Scuba diving in Hurghada | Best diving centers, liveaboards and dive sites

Best diving centers in Hurghada

If you are looking for a proper diving center in Hurghada, you can lose yourself in the number of diving centers. Below, we have listed our selection of the four best diving centers in Hurghada.

Diving center 1: Diving Star

Diving Star is a PADI diving center and is located at Hurghada. Diving Star offers various scuba diving services such as day diving trips and scuba diving courses.

If you would like to learn scuba diving, you can book the PADI Open Water course. Looking for a more advanced course? Diving Star also offers the PADI Advanced course, PADI Dive master course and specialty courses.

For their day trips, they use the vessel ‘’Sweet Maya’’. This vessel has great diving facilities such as a dive deck and two zodiacs.

Prices: The PADI Open Water course is offered for EUR 260. A scuba diving day trip (2 dives) is offered for EUR 45. The latest prices, other services and availability can be checked here.

Diving center 2: White Whale Divers

White Whale Divers is a PADI diving center and is located in the eastern side of Hurghada, close to the Hurghada Marina.

White Whale Divers offers both PADI and CMAS (Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques) scuba diving courses. In addition, they also offer scuba diving day trips and diving packages (multiple days).

Prices: White Whale Divers offers the PADI Open Water course for EUR 330, including the course manual, transfers within Hurghada, equipment and free soft/hot drinks and lunches. A scuba diving day trip (2 dives) is offered for EUR 45. The latest prices, availability, and other services can be checked here.

Diving center 3: Undersea Adventures

Undersea Adventures is a 5 star PADI diving center and is located in the south of Hurghada (in the Desert Rose Hotel Hurghada). They offer PADI and SSI scuba diving courses and various scuba diving day trips.

Undersea Adventures offers the PADI Open Water course for about EUR 300. If you are interested in more advanced courses, you can book the PADI Advance course or one of the Speciality courses such as the Enriched air course (‘’Nitrox’’). They also offer professional courses such as the PADI Dive Master course and the PADI IDC.

If you are in for recreational diving, you can book one of their day trips: Dolphin House, a beach dive, an island trip, night dive or a daily scuba diving package. For exploring the best dive sites of the Red Sea, we recommend to book the daily dives (package). This include 2 boat dives at one of the dive sites around Hurghada. The price of this trip starts at EUR 35.

Prices: The latest prices, availability and other services can be checked here.

Diving center 4: Funny Divers

The last diving center we have listed is Funny Divers. This PADI and SSI diving center is located in the northern part of Hurghada and offers scuba diving courses and scuba diving day trips.

Funny Divers offer PADI, SSI, and CMAS courses for divers of all levels. Their PADI Open Water Diver Course costs EUR 250 and The Advanced Open Water Diver Course costs EUR 195 where all equipment is included. Other courses are PADI Rescue, Dive master, Emergency First Response, and lots of specialty courses. Wreck diving, deep diving, underwater photography, and drift diving are just some of the specialty courses you can take.

There are lots of diving options to choose from a single day dive to multiple day packages (starts at EUR 35 including 2 dives). If you want to dive any of the awesome wrecks near Hurghada, Funny Divers can take you for just EUR 35 plus one dive to another Hurghada dive site. For their scuba diving day trips, they will use their vessel ‘’the Funny Divers Boat’’. As this vessel is especially used for daily scuba diving trips, you will find all the diving facilities needed for a good trip.

Prices: The latest prices, availability and other services can be checked here.

Best liveaboards Hurghada

Hurghada is one of the main destinations where you can start your Egypt liveaboard trip. From Hurghada, liveaboards departs to various Red Sea locations such as the Big Brothers islands, Deadalus and Elphinstone.

Below, we have selected our top three Hurghada liveaboards. Note that there are many Egypt liveaboards available for awesome prices! You can check more than 70 other Egypt liveaboards on this website.

Liveaboard 1: Sea Serpent Grand

Sea Serpent Grand is an amazing luxury liveaboard that operates mostly in many famous dive sites in Hurghada. The M/Y Sea Serpent Grand is 45 meters long and can house up to 28 guests. There are 14 cabins available. Each cabin includes air-conditioning, en-suite bathroom, and a fridge. There are different styles available: the Lower Deck Twin Cabin, Lower Deck Double Cabin, the Sundeck Twin Cabin and a Suite.

In addition, the M/Y Sea Serpent Grand offers great (diving) facilities such as free Wi-Fi, entertainment systems, a Helium/Oxygen blending station, and a sun deck.

The M/Y Sea Serpent Grand leaves from the Hurghada port and offers various destinations such as the North & Tiran, the Northern Wrecks and the Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone reefs.

Price: A trip with the Sea Serpent Grand starts at USD 180 per day. You can check the latest prices and availability here.

Liveaboard 2: MY Blue Adventurer

The M/Y Blue Adventurer is a 32 meter long vessel and can house up to 22 guests in 11 cabins. There are three different cabins available: the Classic cabin, the Double cabin and the Single cabin.

The cabins of the Blue Adventurer have air-conditioning, a TV, and en-suite bathrooms. Furthermore, free Wi-Fi is available together with daily housekeeping.

With respect to the diving facilities, a camera room with a table and charging station is available. The large dive deck provides you with easy entry and exit access to the reefs. Nitrox is also available on the Blue Adventure.

The M/Y Blue Adventure offers different itineraries, leaving from Hurghada, such as ‘’Simply the Best’’, ‘’’Northern Wrecks’’, and the ‘’Best of Wrecks’’

Price: A trip with the M/Y Blue Adventures starts at USD 118 per day which is a good price/quality ratio. The latest prices, reviews and availability can be checked here.

Liveaboard 3: M/Y Blue Fin

Rated as “Superb” by divers, this liveaboard is proven to be extremely comfortable with friendly and competent staff, impeccable cabins, excellent food, and well-planned dive trips. The 39-meter vessel can house up to 24 guests in 12 cabins.

There are 9 deluxe twin cabins and 3 king suite cabins available. Compared with other (Egypt) liveaboards, these cabins offers a lot of space and luxury. Each cabin is equipped with a mini bar, air-conditioning, a TV and an en-suite bathroom.

In addition, the M/Y Blue Fin offers various other facilities such as free internet, Nitrox, an indoor saloon and a sun deck. The M/Y Blue Fin also has great diving facilities such as a spacious diving deck, a camera table, charging stations and separate rinsing/cleaning areas for cameras.

The M/Y Blue Fin visits different dive sites in the Red Sea. These destinations include the Strait of Tiran, Northern Wrecks and Brother Islands.

Price: a trip with the M/Y Blue Fin from Hurghada starts at USD 124 per day. Latest prices and available can be checked here.

Best dive sites Hurghada

Below, we have outlined our selection of the best dive sites in Hurghada!

Dive site 1: Abu Ramada Island

This island consists of multiple dive sites, perfect for beginner divers because of its calm, clear water and sandy floor hovering by blue-spotted stingrays. The oval reef of Gota Abu Ramada is a good starting dive for first-time divers.

By exploring the underwater of this island, you can have a big chance of seeing an enormous number of species of marine animals inhabiting the Red Sea. The everyday scenes in this area are the colorful parrotfish, yellowtail barracuda, octopus, black-spotted sweetlips, yellow goatfish, Peppered morays, and giant morays.

The average depth of the waters around this island is 20 meters.

Dive site 2: Shaab El Erg / Dolphin House

This dive site is located north of Hurghada and is also called ‘’Dolphin Reef’’. This reef is about 7 kilometers long and has multiple entries for diving. During this dive, you have the chance to face napoleon wrasse, blue-spotted stingrays, scorpionfish and crocodile fishes.

Due to the shape of the reef, there is also a lagune which provides protection to the reef and animals. Dolphins visit this place often. Therefore, there is a high possibility that you encouter Dolphins during your trip.

The average depth of the dive site(s) is between 15 – 25 meters. This dive site is suitable for al; diving levels.

Dive site 3: Marsa Abu Galawa (Careless Reef)

This reef is an isolated mid-sea reef located between the islands of Sha'ab Umm Qamar and Giftun. It became one of the favorite scuba diving destinations in Hurghada because of its numerous coral forests and fish population. This site is suitable for all diver levels in good weather, but frequently the high waves and strong current make this dive site hard or impossible to dive.

The average depth of water in Careless Reef is 18 meters, and the water visibility is excellent at about 30 meters. This area’s common inhabitants are giant marine creatures like reef sharks, octopuses, rays, and dolphins due to strong currents. This is also the place for most of the coral species; the diverse species of corals form a garden-like paradise radiating like colorful stained glass through the sun.

Dive site 4: Shaab Abu Nuhas (wreck)

This dive site offers one of the best wreck diving experiences in Hurghada. The reef is quite small and has a triangular shape. There are 7 wrecks located at Shaab Abu Nuhas, and all are located in shallow waters (between 20 – 30 meters). The most famous wrecks are Carnatic, Chrisoula K, Giannis D, and Kimon M. If you have to choose between the wrecks, we recommend to dive the Giannis D or the Carnatic wreck.

During your dive, you can expect various types of marine life such as glassfish, triggerfishes, lionfishes, pipefishes and sometimes dolphins.

Although this dive site can be visited by beginners, we recommend to have (some) wreck diving experiences and are at least an advanced diver (certified to dive to lower depths). In addition, note that the diving conditions can be rough around Shaab Abu Nuhas so expect currents and large waves. The visibility is generally excellent all year round.

The easiest way to visit the wrecks of Shaab Abu Nuhas is from Hurghada. Depending on the boat, this takes approximately between 2 hours 15 min - 2 hours 45 min.

Dive site 5: Umm Gamar Island

The island of Umm Gamar is located in front of Hurghada and is also another popular diving destination.

Beginner divers can try the shallow plateau located at the southern tip of the island, while the other areas like the east and west side are suitable for divers on advanced levels due to currents and drifts. At the south side of Umm Gamar, the moorings are attached to a shallow plateau. This is perfect for those who would like to descend with assistance.

Many magnificent coral gardens are present on both sides of the island, the walls also offer great cave opportunities to divers. At Umm Gamar, you can also find three pinnacles which are full of marine life.

The depth of this dive site varies between 10 – 40 meters and depends on your dive plan and certifications.

Dive Site 6: Turtle Bay

Turtle bay is considered one of Hurghada’s magical dive sites. This dive site is located in front of Hurghada and can be reached in about 30 minutes by boat. As the name of this dive site already mentions, turtles can be found at this dive site (if you are lucky of course). Although this reef is quite small, Turtle Bay is full of various corals and marine life. Many tour operators offer day trips to Turtle Bay, so if you are in for a more relaxing dive without that many people, we recommend to visit one of the other stunning dive sites at Hurghada.

Dive site 7: Rosalie Moller wreck

The Rosalie Moller wreck is a great option if you like wreck diving in Hurghada! Although the Rosalie Moller wreck is not located close to Hurghada, it is worth to take the 3 hour boat ride.

The Rosalie Moller was a cargo ship and sunk in 1941 by a German fighter during the WWII. The Rosalie Moller wreck is located at a depth of 18 – 55 meters. At 18 meters, you can find the mast while the main deck is located between 30 – 40 meters. The bottom of this wreck is located at a depth of 55 meters which is out of reach for recreational divers (but a great option for our tech divers!).

As with many wrecks, you can find marine life around the wreck such as trevallies, tunas and other smaller marine life. Most of the divers are here for the magnificent views of the Rosalie Moller. Although you can enter the wreck, we do not recommend this as there is not much to see inside. If you are planning to go inside, we recommend to dive at the entries of the wreck so you can easily exit the wreck if necessary.

Diving conditions are generally good and the visibility ranges between 10 – 25 meters.

How to get to Hurghada

Hurghada can be reached by various ways, depending on your departing location. Below, we have outlined the two most convenient ways to reach Hurghada.

Option 1: To Hurghada by airplane

The most comfortable way to reach Hurghada is by flying. Hurghada has an international airport with (direct) flights from the main airports in the Middle East and Europe. Travel time from Europe is around 5 – 6 hours. Availability and flights to Hurghada airport can be checked here.

Option 2: To Hurghada by boat from Sharm El Sheikh

You can also travel from Sharm El Sheikh to Hurghada by a fast boat. It takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes and costs around USD 50 - 60 for a one way ticket.

Accommodations Hurghada

Hurghada is full of luxurious resorts and hotels. Below, we have included our selection of three accommodations in Hurghada.

Accommodation 1: Steigenberger Pure Lifestyle ($$$)

Steigenberger Pure Lifestyle is an ''adult only resort'' and is located south from Hurghada and close to the international airport (3 km). The facilities of this resort include a fitness center, a bar, an outdoor swimming pool and water park, a restaurant and a an 24-hour front desk.

The rooms are equipped with an air-conditioning and a coffee machine. There are different accommodations available such as the Standard suite, the Jacuzzi suite, the Penthouse suite with a plunge pool and the Sky view suite.

Price: The price for a night at the Steigenberger Pure Lifestyle starts at around USD 200 per night. Availability and prices can be checked here.

Accommodation 2: Steigenberger Aqua Magic Red Sea

Located in the south part Hurghada and close to the airport, Steigenberger Aqua Magic Red Sea is a good choice if you are looking for a resort with great facilities which is reasonable priced.

The facilities of this resort include a outdoor pool, fitness center, private beach, free Wi-Fi, and a water park. All rooms are equipped with a mini bar and air-conditioning.

The resort offers different options for accommodation: a Deluxe suite, Family suite, Junior family suite, an Aqua suite and a Deluxe triple room.

Price: Price starts at around USD 100 per night. Availability and prices can be checked here.

Accommodation 3: Redcon Suites ($/$$)

This accommodation is located more closely to the city center. Redcon Suites is located within walking distance from the New Marina (2.7 km) and within a few minutes from the beach.

All apartments are equipped with air-conditioning and a television. Free Wi-Fi is also available. You can choose between the superior apartment or the family room. We recommend to book the superior apartment as this is a 90 square meter apartment with a sea and city view.

Price: The price starts at around USD 70 – 80 per night. Availability and prices can be checked here.

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