Sinai

Sinai: Two Completely Different Trips in One Peninsula

The Sinai Peninsula splits into two experiences that share a geography but almost nothing else. The southern coast – Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab – is about Red Sea diving and reef snorkelling. The interior and the Mount Sinai region is about desert, religious history, and one very old monastery. Most visitors pick one and ignore the other, which is understandable given the distance involved. If you have a week, you can do both.

Mount Sinai and St. Catherine’s

St. Catherine’s Monastery at the base of Mount Sinai is one of the oldest continuously operating Christian monasteries in the world, founded around 565 AD under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. The monastery contains one of the finest collections of early Christian manuscripts and icons outside the Vatican – including 6th-century apse mosaics that rank among the best-preserved Byzantine works in existence – and the library was where Constantin von Tischendorf discovered the Codex Sinaiticus in 1844, the oldest substantially complete manuscript of the New Testament.

Entry is free. The monastery is open Monday through Thursday and Saturday, 9am to noon. Photography inside is not permitted. The crush of visitors in summer between 9 and noon is significant; arriving at opening is strongly recommended.

The climb to the summit of Mount Sinai (2,285 metres) follows either the 3,750 Steps of Repentance (cut by monks into the mountainside) or the gentler Camel Path that joins the steps near the top. The standard approach is to hike up in darkness before dawn to watch the sunrise from the summit chapel. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours at a moderate pace. Temperature at the summit is significantly colder than at the base – bring a fleece and wind layer regardless of season.

Dahab

Dahab, on the Gulf of Aqaba about 90km north of Sharm, is the right place for diving and snorkelling if you want to avoid the package-tour resort atmosphere of Sharm. The town is unhurried, significantly cheaper, and has a dive scene that has been attracting serious divers for decades.

The Blue Hole, 8km north of town, is a 130-metre underwater sinkhole famous for technical diving and for a higher fatality rate than any other single dive site in Egypt. For recreational snorkellers and open water divers, the reef around the lagoon at the Blue Hole entrance is excellent and easily accessible from shore. Do not attempt the arch at 56 metres without appropriate technical diving certification.

The Lighthouse Reef, just north of Dahab town, is walkable from the accommodation strip and one of the best shore dives in Egypt: coral walls, abundant fish, and visibility of 20-25 metres. Dive centres along the seafront offer PADI Open Water courses for USD 250-300, among the cheapest in the Red Sea region.

Sharm El-Sheikh

Sharm operates as a package holiday destination targeting European charter passengers. The Ras Mohammed National Park, 20km south at the peninsula’s tip, has the best diving in the area, including the Shark and Yolanda reefs. Entry costs EGP 450 for foreigners. The town has Four Seasons, Hyatt, and Ritz-Carlton properties at European prices. If high-end resort accommodation is the priority, it is here. If diving is the priority, Dahab is better value.

Getting Around

Buses run between Sharm, Dahab, and the St. Catherine junction. Private taxis between Sharm and Dahab cost around EGP 300-400 for the 80km journey.