Where to Stay in Hurghada — Best Areas & Resorts
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated September 2026
Hurghada is Egypt’s workhorse Red Sea resort — a real, growing city of dive boats and fishing harbours that happens to sit on some 36 km of warm, coral-fringed coast. Choosing where to stay here is mostly a choice between town and bay: the promenade hotels of El Mamsha and Sakkala, where you can walk out to dinner; the planned, polished enclaves of Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi Bay to the south, where the beach is superb and the gate is the edge of your world; or the old Egyptian town of El Dahar, cheapest and most characterful, with no beach of its own. We’ve grouped the best-run places by that choice, each with an honest note and a Book Me link that opens that exact property on Trip.com.
In Town: El Mamsha & Sakkala
Sakkala is the old fishing settlement that became the city centre, strung along Sheraton Road; El Mamsha is the newer pedestrian promenade behind it, lined with restaurants, bars and shops. Stay here when you want to leave the hotel in the evening and walk somewhere, and still have a beach in the morning.
Steigenberger ALDAU Beach Hotel
The most comfortable address in Hurghada proper, on its own stretch of sand on Youssif Afifi Road, within reach of the promenade. It reopened from a thorough refit as an all‑suite hotel — roughly 400 suites, nearly all with a balcony and most facing the sea — wrapped around a 5,000 m² pool landscape with a current channel. There is a serious spa with a heated saltwater pool, sauna and hammam, four restaurants and five bars, a dive centre on the beach and a 9‑hole par‑3 course, plus a kids’ club. Note the spelling drift: you will see it written ALDAU, Al Dau and Aldau on different booking sites, and there is a separate, cheaper Al Dau Club in the same complex — check which one you are buying.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Steigenberger Pure Lifestyle — Adults Only
The grown-ups’ option in the same Al Dau development, run as an adults-only, all-inclusive lifestyle hotel: calmer pools, no children’s noise, and a shorter, more modern building than its big sister next door. It shares the location and the beach, so you get the town-side convenience without the family bustle. A sensible pick for couples who want the resort band but not the water slide.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Sahl Hasheesh — The Polished Bay
A purpose-built bay about 18 km south of the city, built in a horseshoe around clear, steadily deepening water with an artificial underwater wall that has grown into a genuinely good snorkelling reef. It is the smartest address in the Hurghada area and the quietest — there is a promenade and a handful of restaurants, and beyond that nothing. Budget for taxis.
The Oberoi Beach Resort, Sahl Hasheesh
The most expensive address on this coast, and the one guests come back to: an all-suite, low-rise resort in domed Moorish style, where every suite has a sunken marble bath and a private courtyard, and the grander ones have their own pool. Service is the reason people return — unhurried, personal and genuinely polished — and the beach and house reef are excellent. It is expensive and deliberately quiet rather than lively; if you want a bar crawl, stay in town. For a honeymoon or a milestone, it is the one.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Baron Palace Sahl Hasheesh
A large, deliberately palatial all-inclusive at the heart of the bay, with a domed marble lobby, a long sweep of pools down to the sand and a wide choice of restaurants. It manages the trick of being both a family resort and a smart one: there are kids’ facilities and water slides at one end and quiet adult pools at the other. Good value for the level of finish, and the most reliable choice in the bay if you want everything included without dropping to a mass-market band.
Book Me on Trip.com ›KaiSol Romance Resort Sahl Hasheesh
A well-liked adults-only, all-inclusive on the bay, with a big pool, a good stretch of beach and a calm, couples-ish feel at a fair price. Note the change of name: this was the SUNRISE Romance Resort (sold as Grand Select) and it now trades as KaiSol Romance Resort Sahl Hasheesh. Several booking sites still carry the old Sunrise name, and some listing pages and URLs have not caught up, so search both and make sure the address and photographs match before you pay.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Makadi Bay — Family All‑Inclusives
About 30 km south of Hurghada, Makadi is the family end of the coast: long sandy beaches, a cluster of large all-inclusive resorts, aqua parks and reliable snorkelling straight off the shore. Nothing to walk to, everything inside the gates, and prices noticeably below Sahl Hasheesh.
Cleopatra Luxury Resort Makadi Bay
A big, cheerful all-inclusive that does the Makadi formula well — a wide beach, several pools including slides for children, a decent spread of themed restaurants and evening entertainment. Rooms are spacious and plainly comfortable rather than stylish. Pick it when the priority is a fortnight of sun with the children entertained and the bill known in advance; note that the Cleopatra name is used by several properties on this coast, so check you have the Makadi Bay one.
Book Me on Trip.com ›JAZ Makadi Saraya Resort
Part of the Jaz group’s substantial Makadi cluster, Saraya is the middle option: generous gardens, several pools, a good beach and a house reef with a dive and snorkel centre on site. It is popular with European families and divers who want a no-fuss week of two dives a day and dinner included. Well run and consistent; the resort is big, so ask for a room near the beach if walking distance matters.
Book Me on Trip.com ›JAZ Makadi Oasis Resort
The calmer, better-value sister in the same Jaz complex, laid out low-rise among gardens and sharing much of the wider resort’s facilities. It suits couples and families who want the all-inclusive convenience and the same beach without paying for the busiest pool deck. Rooms are simple and clean; the grounds and the sea are the point.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Value, and Old El Dahar
Hurghada is one of the cheapest warm-sea holidays in the world if you look slightly away from the smart bays. The resort strip has long-established mid-priced hotels, and old El Dahar — the original town, with the bazaar, the mosque and the bus station — has the cheapest rooms and the most genuine Egyptian street life. El Dahar has essentially no hotel beach of its own, so plan on a taxi or a day-pass.
Sunrise Garden Beach Resort & Spa
A long-standing, dependable all-inclusive on the town side of the coast, well liked for its mature gardens, big pool area and easy reach of the El Mamsha promenade — which is the rare combination of a resort band and somewhere to walk to. The spa and water sports are decent and the food is better than the price suggests. A sound middle choice if you cannot decide between town and bay.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Sea Garden Hotel
An honest, inexpensive city hotel of the kind Hurghada does well: plain, clean rooms, a small pool, friendly staff and a price that leaves the rest of your money for boat trips. There is no manicured private beach and no evening show — you are buying a comfortable base in the town, which is exactly right if you intend to be out on a dive boat or at the Giftun Islands most days.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Knowing the coast before you book
Hurghada’s listings are famously confusing, because hotels seventy kilometres apart — El Gouna in the north, Soma Bay in the south — are all filed under one city name. This is the map in plain terms.
How far apart the bays really are
Measured from the city: El Gouna is about 25 km north — a separate, privately built resort town with around twenty hotels, three marinas, lagoons and an 18‑hole golf course. Going south, Sahl Hasheesh is about 18 km, Makadi Bay about 30 km and Soma Bay about 45 km, the last best known for the Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay and its thalasso‑therapy spa. All of them share Hurghada International Airport (HRG), Egypt’s second-busiest, which is why they all appear under “Hurghada” when you search. If the distance matters to you — and for evenings out it does — read the address, not the city name.
The diving, and what is actually offshore
The reason Hurghada exists as a resort is the water: the sea averages around 24 °C across the year, and diving and snorkelling run in every season. The Giftun Islands are the standard day trip, roughly 45 minutes out by boat, with beach landings and good reef. Wreck divers come for El Mina and the Rosalie Moller. Almost every hotel of any size has a dive centre or an arrangement with one; if diving is the purpose of the trip, a plain town hotel plus a good independent dive operator usually beats paying resort prices for the same boat.
When to come
This is a subtropical desert coast: mild winters, hot summers and a great deal of sunshine. Summer is genuinely fierce — daytime highs average around 37 °C in July and August — while winter is mild, with highs around 22 °C in January. March to May and September to November are the best weeks — warm sea, bearable sun, comfortable diving. July and August are genuinely hot. Winter is fine on land but can be windy enough to cancel a boat, so build a spare day into a dive trip.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions travelers ask most when choosing where to stay in Hurghada.
What is the best area to stay in Hurghada?
If you want to walk to restaurants, shops and a marina in the evening, stay in town along the El Mamsha promenade or near Sakkala. If you want a big beach, a house reef and an all-inclusive band, choose one of the planned bays south of the city — Sahl Hasheesh at 18 km or Makadi Bay at 30 km. If you want the real Egyptian town, cheap rooms and the bazaar, stay in old El Dahar, but expect no private beach.
Is Sahl Hasheesh or Makadi Bay better than staying in town?
They are different holidays rather than better or worse. The bays are purpose-built enclaves with excellent beaches, quiet and good snorkelling, but almost nothing outside the gates, so you rely on the hotel for meals and pay for a taxi to see anything. Staying in town gives you cafes, dive shops, the marina and easy day trips, at the cost of a busier and less pristine beach.
Is El Gouna part of Hurghada?
No. El Gouna is a separate, privately built resort town about 25 km north of Hurghada, with its own marinas, golf course and lagoons. It shares Hurghada airport, and many hotel listings file it under Hurghada, but it is a 30–40 minute drive from the city and feels nothing like it. Check the address before you book if the distance matters to you.
When is the best time to visit Hurghada?
Hurghada works year round: daytime highs average around 37 °C in July and August and around 22 °C in January, and the sea averages around 24 °C. March to May and September to November are the sweet spot — hot but not fierce, and comfortable for diving. July and August are very hot, and December to February can be breezy enough to cancel a boat.
Do I have to book all-inclusive in Hurghada?
In the bays, all-inclusive genuinely makes sense, because there is little within walking distance. In town it often does not — El Mamsha and Sakkala are full of independent restaurants, and a room-only or half-board rate plus eating out is usually better value and better food. Check exactly which restaurants, drinks and water sports are included before you pay; the word covers very different things from hotel to hotel.
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