Hurghada vs. Sharm El Sheikh: Choosing Your Red Sea Stay

Adding two or three nights on the Red Sea at the end of a Nile Valley trip is the best way to rest your feet after a week of early temple starts. The two main choices are the Hurghada coast on the mainland and Sharm El Sheikh at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.

For anyone combining the beach with Luxor and Aswan, Hurghada (along with upscale El Gouna to the north and Sahl Hasheesh and Soma Bay to the south) wins on logistics. A private car takes you directly from your Nile cruise or hotel in Luxor to your Red Sea resort in about four hours across the Eastern Desert — no airport security, no connecting flight through Cairo.

Hurghada’s coastline features long, gently sloping sandy beaches that are ideal for families, young children and casual swimmers, with boat excursions out to Giftun Island and offshore coral reefs.

Sharm El Sheikh, by contrast, is famous for dramatic Sinai mountain scenery and deep-water coral walls right off the shore: at many resorts you walk out along a short floating jetty and drop straight into aquarium-like reefs, with Ras Mohammed National Park nearby. Sharm also gives you access to St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai.

Choose Hurghada, El Gouna or Soma Bay if you are finishing a Nile cruise in Luxor or Aswan and want sandy beaches and easy overland transfers. Choose Sharm El Sheikh if world-class shore snorkelling, diving or Sinai desert scenery is your top priority and you are happy to connect by flight via Cairo.