Does travel insurance cover scuba diving in Egypt?

Often only to a stated depth, and that limit is frequently shallower than the dives sold here as ordinary — most of the famous wrecks sit below eighteen metres. Some policies also require a matching qualification, a guide, or a paid add-on, and a single policy can carry all three conditions. Ask for the depth as a number, in writing, rather than accepting "recreational diving is covered".

Is quad biking covered by travel insurance?

Frequently not. Quad bikes, buggies, jet skis and parasailing are excluded by a great many standard policies, sometimes explicitly and sometimes under a general motorised-sports clause. The desert safari is one of the most-sold excursions on this coast and nobody at the excursion desk will ask whether you are covered — ask about these activities by name rather than about "excursions".

Do I need separate diving insurance?

It depends entirely on what your travel policy already says about depth, qualification and chamber treatment, which is why that question comes first. Dedicated diving cover is a different product built around chamber treatment, evacuation from a boat and equipment. Some centres and most liveaboards ask to see proof of cover before you dive, and a few will not take you without it.

Travel insurance, and what voids it

No insurer named and no product recommended. What quietly invalidates cover on this coast, and the questions to put to your own insurer in writing before you fly.

Almost nobody reads a travel insurance policy until they need it, and the two activities most likely to void one are the two this coast is best known for: going underwater and getting on a quad bike. This page names no insurer and recommends no product. It is the list of things that quietly invalidate cover here, and the questions to put to your own insurer in writing before you fly — because a written answer is the only part of this that still helps you in a hyperbaric chamber.

What voids it

Diving deeper than your policy covers

The commonest gap by a distance. Many standard travel policies cover recreational diving only to a stated depth, and that limit is often shallower than the dives sold here as ordinary — most of the famous wrecks sit below eighteen metres. Some policies require you to be qualified to the depth you are diving, some require a guide or instructor present, and some exclude diving altogether unless you bought an add-on. Three different conditions, and a policy can carry all three.

Quad bikes, buggies and jet skis

The desert safari is one of the most-sold excursions on this coast and quad biking is excluded by a great many standard policies, sometimes explicitly and sometimes under a general "motorised sports" clause. Jet skis and parasailing usually sit in the same paragraph. Nobody at the excursion desk will ask whether you are covered.

Driving without the right paperwork

If you hire a car and drive it without the licence and permit the rental agreement and local law require, an insurer has a clean reason to decline everything that follows — and so, separately, does the hire company. This is one of several reasons the driving page argues most visitors should not hire a car at all.

Anything that happened after a drink

Standard wording lets an insurer decline a claim where alcohol was a contributing factor, and it is applied to ordinary accidents rather than only to dramatic ones — a fall, a scooter, a swim. This is not a moral point and the site takes no position on your evening; it is a clause people are genuinely surprised by afterwards.

A condition you did not declare

Undeclared pre-existing conditions are the most common reason a medical claim is refused anywhere, and declaring one is usually cheaper than people expect. Diving adds a second layer: the medical questionnaire every centre gives you is a separate document with its own consequences, and answering it inconsistently with your insurance declaration helps nobody.

Travelling against your government’s advice

Cover generally lapses for travel to an area your own foreign ministry advises against. Advice for Egypt distinguishes between regions and has changed more than once, so check it for the specific part of the country you are going to — not for "Egypt" — and check it again close to departure rather than at booking.

Ask your insurer, in writing

1
To what depth am I covered, and does that depend on a qualification?
The single most important question if you are diving. Get the number, and get whether it requires a certification level, a guide, or both. "Recreational diving is covered" is not an answer to this question.
2
Is hyperbaric chamber treatment covered, and how is it paid?
A chamber is the specific thing diving cover exists for and it is expensive. Ask whether the insurer pays the facility directly or reimburses you, because the two produce very different conversations at four in the morning.
3
Is medical evacuation and repatriation covered, and to what limit?
Serious cases on this coast go to Cairo or home. This is the line item that turns a bad week into a manageable one, and it is the one most likely to have a limit low enough to matter.
4
Are quad bikes, buggies, jet skis and parasailing covered?
Ask about them by name rather than about "excursions". They are frequently excluded as motorised sports, and the exclusion is easy to miss because the activity is sold as a family day out.
5
Does the policy cover hire-car excess, and does it require the local paperwork?
If it does, you do not need to buy the rental company’s excess waiver, which is where the margin on a car hire usually is. If it does not, the excess is yours — and on cheaper local hires that can be a large fraction of the car’s value.
6
What is the excess per claim, and is it per claim or per person?
A low premium with a high excess is not cheap insurance, it is a different product. This is the number that decides whether a lost bag or a broken tooth is worth claiming at all.
7
Am I covered for the whole trip, including the day I fly?
Annual multi-trip policies sometimes cap a single trip’s length, and a long stay can quietly exceed it. If you are here for a season, this question is the one that matters most.

If you dive

Specialist diving cover exists, and it is a different product

Dedicated diving insurance is sold separately from travel insurance and is built around the things that go wrong underwater — chamber treatment, evacuation from a boat, equipment. Some centres and most liveaboards ask to see proof of cover before you dive, and a few will not take you without it. Whether you need it on top of a travel policy depends entirely on what that policy already says, which is why the depth question above comes first.

Learning to dive is a separate question from diving

A policy that covers "recreational diving" may or may not cover you while you are being trained, and a training organisation’s own cover protects the instructor rather than you. Ask specifically about the course, and ask the centre what their insurance covers and what it does not — a good centre answers that without hesitating, which the diving section lists as one of the nine things worth checking.

The eighteen-hour rule is also an insurance question

Flying too soon after diving is both a decompression risk and, in some policies, a documented reason to decline a claim. The interval is eighteen hours minimum and twenty-four after several days of diving, which the diving section explains — and it is another reason not to book a course for the last three days of a trip.

If something happens

Call the insurer’s emergency line before treatment, if you possibly can

Most policies require notification, and some require authorisation, before non-emergency treatment. In a genuine emergency get the treatment — but somebody in your party should be on the phone to the insurer while it happens.

Keep every piece of paper

Receipts, the doctor’s report, the discharge note, the prescription, the taxi to the clinic. Egyptian clinics will provide documentation if you ask at the time and it is far harder to obtain after you have flown home.

Theft needs a police report, and it needs it locally

No report, no claim, in almost every policy. Tourist police are present in every resort town, are used to this, and the report has to be made where the loss happened rather than at home afterwards.

Do not let the clinic treat your card as the answer

A clinic will often ask for payment or a card guarantee up front. That is normal and is not the same as your insurer refusing — pay if you must and reclaim, but tell the insurer first so the claim is open before the money moves.

Common questions

Does travel insurance cover scuba diving in Egypt?: Often only to a stated depth, and that limit is frequently shallower than the dives sold here as ordinary — most of the famous wrecks sit below eighteen metres. Some policies also require a matching qualification, a guide, or a paid add-on, and a single policy can carry all three conditions. Ask for the depth as a number, in writing, rather than accepting "recreational diving is covered".
Is quad biking covered by travel insurance?: Frequently not. Quad bikes, buggies, jet skis and parasailing are excluded by a great many standard policies, sometimes explicitly and sometimes under a general motorised-sports clause. The desert safari is one of the most-sold excursions on this coast and nobody at the excursion desk will ask whether you are covered — ask about these activities by name rather than about "excursions".
Do I need separate diving insurance?: It depends entirely on what your travel policy already says about depth, qualification and chamber treatment, which is why that question comes first. Dedicated diving cover is a different product built around chamber treatment, evacuation from a boat and equipment. Some centres and most liveaboards ask to see proof of cover before you dive, and a few will not take you without it.

Checked 26 July 2026. Rules and prices change — we link official sources so you can confirm on the day. Something out of date? Tell us.