No river flows into the Red Sea. Not one, along more than two thousand kilometres of coast on either side — the surrounding land is desert and there is no permanent watercourse reaching it anywhere.
That single fact is why the diving is what it is. Rivers carry silt, silt clouds water and smothers coral. With no freshwater input at all, the Red Sea gets no sediment, visibility routinely runs to thirty metres and beyond, and the reef grows right up to the shoreline. It is also unusually warm and unusually salty for the same reason — high evaporation, no dilution — which is why the water is swimmable in January.
The reef here holds something over a thousand fish species and around two hundred corals, a substantial share of them found nowhere else.
A town that was built from nothing
El Gouna is privately developed. The Egyptian businessman Samih Sawiris began it in 1989 on empty desert coast north of Hurghada, dredging lagoons and islands out of the sand and building a town on them — about ten million square metres, twenty thousand residents, its own airport, hospital, schools and fire service.
The architecture was controlled from the start: Nubian and Mediterranean influences, low buildings, no high-rise, domes and pigment rather than concrete slabs. Whether a privately owned town is a good idea is a reasonable question, and the alternative on this coast was the Hurghada strip, which is what happened everywhere the control was absent.
The coast
El Gouna, twenty minutes north of Hurghada, is the planned lagoon town with the marinas and the kitesurfing.
Hurghada is the old resort strip — larger, cheaper, more crowded, and the transport hub.
Soma Bay, an hour south, is a headland with golf, thalassotherapy and a house reef.
Sahl Hasheesh, between them, is a newer bay of large resorts around a curve of sand.
The offshore reefs — Abu Nuhas with its wrecks, the Giftun islands, and further south the Brothers — are reached by day boat or liveaboard.
The nine below are grouped that way.
El Gouna
The planned town.
Casa Cook El Gouna occupies a beachfront position with an adults-only policy, a pared-back interior and a lagoon behind it. It is the most design-led property on the coast.
Casa Cook El Gouna
El Gouna · 5★ · $$$
Adults-only and pared back, with a lagoon behind
Check availabilityThe Chedi El Gouna sits on the El Gouna beachfront with a spa, a pool and a restraint unusual for the Red Sea.
The Chedi El Gouna
El Gouna beachfront · 5★ · $$$
A restraint unusual on the Red Sea
Check availabilitySteigenberger Golf Resort El Gouna occupies a position beside the golf course with several pools, family facilities and the lagoons around it.
Steigenberger Golf Resort El Gouna
El Gouna · 5★ · $$
Beside the course, with the lagoons around it
Check availabilityFanadir Hotel sits in a smaller adults-only property with a marina berth, a pool and a quieter tone.
Soma Bay
An hour south, on the headland.
Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay occupies a large building on the Soma Bay peninsula with a thalasso centre, a golf course and a house reef reachable from a jetty. It is the best hotel on this coast.
Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay
Soma Bay · 5★ · $$$
Thalasso, golf and a house reef off the jetty
Check availabilitySheraton Soma Bay Resort sits on the same bay with several pools, a spa and full family facilities.
Sheraton Soma Bay Resort
Soma Bay · 5★ · $$
Several pools and full family facilities
Check availabilitySahl Hasheesh
The newer bay.
The Oberoi Beach Resort, Sahl Hasheesh occupies a low-rise position on Sahl Hasheesh bay with gardens, a spa and a beach that shelves gently.
The Oberoi Beach Resort, Sahl Hasheesh
Sahl Hasheesh · 5★ · $$$
Low-rise gardens above a gently shelving beach
Check availabilityBaron Palace Sahl Hasheesh sits on the bay in a very large property with several pools, a children's programme and an all-inclusive operation.
Baron Palace Sahl Hasheesh
Sahl Hasheesh · 5★ · $$
A very large all-inclusive with a children's programme
Check availabilityPremier Le Reve Hotel & Spa occupies a beachfront site with an adults-only policy and a quieter stretch of sand.
Premier Le Reve Hotel & Spa
Sahl Hasheesh · 5★ · $$
Adults-only on a quieter stretch of sand
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The liveaboard dive boats are excluded, and on this coast they are how serious divers see the offshore reefs — a week at sea reaching sites no day boat can. They are vessels rather than hotels.
What to do
Dive or snorkel. The house reefs at Soma Bay and Sahl Hasheesh are reachable from the beach; Abu Nuhas has four wrecks on one reef; and a liveaboard to the Brothers or Elphinstone is the serious version.
Kitesurf at El Gouna, which has flat shallow lagoons and reliable wind and hosts a world tour event.
Go inland to Luxor if you have not. It is about four hours by road from Hurghada and the Valley of the Kings is worth the day, though an overnight is better.
Snorkel the Giftun islands on a day boat, and choose an operator that does not feed the fish.
Eat in El Gouna's marina and downtown, where the restaurant standard is well above the resort norm.
Practical notes
Hurghada's airport has direct European charter traffic and is twenty minutes from El Gouna. Cairo is an hour by air.
October to May is the best window with comfortable air temperatures. Summer is very hot, though the water is the point rather than the land. Winter water temperatures sit around 22 degrees.
Check current travel guidance for the region before booking, as advice for parts of Egypt varies.
Every hotel bookable on the Egyptian Red Sea
Why is the visibility so good?
No river reaches the Red Sea anywhere along its length, so there is no silt. It is also warmer and saltier than open ocean for the same reason.
Is El Gouna a real town?
It is privately built and privately run, with twenty thousand residents, its own airport, hospital and schools, begun in 1989 on empty desert.
El Gouna or Soma Bay?
El Gouna for the town, the restaurants and kitesurfing. Soma Bay for the house reef, golf and quiet.
How many nights?
Seven. Five on the coast and two for Luxor if you are adding it.