Most independent travellers arrive in Ed-Dahar at the bus station on the southern edge of the downtown area, though coming by Superjet from Cairo you'll be dropped at a nondescript terminal 1km north, while service taxis from the Nile Valley wind up at the taxi station midway between them. If you're planning to stay in Ed-Dahar it should be possible to find accommodation within walking distance of any of these points.

 

People arriving by boat from Sinai will disembark at the Old or New harbour in Sigala, whence you could walk to several mid-range places or catch a taxi to anywhere in Ed-Dahar for £E10. Each day, forty to fifty plane-loads of package tourists fly into the airport off the Hurghada-Safaga road, and are whisked off to their resorts in buses; arriving independently, a taxi into Ed-Dahar costs £E15.

Hurghada's gleaming new tourist information centre is located in New Hurghada (daily except Fri 8am-2pm; tel 065/444-420) next to the tourist police and opposite the Grand Hotel. Large and airy with helpful staff, it is let down by the lack of practical information, or even a decent map of Hurghada. Much more useful is the Hurghada Bulletin, a free monthly magazine with a listings guide and area map; it's available in bars, cafés and most budget hotels. Also worth checking out is Red Sea Today, a pocket-sized guide published quarterly by Egypt Today. It costs £E5 in tourist bazaars, but you might be able to pick up a free copy from its distributors DHL, based in the Redcon Mall in Sigala. In all events, private agencies, hotels, dive centres and individual fixers are ready to help - for a price. Any information you get given in Hurghada must be regarded as suspect, since everyone earns a commission on whatever you can be induced to spend. Normally this doesn't matter too much - except when they steer you towards dodgy, potentially lethal dive centres.