How much does a Red Sea holiday cost?
We do not print prices, and any site that does is either updating them constantly or quietly misleading you — the Egyptian pound has been devalued repeatedly and a figure written in euros can be wrong by half within a year. What holds is the structure: when you come matters more than anything else and is free to change, which town you pick moves accommodation, food and drink together, and what your board basis actually covers is the most common place a budget goes wrong.
What a trip actually costs →Is tipping expected in Egypt?
Yes, far more than in Europe, and over a fortnight it is a real budget line rather than loose change. It runs through daily life — housekeeping, restaurant staff, dive guides, drivers, the person who carries a bag you did not need carried. Cash on the table reaches staff more reliably than a service charge does. Check your restaurant bill, because service is often already on it.
Tipping, honestly →Can you drink alcohol in Egypt?
Yes. Alcohol is served in hotels, resorts, tourist restaurants and bars along the Red Sea coast, and local beer and wine are widely available. It is far less visible outside tourist areas, is not sold during some religious holidays, and drinking in the street is not done. During Ramadan, service is more restricted and it is courteous to be discreet about it.
What should women wear in Hurghada?
Swimwear including bikinis is completely normal at hotel beaches and pools and nobody looks twice. Away from the tourist areas — a market, a local street, anywhere outside a resort — shoulders and knees covered attracts markedly less attention. This is not a rule anyone enforces on visitors and it is not a moral position; it is a way of reducing friction, and it is what women who live here do. A loose scarf in a bag covers most situations.
More on this →Do people speak English on the Red Sea coast?
Widely, in anything tourist-facing — hotels, dive centres, restaurants, shops and taxis. German and Russian are also common, reflecting who visits. Away from the tourist strip it thins out quickly. Thirty words of Egyptian Arabic changes how you are treated more than fluency would, and the single most useful phrase is "la’ shukran" — no, thank you — said pleasantly while continuing to walk.
The Arabic worth knowing →Does Ramadan affect a Red Sea holiday?
Much less than people expect in the resorts, and noticeably outside them. Hotels and tourist restaurants operate normally. In the towns, many places close during daylight and open late, the streets are quiet by day and lively after sunset, and traffic just before iftar is worth avoiding entirely. Eating, drinking and smoking in public during daylight is impolite rather than illegal for visitors. Iftar itself is one of the best things you can be invited to.
The annual calendar →What food should I try in Egypt?
Koshari — rice, macaroni, lentils and chickpeas under a cumin-heavy tomato sauce — is the national dish and the best cheap meal in the country. On this coast, grilled fish sold by weight is the meal most visitors never have and should: you choose it from ice, it is weighed and priced in front of you, and it comes back with bread, salads and tahina. Also worth ordering: ful, taameya, molokhia and mahshi. The hotel buffet will tell you nothing about any of it.
The food guide →