Hurghada or Sharm el Sheik

I'm going to either of these two destinations this christmas. Never been to the Red Sea before. Does it matter where I go, or are the two spots about the same when it comes to dive sites within day trip distance? Will probably do 2 dives per day for 5 days. Recommended dive centres?

Thankful for any input!

Sharm El Sheikh has more to offer, with Tiran and Ras Mohammed National Park. However Diving in Hurghada is much cheaper. Well not that much B) If you want a recommendation for Sharm El Sheikh, take CFUN DIVERS, in Hurghada I have heard nothing bad about Jasmin Diving Center so far, but I have not tested them myself. They are doing business for quite a while now.

Enjoy your trip! and don't forget to mention who sent you

Diving can be very good in both.

A small practical consideration: in Sharm, most (almost all?) boats leave from two harbors, whereas in Hurghada some/many of the diving centers&boats are located just next to hotels. So it is a bit easier to arrange being able to walk from breakfast buffet to boat in Hurghada

I have been diving with Colona in both places. They are ok.

A lot depends on what you want to do. I have not been to Sharm, but I know that the wreck diving is more concentrated out of Sharm into the Northern Red Sea than out of Hurgada. On the other hand, I took safari trips out of Hurgada the last two years for some great diving. Both times we went south, visiting the Brothers, Elphinstone, Daedelis, St. John's and the Aida over the two trips. I don't think I would have been happy doing a week of land based diving out of Hurgada, but I did a few days with Dive Tribe while I was there the first time and had a very good time. If you are looking into doing a live-aboard, I was very happy with the service from Tony Backhurst Scuba, and I would recommend them without reservation. I did the trips from the U.S., and I flew to the U.K. and simply joined in with the package that departed from Gatwick.

Sharm el Sheik is over run and the Reefs apart from Ras Mohamed & Tiran are pretty poor.

Probably one of the best centres in my 32 years of diving the RS are Diving World based at the New Sheraton just outside Hurghada, and they also have a place in Sharm.

I advise you to get a live aboard out of Hurghada to the Brother Islands or North on the wrecks as this is really better than being stuck on land. It also works out cheaper in the long run.

I'm going to either of these two destinations this christmas.

Actually it looks like we are going to have a second digital safari during December, due to the great demand for the September trip. If you are interested email me B) . I absolutely agree with Cybergoldfish, that a safari comes in much cheaper. But people often are distracted, because they see all the costs before booking instead of loosing money step, by tep on land.

For wreckdiving you can choose either Sharm El Sheikh or Hurghada. Both destinations offer the Wrecks of Abu Nuhas and the Thistlegorm, which is what we'll be doing in September.

I don't know extacly the place south of Hurghada. But I think you ment Makadi Bay. Everyone so far told me that it's great and very quiet.