Scuba Diving in Egypt: Best Spots and Tips

Scuba Diving in Egypt: Best Spots and Tips

• Mar 31, 2026

The first time I dived in Egypt I made the mistake of thinking it would be like diving anywhere else — warm water, decent fish, maybe some coral. Within ten minutes underwater at a reef wall near Sharm, I understood that I had been very wrong.

Egypt's Red Sea is in a different category. The water clarity is exceptional — visibility that makes you feel like you're suspended in air rather than water. The coral diversity is extraordinary, the fish are abundant and unbothered by divers, and the range of sites available — from gentle shallow gardens perfect for beginners to deep offshore walls where oceanic predators patrol — means that no matter your experience level, there's something here that will genuinely move you.

Here's a practical, honest guide to the best dive sites in Egypt, and the tips that will help you make the most of them.

Ras Mohammed National Park

South Sinai All Levels

If Egypt diving has a crown jewel, it's Ras Mohammed. Located at the very tip of the Sinai Peninsula where the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Gulf of Suez, Ras Mohammed is a protected national park and one of the most celebrated dive destinations on the planet. The currents that converge at the tip of Sinai bring nutrients that feed an ecosystem of staggering richness.

The Shark Reef and Jolanda Reef are the headline sites here. Jolanda reef features the rusting remains of a Cypriot cargo ship — the MV Jolanda — which ran aground in 1980. The wreck is now encrusted with coral and serves as an artificial reef teeming with life. The wall that drops away from the reef edge plunges hundreds of meters and the soft coral growth on it is otherworldly — purple sea fans the size of dinner tables, orange and red alcyonarian coral in dense hanging clusters, and schools of anthias moving in the current like a living orange mist.

 What to expect: Grey reef sharks, barracuda schools, Napoleon wrasse, giant moray eels, and in season — hammerheads in the deep blue beyond the wall.

The Blue Hole, Dahab

South Sinai advanced

The Blue Hole is Egypt's most famous and most written-about dive site, and it comes with a reputation that deserves to be understood carefully. It is a submarine sinkhole approximately 100 meters in diameter, plunging to around 130 meters depth. The Arch — a tunnel at 55 meters connecting the sinkhole to the open sea has claimed the lives of a significant number of divers who attempted it beyond their qualification limits. The site is famous partly for its beauty and partly for this history.

Here's what the hype misses: the shallow rim of the Blue Hole, the area between 0 and 20 meters, is actually perfectly accessible for recreational divers and even confident snorkelers. The colors there the deep blue of the sinkhole itself contrasting with the turquoise of the shallows and the vivid coral on the rim are genuinely spectacular. You don't need to chase the Arch to get something extraordinary from this site.

For technical divers who are properly certified and experienced, the Arch is a bucket-list objective. For everyone else, the Blue Hole's shallows and the adjacent Bell dive site are outstanding in their own right no risk required.

 Honest advice: Do not attempt the Arch unless you are a certified technical diver with deep dive experience. The site is beautiful at any depth — you don't need to push limits to have an unforgettable dive here.

Elphinstone Reef, Marsa Alam

Red Sea SouthAdvanced

Elphinstone is an isolated reef located offshore from Marsa Alam, reached by a one-hour boat ride. It's a narrow plateau that drops on all sides into open ocean, and it sits in strong current that carries enormous amounts of nutrients and, consequently, enormous amounts of marine life. This is not a relaxed, gentle drift dive. Elphinstone demands a comfortable diver someone who can manage current, control their buoyancy precisely, and stay calm when something large swims past them at speed.

The reward for that competence is some of the finest diving in Egypt. Oceanic whitetip sharks patrol the reef edges with a relaxed confidence that makes them magnificent to watch. In season, hammerheads appear in schools below the reef plateau. The soft coral on the north plateau is some of the most vivid and undisturbed I've seen anywhere deep reds, purples and yellows in formations that have clearly been growing, undisturbed, for decades.

Elphinstone is considered one of the best sites in Egypt for oceanic whitetip sharks. These open-ocean species are naturally inquisitive and often approach divers closely  a thrilling and humbling experience.

Giftun Island, Hurghada

HurghadaBeginner Friendly

Giftun Island sits about 30 minutes offshore from Hurghada and represents the best accessible diving in the northern Red Sea. It's part of a protected national park, which has preserved the coral in considerably better condition than sites closer to the busy city harbor. The two main dive sites  Giftun North and Small Giftun  are suitable for all experience levels and consistently deliver good fish life and healthy coral.

For first-time divers, Giftun is an ideal introduction. The depth is manageable, the current is usually mild, and the quantity of fish parrotfish, lionfish, grouper, turtles when you're lucky  is enough to create that wide-eyed sense of discovery that makes people fall in love with scuba diving and book their next trip before they've unpacked from this one.

The Brothers (Akhawein) Islands 

Open Red SeaLive-Aboard Only

The Brothers Islands are two tiny, remote islands rising out of the middle of the open Red Sea, several hours by boat from Hurghada or Marsa Alam. Access requires a live-aboard dive boat and a permit, which immediately reduces the number of divers on site at any given time. That reduced pressure on the reef, combined with the site's remoteness, has allowed the marine life here to thrive in ways that accessible sites simply can't match.

The SS Aida wreck on Big Brother — a British patrol boat that went down in 1957 — is now encrusted with coral and home to a vast ecosystem of reef fish. The walls around both islands attract thresher sharks and hammerhead schools, and the open-water encounters here — in water so clear and so blue it feels almost surreal — are the kind that serious divers travel specifically to have.

 Live-aboard trips to the Brothers typically run 7–10 days and include multiple sites including Daedalus Reef and Elphinstone. Worth budgeting for if you're a passionate diver — this is world-class diving in every sense.