Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh, Marsa Alam or Dahab: where should you base a Red Sea diving holiday?

The main differences are how you reach the dive sites, which famous sites are within a day's reach, and how you get there from the airport. Water temperature is almost the same at all four (see the season section below).

Sources disagree on a few distances: Dahab is 80 km from Sharm el Sheikh according to Wikipedia and 85 km according to Wikivoyage. Every famous site above has its own page in our dive-site directory.

Yes. Hurghada has a wide choice of reefs, wrecks and dolphin sites, and most of it is dived from a boat. Wikivoyage notes that the reefs around Hurghada lie several miles offshore, so you need a boat to reach them. On our daily boat it is about an hour and a half from the marina to the first site.

• Reefs for beginners: the Giftun and Abu Ramada reefs include sites our directory lists as beginner-level, such as Banana Reef (to 20 m), El Aruk Giftun (to 15 m) and Abu Ramada South. Wikipedia describes Hurghada's waters as clear and calm for most of the year.
• Wrecks: El Mina near town (to 32 m), the Abu Nuhas reef with the Giannis D and Carnatic, and the SS Thistlegorm. DAN Europe's Alert Diver puts the Thistlegorm 2–4 hours' sailing from Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada or El Gouna, so it is a long day from any of them.
• Dolphins: Dolphin House (Shaab El Erg) north of Hurghada is a resting reef for dolphins; read our Dolphin House guide first.

The honest part: Hurghada's growth has cost its reefs. NASA's Earth Observatory cites a study finding that corals near Hurghada declined by as much as 50 percent over three decades, from construction, dredging, wastewater and careless snorkelers and divers. That is one reason dive boats head out to the islands and offshore reefs rather than diving off the town beaches.

Sharm el Sheikh is better if Ras Mohammed and the Strait of Tiran are what you want to dive most days, because they are its home reefs. Wikivoyage puts both a boat trip of up to about two hours from Sharm.

• Ras Mohammed became a marine reserve in 1983 and lies about 12 km from Sharm, at the southern tip of Sinai. Wikipedia describes Shark Reef as a vertical wall dropping more than 800 m. Read more in our Ras Mohammed guide.
• The Strait of Tiran has four reefs, Gordon, Thomas, Woodhouse and Jackson. Wikipedia notes hammerhead sharks near them in summer.
• Crowds: Wikivoyage warns that popular reefs can have up to 20 boats at once.

From Hurghada you reach Ras Mohammed and Tiran on a liveaboard rather than a day boat: our North Wrecks & Reefs week includes both, plus Abu Nuhas and the Thistlegorm. Direct flights to Sharm were suspended by many countries after October 2015; the UK lifted its ban in October 2019, and the last suspensions ended in August 2021.

Yes, for dugongs, oceanic whitetip sharks and spinner dolphins Marsa Alam is the stronger base. These are its signature encounters, and none of them is a sure thing.

• Dugongs: HEPCA says Marsa Abu Dabab accounts for the majority of dugong sightings in the Red Sea. The bay is reached from shore only, motor boats are banned, and rangers are posted there. See our dugong guide.
• Oceanic whitetips at Elphinstone: the Important Shark and Ray Areas factsheet says encounter rates peak in October and November; PADI's site guide gives September to November, hammerheads June to August and mantas March to April. The species is Critically Endangered. PADI describes the current as moderate to strong, so it is dived as a drift. Sources give its distance from the coast as anywhere from about 10 km to 30 km.
• Spinner dolphins at Samadai: a 2009 study counted an average of 39 dolphins a day, from 0 to 210, with the fewest in February–April and the most in June. Since 2004 the reef has been zoned so the dolphins keep a resting area and visitors use a separate zone.

The trade-off is distance. Marsa Alam is about 274 km south of Hurghada, and its airport is 60 km north of the town, so check how far your hotel is from the sites you want. Wikivoyage notes that largely intact reefs line the whole coast.

Divers choose Dahab for shore diving: Wikivoyage says the coral is so close to shore that you walk in at the access points, and boats are used only for outlying sites. Dahab is on the Gulf of Aqaba, about 80–85 km north of Sharm el Sheikh, whose airport is the nearest.

• The Blue Hole is a sinkhole just over 100 m deep, a few kilometres north of town. Its Arch starts at about 55 m, far beyond recreational limits. Wikipedia reports estimates of about 130 deaths there between 1997 and 2012, and some sources claim up to 200. The Bells, next door, is a wall dive to about 30 m that ends across the Blue Hole's shallow saddle at about 7 m.
• The Canyon is a gully with overhanging walls 5 km north of town, and Lighthouse is a beginner shore site in our directory.
• Wind: Wikivoyage says Dahab has about 270 days of wind a year, which is why it is also a kitesurfing town.

Dahab's water is the coolest of the four bases in every month, by up to 1.7 °C in August (see the table below).

You can dive all four bases all year. The sea is coolest in February and March and warmest in August, and the four differ by only one to two degrees.

Figures are 10-year averages from seatemperature.info. Wind matters more than temperature for the boat ride: Wikipedia notes that persistent north-west winds dominate the northern Red Sea and that average wind speed increases northwards. For month-by-month detail and wetsuit advice, read Best time to dive in Hurghada.

Hurghada suits divers who want flight choice, a mix of easy reefs and wrecks, and non-divers in the group. It also suits divers who want to start a liveaboard from the same town. Our trips fit that pattern:

• Daily diving: the guided 2-dive day is €50 (normally €60), 08:00 hotel pickup and back by 16:30, lunch included, max 4 divers per guide. Pickup is included from Hurghada, El Gouna, Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay and Safaga.
• Wreck days: the Thistlegorm and Abu Nahas day trips cost from €250 per person on a group date, or from €1,750 for a private boat.
• First-timers: a try dive is €45, one-to-one with an instructor. The Open Water course costs from €365 (SSI/SDI) or €395 (PADI), all-inclusive.
• Non-divers: snorkelers join the dive boat for €35 with mask and fins, or take a boat trip. Options include the snorkeling trip (€35), Orange Bay (€40) or a private dolphin speedboat (€200 per boat, up to 6).
• Liveaboards: our 7-night routes go to the North (from €1,190), Brothers–Daedalus–Elphinstone (from €1,340, sails from Hurghada, for Advanced Open Water or 50+ logged dives) and the Deep South (from €1,290). For the North and Deep South, the boarding port, Hurghada or Port Ghalib, is confirmed when you book. Other operators run southern itineraries from Port Ghalib near Marsa Alam.

Day trips, boat trips and courses are paid in cash on the day, with nothing in advance and free cancellation up to 24 hours before. All prices are on our price list. If dugongs are the main goal, base yourself in Marsa Alam. If you want to walk in from the beach every day, Dahab fits better.