Hurghada is one of the easiest places in the world to learn to dive and one of the more rewarding places to keep diving. Warm water, high visibility, shallow reefs for beginners and serious wrecks within day-trip range — all from a city with an international airport.
Conditions through the year
Water temperature runs roughly from 22°C in February to 29°C in August. A 5mm wetsuit is comfortable in winter; a shorty is plenty in summer. Visibility is regularly 20 to 30 meters and often more, and the reefs start shallow, so a great deal of what is worth seeing sits between 5 and 18 meters.
Diving is possible all year. Winter brings occasional wind that closes the more exposed sites; the crews simply move to sheltered reefs.
The wrecks
This coast is famous for them. El Mina, a Soviet-built minesweeper bombed in 1970, lies on her side at around 27 meters just outside Hurghada harbour — intact enough to read, and thoroughly colonized by coral and glassfish. Further out, the Thistlegorm and Giannis D are within reach of long day trips and are among the most celebrated wreck dives anywhere.
The reefs
Around the Giftun islands and the reefs north and south of the city you get hard and soft coral, walls, pinnacles and the full Red Sea cast: butterflyfish, angelfish, parrotfish, moray eels, blue-spotted rays, and with luck a turtle. Nobody dives the same site every day — the crews choose in the morning based on wind.
Learning to dive here
- Never dived before? A Discover Scuba Diving day gives you two supervised dives with an instructor at your side and no course commitment.
- Ready to certify? Open Water takes three to four days and qualifies you to 18 meters.
- Already certified? Advanced Open Water adds five adventure dives and takes you to 30 meters, which is where most of the wrecks are.
- Diving a lot? Enriched air (nitrox) buys you longer bottom times and shorter surface intervals.
Safety, honestly
- Do not fly within 24 hours of diving. Plan your last dive around your flight, not the other way round.
- Declare medical conditions, medication and recent illness before you book. Asthma, ear problems and heart conditions all need an honest conversation.
- If it has been over a year since your last dive, take a refresher. It is one session and it makes the first dive far better.
- There is a decompression chamber in Hurghada, and dive insurance is inexpensive. Get it.
- Do not touch or stand on coral, and do not take anything from the water.
Our full range of dive trips and courses is on the tours page, and if you are not sure which level suits you, message us and we will tell you honestly.
