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Safaga

Red Sea · Safaga

also known as Port Safaga, Safaga Hotel Shams, Abu Soma, Safaga / Soma Bay

Part of Safaga →

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beginner-friendlymedium crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Mar–Nov

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25 kt

Character: thermal

Room to launch

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

30 °C in summerClear Red Sea water, flat in the morning and in the sheltered lagoon sections, chopped up once the afternoon wind is in

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy May Jun Jul Aug

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

International Airport (HRG)

Transfer times under Getting there

On the clock

10:00 · 11:00

On the clock

13:00 · 14:00

Mornings start side-offshore from the left as you face the sea, typically 2-4 Bft and flat. The wind swings toward north sideshore around 10:00-11:00 and firms up: 5 Bft is the normal afternoon, and 20-25 kt or a little more is common. Expect it to hold at least until 13:00-14:00; from July to September it more often runs to sunset.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Hurghada / Magawish
Tobia Islandno page yet
Soma Bayno page yet
Abu Soma
Toubia Islandno page yet
Safaga Islandno page yet

The spot

Wind and water

Safaga sits south of Hurghada, and the atlas spot is the kite zone at Hotel/Imperial Shams, with more riding run by Hawa, Tornado and the other centres around Abu Soma and Soma Bay.

The wind is the north to northwest thermal: side-offshore and soft in the morning, then swinging to north sideshore around late morning and firming up. That morning angle is why nobody here rides without a boat behind them.

Water is flat in the sheltered sections and in the early hours, choppier once the wind is up, and the teaching shelf is shallow enough to stand on a long way out.

Access and skill levels

This is not a free public beach: the hotels and the schools control the sand, the zones and the rescue.

Beginners do well with a school, while freeriders get long reaches, freestyle water, foil days and guided downwinders toward Toubia Island or Soma Bay.

Skip it if you want waves or an unsupervised launch, and expect the shallow beginner water to be busy in the peak months.

The wind

locals call it Hawa Shamaal / Red Sea thermal north wind

Direction

cross-offN to NWwind blows away from land — rescue cover matters here

Direction to shore

cross-off

Kite sizes

4567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

A 75-85 kg twin-tip rider is on a 9 or 10 m for most windy summer afternoons and a 12 m for the softer morning phase and the shoulder months.A 7 m is worth carrying for September, when afternoons touch 25-30 kt.Rental quivers on this stretch run from 3.5 m up to 14 m; the 10-16 m sizes sometimes quoted for the Hotel Shams spot suit light-wind days and heavy riders rather than the summer norm.

Character

thermal

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

Whole-day averages of 14 knots in summer and 12 knots in winter, measured at the Menaville station. Through the hours it actually blows it runs 15-25 knots in summer and 13-23 knots in winter.

Typical strength

15-25 kt during the windy summer hours and 13-23 kt in winter, against whole-day means of 14 kt in summer and 12 kt in winter. Afternoons commonly settle at 20-25 kt, and the wider bay averages about 22 kt across May-October with 25-30 kt afternoon peaks, strongest in September.

Steadier and more reliable in summer. The NW near the shore is the gusty one, worse where it comes past buildings; the north wind that fills in later is the cleaner of the two.

Wind blows here year-round, with the long season running from March or April to October or November. May-October is the high season at Hotel Shams; March, April and November are shoulder months. Winter still delivers days, just fewer of them.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

9 ktJan23°
10 ktFeb22°
10 ktMar22°
9 ktApr23°
10 ktMay24°
11 ktJun26°
10 ktJul28°
11 ktAug28°
11 ktSep28°
9 ktOct27°
9 ktNov26°
9 ktDec24°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Monthly averages. Highlighted: the months riders and schools name (Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov).

Measured at Būr Safājah (Safaga), ~1 km from the spot (multi-year modeled/historical (Weatherspark)).

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	9.4 kt	N	17.2 °C	22.8 °C
Feb	9.6 kt	N	18.3 °C	22.2 °C
Mar	9.6 kt	N	21.1 °C	22.2 °C
Apr	9.2 kt	N	25 °C	22.8 °C
May	9.7 kt	N	28.9 °C	24.4 °C
Jun	10.8 kt	N	31.7 °C	26.1 °C
Jul	9.8 kt	N	32.8 °C	27.8 °C
Aug	10.5 kt	N	32.8 °C	28.3 °C
Sep	10.7 kt	N	30.6 °C	27.8 °C
Oct	9.1 kt	N	27.2 °C	27.2 °C
Nov	9 kt	N	22.2 °C	26.1 °C
Dec	9.2 kt	N	18.3 °C	24.4 °C

How this was measuredmeasured · multi-year modeled/historical (Weatherspark)

A ground station recorded this, at the distance the page names.

The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Būr Safājah (Safaga) · Weatherspark · multi-year modeled/historical (Weatherspark)

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

Shallow at the Hotel Shams beach: the launch and teaching water is knee-deep at most, and the shelf runs well out before it drops away toward the reef line.Standing water is the norm inside the school zone, and parts of the Soma Bay lagoon to the north are knee- to waist-deep. Big stones and loose coral sit in the shallows, so shuffle rather than stride and wear booties.

Tides

Small range and not decisive for riding: roughly 0.6-0.8 m highs against 0.1-0.4 m lows, a swing of about half a metre. It changes whether individual sandbanks and the shallowest teaching water are usable rather than whether the spot works at all.

Temperature

30 °C summer · 20 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 22–28 °C

Wetsuit

Shorts/lycra in summer; shorty in spring and autumn; short-arm or full/light wetsuit in winter depending on rider cold tolerance.

Currents

No persistent current runs along the main Safaga beach. The flow that matters sits out around Toubia Island, where it can pick up during downwind excursions, which is one reason that trip is run as an accompanied boat trip rather than a solo mission.

Conditions

Clear Red Sea water, flat in the morning and in the sheltered lagoon sections, chopped up once the afternoon wind is in. No real waves at the Hotel Shams spot, though the wider Safaga and Soma Bay water carries wind chop, wind swell and steep chop outside the flat areas. Stones, reefs and shallow coral sit in places.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Beginners are fine here with a school: shallow teaching water, flat lagoon sections and rescue on call.

Learning on your own does not work, because the morning wind is side-offshore to offshore and the schools mark their own teaching zones.

Intermediates and better use the spot for freeride, freestyle, slalom, foil and the downwind trips toward Toubia, Safaga Island and Soma Bay.

The scene

What riders come here for

freerideslalomfreestylefoildownwinderswingfoil

Who it suitsbeginner

A sport-focused Red Sea resort strip with kite, windsurf, wing and dive operators side by side. Quieter and less urban than Hurghada or El Gouna, though the shallow teaching water gets crowded in high season.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

6 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: ok

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

4 spots nearby

All 4 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Paid safety-boat service

Rescue here is priced in rather than optional. Because the morning wind is side-offshore, the centres run a paid safety-boat service that independent riders are expected to buy; the package normally bundles beach and storage use, beach assistance and a boat lift out to Toubia Island.

Rescue boats by centre

Two rescue boats stand by at the Shams centre and the lifeboat is covered for anyone on a lesson or a rental, while the Menaville operator runs its own rescue and the Abu Soma operator a Zodiac.

Students are ferried to Safaga Island or a private Soma Bay platform by boat rather than riding out.

Launch

Sandy beach launch at the Hotel/Imperial Shams kite zone, with the kite area upwind of and separate from the windsurfers. At Menaville independent riders start straight off the beach, while kite students get taken by Zodiac to Safaga Island or a private Soma Bay platform.

Hazards riders report 14 reported

Wind

Side-offshore or offshore wind in the morning can make rescue important
Gusty wind near shore when NW/offshore or where wind passes buildings
The NW morning direction is the gusty one; the later north wind is the steadier of the two.

Crowds and zones

separate zones exist for kiters and windsurfers to avoid conflicts
Crowded shallow beginner area at Hotel Shams in busy periods

Bottom

a few clearly marked coral areas
Reef and stones off the Hotel Shams beach.
Shallow coral across parts of the Safaga and Soma Bay shallows.
Booties are the standard precaution: there are stones on the beach and stones in the water.
Shallow coral in places across the Safaga and Soma Bay shallows
Stones on the beach and in the water; booties are the standard precaution
Loose coral pieces sit inside the standing area itself, not only along the reef edge; water shoes are the standard answer.
Big stones lie in the shallow water off the Hotel Shams beach and are easy to walk into.

Waves and currents

Current may be stronger near Toubia Island on downwind excursions

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: no municipal permit or public ordinance covers kiting here; the hotels and the centres control access.

Beach fees and zones

Non-guests of the Shams hotels pay a beach entrance fee of about EUR 7 per day or EUR 35 per week in 2026, cash, at the hotel. Kite and windsurf zones are kept apart, coral areas are marked, and independent riders are expected to stay clear of the swimmer and teaching zones. The paid safety-boat service is treated as compulsory because of the side-offshore morning wind.

Operating hours and season

2026: the kite station runs 08:30-17:00 daily, the season is March to November and the strongest months are May to September.

Lessons

Lessons take children from 12 years and 40 kg, and gear is stocked down to a 35-40 kg rider.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Ride the morning if you are learning, before the wind and the chop build.
Budget the rescue package as part of the trip, not an extra you might skip: the morning wind is side-offshore, and the same fee buys your beach use and storage.
Bring or rent booties. There are stones, reef and loose coral in the shallows.
Ask the centre which water is reserved for lessons, swimmers and windsurfers before you launch.
Aim for May-October. March, April and November are shoulder months rather than the core season.
Carry a bigger kite outside high season, and in the hot dry air of midsummer.
Do not take on the downwinder to Tobia Island, 4km offshore, or the Soma Bay run alone; both go as accompanied trips with local support.
If you are not staying at one of the Shams hotels, bring cash for the beach entrance: about EUR 7 a day or EUR 35 a week in 2026, paid at the hotel.
The wind turns as much as it builds. The 10:00-11:00 shift from NW to N is what takes the spot from gusty side-offshore to steady sideshore.
Be on the water early. The Shams station closes at 17:00.

Getting there

Airport

Hurghada International Airport (HRG)

Route

Fly into Hurghada, then take a taxi or private transfer south to Safaga, Abu Soma or Soma Bay. Hawa Safaga arranges airport transfers; book one through your accommodation rather than picking up a car at arrivals.

Transfer

40-75 minutes depending on exact hotel/spot and traffic: roughly 50 km from Hurghada Airport, about 42 minutes to Safaga, 55-75 minutes to Safaga hotels, and about 50 minutes to Soma Bay.

Cost level

mid

Staying

Beach resorts and sport hotels cluster around Shams and Imperial Shams, Menaville, Abu Soma and Soma Bay, in 3-, 4- and 5-star all-inclusive form. Lost Lagoon has an 18-room surf lodge next to its own centre.

No-wind days

Diving and snorkelling on the Red Sea reefs, SUP, kayaking, the resort spas, desert excursions, and the long day trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Safaga?

The best-supported high season runs May to October, with March, April and November as shoulder months and a windy year-round pattern overall.

Is Safaga good for beginners?

Yes with instruction, since schools mark shallow teaching zones and provide rescue, though the morning wind can be side-offshore so independent beginners need supervision.

What is the wind like?

The wind is typically N to NW, often offshore in the morning and turning sideshore by late morning, around 15-25 knots in windy summer hours.

Are there kite schools and rescue boats?

Yes, operators including ION CLUB, Hawa Safaga and Tornado Surf run teaching zones with rescue boats, since offshore-influenced mornings make boat cover important.

What hazards should riders know about?

Stones and shallow reef occur around the Hotel Shams area, and riders should stay clear of swimmer zones and separate windsurf zones near the centre.

The bigger pictureEverything about Safaga

Last updated: August 2026