Who has been to either Egypt or Morocco for a kiting holiday?

Both look pretty epic, would like to here peoples experiences as I would like a holiday this winter purely kiting.

Thanks.

Been to Egypt,
Ra Sudra was one of the spots south east of Cairo by 2 hours the spot was flat water heaven however...

A lot of spots in Egypt are tidal and if you time it wrong you will not be able to kite anywhere as there will be no water. I got lucky here with Ra Sudra

Wind can be fickle so base your visit based on the best wind stats.

Hygiene standards are poor expect to get ill. Some resorts in El gouna can be good but generally resorts seem to be poorly kept and rubbish turns up everywhere.

If you try Egypt best of luck it can be great but don't let the magazine shots fool you it has nothing on Australia.

Done 12day stint in Morocco kite package holiday (food was ****) kited till me hands wore away. I returned home sold everything I owned and went back for 90+ days. It was epic. I stayed with the mob called auberge du nomads. Wind was so consistent but the food oh the food it was not the best. They run epic downwinders. Rescue boat flat water and waves

Haven't been to Egypt though Morocco has lots to offer. Dakhla has flat water, the white dune and an awesome RH wave that breaks for over a minute on a 2.5m swell. Plenty of kite camps on the estuary to stay at. Essaouira is great to visit also with good flattish-water kiting and heaps to see in the walled town - water is cold in Morocco so take a wetsuit!

Morocco seems to have a pretty good wrap from most people, I had looked at flights and it seems to be a 40 - 50hr trip each way. Is this true?

Lived / worked in Egypt for 3 years, the kiting there is fantastic and El Gouna is a top spot. If you're adventurous you can head further south down past Marsa Alam and get some really epic conditions. If you go during the season the wind is strong and consistent, the wind at Soma Bay is some of the smoothest i've ever experienced.

El Gouna is good as an all round location. You have good kiting, plenty of resorts, decent western style food options, a wake park that isn't too shabby to be honest and a bunch of other stuff. If you want a bit of night life with your trip go there. Soma bay has better conditions as the wind is more off shore however there is stuff all else going on there. Down further south you're getting to pretty remote places where essentially all there is to do is kite and accomadation options are very average.

Outside El Gouna the food is really **** and you're pretty much guaranteed to get Egypt belly.

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doonut said..
Morocco seems to have a pretty good wrap from most people, I had looked at flights and it seems to be a 40 - 50hr trip each way. Is this true?

The long flight times are due to the poor connecting flights in Morocco. Its something like a 2 hour flight from Casablanca but then there is something like 2 flights a day from there. Can't believe 40 hours though. Its an 8 hour trip from London and you can fly there in 18-20 hours. Should be even shorter to fly to Dubai and go from there to Casablanca?

I've been to Dakhla. Definitely the best kite holiday spot I have been to. Relatively consistent winds with decent strength. Choose your location wisely as there are a lot of kite schools in the flatter sections. The flat spot (speed spot) for me doesn't work as well as you might like as its really tidal and a drive to get to it for most resorts (haha - lots of places are basically glorified tents so resort is a stretch).

The general water state is pretty good though. Even when its a little choppy its still pretty flat. You need to time your tides to get the small lagoons so you can jump/slide across the sand spits. I didn't go to the surf spot but I gather if you want surf you should go to Essaouira. That place has more stuff to do on a non windy day too. Dakhla has nothing except kiting and drinking.

Social media is awash with guys on big foil kites in egypt. I used my 12m once in Dakhla which I gather is pretty typical. The setup is geared for kiting - kit lockers on the waters edge at each resort so you can get out really quickly. You pay a (more or less compulsory ) fee for rescue boats but just suck it up and add it onto the cost as the guys also launch and land everyone to try and keep the beach organised.

As I said its the first kite destination I want to return to but its no good for non kiters. The advantages for us europeans is free kite allowance on the flights (and the short transfer from the airport ). You get 25kg kite and 25kg suitcase included in the price so you can really take everything

Just by looking on the web I'm getting travel times of 30 - 60hrs from Perth. This seems like a lot. Considering I could fly direct to Mauritius in 8hrs or direct to the UK in 17hrs.

Is it worth the trip?

If you're going to Morocco there really is no quick easy way there, especially Dakhla which is like an 18hr bus ride from essaouira. It's in Western Sahara and very remote. If you're going to go that far best to make a trip of it and go to Spain or somewhere else I think.

I went to essaouira in 2016 and wrote about it here:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Kite-trip-to-Holland-Denmark-Morocco-Recount?page=1&groupID=1027

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CJ2478 said..
If you're going to Morocco there really is no quick easy way there, especially Dakhla which is like an 18hr bus ride from essaouira. It's in Western Sahara and very remote. If you're going to go that far best to make a trip of it and go to Spain or somewhere else I think.

I went to essaouira in 2016 and wrote about it here:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Kite-trip-to-Holland-Denmark-Morocco-Recount?page=1&groupID=1027

It may well be a 18 hour bus ride from essaouria but it has its own airport. So you'd fly there surely? The typical transits are Casablanca or the Canary Islands (Tenerife I think?)

Its not really part of Western Sahara either. Allegedly its disputed land but for all practical purposes its part of Morocco. If you fly there via a Moroccan airport you clear customs in the first airport. The currency is moroccan dirhams (although euros are just as common). And everyone speaks french and not spanish - just like in Morocco.

As to whether its worth the trip. Tricky. Statistically, Dakhla has good wind consistently. But there is no culture to see or anything to do if you are on the week when the outlook is poor. If you wanted to train in the winter (May to September) then its a good choice although those months also have good winds in other destinations with more to do other than kiting (Canary Islands/ Greece/ Turkey/ Italy).

Dakhla is a genuinely good destination but if I was going with someone who wasn't as committed to time on the water I'd go to Essouria for more to do (although my actual choice where my money goes is Tenerife. The kiting isn't as good but its way better for non-kiting travellers. Dakhla is a trip with the boys for just beers and kiting)

Egypt from Australia is way easier ..flights etc .... wind all year ... been running a dive & kite station for 20 years on the southern Red Sea coast .... www.wadilahamikitesurfing.com www.redsea-divingsafari.com don't believe the media .. its as safe as its ever been ... the comments on food is not quite valid anymore ... there is over a hundred australians working in the mines in Marsa alam .. .. our camp for kiting is south of Hamata ..
Cheers

I have done both and for me: Morocco largely superior to Egypt

But Dakhla is becoming too much "Disneyland" for me now, but still more authentic than Red Sea

You can check Heliophora to find the orignal spirit of Dakhla 10-15 years ago heliophora.com
The founder is the pioneer of Dakhla who moved away when its original project (Dakhla Attitude) drifted away from it original mindset

I live in Europe and have been going to Egypt (El Gouna) for the last few years. Its only a 5 hour couple of 100 dollars flight. It is a private town for tourists and is perfect for a holiday. I would agree there might be places with better wind/ conditions and their may be places with better facilities/entertainment/food etc but El Gouna seems to have a nice balance. From June to Sept you get some pretty nice winds on most days but El Gouna offers some great no wind opportunities. All of kite spots I have been too have areas to stand which is perfect to learning or learning something new. From El Gouna you can also do day trips for kiting as well.

I have really tried to do a Dakhla holiday. But as some people have written above it is a fairly large bus ride from essaouira and I personally did not feel like there was much else to do their. But I have never been.