Hurghada hotel options

Not our usual kind of destination but as I was recovering from surgery last year we went for a couple weeks

We stayed the first week in the town, insanely loud until late, annoying when trying to walk the streets and the locals just shout names of football teams at you and not much of a vibe to the place. Nice snorkelling on some of the beaches but not great

Second week we stayed at Fort Arabesque, never been to a fancy resort place before but it was really good, and honestly the snorkelling from the beach was better than some of the scuba we spent a couple hours on a boat to get to

I may be quite a bit out of date as I've not been for years. It was largely split into the resorts and the town. I liked it the town partly for the reasons chris didn't, it was bustling and lively. While some of the big resorts do have nice beaches they limit access to everyone else so it can be hard to find a nice place to snorkel. I would thoroughly recommend Dahab as an alternative. Beautiful bit of coastline and much more accessible. Most dive sites in Hurghada are accessed by boat and its a day trip, in Dahab its a short drive, if that, and just walk into the sea. Some friends have just been and say it hasn't changed much which is a good thing.

I normally go to Egypt a couple of times a year and usually end up around Hurghada for a bit of time.

Anywhere close to Hurghada won't have good snorkelling from the beach.  The beaches close to the city tend to just be sand, so if you want to go snorkelling you need to head on a boat trip.  Diving is the same with no options for diving from the shore.   However depending on the age of the kids a hotel like Jungle Aqua Park has lots to offer in the waterpark, we stayed there once when the kids were young and just went out on a one day snorkelling trip.  Generally the further south you head from the centre of Hurgada the better.

The hotels around Makadi Bay are better and have some snorkelling from the beach/jetties.

My personal favourite is The Breakers at Soma Bay (about 40mins from Hurgahda).  Which is a diving/kite surfing hotel and very different to the normal Egyptian AI experience.  It has a great house reef, a very good dive shop and just a general chilled vibe.   I have been there a couple of times and heading back next summer for a few days.

El Gouna is also worth a look.  It is far more relaxed than Hurghada with nice hotels.

If you are staying in Hurghada and planning a week of diving check out Steve and Emma at DiveUKHurghada.  They offer well priced packages with accommodation and diving, and offer diving for kids.

I haven't been to Egypt for ages but preferred Sharm to Hurgharda, both for diving and the social aspect.

When we went to Hurgharda we stayed at the Siva Grand and dived with New Son Bijou following a recommendation from a friend.