Where Is Orange Bay in Egypt?

Orange Bay, Egypt, is a white-sand beach on Giftun el Kebir, an island in the Red Sea off Hurghada, on the mainland coast of the Red Sea Governorate. On the map the beach is on the island’s west shore, about 8 km in a straight line from Hurghada Marina. Nobody drives there: you reach it on a boat trip from Hurghada or one of the resorts along the coast.

The short answer

Orange Bay is off Hurghada, not off Sharm el Sheikh or Marsa Alam. Stay in Hurghada and the boat trips collect you from your hotel; stay in Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh, El Gouna, Soma Bay or Safaga and most of them collect you for a higher price. Royal Cruise Hurghada’s Luxury Cruise Trip to Orange Bay with Lunch crosses in about 45 minutes each way, from US$59 a person (checked November 2026) with pickup in Hurghada.

The calendar above is the cruise, with 7,249 reviews (checked November 2026); pick your pickup area in it.

On the map

Giftun el Kebir is the larger of two islands that face Hurghada across a channel; Giftun el Saghir, the smaller, lies further east. On map data the Orange Bay beach is on the west shore of Giftun el Kebir, about 8 km in a straight line from Hurghada Marina; Magawish Island, another stop of some trips, is to the south. The marina is drawn as a reference point. The trips collect you from your hotel and take you to their own boat, and not every trip carded here names its harbour.

Giftun island and the protectorate

Searches for Giftun island and for Orange Bay often mean the same day out. Giftun el Kebir and Giftun el Saghir, the Greater and Lesser Giftun islands, lie in the Red Sea Northern Islands protectorates, and Ministerial Decree 92 of 1999 provides for a visit fee on them. The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency lists the Northern Red Sea Islands protectorate as declared in 2006 and covering 1,709.7 km² (checked November 2026). No page of an Egyptian authority with the current visit-fee amount was found (checked November 2026); each Orange Bay trip states its own line, and what each trip includes sets them side by side.

How long the boat takes

The boat time depends on the trip. Royal Cruise Hurghada’s cruise takes 45 minutes each way, Go Shalabi’s sea taxi 15 to 20 minutes by speedboat, and Zanetta Tours’ Orange Bay beach day allows 1.5 hours for the boat out and an hour back. Go Shalabi’s three-island day sails about an hour to the Giftun islands for its stop at Orange Bay. Add 25 to 30 minutes by van from a Hurghada hotel to the boat.

From the resorts along the coast

The trips carded here collect in Hurghada at the base price and from the resorts along the coast for more. From Hurghada Marina by road it is about 37 km to El Gouna in the north, and about 29 km to Sahl Hasheesh, 36 km to Makadi Bay and 52 km to Soma Bay in the south, counted to each town rather than to each hotel. Royal Cruise Hurghada’s option from Makadi, Soma Bay, El Gouna, Sahl Hasheesh and Safaga was US$65 a person in November 2026, against US$59 from Hurghada; its option text takes Safaga only as far as the Minavile Hotel and Lotus Bay. Zanetta Tours’ Orange Bay day with parasailing lists pickup from as far as El Quseir and Marsa Alam, at an extra fee per person. On the Go Shalabi trips, pickup times can vary by about 60 minutes either way for Hurghada hotels and about 90 minutes for the outer resorts. Hotels for the pickup covers where to stay.

From Sharm el Sheikh or Marsa Alam

Sharm el Sheikh is on the Sinai peninsula, across the Red Sea from Hurghada, and none of the Orange Bay listings carded here starts there. Of the Orange Bay trips named on this site, only Zanetta Tours’ parasailing day offers a pickup in Marsa Alam, for an extra fee. For anyone staying further away, the realistic plan is a night in Hurghada or one of the resorts above.