El Gouna: Sawiris’ masterpiece in Egypt

El Gouna, created from the desert, is the journeyman’s piece of Samih Sawiris, who later invested his millions in Andermatt.

In 1989, the Egyptian billionaire started building his flagship resort after he had actually just been looking for the most beautiful spot on the Red Sea to build a house and a small boat mooring for himself.

In the middle of an artificially created lagoon landscape, it became an entire small town and a vacation resort with 18 hotels and over a hundred restaurants, bars and clubs. New restaurants have been added continuously in recent years, so that many hotels now offer rooms with breakfast instead of all-inclusive. Sawiris attached great importance to the architecture right from the start; the buildings are only a few storeys high and there are no ugly hotel towers in El Gouna.

But El Gouna is more than just a vacation resort. It is a town with 20,000 inhabitants, schools, a university, a hospital and an exemplary environmental protection program that protects the reefs, mangrove trees, beaches and wildlife in particular.

The El Gouna golf course, which winds completely flat around the Hotel Steigerberger, is also generally well maintained. The fairly wide fairways make up for a lot, water often comes into play and the wind usually plays a role. Of course, this also applies to the 9-hole course at the 5-star hotel “Ancient Sands”, which opened in 2017. The course of the same name is quite challenging and is to be expanded in the near future.

El Gouna is particularly popular in the winter months. Egypt is only four and a half hours away by plane. From Hurghada it is a good half hour’s drive to El Gouna.

My personal tip is to use our VIP service at the very hectic airport in Hurghada. This helps with entry and exit and rounds off the experience in Hurghada nicely.