Makadi Bay snorkeling: house reefs, boat trips and what to book

Makadi Bay snorkeling starts at the hotel beach: about 15 seafront hotels sit on fringing reefs with more than 100 species of reef fish in shore waters. Hurghada town has nothing comparable, because the reefs in front of it are largely damaged by construction. What Makadi lacks is a marina for the island boats, so a Giftun or Dolphin House day begins with a road transfer.

Snorkel the house reef on the mornings you stay put, book one or two island days, and use the bay's semi-submarine for non-swimmers.

Makadi Bay snorkeling: the three house reefs

The bay has three zones, each with its own hotels. All three are listed as free for guests of the bay's resorts.

Makadi North (Fort Arabesque)

About 1.6 km of fringing reef on the north shore. Fort Arabesque Resort has the best beach access; Sunrise Resort, Grand Waterworld Makadi, Makadi Spa Hotel and Grand Makadi share the reef. The reef flat is more than 40 m wide and only 0.5–1 m deep; beyond it, dozens of small reefs with tops about 0.6 m down drop to 2–6 m, 7 m at most. Expect angelfish, butterflyfish, bannerfish and parrotfish, sometimes a moray, octopus or ray. A drift from the Makadi jetty (open 10:00–16:00) is for advanced snorkelers (Makadi North description).

Makadi South (Stella Makadi jetty)

The house reef of Cleopatra Luxury Resort, Stella Makadi and Labranda Makadi. The best way in is the Stella Makadi jetty, about 350 m long, which ends at a drop-off running for some 500 m: reef top at 0.5 m, slope below 6 m, with anemonefish, giant clams, giant morays and peacock flounder. From the Labranda beach you swim 200 m or more to the first coral, and the drop-off can be windy (Makadi South).

Makadi West (Xanadu, Tia Heights, Jaz, Iberotel)

The calmest zone, in front of Xanadu Makadi Bay, Tia Heights Makadi Bay, Jaz Makadi Resorts and Iberotel Makadi Beach. Seagrass starts 20–50 m out at 1–2 m, where blue-spotted ribbontail rays feed; coral begins 50–150 m out in no more than about 4 m. The best coral is off Jaz Makadi and Iberotel, the best seagrass off Tia Heights. Less spectacular than North or South, and motorboats pass outside the reef, so stay inside it (Makadi West).

Makadi Bay snorkeling map: where the bay sits

Makadi lies south of Sahl Hasheesh on the road to Soma Bay and Safaga. Giftun and Orange Bay face Hurghada Marina to the north; Utopia, the island used by Soma Bay and Safaga hotels, lies further south and suits Makadi guests better than people in Hurghada town. See Utopia island and the resorts overview for drive times from every resort.

How to snorkel the house reef safely

Wear a shorty or 3 mm wetsuit from December to April and a lycra top from May to November. The sea is coldest in February and March, about 22.5 °C on average, and warmest in August, about 29 °C (best time to go). For a stonefish or scorpionfish sting, put the limb in water as hot as you can bear and go to hospital. More in snorkeling from the beach.

Makadi Bay with kids: the lagoons and the semi-submarine

The West lagoons are the easiest snorkeling in the area for young children: 1–2 m of water over seagrass, with rays and no long swim.

For toddlers and non-swimmers the semi-submarine is the better plan. The Royal Seascope, Egypt Sun Marine's yellow semi-submarine, runs from Makadi: 2 hours, about 15 minutes' sailing to the reef, roughly 45 minutes of viewing from a cabin about 3 m below the surface, then a 30-minute snorkel stop. It never dives. Departures are at about 09:00, 11:00 and 15:00 (semi-submarine guide).

Makadi Water World publishes its own prices: EGP 2,500 for adults, EGP 1,250 for children aged 6–11. More ideas, including the Grand Aquarium in Hurghada, in Hurghada with kids.

Makadi Bay boat trips that really start here

Most listings with "Makadi" in the title are Hurghada boat days with a longer pick-up. The ones that work inside the bay are the semi-submarines and a dive-and-snorkel boat. The Panorama semi-submarine, from $18, runs in Makadi Bay with pick-ups from Safaga and Sahl Hasheesh; it does not use the Royal Seascope name, and the listing does not name the boat company. From Safaga: Royal Seascope, from $22, also snorkels in Makadi Bay. The Makadi diving and snorkel boat, from $24, names neither the boat company nor the departure point; ask before you book.

◔ Semi-submarine

Headout2 hFrom Makadi Bay

From Makadi: Royal Seascope Submarine Cruise With Snorkeling & Optional Hotel Transfers

4.6 (110)

from $16Check dates

◔ Semi-submarine

GetYourGuide2 hFrom Makadi Bay

Safaga/Makadi Bay: Panorama Submarine with Snorkeling Tour

4.5 (853)

from $18Check dates

◔ Semi-submarine

GetYourGuide2 hFrom Safaga

From Safaga: Royal Seascope Submarine with Snorkeling

4.5 (236)

from $22Check dates

◐ Yacht

GetYourGuideFull dayFrom Makadi Bay

Makadi Bay: Diving & Snorkel Boat Trip with Lunch & Transfer

4.5 (47)

from $24Check dates

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

Diving from Makadi

Egypt Divers has a centre at Makadi Heights and sells snorkel trips as well as dives. For a first dive, ask "boat or shore, and one instructor to one diver?": from a boat, Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS) requires one instructor per beginner; the PADI ratio of one to two is allowed only from the shore. Check any centre in the CDWS directory and read diving and try dives.

Makadi Bay day trips to Giftun and Dolphin House

From Makadi, add about 40 minutes of road each way, plus time collecting other guests; the pick-up time usually arrives the evening before.

The surcharge from here: Royal Cruise Hurghada charges $50 from Makadi against $45 from Hurghada; GoShalabi adds $15 per person; some platform listings ask $5–10 or €10 per person in cash. Check "not included" for the Giftun park fee too: USD 5 per foreign visitor, which sellers often round to about €5 in cash.

Two Makadi advantages. Egypt Divers sells Dolphin House and Orange Bay days at €30 online (€45 standard) with free transfers from Makadi, plus a €5 coast-guard fee. And the Makadi: Giftun speedboat to Orange Bay, from $238, is priced for the whole boat: ask how many guests it covers; shared by five or six it is fair, for two it is poor value.

◐ Full day

GetYourGuideFull dayParadise Island

Makadi Bay: Nature with Snorkeling & Lunch Paradise Island

4.5 (906)

from $38Check dates

◔ Speedboat

GetYourGuide4 hOrange Bay

Makadi: Giftun Island Speedboat Cruise to Orange Bay & Fruit

4.7 (26)

from $238 per boatCheck dates

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

The Makadi Bay "Paradise Island" day, from $38, is a Hurghada departure with Makadi pick-up; Paradise is a beach on the southern tip of Giftun Kebir. Compare Giftun island and Orange Bay, and read Dolphin House if dolphins are the point: it is about 1.5 hours north of the marina by day boat, and dolphins are never guaranteed.

Dolphin World is in Makadi Bay, but it is not a wild-dolphin trip

Dolphin World Egypt is a land-based dolphinarium beside Mini Egypt, with a show at 10:30 (the venue says daily; confirm Saturdays). It is not Dolphin House, the reef where wild dolphins rest, and it is not snorkeling. Its packages start at $35 for a Family Day Out ($18 per child); the $70 swimming package buys a pool swim of a few minutes.

HEPCA, the Hurghada conservation association, has reported dolphins flown in to replace animals that had died there, and campaigns to ban dolphinariums. GetYourGuide's own welfare policy, now being rolled out, prohibits wild-animal shows. A wild Dolphin House day run by the rules costs less than the pool swim. More in our Dolphin World review and wild dolphin trips.