Best Things to Do in the Red Sea, Egypt

Eden Island Hurghada is a purpose-built leisure and residential development constructed on a reclaimed island in the Hurghada lagoon, designed to bring a Mediterranean marina atmosphere to Egypt's Red Sea coast. The island is connected to the mainland by a short causeway and its promenade is anchored by an eclectic mix of waterfront restaurants, beach clubs, and boutique shops. Shaded terraces overlooking the calm inner lagoon make it a popular spot for long lunches of freshly grilled sea bass and traditional Egyptian mezze. The beach club facilities include sun-lounger hire, paddleboard and kayak rentals, and a swimming platform accessible from the boardwalk. Unlike the open sea beaches nearby, Eden Island's lagoon position means the water is naturally sheltered and calm — ideal for families with young children or anyone who prefers relaxed paddling to wave action. Evening is when the island comes alive most fully: outdoor bars host live music several nights a week, and the boardwalk fills with strolling families and couples watching the lights of Hurghada reflect on the water. The development continues to expand and new dining concepts open regularly.

El Dahar, Hurghada's original old town, predates the resort developments that transformed the surrounding coastline and preserves an authentically Egyptian character rarely encountered in the city's tourist zones. Narrow streets radiating out from the central mosque are lined with traditional bazaars selling spices, dried herbs, handmade shisha pipes, and brightly coloured galabiya robes at prices considerably lower than marina-area shops. The fruit and vegetable souk operates from early morning until noon, when local families shop for produce delivered fresh from the Nile Delta. Neighbourhood coffee houses serve strong Egyptian-style coffee and heavily sweetened tea, providing an ideal vantage point for watching daily life unfold. The old fishing quarter near the northern waterfront still shelters working boats between the concrete breakwaters, and conversations with local fishermen about their catches remain one of the district's most memorable informal experiences. Several modest mosques with ornate carved plasterwork facades are open to respectful visitors outside prayer times. El Dahar rewards slow exploration on foot: the atmosphere is unhurried, the architecture unpretentious, and the people consistently welcoming of curious travellers willing to step beyond the resort corridor.

Hollywood Sharm el Sheikh is one of the resort city’s most established and well-known entertainment complexes, a large-scale open-air venue along El Shaikh Zayed Street that combines an amusement park, dedicated go-kart racing circuit, fairground rides, carnival games, and family entertainment in a single accessible site. The venue primarily targets the family visitor market, providing a lively alternative evening activity to beach and diving that appeals to children and teenagers of all ages and interests.

• A dedicated go-kart racing circuit is consistently among the most popular draws for both teenagers and adults.
• Fairground rides, bumper cars, shooting galleries, and carnival games operate until late into the evening.
• Multiple food outlets serve Egyptian street food and international fast food throughout the complex.

The venue is most animated after sunset, when cooler temperatures draw families out of the hotels and the lit rides and crowd noise create an energetic, genuinely festive fairground atmosphere. Hollywood is deliberately positioned as affordable entertainment by Sharm el-Sheikh standards, with individual ride tickets purchased separately rather than a single cover charge — giving visitors full control over how much they spend. While not a sophisticated attraction, Hollywood fills a genuine gap in Sharm’s entertainment landscape, providing spontaneous fun for resort guests seeking a break from poolside routine without requiring advance booking, specialist equipment, or pre-arranged transport. A visit pairs naturally with a subsequent dinner at one of the Na’ama Bay waterfront restaurants a short drive away.

Hurghada 1,001 Nights, known locally as Alf Leila Wa Leila, is an elaborate dinner and entertainment complex on the Safaga Road that transports visitors into a vivid theatrical recreation of ancient Arabia. The venue was built to resemble an Ottoman-era city complete with painted domes, minarets, carved lattice screens, and labyrinthine corridors linking different performance areas. Each evening the complex hosts an extended programme of traditional Egyptian folkloric dance, whirling dervish performances, Nubian music, and acrobatic displays that unfold across multiple stages simultaneously, allowing guests to drift between shows at their own pace. The central banqueting hall seats hundreds of guests at low-set tables where a multi-course Egyptian feast — including mezze, grilled meats, and honey-drenched pastries — is served by staff in period costume. Souvenir vendors throughout the complex sell hand-painted ceramics, amber jewellery, and handwoven textiles. The venue attracts a predominantly tour-group audience and the atmosphere can be boisterous; those seeking an intimate evening may prefer smaller cultural centres in the city, but for sheer spectacle and entertainment volume, Alf Leila Wa Leila is unmatched in Hurghada.

The Hurghada Grand Aquarium brings the wonders of the Red Sea into a climate-controlled environment that makes marine life accessible to visitors of every age and swimming ability. Located along the coastal road roughly 12 kilometres south of the city centre, the aquarium houses more than 1,000 marine creatures across 23 themed tanks, ranging from shallow touch pools where children can handle sea stars and hermit crabs to a walk-through tunnel submerged beneath a 700,000-litre main display tank. Sharks, rays, moray eels, and dense schools of glassfish circle overhead as visitors pass through the panoramic acrylic corridor, creating a genuinely immersive encounter. A dedicated Red Sea coral reef exhibit replicates the precise lighting and water chemistry of the natural reef just kilometres offshore, supporting live stony and soft coral colonies alongside reef fish. The aquarium also maintains a small breeding programme for native species including the clownfish popularised by cinema. Interactive educational panels in Arabic, English, and German explain the ecological pressures facing Red Sea reefs, including warming ocean temperatures and tourism-related anchor damage. The on-site café serves fresh juices and light meals, and a souvenir shop offers marine-themed gifts and books.

The King Tut Museum in Sharm el-Sheikh offers visitors a curated and detailed overview of Tutankhamun’s legendary tomb and its extraordinary contents through museum-quality replicas and engaging interpretive displays — bringing the experience of ancient Egyptian royal burial directly to the Red Sea resort without the journey to Luxor or Cairo. The museum presents authoritative reproductions of the 1922 treasures discovered by Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings, including the iconic golden death mask, ceremonial chariots, gilded canopic shrine, and elaborately decorated funerary furniture.

• All replica artefacts are produced to exact documented scale and carefully researched historical accuracy.
• Interactive multimedia stations narrate the discovery story and explain Tutankhamun’s brief 10-year reign.
• Audio guides are available in multiple languages to suit the resort’s international visitor profile.

The museum is particularly valuable for visitors who want meaningful context for Egyptian antiquities without undertaking the full archaeological tourism circuit through Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Clear explanatory panels cover the mummification process, the religious significance of individual tomb objects, and the complex political circumstances of the 18th dynasty Amarna period. For families travelling with children, the museum offers an engaging and appropriately pitched introduction to the ancient world. Located in Sharm’s main hotel zone, it works well as a half-day activity between beach sessions, making it one of the resort’s most culturally substantive options.

Mahmya Island, privately managed by a long-running Egyptian tour operator, is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful and well-maintained beach destinations on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Located within the Giftun Islands National Park, the island offers a carefully curated day-trip experience built around its powdery white sand beach, crystal-clear shallows, and surrounding reef. Entrance fees contribute directly to coral reef conservation, and strict rules govern snorkelling conduct, boat anchoring, and waste disposal. The house reef is accessible directly from the beach, making it ideal for non-divers who wish to observe the kaleidoscopic marine life without a boat transfer. Facilities include sun-loungers, beach bars serving fresh juices and grilled fish, and a volleyball court. The island's manicured landscaping and absence of hotel infrastructure give it a paradisiacal feel that stands apart from busier resort beaches. Day trips from Hurghada take approximately 45 minutes by speedboat; departure times are staggered to manage visitor numbers and protect the fragile reef ecosystem. Early booking is strongly advised during the peak winter season from October through April, when demand consistently outstrips available capacity.

Makadi Water World is one of the largest and most elaborately themed water parks on the Egyptian Red Sea coast, spread across a sprawling complex in the Makadi Bay resort area south of Hurghada. The park features more than 35 slides and attractions calibrated for every age and adrenaline threshold — from the gently sloping family rivers and splash pools suitable for toddlers to the near-vertical Free Fall and Black Hole tunnel slides that accelerate adult riders through pitch-dark tubes before depositing them into open pools. A dedicated lazy river winds for several hundred metres through tropical landscaping, providing a relaxed counterpoint to the park's more intense offerings. Multilingual lifeguards are stationed at every major attraction, and strict height and weight guidelines are enforced. Several restaurants and snack bars operate throughout the complex, serving Egyptian and international dishes alongside a wide selection of cold beverages. The park's wave pool generates Atlantic-style surf and accommodates hundreds of swimmers simultaneously. All-inclusive day passes include unlimited ride access, making Makadi Water World a competitive value proposition for families spending multiple days on the coast. Weekday visits are noticeably quieter than weekends.

Marsa Mubarak is a naturally sheltered bay close to Marsa Alam on Egypt’s southern Red Sea coast, celebrated internationally as one of the most consistently reliable sites in the world for close encounters with wild dugongs and green sea turtles in their natural marine habitat. The bay’s extensive shallow sandy areas support dense beds of Halophila stipulacea seagrass — the primary dietary staple of dugongs — and the gentle, exceptionally clear water makes snorkelling and shallow diving encounters straightforward even for complete beginners.

• Dugong sightings are recorded on the majority of morning visits throughout the year.
• Green sea turtles rest and graze in the seagrass beds year-round, often visible within minutes of entering the water.
• Coral reef systems along the bay’s outer edges support rich additional marine biodiversity beyond the seagrass zones.

Marsa Mubarak translates as Blessed Harbour, and the site is protected under Egyptian environmental conservation legislation. Guides and snorkel operators from the adjacent dive centre provide supervised access while enforcing strict responsible wildlife interaction protocols — maintaining minimum distances from animals and prohibiting any physical contact or chasing behaviour. Day trips from Marsa Alam, approximately 5 kilometres to the north, are straightforward. The bay also features as a key stop on liveaboard diving itineraries exploring the remote southern Red Sea corridor between Marsa Alam and the Sudanese maritime border.

Mons Porphyrites — the Mountain of Purple Stone — is one of the ancient world's most remarkable and least visited industrial sites, located in the remote Eastern Desert roughly 50 kilometres from Hurghada. Roman engineers quarried imperial porphyry here from the first to the fifth century CE, extracting the hard purple-red igneous rock prized above all other stones in the classical world for its association with imperial power. Statues, sarcophagi, columns, and floor panels crafted from Mons Porphyrites stone still survive in the Vatican, the Louvre, and Istanbul's Hagia Sophia. The quarry complex is surprisingly extensive: abandoned settlement remains, tool storage rooms, water cisterns, a small temple to Serapis, and dozens of unfinished column drums scattered across the desert floor paint a vivid picture of the organised labour force — largely conscripted — that worked this inhospitable site. Getting there requires a 4WD vehicle and ideally a local guide; the route crosses open gravel desert and wadi floors. Sunrise visits are recommended both for the lower temperatures and for the extraordinary morning light that turns the porphyry outcrops a deep crimson. The site remains largely unexcavated and free of fencing, preserving an atmosphere of raw archaeological discovery.

Mount Sinai — known in Arabic as Jabal Musa, meaning the Mountain of Moses — rises to 2,285 metres in Egypt’s southern Sinai Peninsula and carries profound religious significance for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to Biblical and Quranic tradition, this is the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, and the mountain has drawn continuous pilgrimage from all three monotheistic faiths for well over 1,500 years.

• St. Catherine’s Monastery at the mountain’s base has operated without interruption since the 6th century CE.
• A small mosque and a Greek Orthodox chapel both stand at the summit, reflecting the mountain’s multi-faith significance.
• Two distinct ascent routes exist: the longer camel path and the steep Steps of Repentance (approximately 3,750 stone steps).

Most visitors time their ascent to arrive at the summit at dawn — a profoundly atmospheric experience as the rocky Sinai wilderness gradually illuminates with extraordinary light in every direction. The camel path takes two to three hours at a steady pace, while the Steps of Repentance provide a shorter but more demanding direct climb from a junction point. Cold winds at the summit can be severe even during summer nights, requiring warm layers regardless of valley temperatures below. St. Catherine’s Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, houses a remarkable collection of early Christian icons, manuscripts, and what tradition identifies as the original burning bush of Exodus, still flourishing in the monastery garden.

Na’ama Bay is the original and enduring heart of Sharm el-Sheikh’s resort development — a sheltered, crescent-shaped bay on the Gulf of Aqaba that established Egypt’s international reputation as a world-class Red Sea diving destination during the 1980s and 1990s. The bay’s protected, calm waters, reliable year-round visibility, and immediate proximity to outstanding reef systems made it the natural focal point for the diving industry’s early growth, and it retains the city’s greatest concentration of dive centres, hotels, waterfront restaurants, and promenade social life.

• The bay’s publicly accessible beach offers direct shore entry to reef systems for snorkellers.
• The main promenade runs the full crescent length of the bay, lined with restaurants, cafés, and dive shops.
• Ras Mohammed National Park is a straightforward 20-minute drive south from the bay.

Evening on the Na’ama Bay promenade generates a distinctive Mediterranean resort energy — Egyptian families, European package tourists, Russian visitors, and Gulf Arab travellers mingle at open-air restaurants while traditional wooden dhows rock in the harbour lights. Popular nearby dive sites including The Tower, Amphoras, and Far Garden reward both beginners and experienced divers with dramatic wall diving, coral gardens, and occasional dolphin encounters. While newer resort developments have expanded Sharm’s footprint northward, Na’ama Bay remains the social and commercial centre of the city, and it is the area where the most experienced dive centres, the widest choice of independent restaurants, and the most animated evening social life consistently concentrate in one conveniently walkable zone.

Ras Mohammed National Park occupies the dramatic southern tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba converge to create waters of extraordinary marine richness. Established as Egypt’s first national park in 1983, Ras Mohammed protects mangrove channels, desert wadis, and some of the Red Sea’s most celebrated coral reef systems — including the legendary Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef, where a 1980 cargo vessel still spills its peculiar cargo of bathroom fittings across the sandy seafloor.

• The park covers 480 square kilometres of both terrestrial desert and fully protected marine territory.
• Hammerhead sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, eagle rays, and seasonal whale sharks are encountered here.
• Mangrove channels fringing the peninsula provide critical nursery habitat for juvenile reef fish species.

The convergence of two distinct water bodies generates powerful currents that flood the reefs with nutrients, sustaining exceptional coral diversity and fish biomass in consistently clear conditions. Above the waterline, the park’s stark desert landscape hosts migratory birds on the African-Eurasian flyway, desert foxes, and the inland Magic Lake — a hypersaline lagoon coloured vivid pink by halophyte microorganisms. Day trips from Sharm el-Sheikh take approximately 30 minutes by road. Entry requires both a national park fee and, for divers, a separate dive permit. Conservation regulations firmly prohibit touching coral, collecting shells, standing on reef structures, or feeding marine life under any circumstances.

Sand City Hurghada is an open-air sculpture park on the Safaga Road that celebrates the remarkable artistic potential of Egypt's most abundant natural material. Skilled sand sculptors from across Egypt and internationally create and periodically refresh a changing gallery of large-scale figures — pharaohs, pyramids, desert caravans, and mythological scenes — rendered in compacted sand and stabilised with a light resin coating to withstand the desert climate. The sculptures can stand several metres tall and demonstrate a level of detail — from individual hair strands to hieroglyphic inscriptions — that consistently surprises first-time visitors who underestimate the medium. Interactive stations allow children and adults to try their hand at basic sand sculpting under informal guidance from resident artists. A small museum section inside the park documents the history of Egyptian sand art competitions and the techniques used to maintain structural integrity in high-temperature conditions. Refreshment kiosks serve chilled drinks and ice cream, and the park is fully illuminated for evening visits, when dramatic lighting transforms the golden sculptures into something genuinely theatrical. Entry is inexpensive and the park makes a pleasant 90-minute stop en route to Makadi Bay or the Giftun Island embarkation point.

Senzo Mall is one of Hurghada's largest and most modern indoor shopping centres, providing a climate-controlled retail experience that has become a welcome refuge from the summer heat for both tourists and local residents. The multi-storey complex houses an extensive mix of international fashion brands, Egyptian clothing chains, electronics retailers, and home goods stores across its several hundred individual units. An anchor hypermarket on the ground floor stocks a broad selection of fresh produce, imported foods, and household essentials — particularly useful for self-catering visitors or those preparing for a live-aboard trip. The upper floors are dominated by a large food court offering everything from traditional Egyptian koshari and grilled kofta to international fast-food chains, Japanese sushi counters, and artisanal coffee shops. A multiplex cinema screens a mix of Arabic and English-language films, making the mall a genuine evening entertainment destination. The basement level hosts a well-equipped children's entertainment zone with arcade games and soft-play areas. Senzo Mall is located on the coastal road and easily reached by taxi or local minibus from most resort areas; parking is ample and free, and the mall operates seven days a week from morning until late evening.

Sharm El Luli — also identified on maps as Ras Hankorab — is a spectacularly remote and completely undeveloped beach near Marsa Alam on Egypt’s southern Red Sea coast, consistently cited by travel writers and marine photographers among the most beautiful and pristine beaches on the entire African continent. Accessible only by 4×4 vehicle along rough, unmarked desert tracks, the perfect crescent bay sits within a protected national park area and remains entirely free of built infrastructure — no hotels, no permanent beach facilities, and no commercial operators based on-site.

• Crystal-clear turquoise water and powdery white coral sand define the beach setting with complete consistency.
• Snorkelling directly from the shoreline reveals healthy, completely undisturbed coral reef systems.
• The beach can be entirely deserted on weekdays outside Egyptian public holiday periods.

The absence of all development is precisely what draws visitors — Sharm El Luli offers one of the last genuinely wild Red Sea beach experiences accessible to day visitors without specialist expedition equipment. Turtle nesting on the beach is documented annually, and dugongs occasionally enter the bay’s shallow seagrass margins. No permanent toilets, restaurants, or shade structures exist — visitors must bring all supplies. Day excursions from Marsa Alam, approximately 30 kilometres to the north, are the standard access method. Conservation regulations prohibit off-road driving beyond designated approach tracks throughout the park zone.

Sharm el-Sheikh Cruise Port positions this internationally celebrated Sinai Peninsula resort as a destination of genuine substance on Red Sea cruise itineraries, rather than functioning purely as a transit point for overland excursions. Cruise calls at Sharm allow passengers to access the city’s world-class coral reef diving and snorkelling directly from shore, visit the extraordinary marine ecosystems of Ras Mohammed National Park, explore Na’ama Bay’s promenade and restaurants, or undertake the memorable overnight journey to Mount Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai highlands.

• Ras Mohammed National Park is approximately 20 minutes from the port by road or organised boat transfer.
• Na’ama Bay with its dive centres, beaches, and waterfront restaurants is accessible in under 10 minutes.
• Mount Sinai overnight excursions depart from Sharm and can return before ship departure the following morning.

Unlike Safaga, which functions primarily as a land access point for Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, Sharm el-Sheikh’s port serves a city with its own major natural and cultural attractions immediately on the doorstep. The port facility also handles passenger ferry services to Aqaba in Jordan, enabling multi-destination itineraries across the Red Sea. The combination of outstanding marine biodiversity, stark desert landscapes, and the ancient religious significance of Sinai makes Sharm el-Sheikh among the most content-rich cruise port calls in the entire eastern Mediterranean circuit.

The Sharm el Sheikh Old Market (Sharm el Maya Souk) is the most authentic shopping and cultural experience available in this predominantly resort-oriented city, a dense labyrinth of market stalls and small shops clustered near the entrance to the Sharm el Maya harbor district. For travelers seeking genuine Egyptian bazaar atmosphere amid Sharm el Sheikh’s otherwise resort-polished environment, this compact but lively market delivers a sensory immersion into local commercial life.

Vendors here sell an extensive and sometimes overwhelming range of goods:

• Egyptian spices, dried herbs, and perfume oils
• Handcrafted papyrus art and alabaster figurines
• Bedouin silver jewelry and turquoise-inlaid pieces
• Cotton galabiya robes and hand-embroidered textiles
• Diving equipment, beach goods, and resort souvenirs

Bargaining is not merely acceptable but expected, and the negotiation process itself is a form of cultural exchange that experienced travelers find rewarding. Evening hours bring the most animated atmosphere, particularly in the cooler months between October and April, when the market fills with both Egyptian shoppers and tourists browsing for souvenirs. Several open-air restaurants around the market perimeter serve grilled fish, kofta, and traditional Egyptian mezze at prices far below the hotel restaurant equivalents. The Old Market is a 10-minute taxi ride from Na’ama Bay, and represents an essential half-day excursion for any visitor wanting to connect with the real Sharm el Sheikh beyond the resort fences.

Sharm el Maya (Sharm el Sheikh Old Town) is the historic original settlement of Sharm el Sheikh, predating the resort city’s transformation into an international tourism hub. This authentic Egyptian neighborhood, centered on a sheltered bay used as a fishing harbor since the town’s early days, offers a welcome contrast to the polished resort strips of Na’ama Bay and the modern hotel zones that characterize the rest of Sharm el Sheikh.

The old town retains the character of a working Egyptian coastal community, with local coffee shops, small restaurants serving grilled fish and traditional Egyptian dishes, spice markets, and dive operators catering to a more independent traveler than the all-inclusive resorts attract. The harbor itself is picturesque in a functional way, with fishing boats and dive vessels sharing the calm turquoise waters of the protected bay.

Sharm el Maya is also the commercial hub of the city for everyday Egyptian life: pharmacies, hardware stores, and local bakeries serving freshly baked Egyptian bread line the streets alongside souvenir shops and budget accommodations. The neighborhood connects via the main coastal road to the Old Market bazaar, where spices, papyrus, alabaster figurines, and textiles are sold in a lively trading atmosphere. For travelers seeking to experience Sharm el Sheikh beyond the resort bubble, the old town provides an accessible and genuinely revealing window into the city’s dual identity.

SOHO Square is Sharm el Sheikh’s most elegant open-air entertainment and dining destination, a carefully landscaped complex set around a central square fountain that creates a pleasantly sophisticated atmosphere distinct from the more commercial entertainment strips of Na’ama Bay. Located in the upscale Hadaba district, SOHO Square caters to visitors seeking quality dining, gentle evening entertainment, and attractive surroundings in a setting that feels genuinely designed rather than haphazardly accumulated.

The square hosts an impressive variety of restaurants representing international cuisines — from Italian and Asian fusion to traditional Egyptian grills — alongside a live music stage where performances range from classical Arabic music to international pop and jazz, typically beginning in the early evening and continuing past midnight. The ice-skating rink is one of Sharm el Sheikh’s most unexpected attractions, operating year-round inside the complex despite the desert heat outside.

A small but well-maintained botanical area with exotic plants provides a pleasant backdrop for evening strolling, and the overall atmosphere is relaxed and family-friendly without sacrificing sophistication. Shopping at SOHO Square leans toward quality over quantity, with boutiques carrying Egyptian crafts, jewelry, and branded goods rather than the mass-market souvenirs of the Old Market. The complex is particularly popular for special occasion dining and celebrations. For travelers based anywhere in Sharm el Sheikh, SOHO Square represents the resort city at its most polished and convivial.

St. Catherine’s Monastery, built between 548 and 565 CE on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monasteries in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site of extraordinary cultural and religious significance. Nestled at the foot of Mt. Sinai at 1,570 meters elevation in Egypt’s South Sinai governorate, this Greek Orthodox community has maintained unbroken monastic life for nearly 1,500 years.

The monastery’s fortified walls enclose a remarkably complete medieval complex including the Basilica of the Transfiguration, whose apse mosaic dating to the 6th century is among the finest examples of early Byzantine art surviving anywhere in the world. The monastery library holds the second-largest collection of early manuscripts after the Vatican, including priceless illuminated texts in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, and Coptic. The famous Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest complete New Testament manuscripts, was discovered here in the 19th century.

The monastery’s garden is home to a living descendant of the Burning Bush, the biblical shrub from which God spoke to Moses — venerated by pilgrims of all faiths. Daily visitor access is limited to morning hours, making early arrival essential. The combination of architectural majesty, artistic treasures, living faith, and sacred landscape makes St. Catherine’s Monastery one of the most profoundly moving destinations in all of Egypt.