Full day (about 8 hours)Giftun Island Yacht Trip in Hurghada
An hour out of Hurghada to the Giftun Island National Park, and the white sand of Mahmya on its southern shore — the beach the Red Sea postcards are usually of. Reef stops on the way, a lagoon shallow and clear enough to snorkel straight off the sand, and lunch at the beach restaurant.
Boat boarding, a tender ashore at the island, and reef snorkeling entered from the boat rather than a beach.
Where You’ll Go
What You’ll Do
- 1
Hotel pickup in Hurghada
Transfer to the marina and boarding.
- 2
An hour out to the park
Sailing to the Giftun Island National Park — the time depends on weather, sea state and marina traffic.
- 3
First reef stop
In off the boat over the coral, with a guide in the water and gear provided.
- 4
Ashore at Mahmya
The boat moors at fixed buoys and a tender takes you in — that's how the reef here is protected. White sand, shade, and a lagoon you can snorkel from the beach.
- 5
Lunch and the afternoon
Lunch at the island restaurant, then the rest of the afternoon in the water or out of it.
- 6
Sail back into Hurghada
Return crossing and transfer to your hotel.
Included
- ✓Hotel pickup and return in Hurghada
- ✓The boat and its crew
- ✓Mask, fins and life jacket
- ✓A snorkelling guide in the water with the group
- ✓Lunch at the island
- ✓Soft drinks and bottled water
- ✓National park and marine fees
Good to Know
The practical truth about this one — timings, conditions, and what we can’t promise.
- Around an hour each way, weather and marina traffic depending.
- Boats moor at fixed buoys and you go ashore by tender. That's the reef protection rule for the national park, not an upsell.
- Reef-safe sunscreen only, and don't stand on the coral — it's alive and it doesn't grow back quickly.
- The island has shade, a restaurant and a bar; you don't need to carry a day's food out.
- Confident swimmers and complete beginners both work — the guide stays with the group and life jackets are there for anyone who wants one.
More experiences to add
About 7 hoursOrange Bay Yacht Trip in Hurghada
The shallow, absurdly clear turquoise strip on Giftun's northern side, with two reef stops on the way out. Shorter and gentler than the Mahmya day — the water at Orange Bay stays waist-deep a long way out, which makes it the easy one for families and non-swimmers.
Full day (about 8 hours)Dolphin House Trip in Marsa Alam
Sataya Reef, two and a half hours out of Hamata, is a resting lagoon for a resident pod of spinner dolphins — commonly counted at sixty to eighty animals. You snorkel the reef, you eat lunch at anchor, and if the pod is resting shallow, you get into the water quietly and let them decide.
Overnight climb, with the monastery in the morningMount Sinai Climbing Experience from Saint Catherine
You set off at two in the morning with a Bedouin guide, walk up the camel path by torchlight for three hours, climb the last seven hundred and fifty stone steps, and sit down in the cold to wait for the sun to come up over the Sinai range. Afterwards, St Catherine's Monastery — the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery on earth.