The question people actually ask before a trip to Sharm El Sheikh is not which reef is best. It is: I have seen €85 for two dives, what will I really pay? The answer, on the price lists we have read line by line, is that the headline number is right and incomplete at the same time.
The dive itself costs what it says. The day costs more: the mark-up runs from €10 on a shore day to +42 % at Aqua Sharm (€80 → €114).
What does the price list actually quote?
A standard diving day in Sharm is two guided dives, boat or shore, roughly eight hours. Here is what these centres print, and what they say will be added.
| Centre | Printed price | Added on the day |
|---|---|---|
| The Wave (shore) | €70 | Kit rental, marine park fee. No boat fee at all |
| Dolphin Diving Center | $70 | Boat days only: $25 pp/day park, port and catering. Kit, insurance $9/day |
| Cinderella Eldawley | €80 | Kit rental, marine park fee |
| Aqua Sharm | €80 | Park fee €10/day, lunch €10/day, then 14 % VAT on the total invoice |
| Sea College | €85 | Boat fee €10 pp/day, park fee, insurance, kit, nitrox |
| Dive In Sharm | €85 web / €90 on site | Boarding and marine park fees, lunch |
| Reef Oasis Blue Bay | €95 | Boat fee €10 pp/day, then 10 % VAT on all services |
| Mr. Diver Red Sea | $95 | Kit $20–25/day, dive computer $5/day, optional 3rd dive $35 |
| Circle Divers | €96 | Kit rental, marine park fees |
| Story Divers | €100 (€90 prepaid, −10 %) | Park fee 7 €/day, lunch and drinks 13 €/day, kit |
| Shark Divers (Zodiac) | €155 | Kit rental, marine park fees — amounts not published |
| Aquarius Diving Club | from £55/day | Full kit €25/day, marine park fees |
| Nemo (Discover Scuba) | €100 per session | Marine park and boat fees |
| Anar (PADI Open Water) | €380 per student | Student manual, certification |
| Camel (7 nights + 3 dive days) | from €559 | Lunch on board 10 €, kit rental |
Where does the €10 boat fee come from?
Two centres name it in writing. Sea College states that all boat trips carry an additional €10 per person per day, and Reef Oasis Blue Bay says boat fees are not included and are €10 per person per day. It pays for the day boat and the jetty, and it is per day rather than per dive, so a three-day package carries it three times.
The fee disappears entirely if you dive from the shore. The Wave runs a shore-entry day from El Kheima Beach at €70 with tanks, weights and hotel transfers, and states plainly that there is no boat fee because no boat is used. Sea College and Reef Oasis both let you choose boat or shore at the same headline price, which means the €10 is your decision and not theirs.
What is the marine park fee?
Ras Mohammed and the other protected sites charge to be entered, and almost every centre passes that through. Two publish the amount: Aqua Sharm lists a national park fee of €10.00 per day, Story Divers lists a National Park fee of 7 €/day. The rest — Cinderella, Sea College, The Wave, Circle, Aquarius, Shark Divers, Dive In, Nemo — name the fee without a figure, which is why we ask the operator for the current amount in writing before a booking.
The tax nobody puts in the headline
Two operators state that tax comes on top. Aqua Sharm writes that 14 % VAT is not included and will be added to the total invoice. Reef Oasis writes that 10 % VAT will be added on all services. The sum works out like this: €95 plus the €10 boat fee plus 10 % is about €115 per person for a boat day. That is 21 % above the printed number.
How does the same sum look at Aqua Sharm and Sea College?
Aqua Sharm's own day runs the same way: €80, plus €10 park fee, plus €10 lunch, is €100 — and 14 % on top of that is €114. Sea College's €85 becomes €95 the moment the boat leaves, before kit, insurance and the park gate.
Three centres that go the other way
Not everyone in Sharm sells this way, and the exceptions are worth knowing by name.
- Mr. Diver Red Sea — $95 with the National Park and jetty fees inside the price, plus transport, breakfast, lunch, drinks and two 12/15 L nitrox tanks. Only kit rental ($20–25 a day), a dive computer ($5 a day) and an optional third dive ($35) sit outside.
- Dolphin Diving Center — $70 with the hotel transfer and both taxes, 14 % VAT and the 10 % entertainment tax, included in the price of all programmes. On boat days a $25 per person per day line covers state park and port fees plus food and drinks on board.
- Story Divers — €100 with taxes, transfers from any hotel and free Nitrox 32 % for certified divers included, and €90 if you prepay. The park fee (7 €/day) and lunch (13 €/day) are named with amounts, so the day is fully countable before you leave the hotel.
How do you count your own day in two minutes?
Take the printed price. Add €10 for every boat day. Add the park fee — €10 at Aqua Sharm, 7 € at Story Divers, an unpublished amount elsewhere. Add lunch if it is not included. Then VAT: 14 % at Aqua Sharm and 10 % at Reef Oasis — those two name it.
Dolphin and Story Divers write that taxes are already inside. The rest write neither one nor the other, so we confirm it in writing before booking. Finally add equipment rental if you are not travelling with your own: $20–25 a day at Mr. Diver, €25 a day at Aquarius, an unnamed amount at most of the rest.
What does a boat day come to in the end?
Done honestly, a boat day in Sharm lands between €95 and €120 per person almost everywhere, and the operators who look cheapest at first glance are not always the ones who finish cheapest. The shore day at €70 and Mr. Diver's all-in $95 are the two ends of that comparison.
The printed price is the dive, not the day. Add the €10 boat fee, the park fee, lunch and VAT wherever an operator names them, and a boat day in Sharm lands at €95–120 per person almost everywhere. Mr. Diver, Dolphin and Story Divers put the fees or the taxes inside the number.
Courses and packages are counted differently
None of this arithmetic applies to training. Nemo's PADI Discover Scuba Diving is €100 for the whole session — theory, a confined-water session and one open-water dive, about four hours — not a per-head rate inside a group; the club's list price is €110, and marine park and boat fees are separate lines.
Anar's PADI Open Water Diver course is €380 per student, with the manual and the certification billed on top. And Camel sells seven nights and three diving days from €559 per person with free nitrox and airport transfers, which is the one product where you should compare against a daily rate multiplied out — fees included.
Prices in this article are the operators' own published figures as of 3 September 2026 and are quoted in the currency each operator uses. Where an operator names a fee without an amount, we confirm the current figure in writing before your booking.
Updated 3 September 2026.
