Sunrise and morning quad in Hurghada: the cool way to ride the desert

A sunrise quad in Hurghada is the same desert ride as the afternoon one, moved to the start of the day. You are collected in the dark, briefed at the station in grey light, and ride out as the sun comes up over the Red Sea behind you and lights the mountains ahead. From May to September it is the sensible slot: you are back before the heat builds. From November to March it is a cold start, and a morning slot after sunrise often makes more sense.

The catch is in the listings. Most "morning quad Hurghada" listings are not dedicated morning tours; they are option menus where sunrise is one choice among three. A few trips are built around the morning: a sunrise quad with a lagoon stop and breakfast, the Dry Canyon fossil tour from El Gouna, and non-quad sunrise rides on a camel or a horse. This page sorts them out.

Sunrise quad Hurghada: what time you are collected

A real sunrise ride needs a pick-up 60–90 minutes before sunrise from a Hurghada hotel. That covers the 20–45-minute transfer to the station, 10–15 minutes of briefing and test lap, and the ride out to a spot where you can watch the sun come up. From El Gouna, Soma Bay or Safaga add 30–60 minutes: one seller collects Soma Bay guests at 05:00 for its sunrise ride.

The table below gives sunrise for each month and the pick-up window that goes with it.

Two things move these times. Egypt uses summer time: clocks go forward on the last Friday of April and back at the end of the last Thursday of October, so sunrise and your pick-up shift by an hour overnight around those dates. And many sellers keep a fixed "morning" clock time all year, for example an 08:00 departure, which is a morning ride rather than a sunrise ride. Pick-up times are usually confirmed the day before by WhatsApp or e-mail; check what the confirmed time means against sunrise.

Morning quad Hurghada: one menu, three slots

Around ten of the cheaper quad listings share one set-up: choose sunrise with breakfast, daytime, or sunset with dinner and stargazing. The "morning" title on some of them simply puts the sunrise option first. The price on the card is the cheapest option, which is not always the sunrise one, so open the options and check the price for the slot you want.

The cheapest of the family is Hurghada: Morning Quad Bike & ATV Adventure Along a Red Sea, sold by Desert Fox Safari's Makadi Bay and Marsa Alam account, from about $10 (more in our Desert Fox Safari review). It is listed under Makadi Bay and its title promises a ride along the Red Sea, but sunrise is one option inside it, not the whole product. Hurghada: Morning Quad Bike Tour, Camel Ride and Transfer, the morning quad with camel ride and transfer, is from about $14 and rated 4.4 from over 1,200 reviews. A listing with the same title on another booking site describes a 2-hour quad and a camel ride of about two minutes; take the camel as a photo stop. On the Makadi side, Makadi Bay: Sunrise Quad & Traditional Oriental Breakfast adds a traditional oriental breakfast, from about $14.

One morning listing states its riding: Hurghada: Sunrise Desert Adventure by Quad Bike & Camel, the sunrise desert adventure by quad and camel, promises a 2-hour quad ride at sunrise inside a 3–5-hour trip, from about $13. That is more time on the machine than most, and it is the one to choose if riding matters more than breakfast.

For comparison, TUI's morning quad with camel and tea, run by Travco, is 3 hours with 1 hour 30 minutes on the quad, single riders only, with helmet, insurance and entrance fees included and goggles and scarves extra. It is the clearest published riding time of any morning trip. See how the lengths compare across all formats.

Sunrise quad bike Hurghada with Blue Lagoon and breakfast

Our pick for a morning ride is Hurghada: Sunrise Quad Bike & Blue Lagoon with Breakfast: a sunrise quad through the dunes, a stop at a lagoon called the Blue Lagoon, and a traditional breakfast, 3–5 hours, from about $24, rated 4.7 from around 130 reviews. It is listed under Makadi Bay. It costs more than the option menus, but it is built for the morning rather than adapted to it, and it rates higher.

The Blue Lagoon here is a coastal lagoon stop on the Makadi–Sahl Hasheesh side, not Dahab's Blue Lagoon in Sinai; the listing does not say exactly where it is. Do not expect to swim off a quad at sunrise; expect a stop at the water with the sea on one side and the desert on the other. Most standard quad loops run inland, so a stop by the sea is the selling point.

A listing with the same name appears on the booking page of Sea Horse, a horse stable in Sahl Hasheesh that also sells quads; GetYourGuide shows the operator's name on the listing page, so check it there. See our Sea Horse Sahl Hasheesh review. Guests in Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi are closest to this area.

Dry Canyon morning tour from El Gouna

The Dry Canyon tour, From El Gouna: Dry Canyon Quad Bike Morning Tour, is a morning-only trip and a different area entirely: El Gouna, north of Hurghada. Pick-ups are from the El Gouna area only. You train at the town's motor park, then ride a 40 km round trip through the Dry Canyon (Wadi Belli in tour copy), a dry valley where coral and shell fossils show the sea once covered it. It takes 4 hours and costs from about $45; a reseller page gives a maximum of 10 riders.

Two practical points. It is the only quad listing we found that asks for a valid driving licence, so bring yours. And it is not the same route as the Blue Lagoon trip: one is north of Hurghada, the other south, about an hour apart by road. If you are staying in El Gouna, this is the morning ride to book; the cheap group quads sold to El Gouna hotels drive you 40–60 minutes south to a Hurghada station first. More in the El Gouna guide.

Hurghada sunrise safari: a typical morning

In winter shift everything about 40 minutes later: sunrise is 06:25 in mid-December and 06:34 in mid-January, so a sunrise pick-up is around 05:00–05:30.

Morning quad in summer and winter

Summer (May–September). Average afternoon highs on the coast are 37 °C in July and August, and inland at the camps afternoons can be around 40 °C. Mornings are when the desert is bearable: the coast's average overnight low in those months is about 28 °C, and the desert is cooler at night than the coast. A sunrise or early-morning slot is the best choice from May to September, with sunset as the alternative. Avoid the midday pick-ups.

Winter (November–February). Midday rides are comfortable, but desert nights are cold: desert nights are about 4–5 °C colder than the coast, and from December to February half to three-quarters of them fall to 10 °C or below. That cold is still there at dawn. A sunrise ride at speed on an open quad feels colder. Wear a fleece or jacket, long trousers and closed shoes, and consider a morning slot after sunrise. The best time guide has every month.

Spring (March–April). Blowing sand peaks in March and April. Goggles and a scarf matter most then; the stations often sell them for around €5 each, but your own buff and sunglasses work.

Sunrise without a quad: camel, horse or jeep

If the quad is not the point, the cooler hour suits slower rides too.

BADU Camp's sunrise camel ride with Bedouin breakfast, Makadi Bay: BADU Camp Sunrise Camel Ride & Bedouin Breakfast, is a 30-minute walking-pace camel ride in the Makadi Bay desert followed by breakfast: fresh Bedouin bread, ful (fava beans), zalabia with date syrup, Bedouin tea and coffee, with bread-making and live music. It is from about $48 on GetYourGuide; BADU lists it at €45 on its own site. The camp is listed as closed on Saturdays. It is the calm option for families; ask the minimum age for children, and remember it is one rider per camel. See our BADU Camp review and camel rides.

For riders, sunrise horse rides go into the desert and onto the beach before the heat. From Hurghada: Red Sea Sunrise and Desert Horseback Riding, Red Sea sunrise and desert horseback riding, is from about $22 with 183 reviews. Here it is next to a similar Headout ride:

The Headout ride, 1 hour in the desert and 1 hour on the beach at sunrise, looks cheaper, but it adds a €10 per person safari fee in cash and has no reviews yet. Stable, route and time on the horse may differ. The horse riding guide covers weight limits and the summer sea swim.

Booking a morning quad: what to check

Morningfrom$24

GetYourGuide4 hMakadi Bay

Hurghada: Sunrise Quad Bike & Blue Lagoon with Breakfast

4.7 (129)

per personCheck dates

Morningfrom$14

GetYourGuide3.5 hMakadi Bay

Makadi Bay: Sunrise Quad & Traditional Oriental Breakfast

4.1 (125)

per personCheck dates

Morningfrom$48

GetYourGuide3 hMakadi Bay

Makadi Bay: BADU Camp Sunrise Camel Ride & Bedouin Breakfast

4.9 (16)

per personCheck dates

Morningfrom$59

GetYourGuide5 h

Hurghada: Jeep, Bedouin Village, Breakfast or Dinner & Stars

5.0 (13)

per personCheck dates

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

On safety, the UK government's advice applies at any hour: "Always wear a crash helmet" (FCDO travel advice). A sunrise convoy on cold sand is not a race; ride at the pace of the slowest rider. Children under 16 cannot drive a quad; see quad trips with kids for buggy and passenger options.

Sunrise and morning quad Hurghada: questions