Hurghada in winter: weather, water, wind, reefs and Luxor

In winter, Hurghada is a destination for dry, mild, sunny days on the Red Sea, not for hot beach days. From December to February the daytime highs at the airport average 22 to 24 °C, and at night it drops to 11 to 13 °C. The sea has a monthly mean of 22 to 24 °C. That suits you if you are looking for sun, reefs and an excursion to Luxor and can live with hotel complexes instead of an old town.

Hurghada (Arabic al-Ghardaqa) is, with around 214,000 inhabitants (2023), the largest holiday resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast and the seat of the Red Sea Governorate. The tourism boom began in the early 1980s; the road to the south, newly built at the time, got its first hotels in 1982 and 1984. That is where New Hurghada lies today.

Getting there and from the airport into the city

From German-speaking countries you fly for about 4 to 5 hours, and charter connections run all year. Hurghada Airport (HRG) is the second-largest in Egypt after Cairo and has two terminals, T1 and T2.

Usually the transfer from the tour operator or hotel takes you to your accommodation. Without a transfer, a taxi remains: to Sakkala about 200 EGP is the benchmark, and negotiating less is difficult (as of September 2024). Uber does not pick up at the terminal but at the toll gate of Airport Road (“Hurghada Airport Toll Gate”); the meeting point may differ by terminal (as of September 2026).

The table applies without traffic; its basis is a route calculation on OpenStreetMap data. For Makadi Bay, Wikivoyage reckons with 30 to 45 minutes depending on hotel and traffic.

Where to stay: the districts compared

The district decides whether you can walk out for dinner in the evening. Eateries outside the hotels are found almost only in Sakkala and El Dahar.

El Dahar is the original old town. The hotels are simpler and cheaper, the eateries are also visited by locals, and next to the tourist bazaar there is a market for locals. You can only see the mosques from outside, because tourists are not allowed to enter them in Hurghada.

Sakkala adjoins to the south. Around Sheraton Road and Marina Hurghada, with its promenade and large harbour mosque, is the highest density of restaurants outside the hotels, and the hotels there are predominantly 3- and 4-star. Public paid beaches such as El Sakia or Orange Beach are found in Sakkala and El Dahar.

New Hurghada begins at the southern end of Sakkala and runs just under 20 km along the coast to Sahl Hasheesh. Most of the 4- and 5-star resorts are here, and this is where the majority of holidaymakers stay. You eat in the hotel or in malls.

El Gouna was laid out from 1989 by Orascom as a private holiday resort with artificial lagoons; Downtown, Tamr Henna and Abu Tig Marina have their own eateries and bars. Sahl Hasheesh opened in 2007 and has approx. 12 km of sandy beach, with 14 hotels along a public waterfront promenade. Makadi Bay has existed since 1998: around 30 hotels with 4 and 5 stars along approx. 3 km of sandy beach, plus an 18-hole golf course.

Reefs and snorkelling: Giftun, Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh

Anyone who dives off Hurghada usually goes out by boat, for example to Umm Gamar, El Fanadir, Giftun or Shadwan. Snorkellers also go out by yacht, and on some tours dolphin watching is included. Glass-bottom boats and semi-submersibles show you the reef without getting your feet wet.

Giftun Islands: Mahmya, Orange Bay and the fee

Off the coast lie Big Giftun and Little Giftun. The excursion boats head mainly for Mahmya Beach in the south and Orange Bay in the west of Big Giftun.

The islands belong to the protected area “Northern Red Sea Islands”, designated in 2006 and covering 1,991 km². According to an information sheet from the environmental authority EEAA, going ashore there is permitted only in the south-eastern part of Big Giftun, where tourist facilities are approved (as of December 2022).

The EEAA charges US$5 per foreign person per day for the protected area; children under 7 are free, and after sunset the double rate applies (as of September 2026). An increase under Ministerial Decree No. 360/2025 was postponed again by six months in June 2026, to around December 2026 (as of June 2026). For travel from mid-December 2026, you should therefore check the rate on site.

According to the EEAA information sheet, the Red Sea Governorate charges the fees for visiting Giftun Island. Whether they are added to the protected area fee and how much they are, the sheet does not say (as of December 2022).

Reefs straight from the beach

Without a boat you can reach the reef in Makadi Bay and Sahl Hasheesh, because both places have a fringing reef directly off the coast. In Makadi Bay there is also the oval reef Gota Abu Makadi, around 270 m long.

So that boats do not anchor on the reef, the environmental association HEPCA has laid out 922 mooring buoys, which secure 168 dive and snorkel sites (as of September 2026). In the protected area the EEAA's rules apply: do not touch corals or stand on them, do not feed fish or birds. Fishing, collecting shells or corals and rubbish in the sea are prohibited.

Wikivoyage gives February to June and September to November as a good time for snorkelling; December and January are not among them.

Excursion to Luxor: 295 km each way

Luxor is around 295 km away by road via Safaga and Qena; the pure driving time is about 3 hours 45 minutes in each direction. As a day trip you therefore spend around 7.5 hours in the vehicle. In January it is light in Hurghada for only about 11 hours, and Karnak and the Valley of the Kings open daily from 06:00 to 17:00 (as of September 2026).

The scheduled bus is too slow for one day: Go Bus (seven times daily via Qena) and EG Bus (twice daily) each take about 5 hours. Go Bus costs 370 to 550 EGP (as of May 2025). With an overnight stay in Luxor, the bus works.

Karnak was the main cult site of Amun of Thebes. The Great Hypostyle Hall has 134 columns 15 m high; the 12 central ones measure 21 m. In the Valley of the Kings on the west bank there are over 60 tombs.

Closer is the Hurghada Museum in New Hurghada, the first antiquities museum in the Red Sea Governorate, with around 2,000 objects. It is open daily from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 17:00 to 23:00, differently in Ramadan (as of September 2026).

Food and drink

Everyday Egyptian cuisine is built largely on broad beans: Ta'miya are falafel made from them, and Ful are cooked broad beans. Then there are Koshari and Hawawshi, minced meat in dough. On the coast there are many fish restaurants.

Outside the hotels, the eateries are mostly open from midday until midnight. Alcohol is available in hotels of 3 stars and above and in many restaurants; on Fridays and in Ramadan serving may be restricted. Ramadan 2027 is expected to run from 8 February to 8 March, depending on the sighting of the moon (as of September 2026).

Best time to visit: November and March have the warmest days

The table draws on three sources. Air: WMO normals 1991 to 2020 for the Hurghada Airport station (NOAA); the DWD climate table 1971 to 2000 shows similar values. Sea: monthly means from seatemperature.org based on satellite and buoy data. Wind: the series from the airport station at Windfinder, 2000 to 2026.

Rain hardly plays a role: on average 7.9 mm falls per year, and in each month from December to February less than 1 mm. The sun shines about 247 hours in December, 266 in January and 278 in February (NOAA 1961 to 1990), i.e. about 8 to just under 10 hours a day. The UV index in January is about 5.

The second sea source, seatemperature.info, gives 23.1 °C for January. Older tables list February and March at 21 °C as the coolest months.

Wind blows all year round, in winter at 10.5 to 12 knots as a monthly mean, about 19 to 22 km/h, mostly from north to north-north-west. Summer is even windier at around 14 knots in June, August and September. According to Wikivoyage, however, in winter the wind is often so strong that swimming in the sea is hardly possible.

Wikivoyage recommends swimming from April to November and desert tours from March to May and September to November. For a winter holiday that means: for water and excursions, November suits best. March brings warm air for excursions, but at 22.3 °C similarly cool water to February. December to February stand for sun with cool evenings.

Costs

The Egyptian pound devalued sharply in 2024, which is why EGP prices in guidebooks are often out of date. The rate is about €1 ≈ 60 LE (as of July 2026). Haggling is usual in the bazaar; as a starting point, about half of the stated price.

Practical information

Money: You pay in Egyptian pounds (EGP, also LE); one pound has 100 piastres. ATMs for Visa and Mastercard are widespread; it is better to avoid Euronet machines. Hotels and souvenir shops accept Visa and Mastercard, Amex and Diners less often. Banks usually open Sunday to Thursday from 08:30 to 14:00, and some branches in El Dahar also in the evening and on Fridays (as of September 2026).

Tipping: For restaurants the guidebooks disagree, but upmarket places often already add 10 to 12 % service. For other cases Wikivoyage gives these guideline values (as of September 2026):

• Hotel porter: 10 to 20 LE for all suitcases together
• Taxi: round the agreed price up by about 5 to 10 LE
• Toilet attendants: 3 to 5 LE, at large sites up to 10 LE
• Drivers on excursions: 50 to 100 LE per person and day

Uniformed staff and police receive no tip; if the service is poor, you are under no obligation.

Getting around: Uber and Careem operate in Hurghada. At taxi ranks, at the bus station and in front of some hotels, app drivers may not stop; in that case you order from a nearby main road. Clarify price and payment method before getting in; with cash payment, surcharges occur (as of September 2026).

Minibuses run as shared taxis mainly between El Dahar and Sakkala; only a few lines run into the hotel belt in the south. For the orange-and-blue city taxis you agree the price and currency beforehand, and you pay on arrival.

Electricity and time: The sockets are type C and F at 220 V and 50 Hz; your Schuko plug fits. Egypt is on UTC+2 in winter, where it is an hour later than in Germany. From the end of March to the end of April the same time applies in both countries.

Entry and safety: The current rules on entry, visa, safety and health are available from the German Foreign Office.

Who this is not for

Anyone looking for an organically grown townscape will find little in Hurghada: in New Hurghada, in the northern coastal strip El Ahyaa and in the south of Sakkala there is hardly more than hotel complexes. Makadi Bay has no town centre; anyone who wants to eat or go out in the evening mostly stays in their own complex. Nightlife is largely limited to the hotels, and several bars and clubs outside them have closed.

Winter is the wrong time for warm evenings. From December to February the nights fall to an average of 11 to 13 °C, plus wind at 10.5 to 12 knots. The sea is only about 21 to 22 °C in February and March.

The reefs, too, bear traces: intensive use has seriously damaged the dive sites in Hurghada. Snorkellers who step on the reef with fins kill corals.

Anyone who dislikes haggling will find it hard, because almost every price is bargained over, with the taxi as in the bazaar. Pushy street vendors and invitations into shops occur.