Egypt is malaria-free. The Red Sea has a dengue footnote.

Are there mosquitoes in Egypt? Yes, mostly in the evening along the Nile and in some Red Sea hotels, and the World Health Organization certified the country malaria-free in October 2024. The disease to know about is dengue, which broke out on the Red Sea coast and in Upper Egypt in 2023 and reached travelers in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2024.

No malaria, and dengue on the Red Sea

Malaria is off the list. WHO's certification on October 20, 2024, followed at least three consecutive years without local transmission, and the CDC's Egypt page recommends no malaria medicine.

Dengue is a different story. WHO counts Egypt among nine dengue-endemic countries in its Eastern Mediterranean Region, and recent outbreaks have clustered on the Red Sea and in Upper Egypt. In July 2023 the health ministry confirmed dengue in Al-Aliqat, a village in Qena, with all cases mild and treated at home, and linked some patients to cases in Safaga and Quseir on the coast. The same year, a rise in German travelers coming home with dengue revealed an outbreak in Hurghada. El-Quseir had an earlier one in 2017.

In 2024 dengue reached Sharm el-Sheikh. A report in the CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, published in November 2025, describes four infections in Israeli travelers who visited the resort between April and June 2024, likely from one outbreak, in a desert town once thought unsuitable for the mosquito. The report says Aedes aegypti, the main dengue mosquito, has spread along Egypt's Red Sea coast, and suggests ferries from Hurghada may have carried the virus across. Whether dengue kept circulating on the coast after 2024 isn't known.

Aedes bites by day, with peaks after sunrise and in the late afternoon. On the Red Sea, put repellent on over sunscreen in the morning and again after a swim. Our dengue & Zika daily routine has the full schedule.

Nile evenings: decks, terraces and feluccas

Along the Nile, mosquitoes are an evening thing. They tend to come out on cruise decks and riverside terraces in Luxor and Aswan from dusk into the late evening, more in spring and summer, though many cruisers report no problem at all. Black flies, which bite by day near running water, are the other river nuisance, and some felucca passengers blame midges or sand flies for bites on their ankles. Our sand fly guide explains those tiny ankle biters.

Put repellent on before dinner on deck, wear light long sleeves and trousers for evenings by the river, and keep the cabin or balcony door closed with the lights off. Hurghada hotel rooms with open balcony doors draw mosquito complaints too, so the same habit applies on the Red Sea. The CDC's Egypt page also lists leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies that bite from dusk to dawn, and the evening routine covers it.

When to go

October to April, the cooler main tourist season, tends to be the lower-bite stretch. Late spring and summer are hotter, and they are when the recent dengue cases with known dates occurred, the Qena outbreak in July 2023 and the Sharm el-Sheikh infections in April–June 2024. Keep the same routine in every month, and be strictest from spring through summer on the Red Sea.

Where you're going

Here is how the main stops compare.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor threads and hotel reviews, newest first, and linked so you can read them in full. The season, your room and whether the balcony door stays shut change the picture.

• Caves Beach Resort, Hurghada · November · 2025

  A November 2025 guest got only one bite each but noticed other guests with many bites. TripAdvisor ↗

• Hilton Hurghada Plaza · June · 2024

  A June 2024 guest counted 57 bites on their legs alone and suggested the hotel warn guests about mosquitoes. TripAdvisor ↗

• El Karma Aqua Beach Resort, Hurghada · October · 2021

  An October 2021 reviewer titled the review 'Serious Mosquito problems' and warned that mosquitoes get into the room if the balcony or main door is left open. TripAdvisor ↗

• Nile dahabiya cruise · October and spring

  Planning an October dahabiya trip, a traveler asked about insects. One reply said the only mildly annoying insects were mosquitoes in the mid-to-late evening on spring visits, another named black flies as the bigger nuisance, and a third said there are very few mosquitoes most of the year. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Egypt, especially if it comes with a rash or body aches.

Traveler questions