Most people who think of Egypt think of antiquities, but Egypt offers much
more. Certainly it is a prime location to see our great heritage from the
ancient world, including Pyramids and wonderful temples, but it is also part of
the Holy Land, and tours to Christian and other religious monuments are popular.
Yet Egypt also offers nature and desert treks, great scuba diving and even
golf, fishing and birding expeditions. One may choose to relax on the wondrous
Egypt Red Sea or Sinai coasts, take in the high culture of
Cairo, or even leisurely float down the Egyptian
Nile on a luxurious river boat.
Egypt could be said to have six different tourist super-sites. Each has
its own flavor, and mostly each serves a different purpose. Surprisingly,
or perhaps not, most of these tourist areas do not depend on ancient monuments
to sustain them. In fact, only Luxor is completely dependent on this
trade. These super-sites consist of:
Alexandria and the immediate area around the
City. It could in fact be argued that this area extends to Marsa Matruh to the west on the coast.
The area has a Mediterranean feel about it, and the attraction is the Mediterranean Sea, and to the people of Cairo,
a somewhat cooler climate.
Cairo and the
immediate area around the City. Cairo
has everything. Cairo has great
hotels, entertainment, restaurants, all manner of monuments from throughout the
history of Egypt and it is often the entry
point for most people visiting Egypt. It
even has bowling allies and several golf courses to chose from.
Luxor and the
surrounding area. Luxor is a living
museum with vast numbers of ancient Egyptian
monuments. It is also highly oriented to tourists, and might be
thought of in the same regard as a theme park, where the attractions just happen
to be real monuments.
Aswan and the
surrounding area. Aswan is probably
the least of the super-site tourist areas, but has great hotels, along with the
huge Lake Nasser just to the south.
Hurghada and the
surrounding area, particularly El
Gouna. Not to far apart are El Gouna, Hurghada and Safaga, and these areas contain just about
everything a tourist would like to have, with the exception of ancient
monuments. They make up for that with every variety of water sports,
several golf courses, casinos and more. The Red
Sea area has less of an Egyptian feel, but not as European as the Sinai.
Sharm El Sheikh and the surrounding area including
Sharks Bay. This is the Sinai super-site, again with most everything any
tourist might wish. There are even some wonderful Christian monuments
nearby, and the water sports, as at Hurghada, are all inclusive.
In additionto the above main destination there is also the Oases, which
became a new hot tourist attrection area for adventure tourists from all over
the world.