Hurghada

An hour on the water brings an island of white sand and shallow reef. A landing limit applies, so a late boat may find no space.

The boat stops and coral with fish shows the moment anyone enters the water. A jacket is required so that nobody stands on the coral.

Spinner dolphins rest by day inside a horseshoe of reef. Boats hold outside a marked line and people enter the water quietly.

This part predates the resorts and keeps its narrow lanes and market. Spice and silver shops sit side by side down the alleys.

Four wheel drives cross gravel desert to a Bedouin camp. Once the sun drops the temperature falls fast, so a coat is packed.

A submarine with windows descends to 20 metres below the surface. It suits anyone who wants to see the reef without getting into the water.

Restaurants and shops run along the water where the yachts tie up. Lit in the evening, boats and lights show together on the surface.

A cargo ship sunk during the second war lies at 30 metres. Trucks and motorcycles remain in the hold where they were loaded.

Mangrove grows along the coast and water birds gather in it. A timber walk carries visitors over the roots.

Out where no city light reaches, the milky way shows from a seat in the sand. At sites with a telescope the planets come into view as well.

A resort town dug from scratch out of canals and lagoons up the shore from Hurghada, its islands joined by boats and bridges. Constant breezes keep kitesurfing schools packed along the beach. In the evening people gather at the restaurants of Abu Tig Marina.

A white mosque on the Dahar seafront whose twin Ottoman-style minarets can be picked out across the whole harbour. To go inside, avoid prayer times and cover arms and legs. Its floodlit form at night is a favourite photo from the marina side.

A Roman granite quarry deep in the Eastern Desert, believed to have supplied the Pantheon's portico columns in Rome. A giant column dropped when it cracked still lies on the slope. The quarrymen's stone fort survives too; a four-wheel drive gets you there.

The mountain where the purple porphyry prized by Roman emperors was cut, and no other source of it was known anywhere. An ancient stone path zigzags up to the quarries. Purple chips lying on the ground are easy to spot, but taking any is forbidden.

A reef near Shadwan Island north of Hurghada that has caught many ships, leaving four wrecks lying on the bottom. The oldest, the Carnatic, went down in 1869. It faces straight into the wind, so boats only go on calm days.