Egypt: El Gouna & Soma Bay
Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 6:12 pm
Just came back from Egypt and wanted to share my experience...
Stayed at the Movenpick in El Gouna. Really enjoyed it! The spot is terrific with lots of variety: an inner lagoon, some choppy deep water, and a beautiful outer lagoon (as long as you don't mind riding over corals). You can do an upwinder/downwinder to Mangroovy (half an hour upwind) for some additional variety. The remodeled rooms at the hotel are great and the food and service pretty good as well. The inner lagoon is great for learning as long as the tide is not too low. All-in-all, highly recommend it.
Went to Soma Bay for a day to check it out (an hour by taxi). The main spot there (7BFT) is great. Fairly flat and windy. I found it pretty gusty, though. And you need to take a shuttle from the hotels. Didn't feel as interesting as the Movenpick spot.There is a spot at the Intercontinental which is supposed to have less gusty wind. We went there to check it out but didn't ride. The walk from the rooms to the water is doable but much longer than at the Movenpick. Checked out the rooms at the Inter and didn't like them. MUCH worst than the Movenpick - although the lobby and other common areas of the Inter are very nice. In Soma they ask you not to ride over the corals, which was my favorite thing in El Gouna. But Soma does seem a bit windier than El Gouna.
We rode all 10 days we were there, although on two of the days we only had wind for a couple of hours in the morning.
Anyway, that is the brief version. Happy to answer questions...
Cheers,
A.
PS: this forum, particularly Toby, were super helpful in planning the trip. Thanks!
Stayed at the Movenpick in El Gouna. Really enjoyed it! The spot is terrific with lots of variety: an inner lagoon, some choppy deep water, and a beautiful outer lagoon (as long as you don't mind riding over corals). You can do an upwinder/downwinder to Mangroovy (half an hour upwind) for some additional variety. The remodeled rooms at the hotel are great and the food and service pretty good as well. The inner lagoon is great for learning as long as the tide is not too low. All-in-all, highly recommend it.
Went to Soma Bay for a day to check it out (an hour by taxi). The main spot there (7BFT) is great. Fairly flat and windy. I found it pretty gusty, though. And you need to take a shuttle from the hotels. Didn't feel as interesting as the Movenpick spot.There is a spot at the Intercontinental which is supposed to have less gusty wind. We went there to check it out but didn't ride. The walk from the rooms to the water is doable but much longer than at the Movenpick. Checked out the rooms at the Inter and didn't like them. MUCH worst than the Movenpick - although the lobby and other common areas of the Inter are very nice. In Soma they ask you not to ride over the corals, which was my favorite thing in El Gouna. But Soma does seem a bit windier than El Gouna.
We rode all 10 days we were there, although on two of the days we only had wind for a couple of hours in the morning.
Anyway, that is the brief version. Happy to answer questions...
Cheers,
A.
PS: this forum, particularly Toby, were super helpful in planning the trip. Thanks!