Hurghada grew from a small fishing village into the Red Sea's all-action playground in a single generation, and the energy shows. Strung for some forty kilometres along the mainland coast facing the Sinai, it is Egypt's watersports capital — the place to learn to dive cheaply, to kitesurf the steady afternoon wind, or simply to board a boat to a desert island and not come back till sunset. It trades Sharm's polish for value and volume, and that suits a lot of travellers just fine.

The water is the whole draw, and the best of it is just offshore. Giftun Island, a protected reserve ringed with powder-white sandbars and electric reefs, is the definitive day out; the castaway sandbar of Orange Bay beside it is the Instagram version, all Maldives-blue shallows and beach bars. Serious divers head north to Abu Nuhas, a single reef that has claimed four cargo ships and become the Red Sea's great wreck-diving site.

On land, Hurghada splits in two. The modern resort strip and the yacht-lined Marina boardwalk are where the restaurants, bars and nightlife concentrate, while inland El Dahar — the original town — keeps a spice-scented souk and an everyday Egyptian rhythm the beach hotels lack. The grand twin minarets of El Mina Mosque, glowing beside the marina at golden hour, are the city's signature photograph.