Practical information
Elsewhere in the guide
The questions people actually ask about living on and visiting Egypt’s Red Sea coast — answered by the desk, with the official source linked. Reference pages are checked and dated. Last reviewed 24 July 2026.
Reference pages
Emergency numbers and official contacts
Start hereEgypt emergency lines, Red Sea hyperbaric chambers and diving emergency hotlines, embassies and official travel advice.
Visa and entry
Visa on arrival versus the official e-Visa for Hurghada and Marsa Alam, passport validity, length of stay, and the Sinai rule that does not apply here.
The two Red Sea airports
Hurghada (HRG) versus Marsa Alam (RMF), what arrivals actually looks like, transfer times and how early to be there for the flight home.
Hiring a car, and driving here
Whether you need one at all — usually not — and if you do, the permit, the insurance excess, what the coast road is actually like, and the one rule about driving after dark.
Travel insurance, and what voids it
Diving depth limits, quad bikes, hire-car excess and the alcohol clause. What quietly invalidates cover here, and the questions to put to your insurer in writing.
The Red Sea during Ramadan
Almost nothing changes inside the resort and people cancel over it anyway. What is different outside the gate, the one hour worth planning around, and why Eid matters more to a booking.
Seasickness on a boat day
This site says twice that more diving weeks are ruined by this than by anything underwater. Why the crossings here do it, what is decided before the boat leaves, and where to stand.
Seeing a doctor, and what a pharmacy can do
The ladder in the order it works here: the pharmacy is the front door, the hotel doctor comes to you, and the private clinic is where visitors end up. Plus who pays at the desk, and when.
What to pack — and the longer list of what not to
Almost everything you are planning to bring is on sale ten minutes from your hotel. The five things genuinely worth the space, the three that cause trouble at customs, and what changes by month.
Accessible travel
Wheelchair access at Red Sea resorts, getting into the sea, adaptive diving, transport — and the specific questions to ask a hotel before booking.
Red Sea dive sites
Elphinstone, the Thistlegorm, the Brothers, Abu Dabbab and the rest — depth, access, currents, season, and who each site is not suitable for.
Arabic worth knowing
About thirty words in the dialect people actually speak — including the one phrase that ends an unwanted sales conversation cleanly.
Beaches, and who owns them
Almost every good beach here belongs to somebody. Day passes, the public beaches, what to wear where, and how to get a beach day without booking the hotel.
When to go, month by month
What each month is actually like — air, sea, wind, crowds and price. November beats May, and August is the worst value of the year.
Getting between towns
Every connection on the coast — buses, taxis, microbuses, and the ride-hailing apps most guides still claim do not work here.
Day trips, honestly
Luxor, Cairo, Giftun, desert safari, Dolphin House — how long the day really is, what is quietly not included, and which ones are worth doing.
Where to snorkel
Which sites you can walk into, which need a boat, how deep it is when you get in, and which ones are wrong for a nervous swimmer.
SIM cards, eSIM and getting online
Buying an Egyptian SIM at the airport, the passport registration rule, when an eSIM is the better call, coverage and internet calling.
A question we haven’t answered?
If you have seen it asked three times in a community group, it belongs here. Send it to the desk and we will research it and publish the answer.