El Gouna is a small town in Egypt, 25 km from Hurghada. It was founded in 1989. Here you will not find tall hotel buildings, but a very unique concept. One of the architects was Michael Graves. He was known for designing several buildings for Disney. That's how El Gouna got the name "Disneyland of Egypt".
In fact, the whole town is a resort and owned by Samih Sawiris. The development was made by his company Orascom Development Holding. The result is all decisions are made by the same man (or company) and that resulted in a unique place. All the buildings are in the same Nubian style. No screaming neon lights, no high rise buildings here. It's really an oasis in the desert. A lot of effort goes to the environment and you can find green and plants everywhere.
The town is divided in different parts. First of all you have Downtown. Here you can find many restaurants and also some shops. Very different to the rest of Egypt is the fact that the shop owners don't harass you. They even invite you to for a cup of thee without any obligation! In Downtown you also have the big square (Tamr Henna Square) where you can have a nice drink on a terrace.
On the other side of the big road you have Abu Tig Marina. This is the port section of El Gouna. You can see a lot of luxury yachts docked here. Around the marina you have a wide variety in restaurants. This part is added several years later.
What to do? Well, what not to do ... You have so many options here. First of all you can just relax and room around. For the more active tourist, you can go for snorkeling, diving, kite surfing, golfing, quad tours, go-kart track, paintball, tennis, horse riding, ... Or you can visit the aquarium or the museum ... El Gouna has it all!
I've been in El Gouna many times and I really loved it. You have nice hotels to stay or you can also rent an apartment for several weeks.
Hope you enjoyed this posting!