Best time to visit Hurghada for quad biking and desert safaris

The best time to visit Hurghada for a quad or desert safari depends less on the month than on the hour you ride. The coast has sun almost every day of the year and rain on about one day, so the questions that matter are heat, dust and how cold the desert gets after dark. This page goes through Hurghada weather month by month from the point of view of someone sitting on a quad, then the daylight, the clock change and the stars.

One thing to know before reading any forecast: published Hurghada temperatures are measured at the airport, on the coast (the official climate normals used on this page come from that station). The camps where desert trips stop lie 15–35 km inland, beyond the safari stations of Safari Land on the Safaga road, and the weather there is different.

Best time to visit Hurghada for a desert trip

If you can choose, October and November are the strongest months: warm, the least blowing sand of the year (2.7 days in October, 1.7 in November on average) and comfortable afternoons. February is a close second, with mild days and a little more dust. December and January are fine for riding at any hour; you only pay for them in the evening, when the desert gets properly cold.

March and April are warm and pleasant but are the dust season. May to September is hot, and in July and August very hot; trips still run every day, but the slot you book matters more than the operator.

For each type of trip, roughly:

• Daytime quad or buggy: November to February is the only time a 12:00 departure is comfortable. The quad tours guide compares the trips.
• Sunrise ride: worth it all year, and the best choice from June to September. See morning and sunrise quads.
• Sunset ride: good all year; in winter it means a cold, dark ride or drive back. See sunset buggy trips.
• Dinner, show and stargazing: easiest from April to October, when evenings are warm; in winter, dress for 10 °C.
• Horse ride with a sea swim: a summer product. Habiba Horse in El Gouna only swims its horses from April to November. See horse riding.

Hurghada weather by month for desert trips

Hurghada weather in November, December, January and February

These are the mild months. Average coastal highs run from 27.8 °C in November down to 22.2 °C in January, so a midday quad ride is pleasant rather than punishing. Blowing sand is at its lowest in November and December.

The catch is the evening. In the desert belt about 20 km inland, nights are about 4–5 °C colder than on the coast, and from December to February between half and three-quarters of nights fall to 10 °C or below. Sunset comes early too: around 16:54 in mid-November and mid-December, 17:13 in mid-January. On any sunset, dinner or stargazing trip in these months you will spend the last part outside in the dark and cold. Bring a fleece or jacket, not just a long-sleeved shirt; Scorpion Safari and BADU both tell guests to bring warm clothing.

March and April: warm days, the dust season

Coastal highs climb from 26.2 °C in March to 29.9 °C in April, which is ideal riding weather. But these are the months of blowing sand: on average 7 days in March and 8 in April when wind lifts sand and lowers visibility. Germany's Foreign Office notes that sandstorms, the khamsin, come mainly in spring. The khamsin can also bring sudden heat: the coast station's April record is 41.3 °C.

Full sandstorms are rare, only about three days a year. What you get more often is a hazy, gritty afternoon, so goggles and a scarf over nose and mouth matter more now than in any other month. Check the wind forecast the day before; if it looks bad, ask your seller about moving the date.

October: the month that changes in the middle

October is warm (average high 32.1 °C) and among the clearest months. Sunset is around 18:17 in mid-October, until the clocks go back after the last Thursday of the month; overnight, sunset moves to about 17:00 and every sunset pick-up moves an hour earlier. If you are booking a sunset trip at the end of October, read the pick-up time on your confirmation, not on last month's reviews.

How hot is Hurghada in summer? The desert is hotter

Hurghada in summer is hot by any standard. Average daily highs on the coast are 33.7 °C in May, 36.3 °C in June, 37.4 °C in July, 37.5 °C in August and 35.3 °C in September; nights stay at 23–28 °C. The coast station's record is 42.6 °C, set in June.

Inland it is hotter in the day. From May to September, afternoons in the desert belt run about 2–3 °C above the coast, and in July and August many afternoons at the camps are around or above 40 °C. There is little shade at a quad station or on the track, and a quad's engine adds its own heat.

So how hot is Hurghada in July for a desert trip? At midday, too hot for most people to enjoy. At sunrise and after sunset, perfectly manageable.

Desert safari in Hurghada in summer: how to do it well

Trips run all summer. The trick is to ride when the sun is low.

• Book sunrise or sunset. Many listings sell the same trip in three slots: sunrise or morning, daytime and sunset. On the desert and Red Sea quad tour, for example, you choose the slot as an option. In June and July sunrise is around 05:48–05:58 and sunset around 19:42.
• Avoid the late-morning super safari. Some super safaris collect you between 11:00 and 12:00 and put you on the quad at about 12:30, the hottest part of the day. In summer, pick a version that starts later.
• Expect early pick-ups. For a real sunrise ride the minibus comes about 60–90 minutes before sunrise from a Hurghada hotel, earlier from El Gouna, Soma Bay or Safaga.
• Drink water before you go, carry a bottle and wear light long clothing rather than shorts.
• Think about the animals. Animal welfare guidance asks that camels and horses are not worked in the midday sun in hot months. A sunrise camel ride is better for you and for the camel.

Summer evenings have their own problem: the sky gets dark late. In June full darkness only arrives around 21:12, so a five-hour sunset-and-stars trip in summer gets you back around midnight, and a short sunset ride that is back at 21:00 never sees a truly dark sky.

Morningfrom$24

GetYourGuide4 hMakadi Bay

Hurghada: Sunrise Quad Bike & Blue Lagoon with Breakfast

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Morningfrom$13

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Hurghada: Sunrise Desert Adventure by Quad Bike & Camel

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Sunsetfrom$12

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Hurghada: Sunset Quad Bike, Camel w/ Opt Stargazing and BBQ

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Daytimefrom$17

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Hurghada: Quad Bike Tour of the Desert and Red Sea

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Sunsetfrom$38

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Hurghada: Oasis Sunset Tour with Camel Ride and Stargazing

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Eveningfrom$28

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Hurghada: Star Watching Desert Adventure by Jeep with Dinner

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See everything on GetYourGuide →See everything on Headout →Prices checked on 20 October 2026

Sunrise, sunset and the clock change

Egypt uses summer time. Clocks go forward on the last Friday of April and back at the end of the last Thursday of October. In winter the country runs on UTC+2, in summer on UTC+3. The effect on desert trips is sudden: sunset jumps by an hour overnight, and sellers shift their sunset pick-ups with it.

Across the year, sunrise ranges from about 05:19 in mid-April (just before the clocks go forward) to about 06:43 in mid-October, and sunset from about 16:51 in early December to about 19:44 in early July.

Pick-up times follow the light, but not perfectly. Many sellers keep fixed clock times all year, which means a "15:00" afternoon ride in winter ends at sunset but in summer runs through the heat. Times are usually confirmed the day before by WhatsApp or e-mail: check them.

Stargazing: when the desert sky is darkest

Night falls in stages. The sky is fully dark only about 75–90 minutes after sunset: around 18:14 in November and December, but not until 21:12 in June. For stars, the month matters less than the moon.

• Near new moon the Milky Way is visible from the darker camps. Book within a few days either side of the new moon if seeing it is the point.
• Near full moon the moon rises around sunset and brightens the whole sky. A telescope trip then becomes a moon-and-planets trip, which is still worth doing, but the Milky Way washes out. Check a moon calendar such as the US Naval Observatory's phase table before you book.
• Summer evenings show the bright centre of the Milky Way high in the south; winter evenings show Orion and the Pleiades, and Canopus, the second-brightest star, low in the south, a star you cannot see from Britain or Germany.

The big camps sit 15–35 km beyond the safari stations, well inland, so Hurghada's glow hangs low in the east, while the western sky over the mountains is dark; jeep trips that go deeper towards the mountains reach darker skies. Look for the word "telescope" or "astronomer" in the listing; "stargazing" on its own usually means looking up after dinner. The stargazing guide compares the trips.

Dust, wind and the rare sandstorm

Wind in Hurghada blows mostly from the north-west and north, at an average of 4.6–6.2 m/s depending on the month. In the desert that wind lifts sand. Over a year there are on average about 58 days of blowing sand, peaking in March and April, but only about three days of real dust storm.

Rain hardly figures: about one rainy day a year. The weather closures Hurghada does see are mostly at sea, when the ports close to boats. If a supplier does cancel a GetYourGuide booking for bad weather, the price is refunded under GetYourGuide's terms.

What to pack for the season

The basics never change: long trousers, closed shoes, a scarf and sunglasses or goggles. The season adds the rest.

The full kit list, plus safety, insurance and cash extras, is in the practical guide.

FAQ: Hurghada weather and the best time to go