All-inclusive or half board on the Red Sea?
All-inclusive genuinely works here and is the default for good reasons. It also quietly decides how much of Egypt you will actually see.
This is the most consequential booking decision after the town, and it is usually made on price alone. Worth knowing what else it decides.
We print no prices — the pound moves too fast for that to be honest — so what follows is about structure and behaviour rather than numbers.
Side by side
Predictability
All-inclusive ↑- All-inclusive
- — Near-total. The holiday costs what you paid before you left
- Half board
- — Variable, and you have to think about it daily
Actual value
Even- All-inclusive
- — Strong in the big resorts, especially with children or drinkers
- Half board
- — Better in Hurghada and El Gouna, where eating out is good and cheap
Food quality
Half board ↑- All-inclusive
- — Buffets built for the median European palate. Consistent, unexciting
- Half board
- — The best meals on this coast are outside hotels — grilled fish, koshari, local kitchens
What is actually included
Half board ↑- All-inclusive
- — Often local-brand drinks and the buffet, with everything you would choose as an upgrade
- Half board
- — No ambiguity — you pay for what you order
Leaving the resort
Half board ↑- All-inclusive
- — You will do it less. Meals already paid for are a powerful anchor
- Half board
- — You will do it constantly, because you have to eat somewhere
Remote or resort-bay locations
All-inclusive ↑- All-inclusive
- — Close to essential in Soma Bay, Sahl Hasheesh and southern Marsa Alam
- Half board
- — Impractical where there is nothing within walking distance
Families with children
All-inclusive ↑- All-inclusive
- — Removes the daily negotiation about food, which is worth a lot
- Half board
- — More work, every day, on holiday
Divers
Even- All-inclusive
- — Packed lunches and early breakfasts are usually handled well
- Half board
- — You will miss meals you paid nothing for, which is the point
So which one?
A family week in a resort bay
All-inclusive
In Soma Bay, Sahl Hasheesh or Makadi there is little outside the gate, and removing the daily food question genuinely improves the week.
A week in Hurghada or El Gouna
Half board
Both towns have real restaurants at every price. Paying twice for dinner and then eating the buffet out of guilt is the most common way this goes wrong.
Anyone who came to see Egypt
Half board or room only
All-inclusive is an anchor. If the food is paid for, you will eat it, and the country stays outside the gate for a fortnight.
Divers on a package
Half board
You will be on a boat for lunch most days. Paying for a lunch buffet you are never present for is money spent on nothing.
A first trip, nervous about food
All-inclusive
A fair reason and no shame in it. Do book one dinner outside the hotel — the gap between a buffet and a grilled fish restaurant is the point of coming here.
Whatever you pick, ask one specific question before booking: which drinks are included, by brand, and which are charged. That single answer separates the properties where all-inclusive is a genuine bargain from the ones where it is a starting price.
Last reviewed 26 July 2026. No comparison here is tilted by who pays us — how we make money. Disagree with a call? Tell us why.