The PADI system looks bigger from the outside than it is. There is one main ladder, a handful of specialties that genuinely change how you dive, and a lot of cards that mostly change what is printed on the card. After a few thousand course days on these reefs, here is the version we would give a friend.
Everything below is what we actually run in Hurghada and Marsa Alam, at the price on the trip page, with no course booked for you that you do not need.
The ladder, in one paragraph
Children start with Bubblemaker or Seal Team in shallow water. Adults with no certification start with Discover Scuba Diving, a real open-water dive with an instructor. The first proper licence is Open Water Diver: three to four days, valid for life, worldwide, to 18 metres. After that, Advanced Open Water opens 30 metres and five specialty dives; EFR plus Rescue Diver is the course that actually makes you a better diver to be in the water with; and Divemaster is where the hobby turns into a job. The specialties sit alongside the ladder and can be taken whenever you are ready for them.
Starting from zero
PADI Bubblemaker and Seal Team — for children
Bubblemaker takes children from 8 years old to 2 metres in a pool or a sheltered bay: one day, from EUR 68. Seal Team extends it into AquaMissions — buoyancy, navigation, a mini wreck dive — one day, from EUR 175, also from 8 years old. Neither is a licence, and neither is a sales funnel: most children do one and are happy.
Discover Scuba Diving — one dive, no licence
An uncertified adult, an instructor, and 12 metres of open water. In Hurghada it runs from EUR 59 as a day trip with two boat stops; in Marsa Alam the full PADI programme is a day from EUR 146, from 10 years old. If you know already that you want the certification, skip it — the dive counts towards Open Water anyway only in the PADI programme version.
PADI Scuba Diver — the half certification
Scuba Diver is Open Water stopped at the halfway point: two days, from EUR 272, to 12 metres, and you must always dive with a professional. It exists for people who are short of time. It upgrades to full Open Water later without repeating anything.
How much do PADI courses cost in Hurghada and Marsa Alam?
Per person, 2026, everything included — kit, boat, instructor, materials and certification:
| Course | Days | Min age | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bubblemaker (children) | 1 | 8 | EUR 68 |
| Enriched Air (Nitrox) | 1 | 12 | EUR 126 |
| Peak Performance Buoyancy | 2 | 10 | EUR 143 |
| Digital Underwater Photography | 2 | 10 | EUR 143 |
| Discover Scuba Diving (PADI programme) | 1 | 10 | EUR 146 |
| Night Diver | 2 | 12 | EUR 166 |
| Emergency First Response (EFR) | 2 | — | EUR 175 |
| Seal Team (children) | 1 | 8 | EUR 175 |
| Advanced Open Water (Hurghada) | 2 | 12 | EUR 243 |
| Deep Diver | 3 | 15 | EUR 243 |
| Wreck Diver | 2 | 15 | EUR 243 |
| Scuba Diver | 2 | 10 | EUR 272 |
| Sidemount Diver | 3 | 15 | EUR 282 |
| Open Water Diver (Hurghada) | 3 | 10 | EUR 326 |
| Rescue Diver (Hurghada) | 3 | 15 | EUR 340 |
| Divemaster (Hurghada) | 30 | 18 | EUR 972 |
Marsa Alam runs its own versions of several of these — Open Water over four days from EUR 428, Advanced over three from EUR 282, Rescue over four from EUR 369 — with smaller groups and longer water time, which is what the difference pays for.
The core certifications
Open Water Diver
Three to four days: theory you can finish online before you fly, five confined-water sessions, four open-water dives. You come out certified to 18 metres, anywhere in the world, for life. Hurghada from EUR 326, from 10 years old. It is the single course that changes everything; the rest is refinement.
Advanced Open Water
Five dives, no exam: deep and navigation are compulsory, then three of your choosing — night, wreck, buoyancy, photography, drift. It takes you to 30 metres, which on this coast is the difference between looking at Elphinstone from above and diving it properly. Hurghada, two days, from EUR 243.
EFR and Rescue Diver
Emergency First Response (two days, from EUR 175) is the CPR and first-aid course, and it is the prerequisite for Rescue Diver (three days, from EUR 340). Rescue is the hardest fun most divers have: tired divers, panicked divers, missing divers, a lot of swimming. Ask any instructor which course made them better and they will say this one.
Divemaster
The first professional rating: about a month in the water, from EUR 972 in Hurghada. Physical fitness assessments, dive theory exams, mapping a site, guiding certified divers, assisting on courses. We wrote a full account of what the days look like in what the Divemaster course actually involves.
Which specialty is actually worth your money?
If you take one, take buoyancy. If you take two, add nitrox. Here is the honest ranking of what we teach:
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Two days, from EUR 143, from 10 years old. The specialty that improves every dive you will ever do afterwards: less weight, less air, no fin contact with the reef, and photographs that are not blurred. Book buoyancy in Marsa Alam.
Enriched Air (Nitrox)
One day, from EUR 126, no dives required in the standard version. More bottom time on repetitive days and, for most people, less fatigue on a week of three-dive days. On a five-day package it pays for itself in dive time. Nitrox in Marsa Alam.
Deep Diver
Three days, from EUR 243, from 15 years old. Takes you to 40 metres and, more usefully, teaches you what narcosis feels like on you specifically, and how fast a deep dive eats gas. Deep Diver in Marsa Alam.
Wreck Diver
Two days, from EUR 243, from 15 years old. Survey, penetration lines, hazards. The Red Sea is a wreck coast — the Thistlegorm, the Hamada at Abu Ghusun, the El Minya — and this is the card that makes those dives yours rather than a swim past a hull. Wreck Diver in Marsa Alam.
Night Diver
Two days, from EUR 166, from 12 years old. The same reef becomes a different animal after dark: Spanish dancers, hunting lionfish, parrotfish asleep in their mucus cocoons. Night Diver in Marsa Alam.
Sidemount Diver
Three days, from EUR 282, from 15 years old. Two cylinders at your sides instead of one on your back: kinder to bad backs, redundant gas, and the gateway to technical diving. Sidemount in Marsa Alam.
Digital Underwater Photography
Two days, from EUR 143, from 10 years old. Mostly a buoyancy and light course with a camera in it, which is exactly why the photographs improve. Photography in Marsa Alam.
Can you do a course if you have not dived for years?
Yes, and you should not go straight onto a deep dive to find out how it goes. If your last dive was more than a year ago, book a guided two-dive day and tell the centre when you booked; the guide will run the skills refresh — mask clear, regulator recovery, weight check — on the first dive of the day, in shallow water, before anything else. That is the honest version of a refresher, and it costs the price of a normal dive day rather than a course fee.
If you would rather have the formal PADI ReActivate card, ask through the trip request form and we will arrange it with the centre.
Courses we do not run — and what to do instead
People search for these in Hurghada, so it is worth being clear rather than quietly taking the booking:
- Drift Diver, Search and Recovery, standalone Underwater Navigation: not in our catalogue as separate courses. Navigation and drift are both covered as adventure dives inside Advanced Open Water, which is how most divers on this coast take them.
- Instructor Development Course (IDC) and Instructor Examination: a PADI Course Director runs these, not a dive centre, and the nearest are seasonal. Send us your dates through the request form and we will point you at one honestly, whether or not it is ours.
- Courses in Sharm el-Sheikh or Dahab: our bookable catalogue is Hurghada and Marsa Alam. We can quote a partner centre on request; we will not list a course we cannot stand behind.
Practical notes before you book
- Medical form. Answer it honestly. Asthma, heart conditions, recent surgery and some medications need a doctor signature — which is obtainable in Hurghada, but not at 8 a.m. on the morning of your course.
- Do the theory at home. PADI eLearning turns a four-day course into three days in the water instead of two days in a classroom.
- Leave a buffer before your flight. 18 to 24 hours between the last dive and take-off, so do not book a course that finishes the morning you fly.
- Course prices include equipment on every course we sell. A mask that fits your face is still worth bringing.
- Free cancellation up to 48 hours before the start, and payment online or in cash on the first day.
Book the course, not the card
The right course is the one that fixes what limits your diving right now: air consumption, depth, confidence, or the fact that you are not certified yet. Browse every course and trip we run with live prices in your currency, or read the full breakdown in our complete list of PADI courses in Hurghada.
Bring the logbook. The reef does the rest.
