We made our first sojourn outside of Cairo last weekend for a leadership retreat on the Gulf of Suez. The Gulf is a finger in the far north part of the Red Sea leading into the Suez Canal. It is where the Red Sea is closest to Cairo and the drive from New Cairo is about an 1 hour and 15 minutes. We stayed an extra night at the Stella di Mare Hotel just outside the resort town of Ain Sokhna. It is not one of the famous Red Sea resorts and is more for locals and expats living in Cairo. It is a quick weekend getaway. We were not particularly impressed with the hotel, it was not five star luxury but it was clean and comfortable. It was the first time we have been at an ocean beach since Thailand in the March 2025. It was just so nice to swim in the saltwater and soak up the sun.
I would however, highly recommend the seafood restaurant on the expansive hotel grounds. We had a fabulous meal at the Yemaya Restaurant. Nadia had fresh jumbo prawns and I had a fresh whole dorado fish. We watched the sunset and the freighters lining up to go into the Suez Canal. It was one of the two highlights of the day, the other was seeing bottlenose dolphins while we were swimming.
Bill's Blog 