Things to Do in Hurghada

A desert night tour that mixes a rough ride with a clear view of the stars.

• Hotel pickup in a Land Cruiser
• Red sand dunes and a Bedouin camp
• Sunset hike and candlelight dinner
• Giant telescope for distant nebulas

The Star Gazing Safari is the evening trip that surprised us the most. A Land Cruiser picked us up at the hotel with three English-speaking guides, then we drove into the red sand dunes of the Arabian Desert. Do not expect a luxury ride. The truck had no air-conditioning and no seatbelts, and it kept picking up people until it was packed. One of the guides spent part of the ride on the roof. The first stop, a tented water area, felt staged. The camel ride was a single camel in a parking lot, more like a carnival ride than the ones near the Great Pyramids. Everything after that made the tour worth it. We bounced over the dunes for about 40 minutes and arrived at a Bedouin camp, where a family was cooking bread and keeping animals. We hiked up a hill to watch the sunset, then ate a traditional Bedouin meal by candlelight. The mixed salad of chopped vegetables and herbs was the highlight. Later, the guide set up a giant telescope so we could see distant nebulas. That was the magic of the night.

Some of the best diving near Hurghada sits just off the coast at these two islands.

• Little Giftun and Big Giftun islands
• Healthy reef with colorful fish
• Moray eels and lionfish
• Ilios Dive Club runs the boat

We gave a full day to the Red Sea with Ilios Dive Club, a professional dive company in Hurghada. The plan was to dive at Little Giftun and Big Giftun, but strong winds changed it, and we made both dives at Little Giftun. If the wind is up, let the divemaster pick the site. Ours did, and it worked out well. The reef was healthy and full of colorful fish. Visibility stayed good even in the wind. We saw a six-foot moray eel swimming in open water and spotted lionfish on the reef. The dive boat was large and comfortable, and the crew served a buffet meal between the two dives. For our kids, it was their first dive after certification, and the divemaster Jowy kept everyone safe while retesting skills. Snorkelers get the same coral-rich water. Please do not touch the corals, no matter how close the fish are.

An easy evening walk along the boardwalk, with restaurants and teahouses by the water.

• Boardwalk walk around the harbor
• Restaurants to pick along the way
• Tea and shisha at a teahouse
• Close to the fish market

In the evening, we went to the Hurghada Marina to walk the boardwalk. It is a simple kind of evening: stroll around the harbor, look at the boats, and pick a restaurant that catches your eye. For dessert, a teahouse serves tea and shisha, though shisha is not for children. I would save the marina for the evening, when the air cools down. The fish market sits nearby, and the largest mosque on the Red Sea, Mosque El Mina Masjid, is right behind it. If you time it right, you can pair the boardwalk with a fish dinner at Al Halaka Fish, behind the market.

A spice and fruit market where locals shop and the roof is made of sails.

• Spices, fruit, clothes, shoes, jewelry
• Roof made of sails
• Locals fill the market
• Old town shops to haggle

El Dahar Bazaar is the most local market we visited in Egypt. It is a souk, an open market with a roof made of sails to protect you from the sun. Vendors sell spices, fruit, clothes, shoes, and jewelry. It was the one place where English was not readily spoken, and vendors did most of their bargaining in Arabic. Our taxi driver stepped in and negotiated for us. The old town of Hurghada surrounds the market, and we visited during Ramadan, when lights were strung over the streets and people and cars packed every corner. The sail roof traps heat, so drink water and do not stay too long. Go early if you can, and let your driver handle the haggling.

A quiet Coptic church with white walls and stained glass near the old town.

• White walls and stained glass
• Coptic Christian community
• Near El Dahar Bazaar
• A calm stop in the old town

Close to El Dahar Bazaar is the Coptic Cathedral of Saint Shenouda. Coptic is the Christian religion in Egypt, and Coptic Christians make up around ten percent of the population. The church stands out for its white walls and striking stained glass. If you only have time for one quiet stop, make it this one. It offers a different side of Hurghada than the beach and the desert. The cathedral works well on the same trip as the bazaar.

A full-day trip from Hurghada into the royal tombs of Luxor.

• Over 63 tombs and chambers
• Guide and map at the visitor center
• Scenes from Egyptian mythology
• No photos inside the tombs

The Valley of the Kings is the centerpiece of a long day trip from Hurghada. The tour leaves early and returns late in the evening. It is a rushed 12-hour day, but worth it. The valley is where tombs for noblemen and pharaohs were carved out of the rocks, and it contains more than 63 tombs and chambers. At the visitor center, you pick up a guide and a map that shows how deep the tombs go and how many chambers each one has. Inside, the walls are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and funerary rituals. Photography is not allowed inside the tombs because it can damage the paint. The valley is most famous for the curse of Tutankhamun. The same day trip covers more ground. It stops at Luxor Temple on the east bank of the Nile, where Egyptian kings were crowned and where parts were built by Amenhotep III, Alexander the Great, Tutankhamun, and Ramesses II. Then comes Karnak Temple, with 134 pillars that still have color and stone blocks on top that weigh 70 tons. Karnak is the second most visited historical site in Egypt, after the Giza Pyramids. If you have to choose between Luxor and Karnak, choose Karnak. After crossing the Nile, the largest river in Africa and in the world, the tour passes the Colossi of Memnon, two statues that guarded the entrance to Amenhotep III's memorial temple, and it ends near the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, where sunlight highlights statues of Osiris around December 21-22.