What a Red Sea trip actually costs
Not a price list — the structure. What actually drives the total, which choices move it most, and where the money goes that nobody budgets for.
Why there are no prices on this page
The Egyptian pound has been devalued repeatedly and sharply, and a figure written in euros today can be wrong by half within a year. Every site that prints a price list is either updating it constantly or quietly lying to you. Ratios survive a devaluation — "El Gouna is roughly twice Hurghada for the same dinner" stays true — so that is what this section deals in.
What actually moves the number
- 1
When you come
The same hotel room in this country can differ by a factor of three between the second week of January and the first week of August, and school holidays in Europe move the price more than anything you can negotiate on the ground.
How much it swings: The single biggest lever, and the only one that is entirely free to pull. Shifting a week either side of a European school holiday saves more than every other decision on this page put together.
- 2
Which town you pick
El Gouna and Soma Bay are a different price bracket from Hurghada and Safaga — not a little different, a bracket. Safaga is 15km from Soma Bay and a fraction of the cost for the same sea.
How much it swings: Second biggest. It changes accommodation, food and drink together, which is why it compounds over a fortnight.
- 3
What your board basis actually covers
All-inclusive at a big resort genuinely does remove most daily spending. All-inclusive at a cheaper property often means local-brand drinks and a buffet, with everything you would actually choose charged as an upgrade.
How much it swings: Large, and the least predictable, because two hotels can sell the same words and mean different things. This is the question to ask specifically before booking.
- 4
How much time you spend in the water
Diving is the reason most people come and the largest discretionary cost once here. A ten-dive package, kit hire, marine park fees and the boat add up to real money; snorkelling from a beach costs nothing.
How much it swings: Large for divers, nil for everyone else. Packages are always cheaper per dive than singles, and the break-even is usually around five.
- 5
Excursions
Luxor and Cairo are long, expensive days, and the sold price rarely includes entry tickets, lunch drinks, or the tips the day is structured around.
How much it swings: Moderate individually, large cumulatively. Two big excursions can cost more than the flights.
- 6
How you book, and where
The same excursion sold at a hotel desk, by a street agent and directly by the operator can differ by a wide margin for an identical seat on an identical bus. The same is true of airport transfers.
How much it swings: Moderate, and entirely within your control. It costs nothing but a few minutes to ask a second seller.
Town by town
The cost picture from each town guide, side by side. These are relative to one another, not to anywhere else.
The most expensive town on the coast. Expect Cairo prices or above for food and drink, and considerably more than Hurghada for the same hotel standard.
The cheapest base on the coast, often by a lot. It is also the easiest place to overpay if you do not check a price before agreeing to it.
Mid to upper. Hotel standards are generally high and the bay skews to four- and five-star, but you are not paying El Gouna prices.
Good value, especially all-inclusive and especially in family rooms. Excursions and drinks outside the package are where the cost creeps up.
The most expensive per-night rates on the coast alongside El Gouna, but for a different reason: not a lively town, but a small number of upmarket resorts with no competition nearby.
Among the cheapest on the coast for accommodation, watersports and diving. It is a genuinely different price bracket from Soma Bay, 15km up the road.
Low to moderate. Diving in particular is better value here than in Hurghada, and the hotels are generally smaller and less expensive than the big-bay resorts.
Moderate for accommodation, and diving-heavy packages are competitive. Excursions cost more than in the north simply because everything is further from everything else.
Month by month
What each month does to the price, from the when-to-go guide. The swing across the year is larger than any other decision on this page.
Going deeper
What “included” actually includes
All-inclusive, day passes, dive packages, excursions and transfers — what the words normally cover, what they do not, and the one question that gets a straight answer.
Cash, cards and the pound
Why to always pay in Egyptian pounds, what dynamic currency conversion costs you, ATM fees, and where not to change money.
Tipping, honestly
Who to tip, roughly how much in relative terms, and the situations where a tip is not expected at all.
What we recommend is never decided by who pays us.
Elsewhere in the guide
Last reviewed 25 July 2026. Something out of date? Tell us