Where to stay in Hurghada: Which area is best?
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It wasn’t until we started planning our family holiday to Egypt that I realised how large this area on the red sea is, and how difficult it was trying to choose where to stay in Hurghada.
The central part of Hurghada is home to the main city and all the local-life. Sprawling North and South along the coast are a string of resort-towns which have developed more and more over the years.
Many of these resort-towns exist purely for tourism. Choosing which area to go to was quite daunting to begin with but with a clear idea of what we wanted out of our holiday resort we were able to narrow it down.
We settled on Makadi Bay, mostly drawn by the fact that it was easy to snorkel from the beach and is known to be good for families.
Other areas include El Gouna, if you want watersports, Sahl Hasheesh, for a quieter more luxury experience or El Mamsha for nightlife and to experience the local culture more.
Where is Hurghada?
Hurghada is a resort area on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Like most of Egypt it is fringed by desert. What was unexpected for us were the rocky mountains that form a barrier to the West, which makes for some spectacular scenery.
How to get to Hurghada?
Most visitors to Hurghada arrive by plane. Hurghada airport has plenty departures every day, both domestic and international. It’s fairly easy to get to the airport by taxi from all the resort areas of Hurghada.
Where we live in the UK, there are plenty of budget airlines that fly directly to Hurghada or other carriers can take you via Cairo.
We had actually flown into Luxor and spent some time there beforehand, so arrived in Hurghada overland by a private taxi transfer. We used a driver recommended by our hotel that we had already used to get around in Luxor.
Hurghada vs Sharm El Sheik
Hurghada and Sharm El Sheik are the two resort areas of Egypt that are the most famous and hence receive the most foreign tourists.
When choosing between these two locations it’s worth considering what you want to do with your holiday.
Both destinations offer beaches, great hotels and diving/ snorkelling.
If diving is your thing I have heard that Sharm is possibly slightly better than Hurghada, but there are still plenty of accessible reefs from Hurghada.
The other consideration is whether you plan to visit other parts of Egypt or would like to do some day trips.
Being on the Sinai peninsula, Sharm is quite far from any other cultural sights in Egypt. Hurghada is much better placed for day trips to the stunning sights of the open air museum that is Luxor, such as Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple.
We combined our stay in Hurghada with some time staying in Luxor at Villa Belzoni. It would have been much more difficult to do this from Sharm.
Where to stay in Hurghada for families
As a family of five, Makadi bay was a great choice for us. The area is around 20 minutes south of Hurghada airport and consists of a cluster of mostly all-inclusive resort hotels.
The bay consists of a sweep of sand and and has safe shallow waters for children. We loved the fact that we could snorkel straight from the beach, which was one of the main reasons we chose the area.
We really enjoyed our stay here at the hotel Jaz Makadina.
Hurghada for watersports: El Gouna
Around 40 minutes north of Hurghada airport is El Gouna. Sitting around a lagoon this resort is perfect for those wanting to have plenty of time on the water. It is particularly known for kite surfing.
With pretty marinas set around the lagoon and surrounding canals. It’s also a great area for people wanting some nightlife on their Egypt holiday.
Minitraveltribe top hotel pick: Movotel Resort and Spa El Gouna
Hurghada for snorkelling and diving
You will be able to snorkel or dive on your holiday wherever you end up staying in Hurghada. The difference is that in some resort areas you can do this directly from the beach while in other places you will be reliant on a boat trip to reach the reefs.
Makadi Bay
Makadi Bay is where we chose to stay and it was perfect for us. Our favourite things about this resort were the snorkelling directly from the beach outside our hotel. This was a huge bonus for Chloe and I, who were in the water spotting a myriad of different fish as well as rays and eels and an octopus at least twice a day.
The girls and I even did a discovery dive which we were also able to do directly from the jetty outside our hotel.
The one disadvantage of this area was that there isn’t much here other than the hotels themselves, so don’t expect much culture. We relied on getting our culture fix from the other parts of our Egypt itinerary in Luxor and Cairo.
Where we stayed: Jaz Makadina
Sahl Hasheesh
Another area of Hurghada which also has snorkelling from the beach, Sahl Hasheesh has a slightly more upmarket vibe than Makadi Bay.
It’s best suited to couples wanting an upmarket stay somewhere that they can relax and swim. Having said that there are hotels in Sahl Hasheesh that would also be well suited to families. It’s worth considering the pros and cons of each hotel and how it suits your families needs.
Minitraveltribe top hotel pick: Tropitel Sahl Hasheesh
Hurghada for nightlife and city vibes
If you’re after some nightlife on your Hurghada holiday, then you need to look at the more central areas.
El Mamsha
El Mamsha is the area around a long promenade along the sea front, south of central Hurghada. It is has a huge variety of accomodation as well as bars and restaurants.
This means it’s a great choice for people that want to get out of their hotel and explore the area more or experience some nightlife. It also means that due to it’s proximity to central Hurghada it is easy to visit the historic old town and it’s souks or Hurghada marina.
Minitraveltribe top hotel pick: Sunrise Aqua Joy Resort
Sheraton Road
Sheraton road is where all the main shopping is to be found in Hurghada. It also means you are right in the thick of things for nightlife and restaurants.
The beach and marina are also very close by so it’s a great choice if you like to be somewhere lively. As with El Mamsha you are also perfectly positioned to check out some Egyptian culture in Hurghada old town.
Minitraveltribe top hotel pick: Bella Vista Resort Hurghada
Wherever you choose to stay in Hurghada you are almost guarranteed sunshine, beaches and gorgeous clear seas. We loved our stay in Makadi bay as a place to relax, which is not our usual holiday vibe!
However it was the perfect complement in our Egypt itinerary to seeing some of the awesome ancient wonders there. We combined it with some time in Cairo to see the pyramids and the amazing new Great Egyptian Museum (GEM) as well as Luxor.
Luxor was probably my favourite place on our Egypt trip so if you can combine some time there I would highly recommend it. As well as the ancient sights there we also had an amazing hot air balloon ride, a sunset felucca trip and saw local egyptian life from horseback.
If you don’t have time to stay in Luxor, there are lots of options from Hurghada to do a Luxor day trip to take in Valley of the Kings and Karnak temple, which are both amazing.
