Travel: Hurghada is the gateway to sun, fun and a whole lot of history on Egypt’s Red Sea Riviera

IT WAS The Spy Who Loved Me that first piqued my interest in Egypt, the globe-trotting 1970s James Bond adventure featuring spectacular day and night-time footage of the Sphinx and Great Pyramids, plus a memorable scene in which Bond battles giant steel-toothed baddie Jaws within the historic, maze-like temple complex at Karnak.

Forty-something years after adding Egypt to my ‘must visit’ list, I finally got to follow in Roger Moore’s dusty footsteps during a flying visit to Hurghada with EasyJet. It recently launched a twice-weekly direct service to the city on the so-called ‘Red Sea Riviera’ that puts the year-around sunshine of this fishing village turned burgeoning tourist destination – currently attempting to give nearby rival Sharm El-Sheikh a run for its money – just six-hours of flying time away from Belfast.

Home away from home

We stayed at the luxurious five-star rated Serry Beach Resort for the duration of our three-day visit to Hurghada. Located just a 15-minute transfer away from Hurghada Airport, it offers an oasis of laid back luxurious calm in the midst of Hurghada’s somewhat gritty, in-your-face surroundings, combining Arabesque design cues with modern elegance and relaxed ambiance.

Guests will enjoy large, uber-modern and well-appointed rooms – mine featured perhaps the comfiest hotel bed I’ve ever slept in – with waterfall showers, plus two large pool areas and the aforementioned strip of pristine private sand to sun yourself on between refreshing dips in the Red Sea.

The hotel also hosts an eclectic selection of on-site eateries, serving an array of delicious local and international foods: the Asian-Arab fusion on offer at Kief’s enticingly low-lit eatery is simply superb, the on-the-sand setting of Sokar definitely enhances the freshly-caught seafood flavours on offer, and you’ll find every kind of food imaginable at the buffet-style Sofra Food Hall, from traditional Egyptian/middle-eastern fare like charcoal-grilled kebab, kofta and shish taouk to burgers and chips.

While the wifi in the rooms isn’t quite up to international five-star standards – it’s better in communal areas – this may help you to simply unplug and soak up the relaxing vibes at hand. To that end, there are also spa facilities available at the nearby Sindbad Club Spa and Gym: the hotel’s own on-site facilities are due to open later this year.

Journey into history

Were it not for a packed itinerary prepared for us by EasyJet, it would have been all too easy to while away the entire trip at this private beach-equipped hotel complex. Happily, there was enough time set aside to ensure that we could combine restorative rest and relaxation with essential Egyptian sight-seeing activities.

Karnak is in Luxor, some 200 miles south-west and inland of Hurghada, but it’s well worth setting aside a whole vacation day for the required 10-hour round-trip by coach through the Red Sea Mountains, which will also allow you to take in another of Egypt’s most historic sites/sights, The Valley of The Kings.

With its history spanning over 1,000 years, the Karnak temple complex is one of the largest religious sites in the entire world, having been continually expanded and upgraded by a succession of ancient Pharaohs keen to put their individual stamp on things.

The subject of ongoing restoration, its ruins remain an awe- inspiring must-visit for tourists. Visitors are greeted by rows of Sphinx sentries, standing guard over the entrance to the complex’s 250 acre sprawl of huge hand-hewn stone structures, statues and monuments etched with story-telling hieroglyphics and pictograms – including a hundred-foot tall obelisk, added to the temple by Queen Hatshepsut (more about whom in a moment) and originally one of a pair.

Some of the decorative carvings on display at Karnak retain their vibrant original colourings, a tantalising glimpse of how these temples once looked prior to being weathered by centuries of blistering Egyptian sun and sand.

Take a neck-cricking wander through the open-air Great Hypostyle Hall, 50,000 square feet of giant columns which once upheld a roof that collapsed aeons ago, before venturing deep into the Temple of King Ramses III: there, within the darkened inner sanctuary of Amon-Ra, a single shaft of blazing sunlight dramatically pierces the ceiling, slicing through the gloom like a fiery missive from the ancient sun god himself.

Tomb raiders

If that’s not enough Egyptian history for you, the Valley of the Kings is but a 20-minute journey away for those wishing to pay their respects to the late pharaohs in person. To date, 65 tombs have been unearthed at this single site, located just north of Luxor on the West Bank of the Nile, opposite Karnak.

We paused en route for much needed meze-style refreshments at the outdoor terrace of Steigenberger Resort Achti. Dining on the banks of the Nile, we shared meaty leftovers with friendly descendants of the felines once worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, before crossing the majestic river by water taxi – superstitious types should probably avoid hailing the boat named ‘New Titanic’ – to resume our journey into the Valley of the Kings.

Declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1979, it has long been one of the country’s major tourist attractions. Former Egyptian royals taking subterranean visitors there include Ramesses III, Ramesses V and Ramesses VI – but the ‘must-see’ mummy is definitely Tutankhamun, the famous child Pharaoh who took the throne at the tender age of nine and ruled until his death at 18 or 19.

The only fully intact mummy on the entire site, Tutankhamun now lies in repose beneath a protective perspex shroud as a steady procession of tourists snap selfies with his crispy corpse.

We also made sure to pay our respects at the nearby Temple of Deir el-Bahari, an impressively colonnaded multi-level mortuary carved out of the desert rock by one of the few woman ever to reign over ancient Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut’s ascent to power pre-dated that of Cleopatra by 1,400 years and she shared the throne with her stepson, Thutmose III. The pair helped to bring great prosperity to Egypt prior to Hatshepsut’s death in 1458 BC: naturally, she was interred at the Temple of Deir el-Bahari.

Island paradise

Visitors to Hurghada who find themselves itching for a change of scenery that doesn’t involve a deep dive into Egyptian history should definitely make a 30-minute bee-line by boat to Mahmya, a luxury beach club situated on the tip of nearby Big Giftun Island.

You could easily spend a whole day just lounging in comfort under thatched sunshades by the water’s edge as Mahmya’s servers supply you with cold drinks and tasty snacks from the nearby bar and buffet-style restaurant.

However, you would be missing out: my advice is to explore what lies beneath the Red Sea by booking a snorkelling trip: you’ll thoroughly enjoy spending the guts of an hour underwater, touring the nearby reefs teeming with all manner of colourful aquatic life, from tiny fish to giant manta rays – and possibly the odd shark.

Desert thrills

A fun activity-based experience of a much drier, noisier kind starts further inland at the Big Red Centre, where you can rent a dune buggy for an exciting, guided, Mad Max-esque safari blast across the sands of the Eastern Desert.

After donning a helmet, goggles and protective face scarf, you’ll tear through this rugged Saharan terrain in sand-spitting convoy, pausing only for a rest stop at a traditional Bedouin tent encampment to learn about how Egypt’s hardy ‘desert people’ have adapted to thrive in this most unforgiving of environments at the foot of the mountainous Red Sea Hills.

This thrilling, bone-shaking dune buggy experience was just one of the highlights of my first, unforgettable trip to Egypt, which will hopefully not be the last.

While James Bond may never have returned to the land of the Pharaohs, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza very much remain on my ‘must visit’ list.

FACT FILE

GETTING THERE: EasyJet flies from Belfast to Hurghada all year round, with prices starting from £109.64 per person.

STAYING THERE: EasyJet holidays offers seven nights at the five-star Serry Beach Resort in Hurghada on an all-inclusive basis for £1,093 per person, including 23kg of luggage per person, transfers and flights from Belfast International. Visit easyjet.com for more details.

TOURS AND EXPERIENCES: Tours and experiences including the Big Red dune buggy morning experience in the Sahara of Hurghada, Luxor Deluxe Day Tour from Hurghada and Mahmya Giftun Island full-day snorkelling cruise and beach in Hurghada can be booked via Musement at experiences.easyjet.com/uk, where there are now deals for all EasyJet customers, whether booking flights or package holidays.