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The long jetty running out to the reef edge at Soma Bay
Simplex2 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Soma Bay

A private peninsula 45km south of Hurghada — golf, deep water, serious kitesurfing, and almost nobody else.

Soma Bay occupies a peninsula jutting into the Red Sea, and the geography is the point: water on three sides, a single access road, and a small number of large hotels sharing it. There is no town, no strip and no through traffic.

It has positioned itself at the upper end — the Cascades golf course, a large thalasso spa, and hotels that are noticeably more expensive than equivalents in the bays to the north. The clientele skews older, wealthier, and more likely to be here for a specific sport than for a general beach week.

The peninsula also produces two things divers and surfers care about: reliable wind on the flat side, and deep water close in on the other, where the reef wall drops away sharply.

Suits you if

  • Golfers — Cascades is the serious course on this coast
  • Kitesurfers and windsurfers, with consistent wind and a large shallow lagoon
  • Divers who want a wall dive without a long boat ride
  • Anyone who wants genuine quiet and will pay for it

Probably not if

  • Anyone on a budget
  • Travellers who want to walk somewhere in the evening
  • Families looking for a water park and a busy kids’ scene

The practical shape of it

Getting there
Hurghada International (HRG), about 45–60 minutes. Marsa Alam (RMF) is possible but much further.
Beach and sea
Unusual for this coast: a long shallow sandbank on one side, ideal for lagoon watersports, and a steep reef drop-off on the other that gives excellent diving and snorkelling straight off a jetty. Tobia island, a sandbank offshore, is the standard boat excursion.
Evenings
Entirely within the hotels. Standards are high and choice is limited — you will eat well and you will eat where you are staying.
What it costs
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.
When to come
October to May for general comfort. Kitesurfers should note the wind is strongest and most reliable from roughly April to September.

The catch

The isolation that makes Soma Bay peaceful also makes it inescapable. A taxi anywhere is a real journey and a real fare, and there is nothing within walking distance of the hotels. If your resort is not right for you, you are stuck with it.

Nearby

  • Safaga, 15km south, for a working Egyptian town and cheaper watersports
  • Tobia island sandbank, the local boat trip
  • Hurghada, 45km north, for the airport and everything else

Listed in Soma Bay

Hotels and resorts 10Dive centres 5Restaurants 9Bars 1Things to do 3

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

  • Soma Bay drop-offShore entry via jetty

    A near-vertical reef wall reachable from a jetty — the most dramatic thing on this coast that does not need a boat.

Kitesurfing

  • Soma Bay lagoonBeginner

    An enormous shallow flat-water lagoon on a private peninsula — arguably the best learning water in Egypt, and very quiet.

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.

How it compares

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