Hurghada resort recommendations?

[Altamira]

We are looking for a very good dive resort, preferably with an on site dive op, somewhat near the Hurghada airport as we will have a very early departure on our last day. I will be diving for @3 days, but do not want to spend 2+ hours each way on a boat to get to the reefs so I am not gone 6-7 hours a day. My wife will be snorkeling, so ideally the hotel would have daily scheduled boat snorkel tours to very good shallow reefs. She likes being close to the coral, and is not happy looking at coral 20+ feet below her. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[diverLux]

The Best and you won't find anything closer;

Makadi Bay 20 minutes drive, Fort Arabesque with I-Dive, IDive Diving Center Makadi Bay Hurghada, diving, center, Makadi, Bay

Soma Bay 30 minutes drive, The Breakers or Sheraton with Orca, Somabay Red Sea Holiday Resort diving, golfing, kitesurfing

 

[Finn_Diver]

I have been twice with my family in Titanicbeaches Hurgada EGYPT. You can snorkel straight from their pier, and there is quite a lot of life on the small reef and under the pier (octopus, bat fish etc.). All inclusive food was very good. My family had massages etc. and were satisfied.

I think there is a dive operator on premises. I did not use them, had arranged dives through an Egyptian friend. Airport 20 minute ride.

Please not, there is an other hotel nearby, with "Titanic" and "aquapark" in its name. The one I have used is LTI Titanic Beach Spa And Aqua Park.

 

[Sunn]

Why don't you go, both of you, onboard the daily dive boats ?

You dive and your wife goes snorkeling .... as the boat is always mooring aside the reef...

 

[Altamira]

Why don't you go, both of you, onboard the daily dive boats ?

You dive and your wife goes snorkeling .... as the boat is always mooring aside the reef...

We will do that, and I also understand the house reef is excellent for shore diving and snorkeling. Because this was an unexpected pop-up trip we are very excited to be visiting the Red Sea.

 

[Sunn]

The housereef (I mean the reef just nearby your resort) in Hurghada is usually quite poor, as it has been destroyed to build the resorts....

With daily diving boats, you'll reach reefs up to 1 hour away from the coast, so they are much preserved.

If you prefer diving from the shore, go south to Marsa Alam and surroundings.

Anyway, have nice holidays !

 

[LizSpinks]

We are looking for a very good dive resort, preferably with an on site dive op, somewhat near the Hurghada airport as we will have a very early departure on our last day. I will be diving for @3 days, but do not want to spend 2+ hours each way on a boat to get to the reefs so I am not gone 6-7 hours a day. My wife will be snorkeling, so ideally the hotel would have daily scheduled boat snorkel tours to very good shallow reefs. She likes being close to the coral, and is not happy looking at coral 20+ feet below her. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I'm sorry if this reply is too late to be useful for you. I can second diving with iDive in Hurghada Bay. We tried to stay at Fort Arabesque, but as they were full, we stayed a short walk around the bay (10-15 mins) at Jaz Makadina and thought it was good. They had a resort dive shop as well, that may cater to snorkeling tours.

The thing with iDive is their amazing house reef that you can shore dive or snorkel. We found it very healthy and after our two morning boat dives (returning to the shop between), we did another shore dive in the afternoon most days. Also the boat rides were between 10 and 20 minutes for just about all the many reefs we dove.

If you have hired a car to take you to the airport and stay at any of the Hurghada resorts, you have to stay on top of the front desk to make sure they don't hold your driver (and cause a delay). There is a main gate that everyone passes through and hired cars can be held up as the gate checks with the hotel to make sure they're expected (security). We and some friends both had this problem. Allow extra time. Also allow extra time at the Hurghada airport on the way out as there are at least 4 extra layers of security checks and bag screening. Took all our 2 hour pre-flight time to work our way through it, but we felt safe.

We were there in November last year and while some things have changed, I'd imagine its similar.

 

[Altamira]

@LizSpinks. Thank you for your update. We will be staying at Fort Arabesque, and if IDive's dive op performance is anything like their responsiveness to my many questions, they are going to be outstanding in every respect. My wife has decided to dive instead of snorkel, so we will likely do a combination of boat dives to the closer reefs and shore dives. We are really looking forward to this all too short trip to Hurghada, and fully expect regretting not making our reservation for a much longer stay.

 

[LizSpinks]

Sounds like a great trip. I'm sure you'll love it and find iDive meets and exceeds expectations. Everyone was so great to us. If you and your wife love seeing lots of colourful life, I'd suggest going to the Torfa reef if it's offered. The last, shallower, part of the dive is like an aquarium. I recall Cleopatra being good in this respect as well.

 

[diverLux]

Did a sunset dive at Royal Azur ( 11 ) the bay was unbelievable calm, underwater was the most amazing huge vegetable garden you wouldn't believe it until you see it and full of small fish.