El Quesir (spellings vary) is a fishing town 100 km north of Marsa Alam on the Red Sea Coast of eastern Egypt. El Quesir is one of the few cities on the Red Sea with some sort of history. It was a crucial harbour for goods from the far east (silk, spices) which got transported with caravans to the nile. On the way back the caravans brought pilgrims and wheat to ship them to the arabian peninsula.
Today the city of around 18.000 people is surrounded by coral reefed beaches, and hotels. This is probably the early stages of this coast becoming another Sharm. It still retains it's charm with the locals, and the hotels are impeccable.
There are Buses from the Upper Egypt Bus Company twice a day. From Hurghada and other neighbouring cities you can get the old Peugot Taxis (shared between 7 passengers) for about 20 LE.
It s a pretty small town where you can walk everywhere within half an hour. There are as well some Microbuses.
The City is an old harbour for pilgrims, goods from far east and trade to the nile valey. There is a fortress which the french enlarged around 1800. Entrance Fee 15 LE.
The underwater life is very attractive and diverse, with visibility on a calm day about 20 metres. The diving and snorkelling is excellent, with a good number of PADI registered dive centres in the hotels.
A local one owned by Egyptians is:
Around the fortress you can find the normal egiptian souvenirs
There is a good and cheap Koshery place at the corniche, north of the old police station. Right in front of that is a nice and good priced Sea Food Restaurant.
Tea is the drink to have. It s pretty hard to find any restaurant or shop to buy alcoholic drinks.
Upper Egypt Travel runs two buses a day. 5 am and 10 pm in direction north ([Safaga], [Hurghada]) Next to the Upper Egypt Travel Bus Station is the local station where you can find shared Peugot Taxis for 10 LE to Safaga and 20 LE to Hurghada. The taxi Driver might try to convince you to take the special Tourist Taxi for 100 LE to Hurghada.
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