Where to stay in Hurghada
El Gouna, the centre with the Marina, Sahl Hasheesh or Makadi — four zones on forty kilometres of coast, choosing between a town behind the hotel and a reef in front of it.
- For the reef
- Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi in the south
- For the town
- The centre around Sekalla and the Marina
- For tidy
- El Gouna in the north: lagoons
In Hurghada you choose a spot on the coast, not a hotel: the north is El Gouna with lagoons and the highest prices, the middle is the town with the Marina and restaurants on foot, the south is Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi with coral off the jetty and nothing else. The difference is not the stars but whether you leave the hotel in the evening — and whether you snorkel from the beach or from a boat in the morning.
El Gouna — north, tidy and expensive
A resort built from nothing in the 1990s, twenty-five kilometres north of the airport, with lagoons, canals, tuk-tuks and restaurants on two quays. The cleanest and quietest on the coast, with hotels chosen by lagoon, and prices double the centre. The reef is not off the beach but by boat; anyone coming for diving goes south — anyone coming for a holiday in tidy surroundings comes here.
The centre — Sekalla and the Marina, for the town
The only part of the coast with a town behind the hotels: the Marina with yachts and restaurants, Sekalla with the market and cafés, Dahar with the old town and the mosque. The hotels are older, the beaches narrower with less coral, but in the evening you walk and eat for half the hotel price. For anyone who cannot stand a wall around them this is the only choice; for anyone wanting coral from the beach, it is not.
Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi — south, for the reef
Twenty to thirty kilometres south of the airport, hotels with their own reef off the jetty: with a mask you reach coral and fish within twenty metres. Sahl Hasheesh is a newer development with a promenade and a few restaurants; Makadi is a row of hotels in a bay with nothing but them. Here all-inclusive makes sense because there is no alternative, and here is where people who come for the sea rather than for Egypt choose.
Soma Bay and Safaga — further south
Forty-five minutes from the airport, a bay with five big hotels, a golf course and the wind kitesurfers come for — the best kite on the coast, with Luxor three hours away instead of four. Everything is inside the hotel; anyone who steps out has stepped into the desert.
What to avoid
- A hotel by price without a map. 'Hurghada' in a listing runs from El Gouna to Safaga, seventy kilometres; the same star rating north and south is two different holidays.
- All-inclusive in the centre. A whole town of half-price restaurants is behind the gate, and the meals are paid in advance — one of the two is wasted.
- A 'house reef' without a picture. Ask for the jetty and a photograph of the coral under it; 'reef access by boat' means there is no reef off the beach.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Where is the best reef in Hurghada?
In the south, at Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi, where hotels have a jetty over coral and snorkelling from the beach. In the centre and El Gouna the reef is by boat, half an hour to an hour away.
Can you go outside the hotel in Hurghada?
In the centre yes — the Marina, Sekalla and Dahar are on foot or ten minutes by taxi, with restaurants at half the price. In the south and Soma Bay no, because there is nothing outside the hotel; El Gouna is a resort of its own.
Which zone suits a family with small children?
Makadi and Soma Bay: calm sea, shallows, big hotels with kids' clubs and no traffic. The centre has narrower beaches and the town, the south has coral children should not walk on — all inside a wall, which for a family is an advantage.
Ready for Hurghada?
Where to next
The best time to visit Hurghada
→Hurghada works all twelve months, but not the same way: in winter the sea is 22 and the afternoon wind…
Sharm el-Sheikh · 89 km
→The tip of Sinai where the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba meet, with the reefs of Ras Mohammed twelve kilometres from town and a Sinai stamp instead of a visa
How well does Hurghada suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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