A purpose-built lagoon town 25km north of Hurghada — the coast’s most polished address, and the least Egyptian-feeling place on it.
El Gouna is not a town that grew — it was built, from 1989 onwards, on a stretch of empty coast by the Egyptian developer Orascom. That origin explains almost everything about it: the islands and lagoons are dug, the architecture is coordinated, the streets are swept, and the whole place is organised into distinct districts rather than sprawling.
Practically, you will spend your time in three of them. Abu Tig Marina is the waterfront strip of restaurants, bars and moored boats, and it is where the evenings happen — the town’s year-round cinema is here too. Downtown, around Tamr Henna square, is the more local-feeling centre with cheaper food. The rest is residential and hotel islands, connected by a bus and tuk-tuk network that runs late and costs very little.
It has become the coast’s centre of gravity for people who are not on a week’s package: remote workers, Cairo weekenders, kitesurfers, and a substantial resident foreign community. That gives it a year-round pulse the resort bays entirely lack.
It is expensive, and it is a bubble. Some people arrive expecting Egypt and find a well-run resort town where almost everyone speaks English and the prices are European; others arrive wanting exactly that and are delighted. Neither reaction is wrong — but know which one you are before you book a fortnight.
Last reviewed 25 July 2026. Transfer times and what is open change. Something out of date? Tell us.
The rest of what this site has anchored to this town — the wrecks and spots in its bay, the trips that run from it, and how it compares to its neighbours. (The dive sites are listed above.)
The dolphin reef north of Hurghada — a shallow horseshoe lagoon with coral pinnacles, and a resident spinner pod that comes and goes.
Egypt’s best-known kite beach and the centre of the country’s kite scene — consistent side-onshore wind, a big shallow area, and a lot of other people.
Karnak, the Valley of the Kings and the Colossi of Memnon, reached by a four-hour drive each way. The most rewarding thing you can do from this coast, and the most exhausting.
Giza, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum — by road it is a punishing day, and by plane it is a genuinely good one.
The standard Hurghada day out — two or three snorkel stops and a few hours on an island beach, inside a protected area.
Quad bikes into the Eastern Desert, usually with a Bedouin camp, a camel and a sunset. Enormous fun or a dusty conveyor belt, depending entirely on the operator.
A boat trip to Shaab El Erg, a horseshoe reef with a resident spinner dolphin pod — a good easy snorkel with a genuine but uncertain chance of dolphins.
The beach-club end of the island day — white sand, shallow turquoise water, sun loungers and a bar. Less about the reef, more about the photograph.
The second edition, organised by Photopia, features an exhibition on Umm Kulthum's Paris concerts and a 70-year photographic record of Egyptian cinema from the Mohamed Bakr Studio.
29 October 2026
The festival's industry arm drew more than 320 Arab applications this year, over 100 of them from Egypt, and has added an Egyptian Voices strand for four more local projects.
24 October 2026
Sada El-Balad reported 77 films across the ninth edition's competitions and programmes, while its English service put the number screened at about 70. Neither report names the award winners.
24 October 2026
Beit Noura, a waterfront townhouse with five bedrooms in El Gouna, has been fitted out as a temporary creative residence for the ninth El Gouna Film Festival by the Egyptian clothing brand Kotn with El Gouna Red Sea, AD Middle East reports. The design draws on Nubian architecture and mashrabiya screens. The report gives no festival dates and does not say whether the public can visit.
22 October 2026
The hotel says the new Deluxe Swim-Up Junior Suites are finished and that refurbishment of its remaining rooms runs into 2027. It also says a weekly Wizz Air service from London Gatwick is set to start in January 2027, with Jet2 regional flights from the UK in February. Rooms start at 260 euros a night with breakfast.
21 October 2026
Venture Lifestyle is launching Recap, a tech-house festival running over new year, with Seth Troxler, PAWSA, Max Styler and Desiree on the first wave of the line-up. The full programme, the venue and ticket details have not been announced.
20 October 2026
The photography festival's second edition comes back to El Gouna after a five-year break, running 3 to 12 December with workshops, live demonstrations and documentary sessions led by working professionals. Tickets are on sale.
20 October 2026
El Gouna Red Sea says its new boutique village will hold studios to three-bedroom apartments in low-rise blocks, with delivery expected in about two years. The developer's announcement gives no prices and no sales date.
19 October 2026
A week of screenings is left in El Gouna. The ninth edition opened on Thursday 15 October and runs to 23 October with 77 films, the festival's highest Arab count at 10 titles, a fourth Window on Palestine strand and talks including a Mona Zaki masterclass.
16 October 2026
Hotels and restaurants in El Gouna are fully booked during the film festival, the town's chief executive, Mohamed Amer, told Dar Al-Maaref. He put El Gouna's capacity at 3,000 hotel rooms, with a plan to reach 4,000, and said the tourism effect reaches Hurghada as well.
15 October 2026
Mona Zaki is to receive the Career Achievement Award at the El Gouna Film Festival's opening ceremony on 15 October, as the ninth edition runs in El Gouna until 23 October.
15 October 2026
El Gouna's film festival returns for a ninth edition running Thursday 15 October to 23 October, with British director Joanna Hogg presiding over the jury and giving a masterclass called "Life Into Film". The reporting so far gives no screening programme, venues or ticket details.
14 October 2026