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Egypt's Red Sea holiday resort of Sharm el Sheikh (normally simply referred to as "Sharm") is located
on the southern tip of the Sinai Desert and is approximately 500kms from Cairo, Egypt. Our
Sharm el Sheikh holiday and travel guides and photographs relate to how we found things during
our holidays in early December 2005. Sharm-el-Sheikh's 
hotels and main resort is centred around Naama Bay - this part of the Red Sea is renowned as one of
the top areas in the world for snorkelling and scuba diving. The
variety and amount of colourful fish which can be seen by just
swimming a few metres into the sea is amazing though the coral close into the beach has
mostly been killed due to people walking on it. However once you
go out onto the reefs the coral is fantastic - as are of course the fish.
If you want some winter sunshine you are pretty well guaranteed to get it in Sharm El-Sheikh so it's well worth considering for
a December through to March warmth and suntan holiday. On the right is a picture of the impressive Mosque at Sharm El-Sheikh. |
Security. Somewhat unusual for us to mention this on our various holiday web sites but then
Sharm was sadly affected by a bombing not so long ago and it has to be a consideration.
The beach entrances each have Tourist Police present but they
are quite unobtrusive and often are happy to have a chat if
you so wish. The hotel entrances have several varieties of police
and do make a quick check to ensure you are a guest though they
soon get to know who is who and you just walk in freely. Along
the wide paved walkway which goes right along the beach there
are more Tourist Police sat on chairs (with their papers and
radios) at about 300 yard or so intervals. We always made a
point especially when walking back late at night to at least
say hello or goodnight or something - it must be terribly boring
for them. It's probably worth emphasising the point that these guys
are virtually invisible and you do not feel at all like you
are in a heavily policed area or anything like that.
Food. There are plenty of restaurants along the
bay offering a wide variety of food from delicious steak to
really nice pizzas and all sorts in between. Many people on holiday stay at Sharm
in hotels and on an inclusive basis and we found the restaurants to be not
that busy when we tended to eat i.e. around 9 to 10 in the evening. Also quite
a few of them located along the beach were closing up or closed
by around 11pm - but they were still open nearer the shopping
centre area end. There are several Chinese and Indian restaurants
as well as other types of food restaurants located around this
shopping centre area. We paid about 10 UK pounds for a really
big steak plus a few beers - however the wine was really expensive
for some reason and we did not think it at all good value and
of and only of reasonable quality. We had a really big and most delicious
steak on the beachfront at the Sea View beach restaurant which is located opposite the Kanabesh Hotel.
Accommodation/beach area: Naama Bay is ringed with large hotels -
these are not high rise and lay a little way back from the actual beach. Each hotel has it's own beach area - with the
usual umbrellas and sun-loungers available plus cafes etc. where you can get drinks and varying varieties
of food. 
The hotels offer a really useful facility - you are given a card and then you can have a beach towel
which you simply change whenever you wish. There is at least one public beach along the front but all the
hotel beaches generally have just one entrance which is controlled/manned by Tourist Police (see above).
The beaches are initially sandy into the water which does not get too deep very quickly
but you do need something on your feet because of the exceedingly sharp coral. Needless to say there were
no beach areas around the Hotel surrounded Bay which would be available for nudists/naturists.
Getting around. There are loads of taxis available - if you are just wandering along the road they keep slowing down and offering their services - most of the taxis seemed to quite old Peugeots. A taxi ride from the end of the Bay to the Old Town cost around 25 to 30 Egyptian pounds (10 Egyptian Pounds is about 1 English Pound) - there are meant to be fixed prices for various destinations but you do need to agree your price before getting in the taxi. Some of the hotels run courtesy buses and there is also a local bus service running from the Bay to the Old Town - this is a stop on demand service from what we could see. We did not consider looking to hire a car or jeep - this is after all the Sinai Desert (if you like "the real thing") and going off on your own into it would be perhaps not a good idea. You can anyway sort out a trip into the desert via one of the kiosks along the front who offer all manner of trips (see below for several we did and others we know were available) and they probably would organise an individual request..
Currency. The currency in Sharm el Sheikh is Egyptian pounds ( LE) and there are around 10 LE to 1 UK Pound Sterling at time of writing. Just about any currency can be used though and they do particularly prefer UK Pounds, USD, Euros and so on rather than those Egyptian pounds. It is not unusual especially near market areas for you to be approached to change for instance a 1 UK Pound coin for 10 LE since Pound Sterling coins tend to be given as tips. There are of course plenty of cash machines around as well.
The Old Town.
The market is well worth at least one visit just for the experience
despite the pestering mentioned above - it looks really good in the evening which has to be the best time to visit. Here
you can buy anything and everything is negotiable on price. We had decided to buy a hubbly bubbly (Shisha) and having wandered perilously close to a
shop with lots on display we were promptly whisked into the shop,
the door was closed, seats were provided plus a drink of tea. After about 20 minutes of various chat about goodness
knows what (except shishas) the subject of the shisha did enter the conversation - we were shown several and one was started
up for us. Over the next maybe hour we had a few puffs on it plus more tea and a very protracted conversation about how much
the selected shisha would cost us. It was offered to us at 55 UK Pounds - we thought about 10 UK Pounds was nearer the mark
- and so on and so on until we eventually reached a price we could agree on.
Climate etc. These days it's hard to say what is typical anymore with the weather. We found day time temperatures
were getting to around 80 degrees when we were there - the sun starting to disappear around 5PM and sunrise was at about 6:30AM. The evenings
could get a little cool and many people were using cardigans or sweatshirts as the evening progressed. The wind always seemed to pick up a little
just around sunset but then stilled again as the evening progressed. The sea was still quite warm in the Bay although just a little cooler
out on the reefs - Sharm el Sheikh is certainly a great place to go for almost certainly guaranteed nice winter sunshine.
The Local People. The Egyptians we met/talked to were really nice - go to a restaurant once
and they are absolutely happy to have you there, the next time it's almost like being at a Greek Island Taverna in the way you are made
welcome. We got to know several of the Tourist Police at our Hotel and often had a chat about all sorts of things with them. The only thing
we found really irritating was when we were near or in any of the market stall areas - the incessant "where you from" and "please sign our shop
guest book" - these guys had a knack of making you feel guilty and rude if you ignored them but in fact that was the only way to proceed after
a while. We got to know several local Sharm residents and they said they hated this too - the people doing it were mainly from Cairo and
just down to try and make a few quick pounds and had no real idea how to deal with people/tourists.
Boat trip for some snorkelling out to Ras Mohammed Reef. We had already purchased a fairly decent set of snorkelling gear each (the shop keeper took great pains to ensure our masks and flippers fitted properly - just 18 pounds per set) and had looked at and been looked at by the colourful fish close to the beach by our hotel so we decided we would have a day trip out to the conservation area reefs as well so we could see the live coral and hopefully even more - and bigger - fish. The trip cost us 16 UK pounds each and lasted for around 6 hours - this included having as many soft drinks as you wished and they also provided a reasonable meal at lunchtime. We went south heading past Sharm Old Town and then on down the coast - the first stop was in quite deep water and involved being dropped off (or in I suppose) - the boat cleared off and you had to swim along the reef to re-board it after about 45 minutes or so of snorkelling.
The boat then headed back a little and stopped off at another rocky bay. This stop was for several hours and during it apart from the snorkelling they provided a hot meal. Finally the boat stopped off for perhaps another 45 minutes a little nearer to Sharm and then it was back to the harbour. One thing to remember - that is the name of "your" boat since it is easy to snorkel some distance away and then find there are loads of boats anchored ... now which was our boat??.
Mount Moses. We were somewhat unsure if we should do this trip for several reasons: firstly it was an all night excursion which meant we knew we would be really tired throughout the next day and secondly undertaking a 7 km walk up a mountain in the dark and where we were pre-warned it was terribly cold we had no walking boots let alone warm clothing with us). On the other hand the need to get to the top of the highest available point in the area has always afflicted us whilst on holiday and also the opportunity to get a little way into the Sinai proper - so we decided to go. We picked up a couple of warm jackets with hoods for 12 UK pounds and underneath we had 2 thick tea-shirts - I only had walking sandals but fortunately a very thick pair of walking socks whilst my son had his trainers. We were picked up from our hotel at 22h (you must take your passport and it's visa for the area) and then had a couple of hours ride to the monastery at St Catherine - passing through several police security check points on the way.
Local Bedouins throng around the coach park and they will try to sell you scarves and gloves etc for just a few pounds - and if you don't already have such then you will really need these. The walk starts off at around 1500 metres and finally ends up at a height of 2265 metres - it is possible to go up most of the way on a camel if you don't fancy the walk otherwise all you do is get collected together and then led up with your own Bedouin guide at the front.
Camels do accompany you on the way so if you get worn out etc. you can switch to having a ride instead. The quite wide track is pretty good underfoot - the main problem is occasionally being stuck for a while behind camels which seem to never stop pooing (wonderful). The air does obviously get thinner as you head ever upwards so that your heart really starts pounding away - and the wind and cold just increases more and more. Every so often there are Bedouin tents which you can pop into for several minutes for a quick cup of tea and to get out of the cold wind - quite a few people at this stage decided they had had enough walking and opted for a camel ride for the rest of the way. The last part of the walk turns into what they call steps - it effect it is just flattish irregular rocks which you try and pick out in the dark - this part is really steep and we found it really hard going after a while - it's only around 250 metres but seemed far more in the cold and dark. Just before the very top there are lots of Bedouin tents and you now get into one of these, have a cup of tea and wait for dawn to arrive. It was really cold and windy up here and most of us hired a thick blanket from our host and disappeared under it for the couple of hours we had to wait.
Just before dawn we all clambered up a few more rocky steps to watch the sun rise - really beautiful and the view of the other mountains nearbye as the sun hit them was brilliant. Finally it's back down the path - you can either opt to go down the way which involves going via hundreds of steps or simply wander back down the original path. My knees had had more than enough and so we just returned the way we had come, but now thankfully with an increasingly warm sun on our backs. Once our party had all got back together we had a conducted look round the monastery of St Catherine, were then driven a short distance to a hotel for something to eat and then it was back across the desert to Sharm el Sheikh. The whole trip cost us just 20 UK pounds each - what a bargain trip and we had climbed Mount Sinai/Mount Moses - one of the highest points in the Sinai too. Incidentally although you climb up quite a way there was not any issue with vertigo.
Quad Biking. We found this really exciting but have no doubt that it can be a little dangerous -
especially because of the temptation to be out on what appears to be flat sandy desert and therefore go too fast. The
bikes have nice wide fat tyres and are quite low to the ground and thus have a low centre of gravity however my son did manage to flip his over
- luckily only suffering a bit of bruising on his leg. The bikes are easily capable of reaching 50 KPH and on top of this visibility can be
pretty poor due to the amount of dust kicked up - sunglasses are a good idea. When we went out for our ride there seemed to be hundreds of us all whizzing across the desert. Because of
loose stones being kicked up it's a good idea to wear trousers and also reasonable trainers to protect your feet. Also before you start off you are
well wrapped up in a scarf to keep the dust out (you can buy a scarf for just a few pounds from the mountain bike).
Our trip started just about in the daylight and cost us 18 UK pounds each - the whole thing lasted around 2 hours. You are led
out into the desert and then eventually reach a small Bedouin encampment where you can have a five minutes break and buy a soft drink. Then it's
off further into the desert to finally reach a much larger Bedouin encampment where you are given a drink of hot tea. By now it is of course
completely dark and the trip back with just small headlights and travelling sometimes at quite a good speed is really exciting. You are accompanied by a
guide all the way and also a pick-up truck with a photographer follows you everywhere taking film and photos of your daring exploits. Having got back you can then agree
a price to have a filmed copy of your adventure delivered to your hotel the next day.
The following are other trips you can do from Sharm that we saw advertised but did not have time to do but hopefully this will give an idea for
planning possible ventures out - these were as of the start of 2006 so inevitably they would have risen. These are of course not the
final final prices but we were offered as shown (in Egyptian Pounds):
Arab Horse Riding -1 hour for 160LE
Camel ride in the desert -1 hour for 110LE
Bedouin Dinner - a drive into the desert, then a camel ride followed by a real Bedouin Dinner - 150LE
Coloured Canyon - Dolphin Bay and Dahab (for shopping) - all day for 240LE
Cairo by Car - visiting the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids area (entry into the Pyramid not included), then lunch and Khan Elkhalili and
finally back to Sharm - 350LE (bear in mind we think Sharm to Cairo is around 500kms distance)
Please visit our Home Page for photos and topics about Egypt's Luxor.
Useful Travel and Information Books about Egypt:-
Egypt Insight Guides
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