Sharm el-Sheikh and Na’ama Bay
Although technically one destination, Sharm el-Sheikh comprises several different areas – and constant development means more are added each year. Sharm el-Sheikh is often referred to simply as Sharm: if you’re outside the resort that term refers to the whole resort, including Na’ama Bay, while once you’re within the resort itself, the name “Sharm” refers only to the downtown area of Sharm el-Maya, home to a market, port and marina. Glitzy Na’ama Bay, 7km up the coast, is where the bulk of the best hotels, restaurants and nightlife venues are based.
Sharm el-Sheikh and Sharm el-Maya
A hunk of sterile buildings on a plateau commanding docks and other installations, SHARM EL-SHEIKH was developed by the Israelis after they captured the town in the 1967 war. Their main purpose was to thwart Egypt’s blockade of the Tiran Strait and to control overland communications between the Aqaba and Suez coasts. Tourism was an afterthought – though an important one, helping to finance the Israeli occupation and settlements, which Egypt inherited between 1979 and 1982.
Since then, Sharm’s infrastructure has expanded in fits and starts, without much enhancing its appeal. Despite some plush hotels it basically remains a dormitory town for workers servicing neighbouring Na’ama Bay – while the port area of Sharm el-Maya retains a local ambience reminiscent of Suez or Cairo which can come as a shock to tourists leaving their resorts for the first time. Whereas beachwear is de rigueur in Na’ama, tourists in Sharm el-Maya should dress modestly off the beach to avoid unwelcome attention.
The only foreigners here tend to be divers and a few backpackers who take advantage of its cheapish accommodation and commute into Na’ama Bay. Sharm has a beach, but its small bay doesn’t match Na’ama’s, although the Sharm el-Maya area does have some good restaurants and souvenir shops. The new Sharm el-Sheikh National Museum (due to open in 2013–14) will feature around seven thousand exhibits tracing the country’s history from pharaonic times to the present day.
Ras Um Sidd
Southeast of Sharm el-Maya bay, a string of hotels and villas has sprouted along the stretch of coast known as Ras Um Sidd. The swankiest resorts are perched close to the coast, while cheaper hotels fill up the land behind, although in general it’s a pretty bleak area, with poor beaches, and guests have to rely on shuttle buses to get them to the better amenities of Na’ama Bay. The main attraction is the nearby Ras Um Sidd dive site. The area is basically all coral reef, without any natural sandy beaches – what sand there is has been imported by the hotels to create their own beaches, inevitably increasing the debris many divers now encounter underwater in this area.
The Tower
From Ras Um Sidd, a paved road lined with holiday resorts and hotels runs to The Tower, a fine diving beach colonized by the big New Tower Club hotel. The real lure, however, is a huge coral pillar just offshore, which drops 60m into the depths. It’s easy to get to The Tower by taxi from either Sharm or Na’ama, but it is no longer possible to access most of the reefs between Ras Um Sidd and The Tower from land, as hotels along this stretch of coast now effectively block public access to the sea. Diving these reefs by boat, you come to (in order of appearance after Ras Um Sidd) Fiasco, Paradise, Turtle Bay, Pinky’s Wall and Amphoras. Turtle Bay has sun-dappled water that’s lovely to swim in, even if there are fewer green turtles than you’d hope.
Na’ama Bay
With its fine sandy beach and smart facilities, NA’AMA BAY has transformed itself so rapidly that even the residents have trouble keeping up. Now a glitzy, over-developed tourist centre with a vast array of fast-food joints, international restaurants, bars and clubs, it’s far from an authentic Egyptian experience, and the general feel of the place is much like any Mediterranean package resort. Nightlife and sunbathing are the main draws, though diving and snorkelling are popular too, with dive centres, hotels and malls being the only points of reference along the beachfront strip. The beach is divided into hotel-owned plots that are supposedly open to anyone providing they don’t use the parasols or chairs – though scruffier-looking types may be hassled and topless bathing is illegal. There are also two public beaches (£E10), though they are no more than narrow strips squeezed in beside the Novotel and the Hilton Fayrouz Resort beaches.
Shark Bay
Hotel development continues past Na’ama Bay, and resorts – some up to a square kilometre in size – line the coast up to Ras Nasrani and even beyond to the borders of the Nabeq protected area. The once-beautiful and isolated retreat of SHARK BAY, 8km north of Na’ama, has now been overwhelmed by numerous large holiday resorts, although it still boasts a fine beach, and views of Tiran Island, and continues to attract many visitors, including scores of day-trippers from Na’ama. Despite the bay’s forbidding name (Beit el-Irsh, “House of the Shark” in Arabic), the sharks have been scared away by divers, leaving a benign array of tropical fish and coral gardens just offshore, with deeper reefs and bigger fish further out. There’s an £E10 charge to use the beach.
Diving in sharm and Na’ama bay
The fabulous array of dive spots around Sharm and Na’ama is the chief attraction of both resorts, offering endless scope for boat and shore diving. Divers are not allowed to explore the reefs near Na’ama and Sharm el-Sheikh independently; all diving must be done with a guide, which in practical terms means sticking with trips run by dive operators.
A plethora of dive centres offer an extensive range of courses, trips and equipment rental. All the centres listed here are open daily (mostly 8.30am–6pm). Dive boats leave around 9am from the Sharm el-Maya marina, and most centres will collect you from your hotel and drop you off again. Trips to the Gordon and Jackson reefs in the Tiran Strait or Ras Mohammed cost €55–65; a one-day Thistlegorm trip €90–120. Space permitting, snorkellers can join any boat for about €25. Some of the centres offer liveaboards too. Before signing up for any courses, ask where you’ll be doing your training: the water in Sharm el-Maya is less pleasant than in Na’ama Bay thanks to the former’s proximity to the marina. All Sharm and Na’ama dive centres are members of the South Sinai Association for Diving and Marine Activities (t 069 366 0418, w southsinai.org), which regulates and promotes the diving industry in the region and organizes regular clean-ups of the sea.
In case of diving emergencies, contact Dr Adel Taher at the Hyperbaric Medical Centre near the marina (t 069 366 0922 or t 0122 212 4292). There is also a 24-hour emergency hotline (t 012 333 1325) and a second decompression facility at the International Hospital in Hay el-Nur (t 069 366 8094). Dive schools charge an optional €6/£E48 per diver for three weeks’ cover allowing emergency use of the chambers. For more information, visit w deco-international.com.
Security and safety in Sharm and Na’ama Bay
Sharm and Na’ama Bay tragically hit the headlines on July 24, 2005, when a series of coordinated bomb attacks struck the resort, killing around eighty people and injuring more than two hundred. Security measures have been heightened since, but travellers should always be vigilant. In December 2010 there was a series of shark attacks close to the shoreline in Sharm: a German tourist was killed in the Middle Garden reef and four other people badly injured. Shark attacks of any kind are very unusual in the Red Sea, but it is advisable to check local updates.
Snorkelling and watersports in Sharm and Na’ama bay
Unless you join a dive boat, visiting the local reefs involves some walking. The best reefs – known as coral gardens – run for several miles north of Na’ama Bay. They don’t get many divers but are ideal for snorkelling, although they are regularly visited by glass-bottom boats, so take care while you’re in the water. Several agencies – including Sun ‘n Fun, on the Corniche near the Hilton Fayrouz Resort in Na’ama Bay (t 069 360 1623) – run snorkelling trips to the mangrove forests of Nabeq or boat trips to reefs at Ras Mohammed, Ras Nasrani and Shark Bay.
There’s also a wide variety of watersports on offer, including sailing, windsurfing, waterskiing, parasailing, jetskiing, banana boats, tube rides and pedalos. Glass-bottom boat trips are run by Sun ‘n Fun, with trips (every 2hr; $10/£E60) leaving throughout the day from the beachfront near their office. Submarine trips are advertised too, but there have been serious accidents with similar vessels in Hurghada.
Tours and activities around Sharm
All the hotels, most dive centres and travel agencies such as Sun ‘n Fun can arrange tours by jeep, camel, motorcycle or quad bike. Some of the most popular day excursions include snorkelling visits to Nabeq; jeep trips to the Coloured Canyon followed by snorkelling at Nuweiba/Dahab; overnight trips to St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai; and sunset visits to Wadi Mandar. Several companies also offer excursions to Serabit el-Khadim and Hammam Faraoun, and longer desert trips (though these are generally cheaper from Dahab or Nuweiba). Most day-trips cost around $40–70; beware of very cheap deals, as these are likely to involve travelling by bus.
Horseriding in the desert can be arranged at the Sofitel hotel’s equestrian centre (t 069 360 0081) or through Sun ‘n Fun; the latter also offer quad bike tours and operate the Sinai Moto Cross quad bike circuit (€25 for 30min) in Na’ama, while there’s go-karting at the state-of-the-art Ghibli Raceway (t 069 360 3939, w ghibliraceway.com; € 16 for 10min), just off the Airport Road, near the entrance to the Hyatt Regency.
Between Suez and Sharm el-Sheikh
There’s little point stopping during the 338km journey between Suez and Sharm el-Sheikh, unless you are an avid windsurfer or kiteboarder. Such attractions as exist along (or off) the route are otherwise awkward to reach, so most travellers pass them by. Although the resort of Ras Sudr is essentially an oil town, its proximity to Cairo (130km) means it is becoming popular with Cairenes as a weekend getaway, while it also attracts windsurfers from further afield year-round. Further south, and inland, the pharaonic ruins at Serabit el-Khadim also draw visitors. Beyond El-Tor, the area’s administrative capital, there’s little of interest until you reach Ras Mohammed.
Ras Sudr
Famed for the variety of seashells washed up on its beach, the flyblown town of RAS SUDR (or Ras Sidr) is marred by a reeking oil refinery that doesn’t seem to bother the middle-class Cairenes who frequent its holiday resorts. This part of the coast is so windy it is often overlooked by travellers who seek the calmer reef-fringed shores of Sharm el-Sheikh, although the year-round cross-shore gusts make it a haven for kiteboarders and windsurfers – for equipment and tuition try the Moon Beach Resort.
Hammam Faraoun
Fifty-five kilometres south of Ras Sudr, a turn-off leads to HAMMAM FARAOUN (“Pharaoh’s Bath”), several near-boiling hot springs which Arab folklore attributes to the pharaoh’s struggles to extricate himself from the waves that engulfed his army as he chased the Israelites. Local Bedouin use the springs for curing rheumatism, and it’s possible to take a dip in the waters. A cave in the hill beside the shore leads into “the sauna”, a warren of chambers awash with hot water, but it’s more comfortable to bathe where the springs flow into the sea.
Serabit el-Khadim
Built upon a 755-metre-high summit reached by a tortuous path, the rock-hewn temple known as Serabit el-Khadim is Sinai’s only pharaonic temple, surrounded by some of the region’s grandest scenery. Erected during the XII Dynasty, when turquoise mining in the area was at its peak, it is an enduring symbol of pharaonic power. Though Bedouin still glean some turquoise by low-tech methods, the amount that remains isn’t worth the cost of industrial extraction.
Wadi Mukattab and Wadi Maraghah
Serabit el-Khadim is becoming a popular stop on jeep safaris from points south, approached via a track leading off the road from St Catherine’s into Wadi Mukattab – the Valley of Inscriptions. There are dozens of hieroglyphic texts carved into the rocks, alongside Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions that continue into Wadi Maraghah, where ancient mine workings and stelae were damaged when the turquoise mines were revived by the British (before going bust in 1901). Most travel agencies in Sharm el-Sheikh and many in Dahab can organize day- and overnight trips here, while Desert Divers run a four-day tour (€220) taking in Serabit el-Khadim, Wadi Mukattab and St Catherine’s.
El-Tor
There’s little to see along the coastal highway besides a scattering of holiday resorts all the way to EL-TOR (or El-Tur), the administrative capital of south Sinai. The town itself is a mass of modern housing, government buildings and construction sites, though the Greek Orthodox Raithu Monastery, which was commissioned by Byzantine emperor Justinian (527–65), is worth a quick look. As with Ras Sudr, the main reason to come here is for the windsurfing and kiteboarding – the Windhaven Hotel offers classes and equipment rental.
Hammam Musa
North of El-Tor, the hot springs of Hammam Musa (Moses’ Bath) lie in the shadow of the looming hill named after them. According to legend, Moses asked an elderly woman for a drink from the spring, but the woman refused him, so Moses called upon God to bless the water with therapeutic properties, making it unfit to drink. A path leading halfway up the hill affords spectacular views; facilities include changing rooms with towels and a cafeteria.
Ras Mohammed
At Sinai’s southernmost tip is the not-to-be-missed RAS MOHAMMED peninsula, fringed with lagoons and reefs. Covering 480 square kilometres of sea and land, it was declared a nature reserve in 1983, then Egypt’s first marine national park in 1989. Bordered to the west by the relatively shallow Gulf of Suez and to the east by the deep Gulf of Aqaba, it has strong currents, making the waters very nutrient-rich and supporting around one thousand species of fish and 150 types of coral. The age of this amazing ecosystem is evinced by marine fossils in the bedrock dating back twenty million years; on the shoreline are newcomers only 75,000 years old. Though the area is chiefly one for divers, there are calmer reefs for snorkellers too. The park is also home to terrestrial species such as foxes, reptiles and migratory birds such as the white stork.
Various trails – accessible by regular car – are marked by colour-coded arrows. The blue one leads to Aqaba Beach, the Eel Garden, the Main Beach and a Shark Observatory 50m up the cliffside, which affords distant views of the odd fin. Purple and then red arrows show the route to the Hidden Bay, Anemone City and Yolanda Bay, while green marks the way to the Crevice Pools and the Mangrove Channel, where children can safely bathe in warm, sandy shallows. Divers head by boat to sites such as the Shark Reefs off Yolanda Bay (the place to see sharks, barracuda, giant Napoleon fish and manta rays), and the Mushroom or the wreck of the Dunraven, out towards Beacon Rock.
Protecting the reefs
Egypt’s coral reefs are fragile organisims, vulnerable even to wave motion and excessive sunlight, as well as accidental damage from tourists. Dive boats that come too close and divers who break or disturb corals have resulted in many sites near Sharm el-Sheikh being “over-dived”, while other reefs have been damaged or destroyed by tourism-related work. For divers and snorkellers alike, the fundamental rule is to look but not touch. In marine parks such as Ras Mohammed, it’s also forbidden to feed the fish or remove anything from the sea. And don’t buy aquatic souvenirs – their export is illegal. Even shells from the beach may be confiscated when you leave Egypt, with a hefty fine given in return.
The Tiran Strait
The headland of Ras Nasrani beyond Shark Bay marks the beginning of the Tiran Strait, where the waters of the Gulf of Suez flow into the deeper Gulf of Aqaba, swirling around the small islands and reefs of the Tiran archipelago. This was declared a protected area in 1992 and is now a popular spot for divers although there are no facilities (or admission charges); the only access is by boat from Sharm el-Maya or Shark Bay. The straits are not a destination for novice divers, however, as the sea can be extremely rough and chilling (bring high-calorie drinks and snacks to boost your energy). Sharks, manta rays, barracuda and Napoleon fish are typical of the deepwater sites around the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, though there are also shallow reefs like the Small Lagoon and Hushasha. The multitude of shipwrecks in the Gulf is due to treacherous reefs and currents, insurance fraud and Egypt’s blockade of the strait in the 1960s. The Jackson Reef has a spectacular seventy-metre drop-off and the wreck of the Lara to investigate, while the Gordon Reef boasts the hulk of the Lucila. Two notable sites at Ras Nasrani are the Light, with a forty-metre drop-off and pelagic fish; and the Point, with a dazzling array of reef fish.
Visiting Jordan
A catamaran departs daily from Nuweiba’s port (t 069 352 0427) at 6am to Aqaba in Jordan (around 1hr 30min; $85 one-way, $125 return); in the opposite direction, it leaves Aqaba at 7pm/7.30pm. Tickets are available from Meenagate (t 0112 059 5506, w meenagate.com); book by phone or email at least 24 hours in advance and arrive at the port an hour before departure. Late departures are not uncommon and bad weather can cause extensive delays. One-month Jordanian visas are currently free for most nationalities arriving via Aqaba. Day-trips (around $250) to Petra can be arranged through Nature Travel; a more comprehensive two-night visit costs about $450 (£E2700).