Jeep safari in Hurghada: 4x4 trips from dinner camps to Gebel Qattar

A jeep safari in Hurghada means one of two things. The common one is a ride in a 4x4 from a station on the Safaga road to a Bedouin-style camp in the desert, with a camel ride, dinner and a show — a comfortable way to reach the camp without driving yourself. The other is a proper desert drive into the Red Sea Mountains, to a canyon, a spring or the foot of a 2,000 m peak, often with a telescope after dinner.

Both are sold as "jeep safari", and the price tells you which you are looking at. Under $45 it is almost always the camp run; from about $78 you are paying for distance and a destination.

The two kinds of 4x4 safari in Hurghada

The camp run. Most group trips start at a safari station in Safari Land, a desert zone of numbered sectors on the Safaga road past the airport. From there the jeep drives about 25 km to a camp — the "Bedouin village" of the listings — and 25 km back after dinner. Scorpion Safari publishes exactly that for its own Jeep Safari Tour: 25 km out, tea, a camel ride, a herb "pharmacy", a dinner show and 25 km back, at $29 per adult and $15 per child on its own site. Many combo listings add a short quad ride; see the super and mega safaris.

The destination trip. These go further on rougher tracks: more than 40 km off-road to Gebel Qattar on Scorpion's mountain programme, or into the hills to a canyon or a spring. They last 5–10 hours and usually end with dinner and stargazing far from the coast. There are not many of them on the platforms, and several have only a handful of reviews.

Jeep tour Hurghada to a Bedouin camp: what you get

The camp run is the jeep version of the classic desert safari. You sit in the back of a 4x4 with a few other guests, the driver follows tracks he knows, and the convoy stops at a camp built for the programme: tea and flatbread, a short camel ride, a sales stand for herbs and souvenirs, then a buffet and a show with belly dance, tanoura (the Egyptian whirling dance in a heavy, coloured skirt) and sometimes fire tricks. None of it is a real Bedouin village. For that difference, see the Bedouin village evenings.

The listings in this group differ mainly in what is bolted on. The jeep safari with quad, camel and Bedouin dinner has Sahara Park in its web address, a desert camp that several agencies sell trips to; the Mega Safari with ATV and 4x4 adds a quad and rates 4.7; the cheapest, the jeep and camel ride with BBQ dinner and show, skips the quad. Ratings on these camp runs sit between 3.9 and 4.7.

The jeep leg itself is not the highlight: corrugated tracks, dust and a seat in the back. If you want to drive, book a quad or a buggy instead. If someone in your group has a bad back, this is the trip to think twice about.

Dry Canyon and the canyon jeep tour

Our pick, the Canyon Jeep Tour with dinner and stars, rates 4.9 from 64 reviews, the most reviews of any canyon or mountain trip. The listing describes a 4x4 drive through a canyon in the hills behind Hurghada, caves, a scramble on the rocks, sunset, dinner at a camp it calls an oasis, and stargazing. It follows the same format as the Dry Canyon trip Scorpion Safari sells on its own site for $45 per adult; the listing does not name the operator, so check it on the page and ask which canyon you visit.

The best-known canyon is the Dry Canyon, called Wadi Belli or Wadi Billy in tour copy: a dry valley with fossil corals and shells, reached from the El Gouna side. Treat claims about its size and age on agency pages with suspicion — they are marketing, not geology. From El Gouna it is also sold as a morning quad trip; see El Gouna's desert trips.

"Oasis" on these listings means a camp, a farm or a small spring in a valley. There is no palm-and-lake oasis like Siwa anywhere near Hurghada.

Qattar mountain, Hurghada: the long 4x4 day

Gebel Qattar (also spelled Gattar) is a granite massif about 56 km west of Hurghada in a straight line, with a summit of 1,963 m. It is one of the main peaks of the Shayeb el-Banat group, in the hills of the Ma'aza, the Bedouin of the mountains behind Hurghada. The name is usually explained as "the dripping one", after the water on its slopes.

That water is spring-fed pools and, after rare rain, trickles. Some listings promise "hidden waterfalls" — do not expect them. What you do get is a long off-road drive, a walk up to the pools below the mountain, and real mountain scenery that no quad trip reaches.

The Qattar Mountain Adventure by 4WD with stargazing lasts 7–10 hours, rates 5.0 on only 12 reviews and costs from about $135. Its programme has the same parts as Scorpion Safari's Gattar mountain trip, which costs $150 per adult and $75 per child on its own site and needs at least four people: more than 40 km off-road, a hike, a stop at a "Roman city", dinner and a telescope.

Which Roman site the trips visit is not stated. Mons Porphyrites, the quarry that supplied imperial Rome's purple porphyry from the 1st to the 5th century AD, lies about 50 km west of Hurghada and is the most likely by geography — ask which site the trip visits before you book (background on Mons Porphyrites).

Qattar mountain weather. There is no weather station on the mountain. What the data show: the inland desert is about 2–3 °C hotter than the coast by day from May to September, and nights are about 4–5 °C colder all year, with the mountain edge another 2.5 °C or so colder at night. From December to February, half to three-quarters of desert nights fall to 10 °C or below. On a Qattar trip that ends after stargazing, bring a proper jacket from November to March, and in summer plenty of water for the hike. See the best time for desert trips.

Shayeb el-Banat, Umm Dhalfa and sandboarding

Gebel Shayeb el-Banat, at 2,187 m the highest peak of mainland Egypt, stands about 40 km west of Makadi and Sahl Hasheesh. On the Mount Shaib el-Banat tour with sandboarding (from about $78, 4.9 from 57 reviews) the jeep takes you into the area for sandboarding, then dinner and a show. The title is the same as a programme Scorpion Safari sells on its own site for $60 per adult and $30 per child, which also stops at Umm Dhalfa, a small spring that Scorpion calls an oasis; GetYourGuide shows the operator's name on the listing page.

Treat it as a jeep day, not a summit climb: the programme is the drive, the spring, the sandboarding and the evening, and Scorpion sells a short hike and camel ride as an extra.

A different kind of jeep trip is the jeep tour to a Bedouin village with breakfast or dinner. It names the Maaza tribe and uses the same wording as BADU's own village tour, which visits what BADU calls a living Maaza community rather than a show camp; GetYourGuide shows the operator's name on the listing page. More in our BADU Camp review.

Jeep safari and stargazing: GetYourGuide vs Headout

The jeep-and-stars evening has the most-reviewed jeep-only listing. The Star Watching Desert Adventure by jeep with dinner rates 4.6 from more than 500 reviews and promises a GPS-guided telescope. It has the same name and telescope wording as a trip Space Observers sells on its own site; GetYourGuide shows the operator's name on the listing page. If the listing does not mention a telescope or an astronomer, "stargazing" means looking up after dinner. More in sunset and stargazing trips.

The two are close on paper, but the Headout trip is non-refundable, adds a €10 per person cash safari fee and €10 per person for transfers, and has no reviews yet. Its camp is a farm with camel and horse rides, 17 km off-road. GetYourGuide's default is a full refund if you cancel more than 24 hours before. The operator and the camp may differ between the two.

Jeep safari Hurghada prices: the listings

Eveningfrom$84

GetYourGuide5 h

Hurghada: Canyon Jeep Tour, Dinner & Stars Experience

4.9 (64)

per personCheck dates

Eveningfrom$21

GetYourGuide5.5 h

Hurghada: Safari Jeep & Camel Ride with BBQ Dinner & Show

4.1 (149)

per personCheck dates

Eveningfrom$22

GetYourGuide6 h

HRG: Jeep Safari with ATV , Buggy, Camel, Opt/ Dinner & show

4.4 (70)

per personCheck dates

Eveningfrom$29

GetYourGuide5 hMakadi Bay

Makadi Bay: Jeep Safari, Quad, Bedouin Dinner & Show

3.9 (98)

per personCheck dates

Daytimefrom$30

GetYourGuide6 hMakadi Bay

Makadi Bay: Mega Desert Tour with Jeep, ATV & Camel

4.5 (39)

per personCheck dates

Daytimefrom$34

GetYourGuide4 h

Hurghada: Camel Ride & horse ride and Off-Road Jeep Tour

4.8 (25)

per personCheck dates

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

What decides the price is distance, not the vehicle. The camp runs cost from about $21–42 because the jeep drives about 50 km in total to a camp that serves many groups. Canyon and mountain trips cost from about $78–135 online because they go much further with few guests.

Direct prices are not always lower. Scorpion's Qattar trip costs $150 on its own site against about $135 for the comparable listing; its camp-run jeep tour costs $29. On musement.com, TUI's activity platform, the 7-hour desert sunset with stargazing and dinner by 4x4 (supplier Travco) started from £67 when we checked, with accident insurance, a full refund up to 24 hours before and a minimum age of 4.

Budget a little cash on top: €5–15 per person for pick-up from Makadi, Sahl Hasheesh, El Gouna, Soma Bay or Safaga on many trips, a cash "safari fee" of about €5–10 on some listings (check "Not included"), a scarf against the dust, and a tip for the driver. Full detail in what desert trips cost.

Is a jeep safari in Hurghada safe?

You do not drive, so the risks are different from a quad: it is the bumping and the speed on rough tracks.

• Seat belts. On 6 September 2024 Russian tourists were injured on a jeep safari near Hurghada; the 4x4 had no seat belts, and one passenger had a suspected spinal fracture. Ask for a seat with a belt before you set off, and ask the driver to slow down if you need to.
• Backs and pregnancy. Operators flag the jeep leg for back problems. TUI's 4x4 sunset and stargazing trip says it is not suitable for people with walking difficulties or back problems; BADU's Kharaz Malki jeep trip excludes pregnant women and babies under one.
• Passport copy. Paramedics hesitated in that same case because the passports were at the hotel. Carry a copy.
• No solo off-roading. The UK government's advice is to use a qualified guide off road and get a permit from the Ministry of Interior (FCDO). Do not hire a 4x4 and head into the desert alone.
• Daylight on the Luxor road. Dutch government advice says the Hurghada–Luxor road is open only in daytime and tour organisers need tourist police permission in advance (Nederland Wereldwijd). If a long mountain trip uses that road, ask the operator how the timings work.
• Drones. Leave them at home; they need prior permission from the Ministry of Defence.

Jeep trips suit children better than quads because nobody has to drive; TUI's 4x4 stargazing trip takes children from 4. Scorpion's own price list charges half price for ages 5–10 and nothing for under-5s. See desert trips with children.

FAQ

For what to wear and bring on any desert trip, see the Hurghada desert trip guide.