General Information

The most common health problem experienced by tourists is an upset stomach. This can be caused by impurities in the local water.

Bottled water is cheap and even the locals drink it in preference to the tap water.

Avoid eating salads when out, as it has likely been washed in tap rather than bottled water. When preparing salads in the apartment always use bottled water for your own safety.

There is a Duty Free shop located across the road from the Piraeus Bank (can be seen from the apartment balcony to the right).

All visitors are allowed to purchase 3 bottles of imported alcoholic beverages and 1 carton of imported cigarettes within 48 hours of arriving. You need to ensure that you take your passport with you when you go, as your purchases are written into the passport to prevent you going to another duty free shop and purchasing more.

After the 48 hour period, you can only buy locally produced alcohol and cigarettes. You do not require your passport for this.

The official Hurghada taxi is blue and orange in colour. All taxi's are required by law to use a meter in order to charge the correct fare. In practice, the fare is negotiated in advance and the meter just used for show (or if a police person is spotted).

Do not get into a taxi without having agreed the fare in advance or insisting that the meter is switched on. In general, most journeys around Hurghada should cost no more than 10LE. Exceptions to this include journeys to the airport, and shopping at the hypermarket.

If a taxi driver drives off refusing the fare that you have stipulated (before the start of the journey), it probably is too low, and you should offer the next taxi slightly more.

In case you run into difficulties with a taxi driver, you should take down his details located under the front passenger visor.

In my opinion, taking a mini bus cuts out the stress of haggling a good fare with a taxi driver. Very few tourists seem to use them, but the locals use them to travel even a short distance.

They all pass the outside of the complex and take a fixed route around Hurghada. Just tell the driver when you want him to stop. The charge is 50 piastres.