Hurghada has hundreds of restaurants and most visitors eat in perhaps three of them, because the hotel is easier and the choice outside is overwhelming. This is a shortcut: where to go, what to order, and roughly what it should cost.

Eat where the fish comes off the boat

The Red Sea is the reason to eat out here. Around the marina and along Sekalla you will find restaurants where you pick your fish from ice at the front and it is grilled whole. Ask the price per kilo before you choose — that is normal practice and nobody will be offended.

Look for red snapper, sea bream, calamari and the local prawns. Grilled with lemon, cumin and a little garlic is the standard treatment and it is the right one. Tahina, baba ghanoush and fresh bread arrive without being asked.

Egyptian food, properly

For this you go to El Dahar, the old part of the city. The food there is what Egyptians actually eat rather than what hotels think tourists want:

  • Koshari — rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, fried onions and tomato sauce. Egypt's national dish, entirely vegetarian, and it costs almost nothing.
  • Ful medames — slow-cooked fava beans with oil, lemon and cumin. Breakfast, traditionally.
  • Ta'ameya — Egyptian falafel, made with fava beans rather than chickpeas, greener inside and lighter than the Levantine version.
  • Molokhia — a green leaf stew that divides visitors completely. Try it once.
  • Grilled meats and kofta — ordered by weight, served with bread, salad and tahina.

Sherry Street and the Marina

Sherry Street, off the Sheraton road, is where locals and long-stay visitors eat: a run of restaurants, shawarma places and juice bars that stay busy late. Prices are moderate and the atmosphere is genuinely Egyptian.

Hurghada Marina is the other end of the scale — a waterfront promenade of restaurants with tables looking at the yachts. You pay for the setting, and on a warm evening it is worth it at least once.

What a meal should cost

A plate of koshari from a proper koshari house is a few dollars. A full seafood dinner with grilled fish, mezze and drinks in a good marina restaurant is considerably more but still far below European prices. If a menu has no prices on it, ask before ordering.

Practical advice

  • Drink bottled water and check the seal. It is inexpensive and available everywhere.
  • Fresh juice is excellent — mango, guava, sugarcane, hibiscus. Ask for it without added sugar if you prefer.
  • Vegetarians eat well here. Ful, ta'ameya, koshari, stuffed vine leaves and mezze are all naturally meat-free.
  • Tipping is customary; around 10% is normal and always appreciated.
  • Ramadan changes opening hours significantly. If you are visiting then, check before setting out, and be aware that eating in public during daylight is impolite even though nobody will confront you about it.
  • Alcohol is served in licensed restaurants, hotels and bars but not everywhere. Do not assume.

If you would rather not work it out on your own, our Hurghada city tour includes the markets and the fish market with a guide who can tell you which places are worth your evening.