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Makadi

A hotel bay 30km south of Hurghada built around families, water parks and a very good house reef.

Makadi Bay is not a town in any meaningful sense — it is a stretch of coast occupied almost entirely by large resorts, most of them all-inclusive and many of them explicitly aimed at families. There is no centre, no high street, and very little reason to leave your hotel except on an excursion.

That sounds like a criticism and is not entirely meant as one. Makadi does a specific job extremely well: it puts a lot of families next to a warm shallow sea with a water park nearby and enough on site that nobody has to organise anything.

Makadi Water World is the anchor attraction and is genuinely large. Several hotels have their own significant slide complexes as well, which is often the deciding factor for the people who book here.

Suits you if

  • Families with young children, more clearly than anywhere else on the coast
  • All-inclusive holidays where the plan is to not have a plan
  • Snorkellers who want a reef they can reach without a boat

Probably not if

  • Independent travellers — there is essentially nothing outside the hotels
  • Anyone wanting nightlife, local food, or a sense of place
  • Couples looking for somewhere quiet and adult

The practical shape of it

Getting there
Hurghada International (HRG), roughly 30–40 minutes down the coast road.
Beach and sea
Sandy, shallow and safe for children, with a reef running along the bay that is better than Makadi’s reputation suggests. Several hotels have jetties out to the reef edge, which solves the awkward walk over shallow coral. It is one of the more reliable house-reef snorkels on the northern coast.
Evenings
Hotel buffets and hotel bars, and that is close to the whole story. A handful of restaurants exist outside the resorts but nobody comes to Makadi for the eating.
What it costs
Good value, especially all-inclusive and especially in family rooms. Excursions and drinks outside the package are where the cost creeps up.
When to come
October to May. Note that European school holidays fill this bay specifically — Easter and late summer are markedly busier and pricier.

The catch

You are choosing a hotel, not a destination. If the resort you book is good, Makadi is an excellent holiday; if it disappoints, there is very little around it to rescue the week. Research the specific hotel far harder than you research the bay.

Nearby

  • Makadi Water World, the reason many people choose the bay
  • Sahl Hasheesh to the north and Soma Bay to the south, both a short drive
  • Hurghada, 30km north, for anything resembling a town

Listed in Makadi

Hotels and resorts 36Dive centres 5Restaurants 75Cafés 6Bars 31Things to do 6Shops 5Local services 2

Last reviewed 25 July 2026. Transfer times and what is open change. Something out of date? Tell us.

Also near here

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.)

Snorkelling

  • Makadi Bay house reefShore entry via jetty

    The family-friendly option — reef at the end of a jetty, so children and nervous swimmers skip the awkward shallow crossing entirely.

Kitesurfing

  • Makadi BayImprover

    A smaller, calmer alternative to the big spots — fine for learning and for a hotel-based week, not a destination in itself.

Day trips from here

  • Luxor in a day

    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.

  • Giftun island boat day

    The standard Hurghada day out — two or three snorkel stops and a few hours on an island beach, inside a protected area.

  • Desert safari and quad biking

    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.

How it compares

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