Hurghada offers excellent diving and snorkelling in the Red Sea. It's also well situated for visiting the Sinai Peninsula and the Nile Valley monuments of Luxor and Aswan, making it a convenient base for tailor-made travel in Egypt. Excursions into the beautiful surrounding mountains and Eastern Desert can also be arranged.

The town has grown rapidly in the past 20 or so years and attracts tourists from far and wide. As a result the public beaches can get rather crowded, but many of the hotels offer private access to their own section of beach. For divers, manta rays, sharks and dolphins are among the species to look out for among the coral gardens within easy access of Hurghada.