Planning · Oct 9, 2026
Christmas in Egypt: how Hurghada celebrates, twice
25 December in the hotels, 7 January for the Copts — weather, New Year's Eve, churches and the monastery trip
Yes, Christmas is celebrated in Egypt — and if you spend the holidays in Hurghada you can, in a sense, have it twice. On 25 December the resort hotels put up trees and lay on gala dinners for their European guests, while the rest of the country goes to work as usual. Egypt's own Christmas comes on 7 January, when the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates the Nativity and the whole country has a public holiday. This guide is for anyone planning a Christmas or New Year holiday on the Red Sea: what the two Christmases look like, what the weather really does in late December, what is open, and how to get a church or a monastery into the trip.
Do Egyptians celebrate Christmas?
Egypt's Christians do, and they are not a small group. How many there are is genuinely disputed: Egypt has not published religious figures from its census since 2006, national surveys have put the share at around 5 percent, the US State Department and many others say around 10 percent, and the Coptic Orthodox Church itself claims considerably more. Whichever number you take, it is millions of people, and most of them belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The Coptic Church keeps its own calendar. Christmas falls on 29 Kiahk, the fourth month of the Coptic year, which in our calendar is 7 January — the same day as Christmas in the Russian and other Orthodox churches that follow the old Julian reckoning. It is an official national holiday, and Muslim Egyptians wish their Christian neighbours and colleagues a happy feast as a matter of course.
25 December, by contrast, is not a public holiday in Egypt. Offices, banks and shops work normally. In 2026 it happens to fall on a Friday, which is part of the Egyptian weekend anyway, so you will notice little difference in town.
The fast and the midnight liturgy
Coptic Christmas is preceded by a 43-day Nativity fast that starts in late November and ends on the evening of 6 January. During it, observant Copts eat no meat, poultry, eggs or dairy; fish is allowed. The month of Kiahk also brings special evening and midnight hymns in the churches, praising the Incarnation and the Virgin Mary.
The high point is the night of 6 January. The Christmas Eve liturgy runs late into the evening and ends around midnight, sometimes later. The Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, celebrates it at the large cathedral in the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo, with senior state officials in attendance, and it is broadcast on Egyptian television. Afterwards families break the fast at home — with meat at last, often fatta (rice, bread and meat with a garlic-vinegar sauce) — and the sweet biscuits called kahk are handed round to visitors on the following days.
What 25 December looks like in a Hurghada hotel
Most of Hurghada's large resorts run their Christmas for their guests, not for the town. Expect a decorated tree in the lobby, Christmas music, a festive buffet or gala dinner on the evening of the 24th or 25th, and sometimes a staff member dressed as Father Christmas. Many hotels publish their programme only shortly before the season.
Check your booking for one thing in particular: some hotels add a compulsory gala dinner on 24 or 31 December, charged on top of the room. Whether yours does, and what it costs, is in the hotel's terms — ask before you book rather than at check-in.
Outside the hotel, Hurghada is a working city. The shops along Sheraton Road, the marina and Senzo Mall are open, and in December you will see trees, lights and New Year decorations on sale and in shop windows. That is about as far as it goes. If you want a Christmas market or snow, you are in the wrong country, and that is part of the point.
Hurghada Marina
Book what you just read about
Explore related tours and check each trip for available booking options and inclusions.
