreation and is suitable for those who just want to live and relax in tranquility on the territory of the hotel.

Which area is better to choose in Hurghada for a holiday

If you have not mastered the description of the Hurghada areas above or have not understood something, then you can simply follow the following recommendations when choosing a holiday area:

• If you want to be in the center of tourist life, walk along the embankment and pedestrian streets in the evenings, do shopping, and just for the same reason relax on the beaches, then it's best to choose Central Sakala district, there is no better option in Hurghada.
• If you want to have a place to walk in the evenings and at the same time relax on nice sandy beaches, then choose accommodation in the main tourist El-Kauser district, aka El-Mamsha.
• If you most want to get to know the local life or rent cheap accommodation for a month or more, you can go to the old town of El Dahar.
• If the main thing for you is to have a comfortable hotel with a large territory and all services, a private beach, and what is there outside the walls of the hotel is completely unimportant, then El Achaea or South Hurghada.
• If you need to rent comfortable and expensive apartments in a modern area and close to the beach, you can search for them in the area ElHelal.

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