A GONNA IN EL GOUNA

 

GARETH DAVIS looks after all the editorial content at Travel Channel and runs the website. So if you've any comments or complaints, he's the one to get in touch with! He also produces and presents on the channel, primarily the series THE TRAVEL BUG and THE TRAVEL CHANNEL GUIDE TO … And when he has a spare minute, he writes for the travel section of the Sunday Mirror in the UK.

 

I've been a traveller in an antique land but I've never sunned myself by its pools or sipped sundowners at its golf clubs. Egypt for me is inextricably tied up with Egyptology, which I studied at university. So though I've visited the country many times, my experience has been limited to the Nile Valley. From a distance, the Red Sea Riviera as it's dubbed has always struck me as a rather nasty commercial sideline, basically a string of dive sites puffed up into charmless manmade resorts. Having just visited the resort of El Gouna however, I've revised my opinion. Up to a point.

 

El Gouna is very definitely manmade. It started life as a private development back in the late 80s and has since become a mixed resort. There are almost 3000 permanent residents and a continuous holiday traffic based on a clutch of hotels ranging from three star guesthouses to five star beachfront properties. The whole development is as big as central London and is situated on the Red Sea's west bank, just half an hour's drive north of Hurghada. Yes, that resort which many of our experts here at Travel Channel have damned repeatedly with no praise. El Gouna however claims to be different. No nasty concrete eyesore but instead, an attractive resort built on a series of islands over 20 interlinked lagoons. This does it a lot of favours and the overall effect is impressive but for lagoon don't read "lush". El Gouna is still situated on an arid stretch of desert that man has only semi-transformed. The end result is smart but smacks at times of clinical Disney.

 

I pitched my tent at the Movenpick Resort & Spa, which along with the Sheraton and Steigenburger Golf Resort make up the five star community in these parts. And how five stars can vary! At the grown-up end of the spectrum you have the Steigenburger whilst at the other end, there's the Movenpick. The Sheraton falls somewhere in between. The Movenpick is basically very family-oriented. Kids have plenty to do; shell collecting and face painting by day, a kids' theatre and mini disco by night. During my stay there were plenty of couples around but the atmosphere was very much dominated by young families. This of course has a knock on effect; people tend to eat earlier in the evening, they go to bed earlier. The result is that if you like nightlife and a buzzing bar scene, the Movenpick isn't what I'd recommend, dead as a doornail. And I'd like to urge the management to revisit the design of their bar. Utterly ghastly! About as welcoming as a community centre!

 

The facilities at the hotel however are first class. Rooms are comfortable, even grand in dimensions, with everything you need. Telly is multilingual which is great when you want to watch a film. There's plenty of space pool and beachside. The main pool area never gets crowded because the beach is just a spit away. And the staff is excellent, friendly and helpful.

 

There are 7 restaurants to choose from. The obligatory buffet of course which underwhelmed me by night but served a great breakfast. The other restaurants include an Italian (mediocre), a Thai (good), and a seafood and Middle Eastern eatery. This is El Sayyadin and it's head and shoulders above the rest. The building resembles a boathouse on a promontory that's open on three sides to the sea. There's still something of a canteenish feel to the place and I couldn't help but squirm when the kitchen staff were forced to parade through chanting "Happy Birthday", bearing a cake aloft like the Ark of the Covenant, for the embarrassed entertainment of a celebrating holiday maker. No one should be put through that. The food at El Sayyadin however is excellent.

A fantastic scheme run by a number of hotels and eateries is Dine Around. This enables guests to eat outside their resort. I'd advocate this anyway but the scheme offers an incentive in the form of a discount at participating restaurants. So all kiddied out, I set off early one evening for La Rotisserie at the Steigenburger Golf Resort. Oh, the joy of exclusively adult company! A slow Bloody Mary at the poolside before being whisked by boat across a lagoon to the restaurant, which is situated in a tower. The latter gazes out across the fairways, a beacon in the night and in culinary terms, definitely an oasis in the desert. Again, the décor isn't quite there. Too bright, too ochre, more whiff of the canteen. Someone in El Gouna really needs a class in creating intimate interiors! But the food was fantastic. After the amuse bouche of smoked mackerel, a wedding cake of shrimp cocktail slid onto the table followed by another gift from the chef - a mushroom cappuccino (tad salty I thought) - culminating in a duck breast perfectly seared in a blackcurrant sauce that was as tart as you could wish. Big thumbs up on this meal!

 

During my stay I was collared into the obligatory Bedouin Night in the desert. I don't want to sound ungrateful to my hosts. It's just that having done this gig for some time, 8 Bedouin Nights later and I've spent enough time munching on mezze under faux canvas to satisfy even Valentino. Having said that, I left a lot lighter of spirit than I arrived. This wasn't your usual shanty town in the desert but a quality set up, great food and of course, belly dancers.

El Gouna itself is an easy little place to shoot around. There are plenty of taxis - nowhere's more than three or four euros away - and shuttle bus services. By day, locals head for Mangroovy Beach, which makes up for what it lacks in width in cleanliness. The Abu Tig Marina and Downtown areas are where much of the nightlife takes place. In both areas there are restaurants and bars, plus great convenience stores that allow you to bypass the more expensive prices charged for basics like water and soft drinks at your hotel. The Downtown area gets particularly buzzy on weekends. As golfers will have gathered, you're catered for. There's an attractive USPGA 18-hole course swathed like emerald against the desert and designed by Gene Bates and Fred Couples. And of course, there's the diving. That's as much as I can say on the Red Sea's premier attraction. Having dived three times, I can honestly say I'd rather shove my head in an aquarium!

 

I ought to clarify that I was visiting El Gouna in early December. This is a relatively quiet time of year, even though the Movenpick was 95% full. Having said that, I visited as a cynic and returned a semi-convert. Yes, this isn't a place to indulge in lots of sightseeing or culture though day trips are run to Luxor and Cairo, which are both a fair old shlep. El Gouna's all about relaxing in quality surroundings. If sun and a poolside is what you want and none of the aesthetic assaults offered by some resorts, then this is definitely a number one for European holidaymakers - particularly at this time of year when in the northern hemisphere it seems as if we'll never feel the heat of the sun again. I'll let you in on a secret - he's holidaying in El Gouna.

 

To find out more about El Gouna visit Click Here

 

To find out more about the Movenpick Resort & Spa visit www.movenpick-hotels.com

What do you think of El Gouna? I'd love to hear any advice you may have DROP ME A LINE

January 2006