South Sinai
Sharm El Sheikh: An Honest Guide to Diving and South Sinai
Sharm El Sheikh is a purpose-built resort town on the southern tip of Sinai, and its reason to exist is the water. The reefs at Ras Mohammed and the Straits of Tiran are among the best in the Red Sea, and the town is a short drive from both. Away from the diving, it is a resort strip, and you should know that before you book.
Is the diving better here than in Hurghada?
Ras Mohammed National Park is about 20 km south of town, where the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Gulf of Suez. Shark and Yolanda Reef is the site most people come for: a wall that drops into open blue water, with the scattered cargo of a wrecked freighter, bathroom fittings, oddly, lying on the sand below. Day boats run year-round, weather permitting.
The Straits of Tiran hold four reefs, Gordon, Thomas, Woodhouse and Jackson, in a channel with real current. The drift diving there is very good and not the place for a first open-water dive. Against Hurghada, Sharm's best sites are closer to shore and the walls are steeper; Hurghada is cheaper and has more wrecks within easy reach. If you are snorkelling rather than diving, the difference between the two narrows a long way.
Do you need a full Egyptian visa, or just the Sinai stamp?
Arriving at Sharm El Sheikh airport, many nationalities can be given a free Sinai-only entry permit instead of a full visa. It runs for about two weeks and covers the eastern Sinai coast, Sharm, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba, plus the road to St Catherine. It does not cover the rest of Egypt, and it is widely reported not to cover Ras Mohammed National Park or diving trips.
That last point matters. If you plan to dive, or to fly on to Cairo or Luxor, take the full tourist visa instead, and applying online in advance is simplest. The permit rules have changed more than once, so treat anything you read, including this, as a starting point and confirm before you fly.
Are Mount Sinai and St Catherine worth the excursion?
St Catherine's Monastery is roughly three hours inland by road, through empty desert. Most excursions leave around midnight so that you climb Mount Sinai in the dark and reach the top for sunrise. The climb takes two to three hours, and the final stretch is a long flight of rough stone steps. The summit is above 2,000 m and cold before dawn, even in August.
It is a hard night. You lose a night's sleep, the summit is crowded, and by the time the monastery opens you are usually too tired to take it in. If the walking is not the point for you, go in daylight for the monastery alone and skip the climb. It opens to visitors for only a few morning hours, is normally shut on Fridays and Sundays and around Orthodox feasts, so the date has to be checked first.
When should you go?
Summer is brutal on land, roughly 40C in July and August and sometimes more, though the sea sits around 28C and the diving is at its easiest. Winter days are mild, around 20C, but evenings need a jacket and wind can shut down the boats to Tiran for a day or two at a time.
March to May and October to November are the sensible months: warm, calmer water, and hotel rates below the Christmas and Easter peaks. Water temperature bottoms out around 21C in February, which means a 5 mm wetsuit and a hood for most people. Ramadan moves each year and changes opening hours in town, though the resorts run as normal.
What is Sharm el-Sheikh actually like?
Nothing here is old. The town was built for tourism from the 1980s onwards, and it shows: hotel compounds strung along the coast, Naama Bay for bars and shops, and an Old Market that is a market for visitors rather than a historic quarter. Sinai does hold pharaonic remains, chiefly the turquoise mines and the temple of Hathor at Serabit el-Khadim, but they sit hours inland towards the west coast and are almost never part of a resort holiday.
That is less a criticism than a warning. If you want temples and tombs on the doorstep, this coast cannot give them to you, and the day trip to the pyramids by air is a very long day for a rushed couple of hours at Giza. Come for the reefs, the desert and a week of doing very little, and it works.
How does it fit into a wider Egypt trip?
The usual shape is Cairo and the Nile first, Sharm last: history while you still have energy, then the sea. Flights between Cairo and Sharm take about an hour and run daily. The road is roughly 500 km and takes most of a day, so flying is nearly always the better call.
Add at least four nights if you want to dive properly. Two or three days of diving with a rest day before flying home is a workable minimum, because the standard advice after repeated dives is to leave about 18 hours before boarding a plane. Booking the transfers, dive centre and the Sinai leg as one plan rather than piecemeal is mainly a way to make sure that rest day survives the itinerary.
Common questions
Is Sharm El Sheikh safe to visit?+
The South Sinai resort area is heavily policed and the road to St Catherine is used daily by tour vehicles. North Sinai is a separate matter and is off-limits to visitors. Government travel advice changes, so read your own country's current guidance before booking rather than relying on a page like this.
Can you snorkel here without being a certified diver?+
Yes. Many hotels have house reefs reached by a jetty, because the coral shelf starts in very shallow water and walking on it is both damaging and painful. Boat trips to Ras Mohammed take snorkellers as well as divers, and most dive centres run a supervised first-time scuba session.
Would Dahab be a better base?+
For some people, yes. Dahab is about 90 minutes up the coast, cheaper, quieter and better suited to independent travellers, with the Blue Hole and the Canyon on its doorstep. It has small guesthouses rather than large resorts, and the transfer eats into a short holiday. For families wanting a pool and a buffet, Sharm wins.
Is alcohol available?+
Yes, in hotels, licensed bars and restaurants in the tourist areas. It is not sold in ordinary shops, imported brands are expensive, and local spirit brands are best avoided. During Ramadan, service outside hotels is reduced and daytime drinking in public is not on. Resorts themselves carry on much as normal.
How long is the flight from the UK?+
Direct charter and scheduled flights from the UK take about five and a half hours. From Cairo it is roughly an hour. Direct routes from Britain have been on and off over the years, so check what is actually flying for your dates rather than assuming a nonstop exists.
Official sources
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
- Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities ↗The ministry lists which tombs and temples currently open.
- UK FCDO travel advice for Egypt ↗It updates continuously, and most UK travel insurance follows it.