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Jan
10
Sharm El Sheik Holiday & Sightseeing Guide
Filed Under Egypt
A trip to Sharm El Sheik
The premier tourist and resort area in Egypt is Sharm El Sheik. Better known as simply Sharm, visitors will find beautiful beaches, world-class resorts, great scuba diving and many more outdoor activities here. Sharm El Sheik International Airport is a small regional airport that has mainly domestic flights, but has recently added European cities to its list of destinations.
Flights to Sharm El Sheik
Sharm El Sheik International Airport, formerly known as Ophira International Airport, is primarily a domestic airport offering easy connections to cities such as Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria. However, recently charter flights have begun to offer connections to European and Middle Eastern cities allowing visitors to fly direct to Sharm El Sheik from England, Germany, Kuwait, Italy and Switzerland. The airport is about a 25-minutes drive from the city centre. The best way to reach Sharm from the airport is to either arrange pick-up by your hotel or use a taxi.
Most visitors stay in and around the resorts. To get around town, taxis are the easiest method of transportation. However, if haggling with taxi drivers is not your cup of tea, it is easier to hire a driver and car from your hotel to take you around. If you are looking for a cheap flight to Sharm El Sheik try Expedia.
Sharm El Sheik
Sightseeing in Sharm El Sheik
One of the main attractions is the Ras Muhammad Natural Park, which is located on the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. The park was established in 1983 to protect the coral reefs and fragile eco-system here, and it contains one of the best dives in the region. Even if you don’t scuba dive, just snorkelling you will be able to experience the vast array of colorful marine life here.
The primary activities in Sharm El Sheik are centred on the water. Swimming, diving, and sailing are all possible. Many visitors head into the Sinai Desert to explore the dunes either on guided tours or independently on quads or motorcycles. Camel or horseback riding is also a must and a great way to enjoy the desert.
For those travelling with children, Fun Town amusement park is a great place to get away from the sun and surf for the day. Here you can enjoy 10-pin bowling and even ice skating. About 20 miles outside of the city centre lies the amazing archaeological site of Serabit el Khadim. Dating back to around 2,600 BC, this area was an important mining area for the pharaohs. There is a walled temple and many rocks with inscriptions to be seen.
Fun by night – eating drinking and partying
As a major resort town, Sharm El Sheik has plenty to offer night crawlers. The numerous casinos are favourite night spots, even if you don’t gamble. Dressing up is a must, with most casinos offering shows and dinners. Pacha nightclub is where people in the know go. The club attracts internationally renowned DJs and is the trendiest night spot in Sharm El Sheik. Most of Sharm El Sheik’s resorts, restaurants, shopping malls and clubs are located in Naama Bay. Strolling around this area, you are bound to find something of interest.
Fun by day - shopping and activities
The main shopping area is Naama Bay, where big shopping malls as well as small shops are located. The best items to buy, other than Egyptian tourist kitsch, are Sinai Bedouin products. Haggling is the norm, so try to enjoy the bargaining process.
From Sharm El Sheik you can also make excursions to Petra in Jordan. This outstanding World Heritage site was once the capital of the Nabataean kingdom in the 6th century BC and featured in the well-loved film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Daytrips
The most famous of Sharm el-Sheik’s nearby tourist attractions is St Catherine’s Monastery, located at the foot of Mount Moses. The monastery can be discovered in a daytrip from the city. Built between 527 and 565 AD, the monastery was constructed on what was thought to be Moses’ Burning Bush. From here visitors can take in the attractions of the surrounding Mount Sinai, a collection of revered mountains of which Mount Moses is one.
Not for the faint hearted, a daytrip camel trekking in the Sinai Desert is a popular activity with many visitors to Sharm el-Sheikh. The Sinai Desert is located within easy distance from Sharm el-Sheikh and tours can be arranged through travel agents in city and are led the indigenous Sinai people.
Situated just outside of Sharm el-Sheik, Hadaba is a beautiful beach resort which is quieter and more natural when compared with most of the city’s beach resorts. Hadaba has a number of hotels and villas and well worth visiting if you are staying at one of the busier beach areas of Sharm el-Sheik to spend a day at a quiet beach location.
Must-see attractions
Sharm el-Sheikh is world renowned for its first-class diving and snorkelling sites, with many of the area’s must-see attractions being under the sea. The coral reef in the Ram Mohammed National Park, located on the southern tip of the peninsula, is one of the most popular and well-rated dive sites in the area.
Sharm el-Sheikh is also famous for its stunning beaches. Of the many bays along the coast, Na’ama Bay (meaning ‘pleasant’) is possibly the most popular and also contains the widest variety of hotels and resort accommodation. Shark’s Bay is another popular destination with holiday makers owing to its beautiful sand beaches and night-time entertainment.
The old town of Sharm el-Sheikh, which mainly consists of the Old Market, is an area that is still popular with mainly local residents. To experience a sense of traditional Sharm life, visit the market and sample some of the resort’s local culinary delights in the many restaurants of the area.
Best time to go
Sharm el-Sheikh is a popular holiday destination owing partly to its year-round dry and temperate climate. Average temperatures during the winter months from November to March range between 15˚C and 35˚C, increasing to between 19˚C and 45˚C in the summer time. Weather-wise, the best months to visit Sharm el-Sheikh are February and March, when average temperatures hover around a comfortable 23˚C.
Rainy day suggestions
The Sinai Peninsula receives very little rain throughout the year, and instead has a hot and dry climate, particularly during high summer. Should you be here during a rare occasion when it does rain or you simply want to escape the heat, there are a handful of indoor attractions to explore. An excursion to St Catherine’s Monastery can be a relaxed way to spend a wet or hot day. Organised trips leave from Sharm el-Sheikh and can be booked through local travel agents.
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