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A first week on the Red Sea

Seven nights

Seven nights, no certification needed, one inland day and two days with nothing planned. The plan for someone who has never been and does not yet know what they will like.

Suits:
A first visit, a couple or a pair of friends, anyone who wants to see the reef and a bit of Egypt without committing the week to either.
Not for:
Divers. If you already dive or intend to learn, the diving-led plan uses the same week far better.
When it works:
Best in April, May, October and November. Workable all year; July and August only if you accept that the middle of each day belongs to the air conditioning.

Day by day

  1. Day 1

    Arrive, and do nothing

    Transfers here are short but the day is gone regardless. Swim, eat at the hotel, sleep. The single most common first-trip mistake is booking something for the afternoon you land.

  2. Day 2

    The reef, from the beach

    Snorkel from the shore before you get on any boat. It costs nothing, it tells you whether you actually like having your face in the water, and it is how you find out that the top five metres are where the colour is.

  3. Day 3

    A boat day to the islands

    The Giftun islands trip is the standard first boat day and it is standard because it works — sheltered water, several stops, lunch on board. Book through the hotel or a dive centre rather than off the street.

  4. Day 4

    Nothing

    Deliberately empty. Four days in, the heat has caught up with you whether you have noticed or not. Read, swim, eat somewhere outside the hotel in the evening.

  5. Day 5

    Luxor, if you are going to

    A long day — leaving in the dark, back after dark — and the only chance most visitors get to see the part of Egypt they have actually heard of. Take it or skip it deliberately; do not leave it to day six and run out of week.

  6. Day 6

    The town, and the market

    See somewhere that existed before tourism. Dahar in Hurghada is the obvious one. Go late afternoon when it cools, learn to say la’ shukran before you go, and eat where the queue is.

  7. Day 7

    The last swim

    Nothing booked. Swim, pack, and if you have been putting off the grilled-fish restaurant, this is the evening for it.

The catch

It is a week of samples rather than a week of anything. You will come home having done a bit of everything and mastered none of it — which is the right shape for a first visit and the wrong one for a second.

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The other plans

Ten days, diving-ledLearn to dive in the first half, use it in the second, and keep the last day dry. Built around the eighteen-hour no-fly gap that most published plans ignore.A week with childrenSeven nights built around the two things that actually decide a family week here: the heat, and how far you are from the room.Two weeks, north to southA fortnight that actually moves: a week in the north for the wrecks and the town, a week in the south for the reef and the quiet. One transfer in the middle.