Hurghada/Soma Bay recommendations

[Roy_W]

Hi everyone,
I am planning a holiday on the Red Sea with my family in Autumn. I am diving, but my spouse and child will be snorkeling. We'll be flying into Hurghada but I'm more interested in going outside of the busyness of the city (unfortunately Marsa Alam will be too far to go to).

So... I am after the holy grail I'd like to find a resort:
- with a house reef, so I can snorkel with the fam
- but also go for dives that won't take me a full day
- with a diving centre within the hotel, I'd like to avoid transfers
- and my spouse likes a really nice hotel

I've looked into the Steinberger in Soma Bay, which would tick the boxes in terms of hotel standard, but I'm unsure about their house reef + I'd need to get a transfer to a dive centre outside of the hotel.

Has anyone got any recommendations?
Thanks!

Hi PDiver,

If you can wait a couple of days I will be able to tell you what the house reef is like at the Breakers. We already had contact with them and they have been very quick and very polite.. We will be there next Wednesday, we will be doing a couple of easy dives before we heading off to do a LOB.

As far as Hotels go, we will be going to the Kempinski which is very close to the breakers, less than 2km, the hotel has a shuttle service so I presume that they have the habit of dropping of/picking up divers. There are quite a few hotels in the immediate area next to the Breakers, less than 5kms so I presume that they all provide some kind of shuttle service.

I have already dived Soma Bay but it was from a day boat from the Palm Royale, it was great because it was directly from the hotel grounds. Palm Royale Resort Soma Bay : tarifs 2023 et 118 avis. No immediate house reefs though, but a very short boat ride around 10 mins according to the exact reef. We have snorkeled on the outer reefs but I don't think that it's a great idea for the family, too much logistic.

 

[berndo]

I would have a look at Robinson if I was in your shoes, it’s a club style hotel, might be better with the family, a bit further to the jetty.

Robinson is virtually only Germans/German speakers though. The OP might not be into that.

 

[scubayinzer412]

go for it, its party its loud, kitesurfing. i was there at a fullmoon party. but for nice diving its not good

 

[Roy_W]

Ok as far as hotels go I can highly recommend the Kempinski, it's a 5 star, European 5 star, not Egyption, it is by far the best hotel I have ever been n Egypt. It really is exceptional. We had a couple days in Luxor in the Steigenberer Achti, which is also an "Egyptian 5 Star " but it is far, far below the level of the Kempinski. Hotel are always relative to your budget, so my words need in relation. We don't normally look for hotels at this level but this year we wanted to treat ourselves.
We dived the breakers house reef this morning, we used Orca Diving next to the breakers hotel as a dive center, a 5 minute check dive is obligatory for a 1st dive with them , it's the standard, empty your mark, recover your 1st stage exercice, then you are free to explore if you have a sufficient level.

As far as the reef goes, there's really not much to see compared with elsewhere, the corals are nice, the reef is in good condition, but there is not a huge quantity of fish life, there are fish , quite a few varieties , it's just that it is kinda quiet.
I would only recommend the site to a beginner diver or to someone that is not autonomous.

I have dived some of the other sites on Soma Bay which I could recommend but they will require a Zodiac or half day trip..
We normally dive cold water lakes so we are happy with the house reef , but we are also doing a LOB in a few days time so we are using the house reef to get our weighting spot-on and to prepare for the week ahead.
To be perfectly honest it's not great diving compared to the house reefs that are further south towards Marsa Alam.

 

[Roy_W]

Hi everyone,
I am planning a holiday on the Red Sea with my family in Autumn. I am diving, but my spouse and child will be snorkeling. We'll be flying into Hurghada but I'm more interested in going outside of the busyness of the city (unfortunately Marsa Alam will be too far to go to).

So... I am after the holy grail I'd like to find a resort:
- with a house reef, so I can snorkel with the fam
- but also go for dives that won't take me a full day
- with a diving centre within the hotel, I'd like to avoid transfers
- and my spouse likes a really nice hotel

I've looked into the Steinberger in Soma Bay, which would tick the boxes in terms of hotel standard, but I'm unsure about their house reef + I'd need to get a transfer to a dive centre outside of the hotel.

Has anyone got any recommendations?
Thanks!

Ok I think my last comment was a little bit harsh concerning the house reef at the Breakers, we dived twice today and changed our minds. This time we took things really, really slowly, by taking our time and spending more time looking into the corals we started to find a lot of life, it's just that everything is small but abundant.

We also saw a large eagle ray, the largest Parrot Fish that I have seen and a Banded Sea Snake for the 1st time so things are not too bad.
The coral is all hard coral, there is lots of it, so no real problem there. No soft corals but that doesn't surprise me.

The Sheraton is literally a 2 minute walk from Orca dive center so that's handy if you choose the Sheraton. Orca dive club are busy but very well organised, I wouldn't hesitate to dive with them again, very little fuss and the buggies that take you to the end of the jetty are truly a major plus.. no logistics on your behalf. There is plenty to see for the snorkelers, the ones we spoke to were quite happy with the reef.
There is a free shuttle service, i.e. 5 person Golf Cart, which runs along the shorefront , passing in front of the Marina, Kempinsky, Robinsons, Sheraton and finally stops at the Orca Dive Club so even if you don't choose the Sheraton it's not a hassle to get around.

I am not a very good videographer, but here is a "very" short video from today, : The visibility was much better than the video shows..