Italians in Hurghada: Why Sharm Fans Are Looking North

Picture a Sunday lunch somewhere between Bergamo and Bari. Somebody's uncle puts down his fork and announces that this year, for the fifteenth time, he is going back to Sharm. Somebody's cousin, who has been quietly scrolling through flat listings under the table, says: "Or we could try Hurghada." Silence. Then the uncle asks whether Hurghada has proper espresso. (It does. Several places will even argue with you about it.)

That little scene is playing out in a lot of Italian families right now, and the numbers suggest it is not just a lunchtime fantasy. Italians have been loyal to the Red Sea for decades, but the map in their heads is changing: more of them are looking at Hurghada and Sahl Hasheesh, and some are asking the bigger question, which is whether they should stop renting a week and start owning a place. If you are one of them, this guide is for you. We will look at who is actually going, how you get there, how Hurghada and Sahl Hasheesh differ, what a flat costs, and the Italian paperwork nobody mentions at the sales presentation.

First, the numbers: Italy is now Egypt's fifth-biggest market

According to figures from Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, reported by Finestre sull'Arte on 1 October 2026, 461,059 Italians visited Egypt in the first five months of 2026, up 15.1% on the 400,692 of the same period in 2025. That puts Italy fifth among the country's main markets, behind Russia (1,063,704), Germany (736,354), Poland (497,007) and the United Kingdom (478,677). In other words, you are not a lonely pioneer: you are part of a crowd that is growing faster than most of its neighbours.

Daily News Egypt reported on 27 June 2026 a similar rise of about 15% for January to the first week of June. In the same piece, Pier Ezhaya, president of the Italian tour operators' association ASTOI, said Marsa Alam is now among the most popular destinations for Italian travellers, and Egypt's tourism minister pointed to more independent Italian visitors, meaning people who book flights and rooms themselves rather than buying a package. That detail matters for us. The traveller who books independently is exactly the person who starts wondering about a flat of their own.

Why the Sharm regulars are glancing north

Sharm el-Sheikh has earned its Italian fan club honestly: reliable sun, famous reefs, flights that Italians know by heart. So why are some of those fans now browsing Hurghada and Sahl Hasheesh? Here are the reasons we hear most often, with the caveat that they are our reading of the market, not survey data.

It is a real city, not only a resort strip. Hurghada has roughly 250,000 residents according to the Expat.com Hurghada guide, with 20,000 to 30,000 of them expats. That means supermarkets, clinics, schools and restaurants that do not close when the last charter leaves. For someone thinking of spending a few months a year there, daily life matters more than the buffet.

You can own your corner of it. Hurghada and Sahl Hasheesh have a lot of apartments and villas sold to individuals, often with instalment plans from developers. Many owners use the flat for their own holidays and let it out when they are at home.

The coast is varied. You can choose a lively town base in Hurghada, a polished resort bay in Sahl Hasheesh, or a quieter family beach in Makadi Bay, all within a short drive of one airport. We compare the first two for families in our guide to Hurghada versus Sahl Hasheesh for families.

A small honest note: we have not covered Sharm's own property rules here, because South Sinai is a separate legal and practical conversation. If you own or want to own there, ask an Egyptian lawyer who works in Sinai. This article is about the Red Sea Governorate side, where our listings are.

Getting there: Milan, Verona, Naples and beyond

Flights are the first thing any Italian asks, and rightly so. A flat you cannot reach cheaply is a very expensive wardrobe. Here is what we found, and please treat every schedule as something to confirm on the airline's site before you plan a trip.

• Naples: Wizz Air has announced a direct Naples to Hurghada route from 2 December 2026, three times a week (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), with fares advertised from €45.99. It is the airline's second Egyptian destination from Naples after Sharm el-Sheikh.

• Milan Malpensa: the schedule tracker FlightsFrom lists easyJet (two weekly flights) and Air Cairo (one weekly), with a flight time of about 4 hours 15 minutes. The same page notes that Wizz Air Malta's last scheduled flight on the route was on 25 March 2026.

• Verona: FlightsFrom shows a Neos flight once a week from 25 March 2027, about 3 hours 50 minutes in the air.

Those trackers are sample schedules and they are not always consistent, so use them as a pointer rather than a promise. Also worth knowing: the daily newspaper il Giornale reported in December 2024, in a piece about Marsa Alam, that close to ten flights a day leave Italy for the Egyptian Red Sea from Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Naples and Verona. If you also fancy a look at Marsa Alam, you are in good company.

Hurghada or Sahl Hasheesh? A quick map for Italians

This is the choice that most Sharm converts face first, so here is our short version. We go deeper in our guide to the Sahl Hasheesh neighbourhoods.

Question

Hurghada

Sahl Hasheesh

Feel

A big town with beaches, markets and nightlife

A planned resort bay with a promenade and marina

Daily life

Everything on your doorstep

Calmer, with bigger shops a drive away

Distance from the airport

Close to the centre

About 18 km (Expat.com), roughly 20 minutes

Typical buyer

People who want to live there part of the year

Holiday-home owners who want polish

Price level

Lower

Higher

If you picture yourself buying bread at 8 a.m. and chatting to the baker, Hurghada. If you picture yourself on a terrace with a book and no one honking, Sahl Hasheesh. Many Italians do a week in each before deciding, which is the cheapest research you will ever do.

What does a flat actually cost?

A guide by Mihail Konon on Realting.com (15 June 2026) puts two-bedroom flats in Hurghada at roughly USD 500 to 1,200 per square metre depending on the area, and Sahl Hasheesh at an average of USD 1,700 to 2,200 per square metre. The guide itself notes the Sahl Hasheesh ranges are wide, so use them as a rough compass.

For a concrete example, a 115 m2 two-bedroom flat in the Cala compound in Hurghada's Arabia area was listed on Property Finder at EGP 8,900,000, with a payment plan of 0% down over six years or 10% down over seven. At the 19 October 2026 rate on 30Rates (1 euro = 60.2352 Egyptian pounds), that is about €147,800. The listing was marked as no longer available when we checked, so read it as an example of what the market looks like, not as an offer. Off-plan prices and plans change constantly, which is why our off-plan explainer tells you what to ask a developer.

On the income side, our own platform average net rental yield is 12.4%, but treat that as the upper end of what you should expect. Global Property Guide puts Egypt's average gross yield at 7.47% for the second quarter of 2026, with net typically one and a half to two points lower. We unpack the maths in is 12.4% rental yield real?.

Running costs are the part people forget. In our worked example for a EGP 3,000,000 flat, service charge, utilities, repairs and local property tax come to about EGP 75,300 a year, roughly €1,250 at today's rate. That is our illustration, not a quote, but it shows the order of magnitude.

The Italian homework: IVIE and Quadro RW

Now the unglamorous bit, and the one that is specific to you. If you are tax-resident in Italy and own property abroad, you generally have to declare it in the Quadro RW section of your tax return and pay IVIE, the Italian tax on foreign property. According to Fisco Investimenti (updated 30 October 2026), the ordinary rate for 2026 is 1.06%, calculated on the purchase cost for property outside the EU and EEA, paid by F24 form, with nothing due if the result is €200 or less. A foreign property tax of a similar nature can be credited against it.

To make that concrete with our own arithmetic: on a €150,000 flat, 1.06% is €1,590 a year. Some older guides quote 0.76%, so the rate you see depends on the source and year. Ask a commercialista who knows foreign property, and ask early, because it changes your yield calculation. Rental income from an Egyptian flat also has tax consequences in Italy, and we have not verified how they interact with Egyptian tax, so do not guess: get it in writing from an accountant before you sign.

Paying, and the rules of the game

Egyptian rules for foreigners are not complicated, but they are strict. The Real Estate Registry's guide for foreign buyers (15 September 2025) mentions a limit of two properties and 4,000 m2, deposits typically between 10% and 30%, and registration that can take from three to twelve months. The Registry's other guide is blunt that a property is not legally yours until it is registered.

On payments, The Rio Times reported on 21 September 2026 that under Central Bank of Egypt Circular 41, foreign buyers must show the price was paid from abroad in foreign currency to an authorised Egyptian bank. For an Italian buyer, that means euros leaving your Italian account, with a paper trail you keep forever. Keep the transfer receipts and the bank's inward-transfer certificate: they matter if you later want to sell and take the money out. The UK government also advises independent legal advice and a bilingual contract in its guidance on buying property in Egypt, which is sensible for anyone, whatever the passport. Our step-by-step buying walkthrough covers the sequence from reservation to keys.

Try before you buy: a three-step plan

Here is what we would do if we were in your trainers, and trainers are what you will want on the Hurghada promenade.

1. Rent for two weeks, not seven days. Book one holiday rental in Hurghada and one in Sahl Hasheesh. Do the school run, the supermarket run and the "what do we do on a Tuesday" test.

2. Meet the people. Visit two or three finished compounds, talk to owners, and ask what the service charge is and how quickly repairs happen.

3. Do the homework at home. Talk to a commercialista about IVIE and Quadro RW, and an independent Egyptian lawyer about the contract, before you pay any deposit.

On Red Sea Listings, buyers use the platform for free, agencies and developers are KYC verified, and you can reach agents directly by WhatsApp, with prices shown in euros, dollars, pounds or Egyptian pounds. Start with flats and villas in Hurghada or homes in Sahl Hasheesh, pick three that make you smile, and send the first message.

The uncle may never switch from Sharm, and that is fine. But the cousin with the listings open under the table might be onto something. Book the two weeks, and let the sea settle the argument.