Festivals and Events in Sharm El Sheikh
Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use.
Sharm el-Sheikh isn’t a festival city in the way some destinations are, it’s built around diving, beach time and resort life rather than a calendar of recurring cultural events. What it does have is a handful of religious and seasonal dates worth knowing, plus one genuinely notable claim to global attention.
Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr
Ramadan is expected to run roughly 18 February to 19 March 2026 (verify exact dates, as they depend on the lunar sighting). Daytime restaurant and bar service outside resort hotels can be reduced during the fasting month, while the evenings pick up with a livelier local atmosphere after sunset; resort hotels themselves largely continue serving tourists as normal throughout. Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, brings a more festive mood citywide, with resorts often laying on extra entertainment and special menus for the occasion.
Christmas and New Year
Sharm’s larger resorts go all out for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, with festive decorations, special dinner menus and evening entertainment aimed squarely at the northern European winter-sun crowd that makes up a large share of the season’s visitors. This is a resort-driven celebration rather than a local Egyptian tradition, worth knowing if you’re expecting something more culturally rooted.
COP27, Sharm’s real moment on the world stage
The city’s single most notable event in recent memory wasn’t a festival at all: Sharm el-Sheikh hosted COP27, the UN Climate Change Conference, from 6-20 November 2022 at the Sharm International Convention Centre. Roughly 190 nations and around 33,449 participants attended, including more than 90 heads of state, making it the second-largest COP after Glasgow the year before. Its headline outcome was the first-ever agreement to create a loss-and-damage fund for climate-vulnerable countries, though delegates again failed to agree on a fossil fuel phase-out. It was also the first African-hosted COP since 2016. The city has hosted several other Middle East diplomatic summits over the years too, reflecting its role as a neutral, secure conference venue as much as a beach destination.
What to expect day to day instead
If you’re after a livelier evening scene rather than a specific festival date, Naama Bay’s restaurants and bars run entertainment most nights of the week regardless of the calendar, and Soho Square and Il Mercato both host evening shows and events on a rotating schedule that’s worth checking once you’ve arrived rather than planning a trip around from home.
See our things to do guide for the activities that fill most evenings here, and our main Sharm el-Sheikh guide for etiquette during Ramadan specifically.
One concrete tip: if your trip lands during Ramadan, don’t assume every restaurant outside your resort is open at lunchtime. Check ahead or plan around resort dining for that stretch, since local daytime hours genuinely shift for the month.