By type of trip
Nile Cruises Luxor to Aswan: Routes, Boats and Prices
Classic Egypt Tours: Cairo, Luxor and Aswan Itineraries
Nile Cruise and Red Sea Holidays: Two-Week Egypt Trips
White Desert Tours from Cairo: Oases and Desert Camping
Short Breaks in Egypt: Three and Four Day Cairo Trips
Tailor-made Egypt Tours: Private Trips Built Around You
Hurghada · Red Sea
Stay near Sakkala and the marina in Hurghada if you want restaurants, shops and the dive boats on your doorstep. Stay in Sahl Hasheesh or Makadi Bay, south of town, for a quiet resort with a house reef. Stay in El Gouna, north of town, for a tidy lagoon town you can walk around. Hurghada runs about 40 km along the coast, so the area decides your week more than the hotel does. Pick by how often you want to leave the resort.
Hurghada town: Sakkala, the marina, DaharThe bays south: Sahl Hasheesh, Makadi| Hurghada town: Sakkala, the marina, Dahar | The bays south: Sahl Hasheesh, Makadi | |
|---|---|---|
| Feel | A real town, busy and noisy, with life outside the hotel | Gated resorts around a wide bay. Calm and quiet |
| Eating out | Restaurants and cafés a walk or a short taxi away. Cheap fish in Dahar | Mostly inside the resort, on an all-inclusive plan |
| Beach and reef | Often a reef flat reached by a jetty, good for snorkelling | Made sandy beaches, with a house reef in both bays |
| Boat trips and diving | The marina, where most day boats leave, is close by | A transfer to the boats, often arranged by the hotel |
| With small children | Reef-flat beaches can be awkward for little ones | Easier. Sand and calm water |
| Best for | Divers, short stays and anyone who wants to see the town | Families, couples and a week of rest after the temples |
The short answer
Stay in town near Sakkala or the marina if you want to eat out and see a bit of Egypt. Stay in Sahl Hasheesh or Makadi if the plan is beach, pool and rest. El Gouna sits between the two: resort calm, with a town you can walk around.
Hurghada is a real town, and it runs about 40 km along the coast road. The parts are very different. Dahar is the old quarter in the north. Sakkala and the marina are south of it. Then a long strip of gated resorts runs down the coast, and quieter bays follow further south.
There is no single best area. Divers and people who want to eat out do best near Sakkala and the marina. Families and anyone who wants a week of rest do best in the bays. El Gouna, to the north, is its own small town.
Some resorts are 20 km from anywhere you could walk to. Check the map before you book, and ask how far the hotel is from the marina.
Dahar is the old quarter. It has the souk, the bus station and cheap fish restaurants. It is where Hurghada feels most like an Egyptian town.
Sakkala, just south, has the marina and most of the noise. Restaurants, bars and shops cluster here, and most day boats and dive boats leave from the marina. Staying close means short mornings before a boat trip.
The beaches in town are often a shallow reef flat with a jetty out to deeper water. That is good for snorkelling and awkward for small children. Taxis are the way to get around. Agree the fare before you get in.
South of Sakkala, the coast becomes a long chain of resorts. Each has its own beach, pools and restaurants. Most sell all-inclusive.
All-inclusive does what it promises. Once you arrive, you spend almost nothing, which is good value for families. Drinks are local spirits and beer unless you pay more. The buffets often repeat by about day four.
The hidden cost is that you rarely leave the gate. If you want a feel for the country, plan a taxi into town for a few dinners.
South of town, the coast turns into bays. Sahl Hasheesh is one wide bay with a seafront promenade and a house reef. Makadi Bay is similar, with large resorts and a house reef of its own. Both have made sandy beaches.
Soma Bay is further south, beside the port town of Safaga, about an hour from Hurghada. It is quieter again. The reefs along this stretch are some of the best near Hurghada.
These bays suit families, couples and anyone resting after a week of temples. They suit people who want to explore less well. Every trip into Hurghada means a taxi.
El Gouna is a privately built town about 25 km north of Hurghada, around 20 minutes by road. It is laid out on dug lagoons and small islands, joined by bridges. It is tidy, quiet and costs more than Hurghada.
Downtown has restaurants and shops around a square. Abu Tig Marina, at the southern end, has the busiest run of bars. The north end has the main open-sea beach and the kitesurfing centres. Many hotels face a lagoon, so ask which beach your hotel uses.
El Gouna has no house reef. Snorkelling and diving trips leave by boat from the marina. Our El Gouna guide covers the town in detail.
We sell the tours of one Egyptian operator, Memphis Tours. Five of the sixteen set itineraries we sell include nights in Hurghada. Each uses one of three hotels, depending on the accommodation option you choose when you book.
Continental Hotel Hurghada is in Hurghada town, with its own sandy beach and a private marina. Swiss Inn Resort Hurghada is on the town's tourist promenade, about 8 km from the airport, according to its fact sheet. KaiSol Romance Resort is in Sahl Hasheesh, south of town. We checked these locations in November 2026, on the hotels' own websites or fact sheets.
Every Hurghada stay on these tours is soft all-inclusive. Cairo, Luxor and Hurghada, eight days, starts at US$2,040 per person, land only, with two nights on the coast. The Nile Cruise and Hurghada trip, ten days, starts at US$2,310, and Cairo, a Nile Cruise and Hurghada, eleven days, starts at US$2,560. Both spend three nights in Hurghada.
Luxor is about 290 km from Hurghada, roughly four hours by road across the desert. That makes Hurghada an easy way to end a Nile trip. You finish the temples in Luxor and reach the coast the same afternoon.
Two or three nights gives you one boat day to Giftun Island and one day of rest. A week suits divers, or anyone who wants the beach to be half the holiday.
Near Sakkala and the marina if you want restaurants, shops and short trips to the boats. Sahl Hasheesh or Makadi Bay if you want a quiet resort with a sandy beach. El Gouna if you want a small, walkable town.
El Gouna is tidier, quieter and walkable, and costs more. Hurghada is cheaper and closer to the marina's dive boats. El Gouna is the better base for kitesurfing. Neither is far from the other, about 20 minutes by road.
They are similar. Both are bays south of Hurghada with large resorts, sandy beaches and a house reef. Choose by the hotel, and check what lies in front of it: a sandy entry, a jetty or a reef flat.
At a hotel with a house reef you can reach from the beach or a jetty. Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi both have house reefs. El Gouna has none, so every snorkel there starts with a boat.
In the bays south of town, such as Makadi or Sahl Hasheesh. The made sandy beaches are easier with small children than the reef flats in town. Large all-inclusive resorts with pools are the norm there.
Memphis Tours, the operator whose tours we sell, uses three: Continental Hotel Hurghada and Swiss Inn Resort Hurghada in Hurghada town, and KaiSol Romance Resort in Sahl Hasheesh. Your hotel depends on the accommodation option you choose.
About 290 km, roughly four hours by road. Many Nile trips end in Luxor and finish with a few nights in Hurghada, without another internal flight.
For current advice, read the US State Department and UK FCDO travel pages for Egypt before you book. Our Is Hurghada safe guide covers the practical side, such as taxis and selling.
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
Written and checked by the Nile Trip Guide editorial team · Last reviewed . Entry rules, prices and opening hours change — check anything critical against the official sources linked on this page.
Plan this trip
A real itinerary with real prices, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged until you say yes.
8 days · Nile & Red Sea
No boat on this one. Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, a night in Luxor for both banks, two nights on the Red Sea, then back to Cairo for the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Royal Mummies.
from US$2,040 / per person
10 days · Nile & Red Sea
Egypt in three parts: two days in Cairo, three nights sailing Aswan to Luxor, then three nights on the Red Sea with nothing scheduled. The temples first, the sea afterwards.
from US$2,310 / per person
11 days · Nile & Red Sea
The 10 day Nile-and-Red-Sea route with one more day in Cairo at the end, spent on the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Royal Mummies. Two days in Cairo, three nights on the river, three on the sea.
from US$2,560 / per person
