When NOT to Visit the Red Sea (and When to Absolutely Go)

We have said it before and we stand by it: there is no genuinely bad time to visit this coast. But there are expensive times, punishing times, and times that quietly sabotage the specific holiday you booked — and the brochure will not tell you which is which. So here is the anti-guide. All figures are the typical Hurghada numbers from our month pages; the far south runs a couple of degrees warmer year-round.

Do not come in August (unless the school calendar owns you)

August is the worst-value month of the year: the highest prices, the biggest crowds and the hardest conditions, all at once. The air sits at 35–37°C and the sea reaches around 30°C — which sounds glorious until you understand what it means. The water offers no relief at all; you get out warmer than you got in. The practical shape of an August day is: outside before ten, indoors or in the shade until late afternoon, out again from six. Every resident does this, and every first-time visitor learns it the hard way on day two. Even the visibility hits its annual low — though on this coast that still means twenty metres or better. If your dates are movable, move them.

July is barely better

The sea is a degree cooler and a swim already stops being refreshing; the crowds are European school holidays plus Egyptian summer travel, and prices stay high despite the conditions. The real trap is the excursion: a Luxor day trip in July is a serious undertaking, because the Valley of the Kings has no shade and inland temperatures run well above the coast. If you do come, do the sea and leave the monuments for another trip. Almost nobody who has a choice should pick July over September.

The 20th of December to early January: pay double, book everything

December is really two months. Until about the 20th it is quiet, mild and one of the best-value fortnights of the year. Then the Christmas and New Year crowd arrives, prices roughly double, and the good restaurants need booking. It is a genuinely festive time to be here — it is just not a bargain, and it should be a decision rather than a surprise. One extra December trap: many rooms on this coast are built to shed heat, not hold it. Check that yours has heating, because an unheated room at 13°C at six in the morning is a memorable way to start a holiday.

February, if your holiday happens in the water

The sea lags the air by about six weeks, so February — not January — is when the water is coldest, at around 21–22°C. That is fine for a swim, cold for a long snorkel, and a 5mm wetsuit is not optional for a three-dive day. Above the surface, February is close to ideal: warm afternoons, cool nights, the coast at its emptiest between half terms, and the last quiet month before the season builds. Book it for the land and the value, not for hours in the sea.

The smaller traps

• March looks like summer from the balcony. The air says June, the water says February — still at its winter low. A very good land month and a mediocre water one.
• Easter moves, and takes prices with it. Whichever month it lands in, occupancy and rates jump for the fortnight around it, and the difference between the week before and the week of can be substantial.
• The first week of September is still August. The gap between the 1st and the 20th — in price and in how busy the beach is — is larger than most people expect. If you can go late, go late.
• January can blow out. A cold northerly can shut down boat trips for days at a time, and it is the one month where a week of bad luck can mean no diving at all. Book flexible, and do not hang the whole trip on one offshore site.

When to absolutely go

October. If someone asks when to come to the Red Sea, October is the answer. The sea is still summer-warm at around 28°C, the air has dropped to 30–32°C, and boat conditions are the most reliable of the year — the summer wind has moderated and the winter northerlies have not started. The oceanic whitetip season opens at Elphinstone. The catch: everyone has worked this out, and the good hotels book early.

November. The connoisseur's month, and the one the climate tables lie about. The sea holds around 25–26°C — warmer than in May, because water spends the autumn giving back the heat it took all summer — under mild 26–28°C air. Anyone comparing November and May on an air-temperature table will pick May and be wrong. Quiet, good value, and the whitetip season at Elphinstone continues.

Mid-to-late September. August's sea a degree cooler, at a fraction of the crowd once European schools go back. Warm, clear, and the boats stop being full. This is the month regulars book, and they are right to.

April. Arguably the best all-round month: the sea past the point of hesitation at around 24°C, the air hot without being oppressive, the wind consistent enough for the surf schools to run every day. It is busy and no longer cheap — the empty beaches of February at April temperatures is a combination that does not exist.

Early December, and January after New Year week. The best value of the year: air in the low twenties, a sea most people will still swim in, and Luxor a completely different proposition to Luxor in July. Bring a fleece for the evenings and a wetsuit for the water, and bank the savings.

The one-line version: dodge the school calendar and the last week of the year, respect the February sea and the January wind, and aim for the autumn — the coast keeps its best weeks for the people who can choose them.