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Excursions and day trips from Sahl Hasheesh

Our most recommended things to do in Sahl Hasheesh

Sahl Hasheesh is a single twelve-kilometre bay eighteen kilometres south of Hurghada, developed as one plan rather than plot by plot. A promenade runs behind the beach and links the hotels to a small arcaded plaza built to look like an old town, which is the nearest thing to a centre. It is closer to Hurghada than the bays further south, so you get the calm of a private bay and a twenty-minute drive to a real city when you want one.

Underwater it has an oddity worth knowing about. Off the bay's northern end lies a deliberately sunk replica of an ancient settlement — columns, a sphinx, a small temple facade in about eight metres of water. It is not an archaeological site and nobody pretends it is; it is a very good snorkel and a favourite first dive. The natural reef edge runs along the front of the bay and drops steeply, so the swimming is easy at the top and interesting the moment you follow the wall.

For days out, the short hop to Hurghada is the whole advantage. The marinas, the airport and the boats to Orange Bay and Giftun are all inside half an hour, which makes Sahl Hasheesh one of the easier places to take the morning flight to Cairo and still be back for dinner. Luxor is about four hours each way by road; we run it as a long single day or, more comfortably, over two with a night on the Nile. The desert behind the bay covers the rest — buggies, Bedouin evenings and the 4x4 routes into the Eastern Desert.

Sahl Hasheesh Excursions & Day Trips | Helios Travels