Top Destinations of Egypt
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 too
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.
This is not to say that there are many more tourist destinations,
particularly on the Red Sea and in Sinai, and on Egypt's mainland
interior, the oases. However, in much of the rest of the mainland
interior, travel and destinations are limited. However, the tourist
super-sites encompass perhaps ninety-five percent of the ancient
monuments, and most else there is to do in Egypt.
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