Stargazing and sunset safaris in Hurghada: what you really see

Stargazing in Hurghada has one big advantage: the desert is dry, and rain falls on about one day a year. What spoils the night is booking the wrong trip. A sunset quad with "stargazing" in its title is usually dinner under an open sky and a look upwards before the minibus home. A dedicated star trip sets up a computerised telescope and brings someone who knows how to use it.

Stargazing Hurghada: telescope or just looking up?

Read the description, not the title. Only some listings promise an instrument or a guide who explains the sky:

• Hurghada: Oasis Sunset Tour with Camel Ride and Stargazing — camel ride at sunset, dinner, a telescope, and a guide who explains "stars groups and horoscope" (horoscopes are astrology, not astronomy). It has the same wording as Scorpion Safari's own stargazing safari; GetYourGuide shows the operator's name on the listing page.
• Hurghada: Star Watching Desert Adventure by Jeep with Dinner — jeep into the desert, dinner and a "GPS-guided telescope". It matches the programme of Space Observers, a Hurghada stargazing company; check the provider name on the listing.
• Hurghada: Desert Stargazing, Camel, Dinner & Smart Telescope — camel ride, dinner and a "smart telescope", meaning a computerised telescope that finds objects automatically.
• Hurghada under the stars: Sunset & Starwatching, HRG: Desert Stargazing W Camel & BBQ Dinner on Candlelight (it names a "professional astronomer") and Hurghada: Sunset Oasis Safari with Horse Ride & Stargazing (a horse ride instead of a camel) also promise telescope time.

The cheap quad packages with an evening option (Hurghada: Sunset Quad Bike, Camel w/ Opt Stargazing and BBQ, Hurghada: Quad Bike, Camel, Show, Dinner, & Stargazing Trip, Hurghada: Quad Bike, Sea, Camel, Safari, Stargazing & Dinner, Makadi Bay: ATV, Sea View, Camel, Stargazing, Dinner & Show) promise "stargazing" and nothing more. Expect to look up after dinner, perhaps with a guide pointing out a few constellations: fine on a clear night, but not an astronomy session.

One trap: Sunset Quad Tour Hurghada Telescope Moon Viewing, BBQ & Show has "Telescope Moon Viewing" in its title, but its own description says you admire the night sky "with the naked eye". It has only five reviews.

Sunset safari Hurghada: what time is sunset?

Sunset in Hurghada moves by almost three hours over the year: from about 16:51 in early December to about 19:44 in early July. The table shows each month, plus the pick-up windows for morning and sunset rides.

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 sunset jumps by an hour overnight. In late October it goes from about 18:05 one evening to about 17:05 the next. Trust the confirmation the operator sends the day before by WhatsApp or e-mail, not a review written in another season.

From Hurghada hotels, a sunset trip normally collects you two to three hours before sunset. From El Gouna, Soma Bay or Safaga, count on another 30–60 minutes because the drive is longer.

The bigger point: the sky is only fully dark about 75–90 minutes after the sun goes down: around 18:12 in December, around 21:15 in July. A summer tour that heads home at 21:00 never reaches real darkness, and a five-hour sunset-and-stars tour in June or July gets you back to the hotel close to midnight. From November to February it is dark between about 18:15 and 18:55.

The moon decides what you see

The moon matters more than anything else, and no listing mentions it.

• Around new moon (a few days either side) the sky is at its darkest. This is when you see the Milky Way and a telescope can show galaxies.
• Around full moon the moon rises at sunset and stays up all night. It hides the Milky Way and faint objects, but a telescope still shows the moon's craters, bright planets and double stars: a moon-and-planets evening.
• In the week after new moon a thin crescent sets early in the evening, so the later part of the night is dark. By half moon it stays up until around midnight.

Check a moon calendar for your holiday dates before you pick the night.

The season changes the view too. On summer evenings (roughly June to August) the bright centre of the Milky Way stands in the southern sky; by November it has gone from the evening sky. Winter evenings bring Orion, the Pleiades and Gemini. Because Hurghada lies at about 27° north, you can also see Canopus, the second-brightest star in the night sky, low in the south on winter evenings. It never rises over the UK or Germany.

How dark is the desert sky near Hurghada?

The mountains west of Hurghada have very dark skies. A site study for a planned national telescope rated several peaks in the Red Sea Mountains close to a pristine sky and counted roughly 290–300 clear nights in its survey year.

The tourist camps are not on those peaks. Most sit on the desert plain 15–35 km beyond the safari stations on the Safaga road, so the glow of Hurghada (and of El Gouna or Makadi Bay, depending on the camp) lies low on the eastern horizon. Look west, over the mountains, and the sky is dark.

Some trips go further. Scorpion's stargazing safari drives about 17 km off-road to what it calls an "oasis", a camp in the hills on the El Gouna side. Only the long 4x4 days reach the high mountains themselves, such as Hurghada Qattar Mountain Adventure: 4WD & Stargazing to Gebel Qattar, which takes 7–10 hours. The jeep guide explains what those days involve.

Hurghada stargazing tours compared

For a proper telescope evening, our pick is Hurghada: Oasis Sunset Tour with Camel Ride and Stargazing: a sunset camel ride, dinner and a telescope at a hill camp, rated 4.7 from over a thousand reviews. Scorpion lists its own version at $42 for adults and $20 for children on its site when we checked, and the GetYourGuide listing with the same programme was cheaper at that check. Scorpion's direct price excludes pick-ups from Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh, El Gouna and Safaga, while a platform price may include them, so compare what each one covers.

For the cheapest real telescope, Hurghada: Star Watching Desert Adventure by Jeep with Dinner goes by jeep, with dinner and a GPS-guided telescope, and has over 500 reviews. Space Observers lists its own jeep stargazing trip from $30 on its site, so the platform is not dearer here either.

For a quiet, alcohol-free evening, the BADU Camp dinner Makadi Bay: BADU Luxury Bedouin Dinner Experience & Stargaze is in the Makadi Bay desert. It has a set Bedouin menu, live music and storytelling instead of a belly-dance show, and a guided look at the sky (BADU's dinner page does not mention a telescope). The camp closes on Saturdays, and Soma Bay is not on its pick-up list. On baduexperiences.com it costs from €45 direct.

Sunsetfrom$38

GetYourGuide4.5 h

Hurghada: Oasis Sunset Tour with Camel Ride and Stargazing

4.7 (1,001)

per personCheck dates

Eveningfrom$19

GetYourGuide3.5 h

Hurghada: Sea & Desert Horse Tour, Stargazing, Dinner & Show

4.4 (1,718)

per personCheck dates

Eveningfrom$12

GetYourGuide3 hMakadi Bay

Makadi Bay: ATV, Sea View, Camel, Stargazing, Dinner & Show

4.3 (1,428)

per personCheck dates

Eveningfrom$16

GetYourGuide3.5 h

Hurghada: Quad Bike, Sea, Camel, Safari, Stargazing & Dinner

4.2 (1,517)

per personCheck dates

Sunsetfrom$57

GetYourGuide6 h

Hurghada: Oasis sunset with Camel Ride & stars

4.8 (453)

per personCheck dates

Eveningfrom$19

GetYourGuide3.5 h

Hurghada: Sea & Desert Camel Ride w/Dinner, Show, Stargazing

4.3 (682)

per personCheck dates

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

Headout has a jeep trip with telescopes, camel and horse rides, and a BBQ at a farm camp:

Before you choose the Headout option, add its €10 per person cash safari fee and €10 transfer charge. It is also non-refundable and has no reviews yet. The GetYourGuide trip has hundreds of reviews and, unless the listing says otherwise, GetYourGuide's standard free cancellation up to 24 hours before. The camp and the length of the telescope session may differ.

For a sunset on horseback with a telescope stop afterwards, see Hurghada: Sunset Oasis Safari with Horse Ride & Stargazing and the horse riding guide.

Sunset quad safari Hurghada

A sunset quad is the cheapest way to see the sun go down over the desert, but the stars are a side dish. Hurghada: Sunset Quad Bike, Camel w/ Opt Stargazing and BBQ, sold on GetYourGuide by the account "Desert Fox Safari – Makadi Bay and Marsa Alam" (our review), starts from $12.48 and is rated 4.2 from over 1,700 reviews. That price is the cheapest option on an option menu. The sunset version with BBQ and stargazing costs more, so pick the option you want and check the total before paying.

Riding time is not published on these listings. Comparable trips give 40–60 minutes on the quad. Ask how many minutes you spend on the quad, not how many hours the trip lasts. Drivers must be 16 or older; younger children need a listing with a double quad or a buggy option (see quads with kids).

In winter, a sunset quad means riding back to the station in the dark and the cold. From May to September choose the sunset or sunrise slot: in July and August desert afternoons are around 40 °C on many days.

Headout's quad trip with camel, stargazing and dinner is the closest match to the GetYourGuide option menus:

Both are option menus, so either "from" price may be the version without dinner. Headout's listing excludes scarf, goggles, photos and tips, and has eight reviews. If you would rather have car seats and a steering wheel, the sunset buggy guide covers the dune buggy versions.

A typical winter evening: sunset, dinner and stars

Here is a December trip from a Hurghada hotel. Times move with the season and the operator.

In summer the same programme starts about three hours later. Sunset is around 19:40 and full darkness about 21:10, so the stars come at the very end.

The dinner-and-show part is covered in detail in the Bedouin village guide, and the full afternoon with quad, buggy and jeep in the desert safari guide.

What to wear and what you pay on the day

Clothes. The desert at night is colder than the coast, by about 4–5 °C all year. From December to February, half to three-quarters of nights at the camps fall to 10 °C or below. Bring a fleece or a light jacket from November to March, and closed shoes. On any quad leg add long trousers, a buff and sunglasses or goggles. The what-to-wear guide has the full list.

Cash. Bring small notes in euros, Egyptian pounds or dollars:

• Some listings add a cash "safari fee" of about €5–10 per person on the day. Look under "Not included" before you book.
• Prices usually cover Hurghada hotels. From Makadi, Sahl Hasheesh, El Gouna, Soma Bay or Safaga, many sellers add €5–15 per person, often in cash on the day.
• Scarves and goggles are often sold at the station for around €5 each.
• Photo and GoPro packages are optional, and so is the herb and souvenir stall at the camp.
• A modest tip in small notes for the guide and driver is expected, but nothing is compulsory.

Alcohol. No alcohol before or during a ride. UK travel advice notes that drinking outside licensed venues or private homes is illegal in Egypt, and BADU does not allow alcohol at all.

Ramadan. During Ramadan, sunset-dinner safaris coincide with iftar, when guides and drivers break their fast.

Children and back problems. You are driven on the jeep trips, so children can come (from age 4 on TUI's 4x4 star trip). The bumpy part is the jeep ride on corrugated tracks, which TUI's supplier Travco calls unsuitable for people with walking difficulties or back problems. Ask for a seat with a seat belt.

Hotel desk instead? TUI sells a desert sunset, stargazing and Bedouin dinner trip by 4x4 through its supplier Travco. It lasts seven hours and costs from £67 on musement.com, TUI's activity platform, when we checked. That is dearer than the platform trips above, but it includes accident insurance and a 24-hour refund rule. Our hotel desk review compares the two channels.

Drones. Leave the drone at home: in Egypt, flying one needs prior permission from the Ministry of Defence (UK travel advice).

Private stargazing Hurghada

A private trip gives you your own car, guide and start time. You can stay out until it is really dark or choose the night closest to new moon, but you still go to the same kind of desert camp.

• Hurghada: Private Desert Stargazing Tour with Dinner is a private stargazing tour with dinner in a private tent, an astronomy guide and a telescope. It is new, with no reviews yet.
• Sunset Quad Tour Hurghada Telescope Moon Viewing, BBQ & Show is a sunset quad with "moon viewing", BBQ and a show. It is rated 5.0, but only five people have reviewed it, and its description says naked-eye viewing.
• Some listings offer a private option next to the shared one. Check whether the private price is per person or per group before comparing.

For private quad rides and when they are worth the money, see private quad tours.