Eight to ten minutes in the air for around £12, which makes this the cheapest activity in our Egypt coverage and, minute for minute, the best-value parasailing on the Red Sea. Sharm's flight is roughly double Hurghada's airtime at half the price. The listing also publishes the weight and age limits that Hurghada's leaves out, which matters more than it sounds if you are booking for a family.
The number that actually matters
Parasailing listings quote wildly different durations because they measure different things. This one is unusually clear about it.
The flight is 8-10 minutes. The boat trip around it can run up to 45 minutes on busy days, because you share the boat with a group of other parasailers and take your turn.
That is a genuinely good ratio for this activity. For comparison, the equivalent product in Hurghada is 25 minutes total with 3-5 minutes of airtime, at roughly double the price. Same coast, same activity, materially different purchase.
We are not going to pretend otherwise just because both are things you can book: if you have a choice of resort and parasailing matters to you, Sharm is the better place to do it. If you are already in Hurghada, the shorter flight is still worth having – it is just not the bargain this is.
What flying is like here
You are winched out from the back of a boat, so there is no running start and no getting wet unless the crew dips you at the end and you want that.
The listing gives the maximum altitude as 50 m. From there Naama Bay's reef structure and the color banding of the shallows are visible in a way they simply are not from a sun lounger, with the Sinai mountains behind the town.
The boat carries a group and everyone takes a turn, which is why the total booking runs longer than the flight. Waiting on the boat is part of the product rather than a fault in it, and on a warm morning it is not a hardship.
The limits are published, and that is useful
Unusually for this format in Egypt, this listing states its restrictions rather than leaving you to find out at the marina.
Maximum total weight is 150 kg across all participants on a single flight. That governs the configuration: two adults of average weight are fine together, three adults probably are not, and a parent plus two children usually works.
The trip is not suitable for children under 4. Beyond that no age ceiling is published.
Single, double and triple flights are all available. Decide the combination before you arrive, since the 150 kg ceiling applies per flight and rearranging groups at the boat wastes time you have paid for.
What is included
The flight itself, the boat trip, all safety equipment including a life jacket, professional crew guidance, VIP beach access, and food and drinks. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours ahead.
One honest difference from Hurghada's version: Hurghada's listing includes photography and this one does not mention it. If photos matter, ask on the day rather than assuming – you cannot take your own while hanging from a canopy.
When to go
September through May is Red Sea high season, but parasailing runs to a tighter daily window than anything else in Sharm.
Wind grounds parasailing before it troubles the boat trips. Crews need manageable surface conditions to launch and recover safely, and the breeze on this coast builds through the afternoon. A morning slot is far more likely to actually fly.
Because the whole thing takes well under an hour, it slots into a morning you have already committed to something else – which is the real argument for it. It is not a day out, it is an hour with ten minutes of altitude in the middle.
Check available slots – at this price it is worth adding to a day you had already planned, and the morning slots are the ones that get airborne.
The short Sharm activities, compared
| What you want | Book | Roughly | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ten minutes at 50 m, for the price of lunch | Parasailing | ~£12 per person | Under an hour total, and wind can ground it |
| The reef, dry, in 90 minutes | Seascope semi-submarine | ~£27 per person | Through glass, and not step-free |
| A desert day and a different town | Dahab day trip | ~£16 per person | 11-13.5 hours, one shore snorkel |
This is the cheapest genuinely memorable thing in Sharm, and the only one that gets you off the water rather than into it. If you have a full day rather than a morning, the Ras Mohamed boat trip or the Tiran cruise are the bigger experiences.
For a base near the bays these boats work off, our Sharm guides to swim-up rooms and private pool villas cover the hotel strips, and the water activities index covers our other destinations.
FAQ – parasailing in Sharm El Sheikh
Images: Serhio Magpie / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0
