A purpose-built lagoon resort on the Red Sea — kite surfing on flat water, live coral reefs, and Egypt's most sustainable beach town
El Gouna is a planned resort town 22km north of Hurghada on the Egyptian Red Sea coast — developed by Samih Sawiris (Orascom Hotels) from 1990 on an otherwise unpopulated stretch of coast and built entirely on a network of artificial lagoons connected by water taxis, golf carts, and pedestrian promenades. Unlike Hurghada's chaotic hotel strip, El Gouna is architecturally coherent (low-rise, Nubian-influenced white and terracotta architecture), car-free in most of its residential islands, and genuinely well-run — the infrastructure (electricity, water, waste management) is maintained by the de…
El Gouna has no pre-development history — the coastline was bare desert until construction began in 1990. The Red Sea coast has ancient maritime significance: Myos Hormos (ancient harbour) was the most important Roman Red Sea port, located a few kilometres from modern Hurghada and El Gouna. The area was used as a fishing camp by local Bedouin before the development and there are small Bedouin settlements on the hills behind the resort. The resort's development into a self-sufficient town with its own university (GUST) and hospital was one of the most ambitious private infrastructure projects…