There are many places in Egypt where to go and choosing the destination was the most difficult part of  planning the trip. First idea was either Sharm el Sheikh or El Gouna, as we heard some good feedback about the places. But after spending hours in the internet searching information, comments, experiences etc. we decided to go to Ras Sudr. A place in the middle of nowhere but with very good wind statistics and nice flat water lagoon. ‘

 

Unfortunately there was no diving opportunity in Ras Sudr, so we decided to spend our holiday in two different destinations. First 6 days of kitesurf in Ras Sudr and then 2 days of diving in Sharm El Sheikh. And after that 2 days of sightseeing in Cairo.  Sounds like a mission impossible, especially because the Ras Sudr is not very well connected with other place.. But at the end it was a trip to remember! 

 

Normally we prefer to book everything individually, rent a car or hire a taxi for transport  but as the traffic is little bit chaos in Egypt and it was also very difficult, actually impossible, to book the hotel in Ras Sudr through internet, we decided to book our holiday “everything included”.  We got a nice offer from Club Mistral (www.club-mistral.com) which included transfer from Cairo airport to Ras Sudr, accommodation in Ras Sudr and later transfer to Sharm el Sheikh. Maybe we paid little bit more than it would had been doing everything separately but this case it was better option as we had a flight that arrived to Cairo after midnight.. So, it was more easier to have somebody booked to take us to the hotel without any hassle or bargaining with the taxidrivers.

 

There are just two hotels in Ras Sudr (and also few more hotels some km away from the “resort”  and we decided to take the Green Ras Sudr because it was just next to the kite lagoon.  The other hotel, Ramada, was located at the beach, about 15 min walk from the Green hotel. But we preffered to stay next to the lagoon because it looked like a perfect flat water spot and that´s what we wanted.

 

Flights we booked directly from the internet with Turkish airlines. It was the cheapest option and quite good connection. On a way we had a long stop in Istanbul but it was actually very nice because that way we managed to see also Istanbul. All the luggages we checked in directly to Cairo so we didn´t had to take them out in Istanbul. We took a taxi from the airport and in less than 30 min we were already in the middle of Istanbul. One day was totally enough for us and we managed to see all the important places. The plane to Cairo departed in the evening and it was also beautiful to see Istanbul from the air with all the lights. 

 

 

 

We arrived to Cairo around midnight and it took some time to go through the passport control, healthy control and custom but actually everything went without any problems. The visa we bought from the airport, just before the passport control. Price was more or less 10 € / person. There was also special health check and we needed to fill one paper because of the swine flu that going around the world.. But generally everything without queues or waiting. After getting our luggage, we went out and the representative of Midland travel was already  there waiting for us. 

 

There was no other clients going with us so we got the whole minibus just for us. Well, it would had been nice to rest and sleep a little bit but it was quite impossible.  All the roads were in very bad condition and the driver was also driving very fast (as all the locals) so the trip from Cairo to Ras Sudr was quite interesting. We have to admit, that in some points we were little bit scared… but at the end everything went ok and we arrived to Ras Sudr in the middle of the night,  after 3 hours of driving. We got our room very quickly so we managed to sleep some hours.

 

First morning was very interesting as we couldn´t see anything when we arrived in the middle of the night.. We knew that the place would be in the middle of nowhere, just desert around and it was just like that. 

 

 

Basicly there are just two hotels (Green Ras Sudr and Ramada), some other buildings under construction and a lot of sand. Nothing else.. No restaurants, no shops, not even a smallest minimarket. So, if you need some snacks, candies or what ever, take those with you. You cannot buy those from Ras Sudr.. Ok, you can arrange somebody to drive you to the town of Ras Sudr about 10 km further away and there are some restaurants and food shops. But in the resort there is basicly nothing. 

 

 

In the hotel it was included breakfast and dinner, for the lunch is possible to have some hamburgers or other snacks in the bar of the hotel. And we also bought drinks (water, coca-cola) from the restaurant to have in a room. The meals in the hotel were more or less ok, nothing special. The variety was not very big but there was enough of things both in the breakfast and dinner. Maybe the dinner gets little bit boring if you stay longer time there but for us it was ok. Only funny thing was, that they run out of coca-cola light every day. Maybe we managed to buy some cans in the morning but then later in the dinner they didn´t had anymore.. Next time we will order 50 cans already when we arrive and that way we will have it for the whole stay., Strong alcohols they were not serving at all as it was the Ramadan month but for us that wasn´t not a problem. Generally hotel was ok but nothing luxurius, basic 3*. 

 

The “program” of the day was more or less the same every day.  First breakfast, then going to the beach, putting the kites ready, then kiteing if there was wind and if not, then waiting for the wind. Later something small for lunch and more kiteing or more waiting, putting things back to storage, shower and resting in the room,  watching the beautiful sunset, dinner and then relaxing in the room. As there are no other activities, take a lot of books or laptop with movies with you. 

 

 

Ras Sudr is certainly NO party town. There is nothing else to do than kiteing. But it´s a dream spot for those, who want to spend most of their time on the water and enjoy the quiet atmosphere. Maybe  it´s quite boring for non-kiters but for example for the couples both doing kitesurf, it´s a very nice place to be. But being 2 weeks just there, maybe would be too much. Combining two or even three places, is excellent option - especially if there are non-kiters going too. Maybe one week in Ras Sudr enjoying kite surf, then 4 days for example in Sharm el Sheikh (sighseeing, diving, snorkkeling, shopping, partying  - what ever you want..)  and at the beginning or at the end, few days in Cairo. That way you can combine your kite vacation with a sighseeing. There are several flights between Cairo and Sharm el Sheikh, so going around it´s not a problem. And that´s what we did..

 

 

After 6 days in Ras Sudr it was time to pack our things are change the place, another 3.5 hour in the minibus (again just for us.. ) and we arrived to Sharm el Sheikh - the cosmopolitan capital of the peninsula of Sinai . Full of smaller and larger hotels, what ever you prefer. Lot of shops, lot of bars, lot of restaurants and a lot of activities to do. Totally different place than Ras Sudr… We decided to stay in a smaller resort called Nabq, north from the airport. Our main target was diving and there was the protected area of Nabq just in front of the hotel. We did 2 dives there, one in the house reef, just outside of the diving center and the second one was on Jackon´s reef. Both dives were very nice ones, even the one on a house reef. It´s incredibly how many things you can see just some meters from the beach. Lot of people were snorkkeling there also so if you have more days, it´s a good idea too. As the reef is very shallow, you can see many things just by snorkkeling. We used the aquarius diving center (aquariusredsea.com) as it was in our hotel. Maybe not the best one in the area but we didn´t had anything to complain either. Equipment was in good conditions and everything worked very well. For the second day we book a boat excursion to the Ras Mohamed natural park, including 2 dives and lunch on a boat. First dive was in Ras Ghozlani and the second one in Yolanda reef. Both of them very nice places. We enjoyd the dives a lot and more days would had been nice to spend there but next day was time to change destination again.

 

 

 

 

We took a Egypt air flight to Cairo and on a way we managed to see the lagoon of Ras Sudr from the air - impressive!

 

 

Just in 45 min we were in again in totally different place.  We had just 2 days to spend there but it was totally enough - Cairo is just so big city and in September a very hot city, so after 2 days you are ready to go.. But when you plan everything well, two days is enough to see all the ”basic” things like the egyptian museum Pyramids and Khan-el-Khalili bazar.  We made a deal with a taxi driver and he was taking us around the town with a very good price. It´s a nice and easy way to see things and move around, as the traffic is totally chaos in Cairo. Worth of the money, definitely.. Of course there are many, many more things to see but for us that was enough and actually the pyramids we saw two times, first in the daylight and later we went to see the light and sound show, that was in the night.  

 

As the standard of the hotels are not very high in Egypt, we decided to book a good hotel in Cairo and stayed in Hilton Ramses Cairo, located just next to the river Nile. Definitely a good option - rooms very good and clean, service was excellent, food delicious and location was very nice. Especially we enjoyed watching the busy traffic chaos going around and sunset, that was beautiful. Hotel is also located just next to the Egyptian museum. 

 

      

 

 

We really had also great time in Cairo and actually the whole trip was just excellent - definitely a place to go back.. 

 

 

The conditions for the kitesurf are incredible good here. There is a huge, shallow lagoon just to Green hotel.  There you can do kite only during the high tide but it´s a perfect flat water spot. When the wind gets more stronger, it can be little bit choppy there but anyway you will have a kilometers of shallow water and basicly not other people around. The lagoon is also very good for teaching as the water is warm, very clean and flat, wind very stable, so perfect for beginners. There are no stones or corals so it´s totally safe place too. Also excellent for progressing - you will definitely go to next level kiteing here. 

 

Basicly there are 3 lagoons but kiteing is only possible in two of them. The smallest is for swimmers and the other smaller is just for the clients of Green hotel but it´s possible to kite there. It´s not very big but as there was no people at all, we had a nice session there one afternoon when the biggest lagoon was empty because of the low tide. There is always water in the smaller lagoons as they are artificial and much deeper. 

 

Main lagoon

 

Second lagoon

 

swimming lagoon

 

There is Club Mistral / Skyriders kitecenter next to the lagoon, in the Green hotel. This is basicly the 2.center, the main center is at the beach of Ramada hotel. There is also small shop and chill-out corner in the main center. There is a shuttle bus going between the hotels and it takes about 15 min by walking. Both centers were very well equipped and a lot of kites and boards to rent. Basicly most of the things were new stuff from North. They have also rescue service in both centers and also storage for the kites. 

 

Kitecenter of Green hotel

 

Maincenter in front of Ramada hotel

 

The long beach in front of center 1 is also very good place for kiteing. There you can kite all the day, no matter of the tides. Beach is about 1 km long and the shallow water area (depending upon the tide) reaches about 100m into the sea. 

 

The beach in front of Ramada hotel

 

The north to north east wind blows sideshore to side-offshore and increases during the morning hours until it reaches a peak in the afternoon. In the late afternoon the wind normally calms down again. Due to a moderate breeze and flat water, the morning hours offer perfect conditions for beginners. Best months should be from June until October, which is the main season in Ras Sudr. Actually the place is not even open in the winter months. Summer months are very warm so you can forget your wetsuit at home J but be prepared for the very, very hot days… 

 

September should be the best month and wind reliability should be more than 80 % but wind is wind, at it comes and goes as it wants.. So, be prepared to have also some no windy days. We stayed 6 days in September and we had 3 days of wind.. But those 3 days were incredibly good ones!!!