Hurghada, Egypt - November 2000   Hotel:                  The Grand Hotel Diving centre:          Euro-Divers Duration:                 14 Tage Diving experience:   None, Open Water Certificate     Assessment:   Hotel Satisfaction in % Comments     Overall impression 30 Masstourism Room 50 Meals 20   Atmosphere of restaurant 10 Gym-Atmophere Service at restaurant 40   Ratio of price/ performance 70   Resort 50   Pool 80 Cleanliness/ hygiene 80   Beach 50 the sand looked and felt like a tennis court           Diving Satisfaction in % Comments     Variety of diving spots 80     Quality of diving spots 40 they looked wearn down due to frequent diving Quality of boat 60 Service on board 40 Self service Meals on board 40     Service at diving cenre 20 when you hire your equipment, it will be taken back after each day and the given out again (thus one gets different equipment day by day) Quality of diving cenre 75     Ratio of price/ performance 70     Equipment 80     Briefings/ Safety 90               Location Satisfaction in % Comments     Accessibility 100   Nightlife 75 Who ever may need it there, Hurghada is a kind of buzzing place Shopping facilities 75 egyptian souvernirs en masse Other activities 80 windsurfing, day trips, camel rides etc.   We were in Egypt for the first time just to relax in the sun. Hotel: A 4* hotel with many simple and not very new rooms. No problem but certainly no hotel "event". The resort is well maintained considering the plants and flowers but also pool and sidewalks are clean. The staff was always friendly. Food/ Meals: The food was okay, the typical white bread, omelette, etc. Unfortunately, everything was served in a freezing cold large hall as a buffet. The dinner was similar. No stomach problems but if we  wanted some atmosphere, we needed to eat somewhere else. Needless to say that those restaurants that were within the resort and offered really nice, attentive service had to be paid extra, even when you had half or full board. Beach: As mentioned by one diving instructor: tennis court.  symmetricly organised sun umbrellas made of wood. Water and beach were clear and clean. Cushons and towels were offered by staff against deposit. Diving centre: Euro-Divers is very professionally organised. The equipment wasn't new but working (fair enough). We had an excellent diving instructor who taught us breathing underneath the water with amazing patience.  Something we didn't understand was why we had to return our gear every night after cleaning it. That way we had to queue up the next morning, explaining our sizes again and again and again... They probably changed that by now, too. We can recommend the diving centre. The bay/ lagoon was suited for the training of the pool sessions and we always felt well taken care off and secure.  We consider Egypt as an ideal location to learn diving. Its affordablle, the waters are calm and there are no currents usually. One pics up the means of diving quickly given the nice little colour fish around and the aquarium-ish stly of waters. Diving spots: For sure, being on the first diving vacation you are excited about everything and all.... lots of colorful fish, which we had not seen befor, corals, and sensational blue-spotted stingrays etc. BUT looking back Hurghada is marked by mass tourism and the reefs look like accordingly. Nothing spectacular - especially for the red sea, there are definitely better places to go to. Conclusion: We will probably not return to Hurghada: At dive spots we often arrived with 4 to 5 boats. By now we know better places. If you are looking for "night life", enjoy being amongst people, or want to start diving => welcome to Hurghada. It is really cheap and not bad. Maybe we are spoilt looking for more exotic places.