Hurghada: Coral Reefs, Dive Sites and City Life

Coral reefs, dive sites and a lively city centre shape Hurghada in different ways. Hurghada’s coastline is unspoiled; nearby, the Giftun Islands offer opportunities for snorkelling, diving and exploring underwater caves. Culture, markets and desert activities are also among the things that may shape your travel plans. When choosing a holiday apartment, it is therefore worth first considering whether you mainly want to focus on the sea, the city or a combination of different experiences.

The Sea and the Giftun Islands

The Giftun Islands are located near Hurghada and offer unspoiled white sand and clear blue water. You can explore the underwater world by snorkelling and diving; underwater caves are another possible experience. Some of these caves are up to 45 metres deep. This gives the dive area a different dimension from exploring the coast from the water.

Hurghada’s dive area includes the protected marine park of the Giftun Islands. An entrance fee is required to access it. If you want to make the islands and their underwater world the focus of your trip, this is a specific detail to include in your plans. The Giftun Islands thus offer experiences both above and below the water.

Dive Sites with Different Profiles

The dive sites near Hurghada differ in their described features. Gota Abu Ramada is a network of coral gardens and is one of the area’s well-known dive sites. The Aquarium at Gota Abu Ramada is considered a suitable place to learn to dive. Small Giftun is located in Giftun National Park and is particularly suited to technical divers; its dive area is characterised by walls, caves and canyons.

Carless Reef, also known as “Moray Eel House,” is a popular dive site near Hurghada and is considered accessible to beginners as well as experienced divers. Most dives start from a boat, and trips last a full or half day. Those who make diving their main focus will plan their stay differently from those who mainly want to spend time in the city centre.

Nearby, there is also Dolphin House, a popular dive site where you can swim with dolphins in their natural habitat. Together with the dive sites near Giftun, it offers a range of different marine experiences. For people travelling together with different interests, it may be helpful to decide in advance how much time to devote to diving and snorkelling trips compared with culture and city life.

Culture and Discovery in the City Centre

The Hurghada Museum is the first antiquities museum in the Red Sea Governorate. It presents the history of Egypt from the ancient Egyptian era through the Greco-Roman, Jewish, Christian and Islamic periods to modern times. This offers a broad historical perspective for your stay, alongside experiences by the sea.

Hurghada’s city centre is lively, with cafés, shops, museums and traditional markets to explore. There, a marine museum and aquarium offers underwater tunnels and the opportunity to watch the fish being fed. This adds a different focus from the Hurghada Museum: here, underwater views and observing the fish take centre stage, while the museum presents the history of Egypt.

City, Desert and Arrival

To the east of Hurghada, desert activities are available by quad bike, dune buggy or jeep. So, in addition to the sea and the city, desert excursions are another possible travel interest. When choosing a holiday apartment, these different priorities can guide your choice of Hurghada and how you plan your stay, without letting any one experience define the entire trip.

Hurghada Airport is 3.24 miles south of Hurghada.

More destination pages: El Gouna, Quseir, Safaga, Za‘farānah, Abu Ghusun, Marsa Alam and Ad Dahhār.

Go to the main travel overview: Red Sea Governorate.