Orange Bay Hurghada Island Trip

Orange Bay is a white-sand beach on Giftun el Kebir, the larger of the two Giftun islands in the Red Sea off Hurghada, and the only way there is a boat trip. An Orange Bay island trip from Hurghada is a day on the water: hotel pickup, a boat out to the island, snorkelling at a reef stop, lunch on board and an hour or two on the beach. The trip carded first here is Royal Cruise Hurghada’s Hurghada: Luxury Cruise Trip to Orange Bay with Lunch, from US$59 a person (checked November 2026), with 7,249 reviews: 75 minutes at Orange Bay, a buffet lunch, a massage, and the marine fee in the price.

The short answer

Book the luxury cruise if you want the whole day settled in one price: the transfer from a hotel in Hurghada, the boat, snorkelling gear, lunch, unlimited soft and hot drinks, one massage per guest and the marine fee. What it leaves out is anything you buy on the island itself, so carry cash for a drink there. If two hours on the beach matter more than the extras, the beach day by Zanetta Tours costs less; if you only want the sand and no snorkelling, the sea taxi is the short version. Prices are per person, so two adults pay twice the figure.

Four ways to spend the day: pick yours

Prices, ratings and review counts from the GetYourGuide listings (checked November 2026). Operators price by date, option and pickup zone, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.

The fourth way is the beach day, carded straight under the calendar above: Zanetta Tours' Orange Bay Island day gives you 2 hours of free time on the island, two snorkelling stops and a lunch buffet, with the Orange Bay entry fees included, from US$35 (checked November 2026). That price is for the option without hotel transport, which meets at the Moreno Horizon hotel in Hurghada; the options with transport cost more. Luxury cruise or beach day sets the two side by side.

Where Orange Bay is

On the map, Orange Bay is a beach on the west shore of Giftun el Kebir, about 8 km in a straight line from Hurghada Marina. The trips call it Orange Bay, Orange Island or Orange Bay Island; searches for Orange Island Hurghada and Orange Bay Island Hurghada mean the same beach. Giftun el Kebir and Giftun el Saghir, the Greater and Lesser Giftun islands, lie in the Red Sea Northern Islands protectorates (Ministerial Decree 92 of 1999), and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency lists the Northern Red Sea Islands protectorate at 1,709.7 km², declared in 2006 (checked November 2026). Nobody drives to the island: the boat is the trip.

The boat time depends on the trip. Royal Cruise Hurghada’s cruise takes 45 minutes each way; Go Shalabi’s sea taxi takes 15 to 20 minutes; Zanetta Tours’ beach day allows 1.5 hours for the boat out. The trips collect you from your hotel and drive you to their boat, and the marina on the map is a reference point, not every boat’s pier. Where is Orange Bay? covers the islands, the protectorate and the resorts the pickups reach.

What the island time buys

The Orange Bay trips differ most in how long you spend on the beach and what you do there. Royal Cruise Hurghada’s cruise stays 75 minutes. Zanetta Tours’ beach day and Miniature Egypt Hurghada’s Orange Island cruise stay 2 hours, the second with a guide. Go Luxury’s 5-hour yacht stays an hour, and Go Shalabi’s three-island yacht day gives Orange Bay one hour of eight, between a snorkelling stop off Giftun, a search for dolphins and an hour at Magawish Island. The sea taxi gives you about 3 hours on the sand and nothing else.

The beach is not a wild one. On Go Shalabi’s sea taxi, a reviewer on 6 October 2026 describes a numbered line for each boat with a beanbag to lie on, shops and food outlets, US$5 for a 300 ml soft drink and US$12 for a burger with chips, and no food or drink of your own allowed onto the island. Another, on 20 October, found the island took cash only. Royal Cruise Hurghada’s cruise goes to the beach first and snorkels afterwards: two reviewers in early November 2026 found Orange Bay almost empty when they arrived, and one in October found most of the island’s places still closed. Drinks bought on the island are extra on the cruise, and on Go Luxury’s yacht the island vendors are a separate company. What each Orange Bay trip includes has the full list, line by line.

The Nature Reserve Fee, trip by trip

Ministerial Decree 92 of 1999 provides for a visit fee on the Greater and Lesser Giftun islands, but no page of an Egyptian authority with a current amount was found (checked November 2026). Each trip deals with it in its own words, and each card on this site prints that trip’s line:

• Included: Royal Cruise Hurghada’s cruise (“Marine fee”), Zanetta Tours' beach day (“Orange Bay entry fees”) and Miniature Egypt Hurghada's cruise (“Nature reserve fee”).
• Not included, EUR 5 per person: Go Shalabi's three-island day and Go Luxury's yacht, payable by cash, Visa or payment link, and Go Shalabi's sea taxi (“5 EUR per adult or child”).
• Their own amounts, in the cards under the calendar: Egyptra Travel Services' Orange Bay trip leaves out the “Admission Fee - Giftun Island National Park”, US$5.00 per person, on its option without entrance fees, which is the price the card shows (the option with entrance fees was USD 29.99); EGYPTOUS' Orange Bay Island trip leaves out “Government Fees”, EUR 10.00 per person; Royal Cruise Hurghada's second cruise includes “All Fees and Taxes”.

On Go Luxury's yacht, a reviewer on 10 November 2026 felt the EUR 5 was asked for later on top of the price. Count it in before you compare.

What it costs

The cruise is from US$59 a person (checked November 2026) with hotel pickup in Hurghada; in November 2026, pickup from the outer zones cost US$65 a person. Zanetta Tours’ beach day was US$34.50 without hotel transport and US$47.50 with a shared transfer. Go Shalabi’s sea taxi was about US$39 for the 4-hour option, and Go Luxury’s yacht about US$39 for 5 hours; the dollar figures on these two listings moved by cents between readings. All are per person, with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead, and a family of four pays four times the figure. The Orange Bay trip price lists every option, and what the day costs with the island extras added.

If your date is full

Some dates fill up: on 27 November 2026 the cruise’s calendar showed one spot left, so two adults could not book it. If the calendar shows no room on your day, the beach day and the other Orange Bay cards sit directly under it. Searches for an Orange Bay tour, an Orange Bay excursion or Orange Bay tickets all lead to one of these boat trips: none of the listings carded here sells entry to the beach without the boat.

Check dates for the Orange Bay cruise

Reefs, dolphins and the other islands

Orange Bay is a beach stop. If the reef is what you came for, or you want a day of island-hopping with a dolphin search, a Hurghada boat trip built around snorkelling suits you better than an Orange Bay island trip; hurghadasnorkelingtrip.com covers the snorkelling days and the reefs off Hurghada in depth. The two kinds of day share the same water: Go Shalabi’s three-island day, for one, snorkels off Giftun island after its hour at Orange Bay.

Before you book

Royal Cruise Hurghada’s cruise is not suitable for people with mobility impairments or wheelchair users. Zanetta Tours’ beach day is not suitable for people with heart problems or people prone to seasickness, and Go Luxury’s yacht not for people with motion sickness. The Go Shalabi and Go Luxury trips need a passport copy, your nationality, your hotel name and room number in advance; a reviewer on the cruise on 11 October 2026 says passport details were needed more than 24 hours before. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office page, passing on UK marine-accident investigators’ guidance for liveaboard dive boats, says customers should ask the crew for a thorough safety briefing before departure; that is sound practice on a day boat too (checked 11 November 2026). Sharks and safety has the rest, and Orange Bay with kids and non-swimmers the family questions.