El Gouna

El Gouna, Arabic for the Lagoon, is an Egyptian city on the Red Sea in the Red Sea Governorate, 20 kilometres north of Hurghada and 25 kilometres from Hurghada International Airport. It is part of the Red Sea Riviera and a host city of the El Gouna Film Festival, which was established in 2017. The city was created in 1990 and is owned and developed by Orascom Development of Samih Sawiris. Originally known as a tourist city, it has 10 kilometres of coastline and consists of 20 islands surrounded by lagoons. Its buildings were designed by European and American architects to resemble traditional rural Egyptian architecture, such as that found in Nubian villages. El Gouna specialises in watersports, with beaches including Zeytuna Beach, Mangroovy Beach and Moods Beach, and it has three main areas, Downtown, Tamr Henna Square and the Abu Tig Marina, as well as a mosque and a Coptic Orthodox church.