El Tur Kitesurfing Holidays

Just 50 minutes from Sharm Airport, it has heavy been known as a very windy spot, but just recently has a centre and hotel been established. El Tur is in fact the capital of the Sinai, and has barely been touched by tourism, that turns it into a perfect kitesurfing holidays destination.

There is a moderate climate all year round and as well as having excellent conditions there are unlikely to be more than 20 windsurfers on the water. Catch it before the crowds come. You may well have a small audience as you gybe close to the mosque, as windsurfers are very much a novelty.

In front of the center, you launch from the sandy beach in very flat water with no shorebreak. You can sail inside the bay, gybing in front of the mosque on the other side. This is the favourite blasting area.

Take a couple of gybes downwind and out past the point and you are into the swell that rolls down the Gulf of Suez. Normally this is around 1-2 metres high, getting bigger when the wind has been blowing for several days. The swell wraps around the point at the entrance to the bay giving some fabulous jumping.

A 10 minute drive up wind will take you to a little spit of sand with 2-4 meter waves; this spot is really amazing. At the tip of the sand split the waves are at their biggest but with a reef break; a little further around the waves are little smaller (2-3 m) and break nicely onto the sandy coast.

As with the rest of Egypt, although it is a year around destination the best wind is in the summer when it is regularly bft 5 and above. The wind in El Tur is also super clean giving you the extra security to really push it…

The large coast has a volley ball court and football pitch. The nearby oasis at the base of the mounts has Moses Bath, a thermal spring. This is an perfect place to watch the sun setting over the mountains on Egyptian mainland. St Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai are also within easy distance and the drive through the mountains to them is excellent. Ras Mohammed is also nearby. Divers may wish to take a day off the water and explore some of the reefs or the wreck of the Thistlegorm on a trip from Sharm.

El Tur is very quiet and you shouldn't come here for the nightlife! Evening entertainment is organised by the windsurf center and includes barbecues, surf video evenings and occasional trips into the metropolis of Sharrm.