The best time to dive Hurghada is whenever you can get here, which is the true answer and a useless one. So here is the version with numbers: what the sea does through the year, what the wind does to it, and what you actually gain or give up by coming in each season.
The short answer
May, June, September and October are the sweet spots. The sea is warm enough for a thin suit, the air is hot without being punishing, and the wind is generally kinder than in high summer.
July and August are the warmest water of the year and the hottest air by a distance, which suits some people and floors others. December to March is the quiet season: the water drops to a real 5mm, and in exchange you get empty sites and the cheapest week you will ever have here.
Sea temperature, month by month
These are long term typical values for Hurghada and Makadi Bay, not a forecast, and the same figures the conditions strip on our homepage uses.
The pattern to notice is the lag: the sea is at its coldest in February, well after the coldest air, and it is still 27 degrees in October when the air has already dropped. Autumn is the most comfortable diving of the year for exactly that reason.
| Month | Sea | Air | Wetsuit |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22°C | 22°C | 5mm full suit |
| February | 21°C | 23°C | 5mm full suit |
| March | 22°C | 26°C | 5mm full suit |
| April | 23°C | 30°C | 5mm full suit |
| May | 25°C | 33°C | 3mm full suit |
| June | 26°C | 35°C | 3mm shorty |
| July | 28°C | 36°C | 3mm shorty |
| August | 29°C | 36°C | 3mm shorty |
| September | 28°C | 34°C | 3mm shorty |
| October | 27°C | 31°C | 3mm full suit |
| November | 25°C | 27°C | 3mm full suit |
| December | 23°C | 24°C | 5mm full suit |
Typical long term values for Hurghada and Makadi Bay, not a forecast. Any single week can sit a degree or two either side.
Visibility
Twenty to thirty metres is normal here for most of the year, and the Red Sea earns its reputation on that. It is not seasonal in the way water temperature is: what costs you visibility is wind stirring the shallows, plankton blooms in spring, and boat traffic on a busy sandy site.
The clearest water we see tends to be late autumn and winter, when the plankton is down and the sun angle is low but the water is still clean. If you dive for photographs rather than for warmth, that is an argument for November.
Wind, which matters more than temperature
The prevailing wind here is from the north and it blows most of the year. It rarely stops a boat day around Hurghada, because the islands and the reefs give a sheltered side, but it decides which side you dive and it makes the ride out bumpier.
Windy spells are most common in late winter and early spring. It is the reason the shore diving at our Makadi Bay base is worth knowing about: when the boats are having an uncomfortable morning, you can walk into the house reef and dive the same day anyway.
What is around, and when
Very little here is truly seasonal, which is another way of saying no month is a bad month. The differences worth planning around are these.
- Dolphins at Sha'ab El Erg: all year, most often on early dives, never guaranteed.
- Turtles and rays on the Giftun reefs: all year, and easy to find on shallow second dives.
- Big schooling fish and the busiest reefs: summer, when the water is warmest.
- Best visibility for photography: late autumn and winter, when the water is clearest.
Crowds and price
The sites get busy in the European summer holidays and over Christmas and New Year. Busy here means other boats on the same reef, not a queue to get in the water, but it does change the feel of a dive.
If you want the reef to yourself, come in the second half of January, in early February, or in the first half of June. The diving is the same and the reef is quieter, and a multi day package makes those weeks cheap enough to extend.
Pick your week
Whatever month you land in, the boats are running. Tell us your dates and we will tell you honestly what the sea is likely to be doing.
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