Sahl Hasheesh

What Sahl Hasheesh actually is

Sahl Hasheesh is one bay on the Red Sea coast, about 18 kilometres south of Hurghada airport, behind its own gated entrance off the Hurghada to Safaga road. It was planned as a single project rather than grown as a town, and that explains how it feels.

The bay is a wide crescent. Hotels stand along it in a spaced out line, low rise, with landscaped ground between them. There is no old quarter, no fishing harbour, no high street and almost no traffic. The hills of the Eastern Desert start a few hundred metres behind the resorts, so the built strip is thin.

Hurghada is the opposite: a working town with El Dahar as its old quarter, Sekalla along Sheraton Road, markets, malls and a fishing fleet. If your holiday means walking out of the gate into somewhere unpredictable, this bay will frustrate you by day two. If it means sand, a reef and silence, it is one of the easiest places on this coast to get right.

The bay, the beach and the house reef

The beach is the reason to come. It runs the length of the crescent as continuous sand. The bay curves inward, so the water inside it is usually calmer than the open coast either side. On days when Hurghada is choppy, Sahl Hasheesh often is not. Entry is sandy through the centre of the bay, which matters for families and anyone who dislikes wading over coral.

The house reef sits at the outer edge of the sandy shelf, and its quality varies along the bay. Some hotels have living coral and a defined drop off a short swim from the sand. Others sit above sand and seagrass, with the reef far enough out that a boat makes more sense than a swim. This is the most important detail to settle before booking. We check reef access hotel by hotel, because neighbouring properties offer completely different snorkelling.

Turtles feed on the seagrass and rays cross the sand, though both are luck on any given swim. The reef edge holds the usual Red Sea cast of parrotfish, butterflyfish, wrasse and the occasional moray. It is not the richest reef on this coast, but it is right there.

The Sunken City, and what it really is

Offshore lies the attraction Sahl Hasheesh is known for: an underwater sculpture site built to look like a submerged Egyptian city. Columns, sphinx figures, statues and cut stone blocks lie on the seabed in shallow water.

It is a made object, placed there on purpose. It is not an archaeological find. Be sceptical of anyone who says otherwise. Once you know that, it is good fun. It is shallow enough that a competent snorkeller sees it clearly from the surface. Fish have colonised it the way they colonise any hard structure in the Red Sea.

It works best on a calm morning with the sun high enough to light the sand. Visibility drops when wind stirs the bay, so we treat it as a flexible item in the plan. Divers take it as an easy shallow dive, not the highlight of a day.

Diving and boat trips from the bay

Sahl Hasheesh sits in the middle of the Hurghada dive area. The good sites are reachable, but almost none are on your doorstep. Boats leave from the bay jetty or Hurghada marina, depending on the operator.

Reefs and islands within a day

Abu Ramada Island lies about half an hour out by boat to the north-east and is the closest of the well-known sites. Its southern plateau, the Aquarium, is a sheltered garden of coral heads with dense fish life that works for snorkellers and divers off the same boat. Just north sit the Giftun Islands, Big Giftun and Small Giftun, with Erg Somaya among the moorings used there. Further north are El Fanadir, a long reef wall close to Hurghada, and Umm Gamar, a deeper site for certified divers. Sha'ab El Erg is the reef most boats mean when they advertise a dolphin trip. It is the longest of these days, about two hours out from Hurghada marina. Spinner dolphins rest in its lagoon, and no honest operator promises they will be there.

Wrecks

The El Mina, just outside Hurghada port, is the wreck we run to most often from here. The Salem Express, south of Safaga, is the grave of a 1991 ferry disaster. Where operators are permitted to run it we arrange it for experienced divers only, and never as a penetration dive. The Abu Nuhas wrecks, near Shadwan Island, make a long day from here.

If you do not dive

You do not need a licence to get the best of this water. A standard boat day visits two or three moorings, and the reefs around Abu Ramada and Giftun are shallow enough that the surface view is most of the view. Glass bottom boats run from the bay for anyone who would rather stay dry. The desert behind the bay is used for quad runs and Bedouin dinners. We set out the wider day trips in our guide to excursions from Hurghada and the Red Sea coast.

The promenade and the evenings

Sahl Hasheesh has one walkable centre, usually called the Old Town promenade. It is built around a seafront piazza with a fountain and arcades, and holds restaurants, cafes, shisha terraces, souvenir shops and a dive centre or two.

It is pleasant and small. You can walk all of it in a quarter of an hour, and after two dinners you have seen it. Some hotels are walkable from it; others need a buggy or a short taxi ride.

Most evenings happen inside the hotels, so your choice of hotel matters more here than in a town. Dinner, a drink, live music of some kind and an early night is the normal rhythm. If you want bars that run late and somewhere different every night, you want Hurghada. The taxi takes about half an hour.

How quiet it really is, and who that suits

Quiet in Sahl Hasheesh is not a marketing adjective. One gate on the Hurghada to Safaga road controls the whole bay, so there is no through traffic, no market and no nightlife district. Outside the Old Town promenade and the hotel grounds there is very little at all, and the nearest ordinary shops are in Hurghada, 25 to 30 kilometres north. Couples read that as the bay's best feature and independent travellers read it as its worst.

• Couples who want to do nothing. The strongest case for the bay. Sand, sea, a book, dinner, repeat.
• Families with young children. Sandy entry, calm water, a short airport transfer and no road to cross. Our family guide to travelling in Egypt with children covers the rest.
• Divers on a routine. Boat out in the morning, back by mid afternoon.
• Winter sun travellers. Warm days on land, a hotel that provides the evening.
• Independent travellers who like to wander. The wrong bay. There is nowhere to wander to, and everything outside needs a taxi.
• Groups after nightlife. Also the wrong bay. Hurghada does this properly.
• Anyone staying two weeks or more. Plan day trips from the start, or the bay feels small by the end of week one.

Getting there from Hurghada airport

Hurghada International Airport is the arrival point. The drive south along the coastal road to the Sahl Hasheesh gate takes roughly 25 to 30 minutes on a straight dual carriageway. The airport is south of the city, so the bay is closer to the terminal than most of Hurghada is.

We arrange the transfer with a driver who meets you inside arrivals with a name board. The taxi rank is an argument nobody wants after a flight. We also handle the domestic legs, so a connection from Cairo sits inside one plan. We do not sell international flights. You arrive on your own ticket and we take over at arrivals.

Inside the bay you barely use a road. Hotels run buggies between the beach, the rooms and the promenade, and taxis to Hurghada, Makadi Bay or Soma Bay wait at the main gate. As everywhere in Egypt, agree the fare first.

When to go to Sahl Hasheesh

Sahl Hasheesh works all year, but it does not feel the same all year. Autumn, late September to November, is the calmest window on this coast, with the sea around 26 to 28 degrees. Spring, March to May, is warm on land and in the water, though the northerly wind builds through April and May. Those are the months we steer people towards.

Winter is the busy season for northern European guests, and it is pleasant on land. The water is cooler than the photographs suggest, roughly 21 to 23 degrees. A wetsuit stops being optional for a full day of diving. Winter storms cancel the odd boat day, but the windy season on this coast is the summer half of the year, not the winter one.

Summer is hot, and inland it is severe. On the coast the sea makes it workable, and the water is at its warmest. Summer suits people who plan to spend the week swimming rather than at monuments. Think carefully before adding Luxor or Aswan in those months. Our overview of the best time to visit Egypt sets the coast against the Nile Valley month by month.

Sahl Hasheesh compared with Hurghada, El Gouna, Sharm el Sheikh and Dahab

Every Red Sea base trades something away. Here is how the five main bases compare.

The bay is weaker in three ways. The house reef is uneven and no match for the shore reefs of Sinai. There is nothing to do outside the resorts, and the bay has no character of its own like Dahab. What it has instead is sheltered water, unbroken sand, space and a genuinely short airport transfer. If Sinai sounds closer to what you want, start with our travel guide to the Sinai peninsula.

Adding the Nile, Luxor or Cairo to a beach week

Most people who book Sahl Hasheesh want more from Egypt than a bay, and the geography is kind. Hurghada airport has domestic connections to Cairo, and Luxor is reachable overland across the Eastern Desert in a long half day.

The pattern we build most often is beach first, then the Nile: three or four days in the bay, then a transfer to Luxor and a boat. Our guide to Nile cruises between Luxor and Aswan explains how the sailing weeks work. If you would rather stay on land, the temples work as day trips instead, which we cover under Luxor excursions and day trips.

Cairo usually goes at one end of the trip. The domestic flight from Hurghada takes about an hour. Two nights covers Giza, Saqqara and the museums without eating the beach days. Our page on Cairo excursions and day trips sets out what fits into one day and what needs two. We arrange the domestic flights, drivers and guides in one plan, and the international leg stays with you. To have the trip shaped around your dates, start a custom Egypt tour.

Sahl Hasheesh questions we are asked most