Raving on by the Red Sea...

It's 2am on a sauna-hot summer night and a chilled-out Euro crowd are grooving to a hypnotic House beat. Under a starlit sky, svelte cube dancers gyrate on podiums, white stone glows pink under revolving pastel lasers and rising stage smoke mingles with falling snow glitter.

So far, so Ibiza. But we're not in the Med. This is the House Nation party, held every Thursday night in the courtyard of the Sanafir Hotel, at Na'ama Bay in Sharm El Sheikh. Long famous for its scuba diving, this Red Sea resort is becoming a serious destination for hard-core clubbers.

The hotel's Moorish-style domes, waterfalls and terraces create a natural amphitheatre for the dance floor. Resident DJ Mash dishes out Arabicstyle house tracks by the likes of Algerian Cheb Khaled and a whirling dervish replaces one of the dancers. Palms wreathed in fairy lights, and the falafel served on the VIP balcony, remind you that, a kilometre north, lies the emptiness of the Sinai desert.

The House Nation parties are the brainchild of Sanafir owner Adley El Mestekawy, who introduced dance music to Sharm in 1999. A mix of international and Arabic house, techno and tribal, is spun at the eccentric Bus Stop club, complete with vintage bus facade, attached to the hotel.

El Mestekawy's most stunning party venue is Echo Temple. Framed by mountains, this open-air space, some 10,000 metres square, lies several kilometres away in the Sinai. As well as one-off events, it will host the House Nation parties throughout August.

Pacha, Cream and Ministry of Sound have gigged at Sharm recently, while July and August will herald Italian superstars DJ Prezioso and Molella. Autumn should see Pacha and Tribal Gathering pumping it up for a more northern European crowd.

Sylvester, a club aficionado from south London, says it reminds him of Manumission in Ibiza. Gazing down at the crowd, a mix of Milan-chic Italians, rich Cairo weekenders and Gapclad aprËs-divers, he murmurs: "I'm in shock. I never thought I'd see anything like this here."

For details of upcoming events, visit www.sanafirhotel.com or www. sharmevents.com.

... or partying in Panama