El Gouna Hotel Reviews

Travel Date: June 08

"Lovely place to visit"

Submitted in July 2008 by: Joanne Craddock

Operator: Airtours

A great resort, very self contained with some fabulous things to see - the boats on the marina obviously the main focus! Plenty of choice for places to eat and drink around the marina - we can recommend the Smugglers Bar, and the Maritim for drinks....

Travel Date: June 08

"Lovely place to visit"

Submitted in July 2008 by: Joanne Craddock

Operator: Airtours

A great resort, very self contained with some fabulous things to see - the boats on the marina obviously the main focus! Plenty of choice for places to eat and drink around the marina - we can recommend the Smugglers Bar, and the Maritim for drinks.

Downtown is great at night, a tok tok only costs about £1 each way, the Oriental Grill was superb, just don't laugh at the menu - it's a big chalkboard on an easel that moves from one table to another, none of this printed menu on your table stuff! Very funny.

Have spoken to a few people who stayed in Hurghada (we saw the resort ourselves briefly returning from an excursion) who felt a bit overwhelmed and have said they would go to El Gouna instead of this next time.

Great place to visit and people watch, have a great time.

Travel Date: April 08

"El Gouna - Life as it should be"

Submitted in July 2008 by: Gail

Operator: Thomas Cook

The flight into Hurgarda was OK but for some reason they had split the original flight into 2 which was great as we had loads of extra space as there were lots of empty seats. The service on the plane however was really bad the inflight meal wasn't served u...

Travel Date: April 08

"El Gouna - Life as it should be"

Submitted in July 2008 by: Gail

Operator: Thomas Cook

The flight into Hurgarda was OK but for some reason they had split the original flight into 2 which was great as we had loads of extra space as there were lots of empty seats. The service on the plane however was really bad the inflight meal wasn't served until 3 hours in and as we had an early flight we were quite hungry. They also hadn't any arrival forms for us to fill in and this made our arrival in Hurgarda very stressful, lots of shouting and pushing to get the forms to obtain a visa which you must have on this side of the Red Sea. The visa costs £10 and they except sterling, euros and dollars.

The tranfer time to El Gouna takes approx 30 - 40mins.

El Gouna is really safe with no hassle whatsoever.

You can buy a weekly bus ticket from your hotel reception for £2- thats right £2 for the full week. The buses run from 7.30 - till after midnight every 30 mins (15 peak times) and operate from all the big hotels to downtown and the marina, and you can use the boat shuttle with the ticket as well. There is also a tok tok service which costs 50p per person per trip to almost anywhere in the resort.

There are bars and restaurants downtown but it was very quiet when we were there. Abu Tig marina is great for a night out and again has a lot of restaurants of various nationalitys and the prices are very good.

We went on 2 trips with Thomas Cook - Gufton Island and Stargazing in the desert.

Gufton Island should not be missed it's a desert island in the middle of the Red Sea with the whitest sand i have seen. Great for snorkling.

The stargazing trip should be avoided at al costs if you have any spine or neck problems. The trip into the desert is very hard going and bumpy. Once you get to the Beduin camp its fine and the guides are very knowledgable. I have some amzing pictures of the stars and planets taken by our guide with my digital camera. Don't buy the DVD they take, as it will not play on UK DVD players.

Hurgarda airport is horrendous so be prepared. The staff are rude and ignorant. There is little seating inside the departure lounge.

We saw a little scam at check in. A lot of people were being charged for excess luggage and not suprisingly complaints were being made but the reps are not allowed in this area. There was a guy at the check in desk helping lift cases onto the belt and he was keeping his foot on the belt whilst the cases were being weighed. Luckily he was spotted but it all got a bit ugly.