Where to stay in Hurghada
3 h route4 stopsBest: Pick your zone before booking: you don’t improvise hereUpdated July 2026
Hurghada isn’t a compact city: it’s forty kilometres of coast with three very different zones a good way apart. Choosing wrong means depending on taxis for everything and spending your trip on the road.
The three: El Dahar, the original town to the north, authentic and cheap, Sakkala, the centre with the marina, and the southern hotel strip, with the big resorts and the best beaches. Here’s which suits you, by what you came for.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
El Dahar: the real town
The old quarter, the only one that existed before tourism: market, mosques, streets with life, and genuinely Egyptian prices. It’s where you eat well and cheaply and where you see the country, not the brochure. The drawback is obvious: the beach here isn’t the good one, and the resorts are far away. It’s the zone for anyone on a tight budget who wants authenticity and doesn’t mind a taxi to swim.
- 02
Sakkala and the marina
The modern centre, between the old town and the resort strip: the marina, the restaurants, the bars and the nightlife are here. It’s the middle ground, and where many boat trips leave from. It’s the best option if you want to walk out to dinner and a drink without depending on the hotel or a taxi. The beaches are fine, not spectacular.
- 03
The southern hotel strip
Kilometres of all-inclusive resorts heading south, with the best beaches, the best house reefs and the big hotels with pools and their own dive centres.
You come here not to leave, and that’s the point: outside the compound there’s nothing. No streets, no restaurants, no town.
If your plan is beach and diving without moving, it’s perfect. If you wanted to see Egypt, it’s a pretty cage.
- 04
Getting between the areas
The white minibuses actually move Hurghada: fixed routes along the main road between El Dahar, Sakkala and the resorts, costing next to nothing, picking you up and dropping you wherever you wave.
Taxis are the other option and you must agree the price before getting in, always.
Note: from the airport there is NO minibus and no public transport, only a taxi or your hotel transfer.
Frequently asked
Where to stay in Hurghada?
The southern strip if you came for beach and diving without moving: best beaches and reefs, but outside the resort there’s nothing. Sakkala if you want to walk out to dinner. El Dahar for authenticity and Egyptian prices, though the beach isn’t the good one.
How do you get around Hurghada?
By the white minibuses, which run fixed routes along the main road between El Dahar, Sakkala and the resorts, cost very little and stop wherever you wave. There are also taxis, agreeing the price before getting in.
Is it worth leaving the resort in Hurghada?
Very much, at least once: El Dahar has the market, the day’s fish and the country’s real prices. The southern resorts are isolated and there’s nothing outside them, so if you never leave, you won’t see Egypt.