Last verified: October 11, 2026. Room rates were read off live listings on this date for the night of November 17, 2026, and drive times the same day. Resort prices move with the season and the pound, so I re-check this page monthly.
On October 11, 2026, a typical night for two cost $40 in Dahab, $70 on the Hurghada city search and $259 in El Gouna, taxes included. Those three numbers answer most of the question of where to stay on the Red Sea. They don’t answer all of it, because the cheapest room on the page is rarely the cheapest week.
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A Dahab room comes with nothing but a bed and often breakfast. A Makadi resort comes with every meal and every soft drink. So I priced the same night twice: once as the room is sold, and once with the food counted. I also split Hurghada into its zones, because “Hurghada” covers a city, a hotel strip and three separate bays.
This guide covers Hurghada, El Gouna and Dahab in full, then Sharm el-Sheikh and Marsa Alam more briefly. For how the coast fits with the rest of the country, see how the Red Sea fits with the rest of Egypt’s beds.
Key Takeaways
- Dahab is the cheapest base and El Gouna the dearest. The typical night for two came to $40 and $259, taxes in (Booking.com, read October 11, 2026, for November 17).
- All-inclusive added $90 a night for two at the median hotel that sold both rates. Two meals out cost $11 to $31.
- In Hurghada, pick the zone first. Rooms get dearer the further you sleep from town.
Table of Contents
Where to Stay on the Red Sea: The Short Answer
Pick Dahab if the reef is the holiday and you’ll eat out. Pick Hurghada town for a real city and low prices, and a southern bay resort if the hotel is the holiday. Pick El Gouna for a tidy, walkable resort town if you’ll pay for it. In my October 11, 2026 basket, those came to $40, $75, $242 and $259 a night for two.
Sharm el-Sheikh suits a house reef outside your room and Naama Bay evenings. Marsa Alam suits divers who want the quietest reefs and a resort to themselves. Only the mainland bases are within a day’s drive of Luxor.
| Base | Typical night for two | All-inclusive median | Best for | Biggest drawback | Airport, drive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurghada, town and Mamsha strip | $75 (33 listings) | $107 | A real city, value, eating out | City traffic and noise | HRG, 20 min |
| Hurghada, southern bays | $242 (58 listings) | $281 | Pool holidays, calm bays | Nowhere to eat outside the resort | HRG, 27 to 51 min |
| El Gouna | $259 (25 listings) | $307 (only 7 sell it) | A walkable resort town, couples, kitesurfing | Price | HRG, 40 min |
| Dahab | $40 (20 listings) | $196, lagoon only | Shore diving, long stays, eating out | Plain rooms, airport an hour away | SSH, 1 h 7 min |
| Sharm el-Sheikh | $84 (20 listings) | $266 | House reefs, Naama Bay evenings | No practical drive to Luxor | SSH |
| Marsa Alam | $184 (20 listings) | $184 | The quietest reefs | Resorts stand alone on the road | RMF, 17 min to Port Ghalib |
Prices are medians of the first page of results for each search, taxes in, for two adults on Tuesday, November 17, 2026. Drive times are Google Maps readings on October 11 with no checkpoint stops.
What Does a Night Cost in Each Base?
Between $40 and $259 for two, depending on the base. On October 11, 2026, I read Booking.com for two adults on the night of November 17, 2026. That was the first page of results for each search, in the site’s default order. I set aside one broken listing, a Hurghada resort showing $1,818, which left 207 readings across ten searches, shown as eight bases below. A few hotels appear in more than one.
I used the night the rest of my Egypt stay guides use, so the numbers can be compared. The first page shifts between readings, though: my October 4 read for the Egypt-wide guide had Hurghada at $52 and Sharm at $147. Booking.com files El Gouna under Hurghada, and it splits the Hurghada area into districts. I read the Mamsha strip, Villages Road, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay and El Gouna through that filter. Makadi has no district of its own, so I read the search around it.
The boxes show the middle half of each base. Dahab’s is narrow: the middle half of rooms ran $35 to $52. El Gouna’s starts at $183 and runs to $365. The southern bays, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay and Makadi together, had a median of $242.
The orange diamonds are the all-inclusive medians, from a second read with only all-inclusive rates shown. Hurghada’s sits at $154, pulled down by a cluster of cheap town all-inclusives from $67. El Gouna’s is $307, but only seven properties there sell it at all.
The listed price is never the bill. Chains and resorts added around 29% in my October 4 sample for the Egypt-wide guide, and small guesthouses about 15%. The Egypt-wide stay guide explains the add-ons on an Egyptian hotel bill. Every figure on this page already includes them.
Which Part of Hurghada Should You Stay In?
Stay near the town for low prices and a real city, and further out for a resort. In my basket the whole-city search had a median of $70 for two, the Mamsha strip $98, Villages Road $203 and the southern bays $242. Hurghada is one name for very different places.
El Dahar and the old town are the working city, with the souk, local restaurants and traffic. It’s 20 minutes from the airport.
When I based in Hurghada, I ate lunch where the taxi drivers ate, and that’s the case for staying near town. The town hotels and the Mamsha strip together had a median of $75. The Mamsha strip is the promenade running south of town past the marina. It mixes cheap apartments with some of the dearest adults-only resorts I read, up to $452. Villages Road, 13 to 19 km out, is the aqua-park belt: big, family-sized all-inclusives.
The southern bays are separate resort enclaves. Sahl Hasheesh is 27 minutes from the airport, Makadi 36 and Soma Bay 51. There’s no town around them, so you eat where you sleep. That’s why most resorts there sell all-inclusive, and why it makes sense there.
Most Hurghada listings aren’t hotels at all. Of 1,778 properties on the whole-city search, 1,271 were apartments. They’re the cheap end of the first page, and they rarely come with a beach.
Read those apartment listings closely. Two in Sahl Hasheesh and one near Makadi were marked for foreign nationals only, which matters if you’re travelling with Egyptian friends or family. Several apartments also showed a $0 tax line. That can mean the taxes are inside the price or simply not shown yet, so ask the host for the final total in writing before you pay.
Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh, compared covers the town itself and the wind that drives its kitesurfing.
Is El Gouna Worth Paying More For?
Yes, if you want a tidy, walkable resort town with lagoons, a marina and good restaurants, and you’ll pay close to European prices. No, if you want everyday Egypt or a cheap week. In my basket El Gouna’s median night for two was $259, almost four times Hurghada’s $70.
El Gouna is a private, built town about 20 km north of downtown Hurghada, as Booking.com lists it. Its developer, Orascom, counts 18 hotels with 2,800 rooms, in an April 2026 release with Accor. The release puts it 30 minutes from Hurghada airport. Google Maps gave me 40.
The town sells holiday homes more than hotel rooms. Of 164 listings, 96 were apartments and 30 villas, against 16 resorts and 4 hotels. Only seven sell all-inclusive. You’re expected to eat out, at the marina in Abu Tig or in Downtown.
Getting around is easy without a car. The town’s own transport page lists three tuk-tuk operators, the latest running until 04:00, plus a shuttle boat and Go Bus. It doesn’t publish fares, so agree one before you ride.
The top end is moving. The Chedi El Gouna came to $636 for my night. The Mövenpick, at $259, is due to become a Sofitel after a phased renovation from 2027, according to the same Accor release. It still books as a Mövenpick. And the El Gouna Film Festival fills the town for nine days each October (October 15 to 23 in 2026), so check its dates before booking an October stay.
Is a Dahab Camp Worth It?
Yes, if the reef is the holiday. A camp in Dahab is mostly a courtyard of simple rooms on the seafront. A few, like Arzu, are tents, from about $10. In my basket the town’s median night for two was $40, and the Greek, Alaska and Dolphin camps, all within 400 m of the centre, came to $24, $30 and $35. You eat out, for very little.
It’s not the place for a pool, a kids’ club or a buffet. Breakfast came with 12 of the 20 stays on the first page, and dinner with one. Dahab’s camps, cafes and shore dives explains the town and its quieter Assalah end.
One correction to what I’ve written before: Dahab does sell all-inclusive. Booking.com listed eight all-inclusive resorts, from $139 to $303 a night for two. All of them sit on the lagoon and bay strip south of town, which one listing put 6.2 km from the centre. The old town has none.
The nearest airport is Sharm el-Sheikh, 1 hour 7 minutes away by road on Google Maps. Most people stay a week or more. Mount Sinai is a night trip from here, covered in my Mount Sinai hike guide.
On safety, the UK Foreign Office’s August 4, 2026 update advises against all but essential travel in South Sinai only beyond the St Catherine to Nuweiba road. It excludes the coastal areas, so Dahab and Sharm sit inside normal advice.
Is All-Inclusive Cheaper Than Eating Out?
Usually not, except in the southern bays. At the eleven hotels I found selling both rates on the same night, all-inclusive added a median of $90 for two over the room or breakfast rate. Two sit-down meals out for two came to about $11 to $31 before drinks. You’d need to spend about 4,700 EGP a day for two on food and drink to break even.
The eating-out figure is the 150 to 400 EGP a meal from my Egypt trip cost guide, at 52.40 EGP to the dollar on October 11, 2026. I couldn’t find a dated menu for any Red Sea restaurant, so I haven’t printed one. El Gouna’s restaurants cost more than Dahab’s, but not $90 a day more.
The gap ran from $27 at Three Corners Rihana in El Gouna to $144 at the Mövenpick there. Rihana was the only hotel where all-inclusive beat breakfast plus two meals out.
So when is all-inclusive worth it? When there’s nowhere else to eat. In Soma Bay or Makadi a meal out means a taxi to another resort. It also suits families who’d otherwise buy every snack and soft drink, and anyone who drinks a fair amount, since local beer and spirits are often included. Check the plan’s drinks list.
“All-inclusive” rarely covers diving, boat trips, imported spirits or the à la carte restaurants. On a dive day you’re on a boat through lunch. The four Red Sea dive bases compared shows how many days that is. And tipping at all-inclusive resorts works differently than you’d expect.
What About Sharm el-Sheikh or Marsa Alam?
Sharm if you want a house reef outside your room and Naama Bay’s evenings. Marsa Alam if you want the quietest reefs and you’re happy to stay inside your resort. In my basket the typical night for two was $84 in Sharm and $184 in Marsa Alam.
Sharm’s first page was cheaper than I expected, with a middle half of $61 to $197. Its top end ran high: one Porto Sharm unit reached $789. Its all-inclusive median was $266, close to the southern bays’ $281.
Marsa Alam is the all-inclusive coast. Forty percent of its listings sell it, against 9% in Hurghada and 2% in Dahab. That’s because resorts there stand alone along the road, and Port Ghalib, 17 minutes from the airport, is the area’s one walkable marina. The Marsa Alam guide explains how to pick a stretch of coast. Ask which kilometre a resort sits at and whether it has a house reef.
Which Base Works With a Nile Trip?
Hurghada or El Gouna, because only the mainland is within a day’s drive of Luxor. Google Maps gave me 3 hours 23 minutes from Makadi to Luxor Temple and 3 hours 50 from El Gouna, with no stops. With checkpoints and a break, plan on four to five hours. From Sharm or Dahab there’s no practical drive, so you’d fly via Cairo.
The usual shape is to finish the river in Luxor and drive to the coast for the last nights. Before that, decide whether the boat should be your hotel for the river half. Then see where a Red Sea week fits in 7, 10 or 14 days.
Where to Stay on the Red Sea FAQs
What is the best place to stay on the Red Sea in Egypt?
It depends on the trip. Dahab for divers and low budgets, Hurghada town for a city and value, a southern bay resort for a pool holiday, and El Gouna for a polished resort town. My October 11, 2026 basket put a typical night for two at $40, $75, $242 and $259.
Is El Gouna better than Hurghada?
It’s tidier, quieter and much dearer. A typical night for two was $259 in El Gouna against $70 for the Hurghada search, taxes in, on October 11, 2026. El Gouna is mostly holiday homes and resorts, and only seven properties sell all-inclusive. Hurghada has the wider budget range and a real town.
Is all-inclusive worth it in Egypt?
Mostly in the southern bays and Marsa Alam, where there’s nowhere else to eat. At eleven hotels selling both rates, all-inclusive added a median of $90 a night for two. Two meals out for two cost about $11 to $31 before drinks, so in a town, eating out usually wins.
What is a camp in Dahab?
Usually a low-rise courtyard of simple rooms on or near the seafront, often Bedouin-run. A few are tents. The Greek, Alaska and Dolphin camps, all within 400 m of the centre, came to $24, $30 and $35 a night for two, taxes in, on October 11, 2026. Two of the three included breakfast.
Which part of Hurghada is best to stay in?
Near El Dahar for a city and low prices, the Mamsha strip for a mix of apartments and beach resorts, and Villages Road or the southern bays for big all-inclusives. Median nights for two ran $70 for the city search, $98 on the Mamsha, $203 on Villages Road and $242 in the bays.
Can you visit Luxor from the Red Sea?
Yes, from Hurghada or El Gouna, by road. Google Maps gives 3 hours 23 minutes from Makadi to Luxor Temple without stops, so plan on four to five hours with checkpoints. From Sharm el-Sheikh or Dahab there’s no practical road route, and you’d fly via Cairo.
The Bottom Line
Where to stay on the Red Sea comes down to five rules:
- Count meals, not nights. All-inclusive added a median of $90 for two. Two meals out cost $11 to $31.
- In Hurghada, pick the zone first. $70 for the city search, $242 in the southern bays.
- El Gouna is a private town priced like one. $259 a night, and mostly holiday homes.
- Dahab suits divers who eat out. $40 a night, with all-inclusive only on the lagoon.
- Only the mainland is a day’s drive from Luxor. Four to five hours from Hurghada or El Gouna.
With the coast picked, the Egypt-wide stay guide covers the beds for the rest of the trip.
I’m Marco Delgado, and I write every guide on Egypt Travel Vibe. I read every room rate and drive time on this page myself on the date at the top. The prices are the first page of results for one night, so treat them as a snapshot, not a quote. Where a figure came from someone else, like El Gouna’s hotel count or the festival dates, I’ve named the source.
