Seasick on the boat trip in Hurghada: what parents should know before booking

A child who feels sick on the boat turns a day of your holiday into one the whole family remembers – just not fondly. And because almost everything that makes Hurghada what it is happens on the water, this is not a minor question.

Up front, so it’s clear: this page does not recommend any remedy for seasickness, no tablets, no patches, no wristbands, and no dosage. Whether and what a child should take beforehand is a question for the paediatrician or the pharmacy, ideally before the trip. What we can offer is what no tour description puts together: how long the trips from Hurghada last, what to ask before booking, and how to choose a trip so that a bad day stays short.

The number that matters: time on the water

It’s not the name of the destination that matters, but how long you are on the boat and how much of that is spent under way on open water. Lying at anchor in a bay or moored at an island jetty is a different thing from the crossing itself. How long the crossing alone takes depends on the harbour, the boat and the schedule, and you can’t read it from the tour length. So before booking, ask how long you will be on the water without going ashore.

The total duration, on the other hand, is stated in the offer. In our comparison (as of 10 September 2026):

• Royal Seascope, the semi-submarine with a snorkel stop: two hours, from €18.57.
• Speedboat taxi to Orange Bay or Magawish: four hours, from €24.50.
• Speedboat to two islands with a dolphin search: four hours, from €33.25.
• Trips to Sha’ab El Erg reef, also called Dolphin House, in the northern Hurghada area: between four and seven and a half hours. SUBEX
• Cruise to Orange Bay with lunch: eight and a half hours.

For a child who already gets queasy in the car, that means a short trip rather than a whole day at sea. The Seascope is no easier on the stomach than other boats – it is a boat too. A bad day on it is simply over after two hours. The island trips and their durations are listed under Orange Bay & Giftun Island.

Wind: what counts is the day of the trip

In the northern Red Sea, the wind blows persistently from the north-west. Red Sea How calm a particular trip will be depends on the conditions on the day. We cannot back up a generally calmer outward trip in the morning or a regularly rougher return in the afternoon, and the same is said in Hurghada with kids.

That leads to a choice no description spells out: if you have a sensitive child, don’t pick the trip with the prettiest destination – pick the shortest one your child will still look forward to. On a four-hour trip, a rough day is over after four hours; on the Orange Bay cruise, only after eight and a half.

There is no fixed windy season. On average, the wind is strongest in September and weakest in November. Weather Spark Even so, the port closures we found for 2025 fell between January and April; on those days no boat sails at all. What to do instead on days like that is covered in Hurghada with kids when the boat doesn’t sail.

Large boat or speedboat?

There is no answer to this that holds for every child, and no one should promise one.

On the large excursion boat the movements are slower, but it rocks for longer, and the Orange Bay cruise takes a whole day. Whether it has a covered lower deck where a child can lie down is something to ask the operator.

The speedboat slams hard when there is a swell. Whether it has a sun canopy and proper seats can’t be deduced from the word speedboat. On the other hand, the crossing is shorter.

Which of the two a child copes with better only becomes clear out on the water. If you don’t know how your child will react, the honest answer is: try a short trip before booking a full day. How the boat types differ in other respects is covered in Boat trip with kids.

Where to sit on board

What the UK’s National Health Service advises isn’t medicine but behaviour: sit in the middle of the boat, look at a fixed point such as the horizon, don’t read, no screens, fresh air. NHS What that means on a boat:

In the middle, not at the front. The bow rises and falls the most.

Lower rather than higher. The rocking is felt more on the upper deck, even though the view is better.

Outside, looking at the horizon. A child staring at a screen in the cabin sees no movement and still feels it.

Away from the exhaust. If it smells of engine at the stern, sit somewhere else.

And the practical thing everyone forgets: a bag within reach, a change of clothes in a waterproof bag, and water to drink. The German Foreign Office advises never drinking tap water in Egypt, so bottled water belongs in the bag. German Foreign Office

The second seasickness: on the bus

What parents rarely have on their radar is the journey to the boat. Hurghada stretches along nearly 40 kilometres of coast, and shared transfers call at several hotels. Hurghada Whoever is picked up early spends a while on the bus before the boat even leaves; from Makadi Bay or Soma Bay the journey is longer.

For a child who gets carsick, that’s a reason to ask about the pick-up time and the route. And it’s one of the reasons we don’t recommend Luxor and Cairo as day trips with young children: for the roughly 300 road kilometres to Luxor, the local operator HurghadaToGo reckons on four to six hours each way depending on the vehicle, and Cairo is around 450 kilometres away. HurghadaToGo Luxor · HurghadaToGo Cairo The offers: Luxor day trip from Hurghada.

When we advise against it

The dolphin trip with a child prone to seasickness. Trips to Sha’ab El Erg last four to seven and a half hours in our comparison, and nobody knows in advance whether the dolphins will be there. If you still want to go, choose one of the shorter versions and tell your child beforehand that it may work out and may not: Dolphins in Hurghada.

The Orange Bay cruise as a first boat ride. Anyone who feels sick after the first half hour still has eight hours ahead of them, and there’s no getting off.

A dive with a child who was already feeling sick on the boat. Whether and when diving is allowed afterwards is decided by the dive centre with its questionnaire, and in case of doubt by a doctor. Diving in Hurghada.

Ignoring the wind because the trip is already paid for. Many bookings can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours in advance; what applies is stated on the booking page. A postponed boat day then costs nothing – a return crossing with a child who is sick for two hours costs the whole day.

If all that feels like too much risk, you don’t have to miss out on the reef: where a hotel has a house reef, you can snorkel without any crossing at all. Whether the way into the water there suits your child is covered in Family-friendly beaches in Hurghada, and the snorkelling offers are compared under Snorkelling in Hurghada.