Snorkeling from Makadi Bay, El Gouna, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay and Safaga

Staying in Makadi Bay, El Gouna, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay or Safaga changes the maths of a snorkeling day. Almost every island trip leaves from Hurghada Marina, so your day starts with a drive, an earlier pick-up and usually a surcharge. In return, several resorts have things Hurghada town lacks: real house reefs in Makadi and Soma Bay, El Gouna's own boats to Dolphin House, and boats that leave from your own bay. One name trap first: Dolphin House is a wild-dolphin reef at sea off El Gouna; Dolphin World in Makadi is a captive dolphin show on land — different places, different ethics.

This page compares the resorts side by side. Each has its own guide for detail: Makadi Bay, El Gouna, Sahl Hasheesh and Safaga and Soma Bay.

Snorkeling from the resorts: how far is Hurghada Marina?

These are free-flow driving times to Hurghada Marina. A shared minibus collecting guests from several hotels adds 15–40 minutes, so treat them as the best case.

Two practical consequences. First, the pick-up time arrives the evening before (one seller sends it at 22:00), and from Makadi, Sahl Hasheesh, El Gouna, Soma Bay and Safaga the window can be up to 90 minutes: wait at the hotel's main road entrance, because drivers wait only a few minutes. Second, on a windy day the port can close; the Red Sea Ports Authority decides, not the boat company, and notice can be short. Keep a spare day early in the holiday.

What outer-resort pick-up really costs

Free pick-up is standard within Hurghada. Outside it, almost every seller charges extra, and the amounts vary more than the trip prices do:

• TUI (hotel-desk trips, supplier Travco): El Gouna €8, Safaga and Soma Bay €10, Kalawy Bay €14 per adult, children half, paid on site. See hotel desks.
• Royal Cruise Hurghada: its own Orange Bay day is $45 from Hurghada and $50 from Makadi, Sahl Hasheesh, Soma Bay, El Gouna or Safaga, down to Lotus Bay. Its Orange & Giftun cruise is also on GetYourGuide as Hurghada: Orange & Giftun Island Cruise with Massage & Lunch. Review: Royal Cruise Hurghada.
• GoShalabi: $15 from Makadi, Sahl Hasheesh and El Gouna; $23 from Safaga and Soma Bay.
• Egypt Divers (Makadi Heights): free within Hurghada, Makadi and Sahl Hasheesh; Soma Bay and El Gouna +€10, Safaga +€15.
• Colona Divers: €7 a day from El Gouna, Sahl Hasheesh or Makadi.
• Headout and Tiqets listings: often $5–10 or €10 per person in cash for Makadi, Sahl Hasheesh, Safaga, Soma Bay or El Gouna.

Add the cash items that apply wherever you start: the Giftun park fee (USD 5, sellers usually ask about €5) when it is not included, a coast-guard fee of about €5 on some trips, and the "National Park fees and VAT" line on some listings.

Watch the titles too. A GetYourGuide listing that starts "Makadi:" or "Safaga:" is often a Hurghada trip with a longer pick-up, not a boat from your bay. "Makadi: Giftun Island Speedboat Cruise to Orange Bay" (Makadi: Giftun Island Speedboat Cruise to Orange Bay & Fruit) and its Safaga twin (Safaga: Giftun Island Speedboat Cruise to Orange Bay W Fruit) are private speedboats priced per boat that sail from Hurghada; the "Makadi Bay … Paradise Island" day (Makadi Bay: Nature with Snorkeling & Lunch Paradise Island) also starts from Hurghada with a Makadi pick-up.

A Giftun day from Makadi, Soma Bay or Safaga, hour by hour

That is a long day for a child or anyone who gets carsick. From the southern resorts we would rather spend the energy on a shorter trip from your own bay, or on Utopia island from Soma Bay and Safaga.

Makadi Bay snorkeling: house reefs and the semi-submarine

Makadi is the best-placed resort on the coast for snorkelers who do not want a long boat day. Its house reefs — Makadi North off Fort Arabesque, the drop-off at the end of the Stella Makadi jetty and the calm seagrass of Makadi West — are the best shore snorkeling around Hurghada; the beach snorkeling guide walks through all three.

Makadi also has boats in the bay itself: semi-submarines with a viewing cabin about 3 m below the surface (they never dive), plus a snorkel stop. Egypt Sun Marine's yellow Royal Seascope is sold on Headout "From Makadi" (From Makadi: Royal Seascope Submarine Cruise With Snorkeling & Optional Hotel Transfers, from $16, 4.6 from 110 reviews). On GetYourGuide, the "Panorama" semi-submarine in Makadi Bay with pick-up from Safaga and Sahl Hasheesh (Safaga/Makadi Bay: Panorama Submarine with Snorkeling Tour, from $18, 4.5 from 853 reviews) does not use the Royal Seascope name, and the listing does not name the boat company. Two hours, no long drive, and the best reef view a non-swimmer or toddler will get. More in the semi-submarine guide.

For a dive taster, "Makadi Bay: Diving & Snorkel Boat Trip" (Makadi Bay: Diving & Snorkel Boat Trip with Lunch & Transfer, from $24) includes lunch and transfer; the listing does not name the boat company or the departure point. Egypt Divers at Makadi Heights sells Dolphin House and Orange Bay days at €30 online with no Makadi surcharge — good value for a Makadi guest, though the drive to the boat still takes about 40 minutes each way.

Dolphin World is also in Makadi Bay, beside Mini Egypt. It is a captive dolphinarium with shows and pool swims, not snorkeling and not a wild-dolphin trip; HEPCA campaigns against dolphinaria. Read the Dolphin World review before you book anything there.

El Gouna snorkeling trips: boats from Abu Tig Marina

El Gouna has no house reef; the town is lagoons and sandy beaches. All snorkeling is by boat from Abu Tig Marina, and that turns out to be an advantage. Sha'ab El Erg — Dolphin House — lies about 19 km due east of El Gouna, roughly the same distance as from Hurghada Marina, so an El Gouna boat skips the 40-minute drive south and spends the same time at sea.

Closer in, the Gotha Abu Nugar gardens are shallow coral at about 9 m, the easy snorkel off El Gouna. Abu Nugar is also one of HEPCA's three dolphin resting areas, with a no-boat band on its map: boats must not chase or follow dolphins into resting areas, and swimmers need fins, mask, snorkel and a lifejacket (https://www.hepca.org/projects/conservation/dolphin-code-of-conduct). Dolphins are wild; no boat can promise them.

On the platforms, "El Gouna: Red Sea Snorkeling Adventure with Transfers" (El Gouna: Red Sea Snorkeling Adventure with Transfers, from $55, rated 5 from 27 reviews) is a two-stop day from El Gouna; the listing does not name the boat company. The Royal Seascope semi-submarine also runs from El Gouna (From El Gouna: Royal Seascope Submarine with Snorkel Stop, from $18).

El Gouna diving centres

The town lists five dive centres (https://www.elgouna.com/things-to-do/activities/dive-centres): Orca Dive Club in the Turtle's Inn at Abu Tig Marina, Dream Team Divers, Scuba World at the Sheraton Miramar, Blue Brother Divers at Cook's Club and The Dive Connection at the Club Paradisio beach. Orca, for one, runs snorkeling on its full-day boats and speedboats. Check any centre in the CDWS member directory before you pay. El Gouna Hospital has a hyperbaric chamber for nine patients, the one to know about if you add a try dive.

Sahl Hasheesh snorkeling: hotel jetties, the Sunken City and Hurghada boats

Sahl Hasheesh has no public marina, so boat days are Hurghada departures with pick-up — at about 30 minutes, the shortest drive of any resort. In the bay itself most hotels have jetties to the outer reef, and the bay is sheltered from heavy waves. The Sunken City is a man-made set of concrete arches, columns and statues in shallow water — an artificial reef, not an ancient site — reached through a neighbouring hotel's beach, which may charge non-guests.

The bay's island, Abu Hashish, is a local protectorate; it is close from Sahl Hasheesh but about 90 minutes and often too rough by boat from Hurghada.

For a first dive, the best-rated Sahl Hasheesh listing is a shore intro dive, not a boat trip: Sahl Hasheesh Elite Beach Dive & Coral Reef Experience, from $38, 4.9 from 125 reviews, three hours from the beach. In July 2022 two swimmers were killed by sharks off Sahl Hasheesh and the area was closed; swim inside marked areas and obey flags.

Safaga and Soma Bay: wind, jetties and Utopia

Safaga and Soma Bay are kitesurf and windsurf country: the north-westerly blows hard, so snorkel the house reefs on no-wind mornings. In Soma Bay, a gated peninsula with private beaches, The Breakers' jetty of 420 m reaches the Ras Abu Soma drop-off and Robinson Club's reef starts about 180 m out from the beach. Safaga's dive centres run boats from hotel jetties on the Safaga–Soma Bay road; the shallow Gamul and Tobia Soraya reefs, at about 15 m, suit snorkelers, while Panorama Reef and Tobia Arbaa (the "Seven Pillars") are for strong snorkelers on flat days only.

Two listings need reading closely. "From Safaga: Royal Seascope Submarine with Snorkeling" (From Safaga: Royal Seascope Submarine with Snorkeling, from $22) picks you up in Safaga but snorkels in Makadi Bay; Egypt Sun Marine's own direct price from Safaga is $25. "Sharm El Naga: Beach, Snorkeling & Red Sea Adventure Tour" (Sharm El Naga: Beach, Snorkeling & Red Sea Adventure Tour, from $33) is a long day south of Safaga with no reviews yet.

Giftun from Safaga means about 50 minutes on the road plus the crossing. Utopia, a sandy island in the Tobia islets between Soma Bay and Safaga, is the natural island day for guests here: about 40 minutes by boat, and its own day programme costs USD 50 for adults and USD 25 for children 6–11, transfer not included. The departure pier depends on the seller, so read the voucher.

Which trip to book from your resort

Our picks by resort

1

Makadi and Sahl Hasheesh guests with children or non-swimmers

A two-hour semi-submarine with a snorkel stop that runs in Makadi Bay, so you skip the drive to Hurghada.

◔ Semi-submarine

GetYourGuide2 hFrom Makadi Bay

Safaga/Makadi Bay: Panorama Submarine with Snorkeling Tour

4.5 (853)

from $18Check dates

2

El Gouna guests

Two snorkel stops on a day from El Gouna itself; no 40-minute drive to Hurghada Marina first.

◐ Full day

GetYourGuideFull dayFrom El Gouna

El Gouna: Red Sea Snorkeling Adventure with Transfers

5.0 (27)

from $55Check dates

3

Any resort, for a full Giftun day

Royal Cruise's Orange & Giftun cruise picks up across the resort coast; its outer-resort supplement direct is a flat $5.

◐ Yacht

GetYourGuideFull dayOrange Bay

Hurghada: Orange & Giftun Island Cruise with Massage & Lunch

4.8 (146)

from $53Check dates

4

Safaga guests

The Royal Seascope with Safaga pick-up; it snorkels in Makadi Bay, a half-day alternative to a long island day.

◔ Semi-submarine

GetYourGuide2 hFrom Safaga

From Safaga: Royal Seascope Submarine with Snorkeling

4.5 (236)

from $22Check dates

◔ Semi-submarine

GetYourGuide2 hFrom Makadi Bay

Safaga/Makadi Bay: Panorama Submarine with Snorkeling Tour

4.5 (853)

from $18Check dates

◔ Speedboat

GetYourGuide4 hOrange Bay

Safaga: Giftun Island Speedboat Cruise to Orange Bay W Fruit

4.2 (5)

from $234 per boatCheck dates

◔ Speedboat

GetYourGuide4 hFrom El Gouna

Hurghada: Private Speedboat To Bayoud Islands From El Gouna

3.0 (3)

from $1,121 per boatCheck dates

See all trips on GetYourGuide →Also on Headout →Prices checked on 20 October 2026

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