Taking the ferry from Egypt (Safaga) to Saudi Arabia (Duba)

We travelled from Alexandria to Aswan by the overnight train. Getting onto the comfortable, sleeper train – not possible at the last minute, and at the time Egypt was in the process of introducing their two-tier pricing scheme on regular passenger trains. So we ended up paying a 350% inflated ‘special foreigners’ price, in first class which was wretched, dirty, and noisy. We actually thought they were lying to rip us off, but it was (and is) true – Egyptian railways has decided that foreigners will be the lifeblood of the business/don’t want us on trains at all in the first place. We’ve been to Egypt before and traveled by local transport with some amount of difficulty due to unclear rules, but always managed to get by sort of ‘on our own responsibility’. Now we abandoned trains altogether and went for the bus instead.

But since we were heading for Saudi Arabia next the bus wasn’t going to cut it. First, we thought about going to Sudan and taking the ferry from Port Sudan to Jeddah. This was before the current civil war. We’ve been to Sudan and would have to retrace our steps (although it would be fun to drop in on Magzoub). But that plus the fact that the security situation was already somewhat volatile, and that we couldn’t find any information about departure times from Port Sudan, all seemed like a bit much fuss so we scrapped that idea.

A couple of locals we talked to in Cairo and Alexandria hinted at there being ferries to Saudi Arabia from Hurghada or other places in Egypt, but no one knew much about it. Any sort of ticketing or travel agent we asked said no such thing existed and tried to sell us flights to Riyadh. That only strengthened our resolve and we were determined, Insh’Allah, to arrive in Saudi Arabia by ferry.

Based on a conversation with a taxi driver, and a single report we’d found online, we were fairly certain that there were in fact ferries going from Safaga in Egpyt to Duba, in Saudi Arabia. And as far as we could find out, no passenger ferries at all to Jeddah or leaving from anywhere else in Egypt. So after a few chill days in Aswan we headed back north to Luxor and from there to Safaga, which we’d never heard of before and with good reason, because it’s a fairly unappealing town.

This post is about our experience crossing the Red Sea from Egypt (Safaga) to Saudi Arabia (Duba) by ferry.

Before you go

You most likely need a visa for Saudi Arabia (check that, according to your nationality). The visa process is online and very straightforward.

The overnight ferry trip is about eleven hours long, not counting a LOT of additional time for checking in, waiting, dis/embarking, and so on.

The vessel has a very basic cafeteria. It served breakfast in the morning of eggs, foul, bread, and tea. There’s a ‘family room’ for women and couples to eat in. Get used to that.

The ferry is a passenger and cargo vessel, so if you have a vehicle you can get it across. Shipping a car/motorcycle will entail a whole extra whack of formalities and I’ll bet it’s time-consuming. We saw the security officers removing the tires from a vehicle in a pre-boarding inspection.

Have an eSim like Airalo already downloaded and ready to go. Bring the last of your local currency for food onboard – cash only, of course.

Remember, Saudi Arabia is very conservative. Women should cover up as much as possible but foreigners don’t need to wear a hijab or abaya. Most women in Saudi Arabia wear a fully covering black niqab, even though it’s not mandatory anymore. For that matter a lot of women wear it in Egypt.

Luxor to Safaga

Safaga is about three and a half hours by bus from Luxor. There are several bus companies near the train station in Luxor. We left late in the day so we spent the night in Safaga, plus the next night since it took an entire day to find the shipping line and get tickets. The ferry leaves at night so in theory you could do it all in a day if you move fast.

Get your ferry tickets

Our very nice host in Safaga picked us up on the side of the road when we arrived well after dark, and drove us to the apartment we were staying in. On the way he showed us a ticketing office for a ferry company called Namma Shipping. He thought we might be able to get tickets there (we’d seen this online too, but couldn’t find any passenger info). Next day we checked in person but sure enough, they were no longer running passenger ferries.

So, we walked around asking about ferries to Saudi Arabia at shipping offices and travel agents and random people near the port. With all signage in Arabic this was not particularly easy to do. Eventually someone in a cargo office understood enough English to get what we were on about. He gave us the phone number of Mr. Alaa, who seemed to be singlehandedly responsible for all activities at the port.

Mr. Alaa told us to show up at his office later the same day – they don’t open most days before noon (get used to that before heading to Saudi Arabia, too). Mr. Alaa’s company’s name translates to International Union Shipping Company. They are also called Kendy Travels, not sure if it’s an affiliated travel agency or a division inside the shipping company, for handling ferry passengers. Doesn’t really matter. Either way, the office is on the top floor of this building, next to the El Jawhara Inn. Look for the sign with an anchor on top of the building:

Bring your passport and a printout of your e-Visa for Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Alaa and his numerous colleagues were upstairs in their office chain-smoking. They gave us a breakdown of the ticket options and we sprung for a first class cabin which was cheap. They took our passports and Saudi visas and spent an insanely long time entering everything in the computer, smoking, and printing stuff off. We paid cash, and they told us to come back later the same evening to collect our documents and tickets, and board the ferry.

Departure, and onboard the ferry

Back in the hazy cloud of smoke in Mr. Alaa’s office later that evening, we collected our passports and sat waiting – for a couple of hours. Luckily there’s not much to do in Safaga anyway.

The office is within walking distance of the port and eventually we set off on foot with one of Mr. Alaa’s assistants. It seems that a personal escort to the port, through immigration, and onto the vessel is just part of the service. Not a bad idea actually, since the port is a bit of a maze. It’s not common for foreigners to make the trip and according to the passenger manifest we were the only two non-Egyptian or Saudi nationals onboard, so they kept tabs on us.

There are several stages of queueing up outside the port compound, showing your passport and ticket, and paying small fees (make sure you bring Egyptian pounds). Then you go inside and wait again with everyone’s passports in a huge pile on some officer’s desk while he and everyone else smokes like crazy. You can use the time to fill out some exit forms. Eventually, you’ll get your passport back with the stamp and can rush outside for fresh air and then wait for hours in another dense cloud of smoke until they let you board.

Foot passengers board the ferry first and then all the vehicles and transport trucks are loaded onboard. As you board you go straight to reception, show your boarding card, and get your room number and a key. We went to our comfortable cabin and made ourselves at home. Then we wandered around the vessel. No celebratory beers on this boat, by the way.

Don’t worry about setting an alarm. You’ll be woken up by morning prayer, broadcast over the ship loudspeakers and in your room.

There’s plenty of time to get breakfast in the cafeteria and wander around the ferry. There are hot water samovars onboard and we had our aeropress along of course, so we made coffee and took a morning stroll.

Arriving in Saudi Arabia

The ferry left Egypt around 23:00 and arrived in Saudi Arabia around 10:00. It arrives at the Port of Neom which is about thirty-eight kilometers north of Duba itself.

The port terminal is small and fairly organized. Join/start the queue for passport control and away you go! It took a very long time, even though we were the only two foreign nationals onboard. However, the immigration officer was the first person to wish me Happy Birthday, since Oyv forgot, so that was really nice.

We didn’t see any ATMs at the port, at least none that were operational.

Here’s a map with the blue pin indicating where the port is in relation to town:

Neom Port to Duba (the ‘Pearl of the Red Sea’)

Back in Egypt we’d met a friendly Saudi businessman who complained non-stop about Egyptians and was very keen to leave Egypt. He was traveling on the ferry with us and before we all went off to our cabins he’d enthusiastically welcomed us to Saudi Arabia and informed us we’d like it a lot better than Egypt (we liked Egypt just fine, a lot actually, but anyway).

The next morning we saw him again as we disembarked and he very kindly waited for us outside while immigration painstakingly processed our e-Visas. When we got out to the carpark we barely had a moment to realise there was no transport to town before he materialised beside us and offered a ride to Duba. We gratefully took him up on the offer and he not only drove us to Duba but insisted on helping us find a hotel.

Moral of the story, Saudi Arabia is a car-based country and public transport can be hard to come by in remote areas. The Neom port is in a remote area so you may have to rely on meeting a kind fellow passenger as we did, or hitch-hike to Duba. Apparently it’s easy to hitch-hike in Saudi Arabia, but they do drive like hell there, so be warned.

In Duba, which for some inscrutable reason is called the ‘Pearl of the Red Sea’, your accommodation options are expensive and limited – although not as limited as the food choices. I suggest you get some money (plenty of ATMs around), get a bus ticket, and get out the next day.

We stayed the night, got bus tickets, and traveled to Yanbu (five and a half hours), stayed a night and carried on to Medina the day after that. That was a smooth trip – roads are good but distances are huge in Saudi Arabia.

Here’s a map with the blue pin indicating where we found the bus station and got our tickets. We stayed at one of a couple of hotels just two minutes away on foot:

Incidentally, Duba is not the only ‘Pearl of the Red Sea’ we’ve come across. There’s an almost-ghost-town in Eritrea laying claim to the same nickname, and you can rest assured we’ve been there too.

Read More

We’ve crossed a lot of borders by all sorts of random transport. Have a look at our Asia and Africa border crossing reports for strange stories and sage advice.