Sharm el-Sheikh

Sharm el-Sheikh (شرم الشيخ, also transliterated as Sharm ash Shaykh and popularly known simply as "Sharm") is a well-known port and resort town at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, popular with package holiday makers and divers.

Culture and History

Sharm el-Sheikh is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Arabic world. But there are also some very good reasons to visit it if you are not the common tourist, who likes to lay on the beach all day. It is one of the finest diving spots in the world and a trip into the desert is an unforgettable adventure.

The Sinai Peninsula is a remote desert mountain range. The rocky mountains are parted from the deep-blue sea by a flat desert strip. This combination of desert and sea is an incredible sight and makes you believe you are on a different planet.

About 40 years ago, Sharm el-Sheikh was nothing but a small fishing village with about 100 citizens. When Sinai was occupied by Israel Sharm el-Sheikh started to develop as a tourist destenation (like the rest of the peninsula). After the Israelis evacuated Sinai, following the signing of a peace agreement between the two countries. Since the 1980's the Egyptians have been continuing the development of Sharem where the Israelis left, but in a much slower pace. Sharem's 100 grew into a bustling 10,000 population. There is now a nice promenade, a Hard Rock Cafe, one of the most modern hospitals in Egypt and so on.

Orientation

Na'ama Bay part of the city is the center of nightlife and dining: most of Sharm's clubs, cafes, restaurants and shops are here.

Travel to Sharm_el-Sheikh, visa requirements

See Sinai for information on the Sinai visit pass, which allows visa-free travel for up to 14 days.

Flights to Sharm_el-Sheikh, airtickets

Sharm el-Sheikh Airport (IATA: SSH) (ICAO: HESH) is the largest in the Sinai and receives planeloads of charter tourists daily in the winter high season. The only airline for local flights is EgyptAir. Your travel agent may have trouble booking flights with them but they can also be booked via Expedia or Travelocity.

For departures: timetable shows only nearest 1-2 hours, makes you watch over the row of check-in desks for your flight number.

Airport cafes

Cafes after security check are: Sbarro (overcrowded), Cafe Europa' (on the back of the lounge, less crowded): sandwiches, coffee, Egyptian sweets; outlet of Caffè Ritazza international chain coming soon (also in Athens, Budapest, Madrid, Milan, London, Paris, New York, Stockholm, Zurich, Vienna).

Shops in the airport

After security check: Patisserie offers lucums, khalva and other Egyptian sweets.

By boat

International Fast Ferries [1] runs fast boats to Hurghada on the mainland Red Sea Coast, currently running four times weekly. The ride takes 1.5 hours and costs 250/450 LE one-way/return for foreigners. Warning: this ride is notoriously bumpy and prone to cancellations.

By car / By bus

Sharm el-Sheikh can be reached by driving down the eastern coast from Eilat (Israel) via Nuweiba and Dahab, or via the western coast from Cairo. There are daily buses for both routes.

Get around

By Taxi

In Sharm, most taxis are old Peugeots from 1980s, comfortably fitting 7 passengers (they have two rows of passenger seats behind a driver).

By Bus

There is a bus station in Sharm which will take you to other cities at a cheap price. A taxi driver will be able to tell you where it is.

Sharm_el-Sheikh attractions and sightseeing

A visit to the desert is highly recommended. The hotels offer various trips to the Bedouins, the beautiful Coloured Canyon and beyond to Mount Sinai. The more adventurous should try to find a private guide, who takes them for a few days into the mountain desert with a camel. You will walk through hidden valleys, rest at secret oasis and during the night you sleep under a breathtaking firmament.

An unusual and bit exotic for a westerner are huge fans pumping fresh air to street cafes and terraces near hotels.

City tours

Diving

Diving is the main activity in Sharm el-Sheikh. When you dive into the warm water of the Red Sea and leave the remote desert behind, you will enter a world full of life and colours.

• The reefs of Tiran and Ras Mohammed are known as two of the best diving-spots in the world. They can be reached by boat from Sharm within two hours. Ras Mohammed is the name of the southern most point of the Sinai peninsula. There, the current of the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Gulf of Suez. Due to the increase of plankton in the water the amount of fish is incredible. Huge schools of Barracudas, Sharks and Murrays can be seen there every day.

• Smarter divers book a diving safari. This way you avoid the crowds at the popular spots and have the possibility to dive beautiful reefs way beyond the reach of any daytripping boats. The overall costs of a diving safari does not exceed daily diving and it saves you a lot of stress.

Reputable operators include:

• Camel Dive Club. [2]

• Emperor Divers. [3]
• Enigma Charters. [4]
• Oonas Dive Center. [5]
• RedSea Diving College. [6]
• Diving Ocean. [7]

Horseback riding

• Stables at Sofitel Hotel. Helpful personnel. Require helmets (provided); several pairs of riding boots available. After the ride, offer you to give showers to your horse. Bambi and Kelly are declared as the fastest horses. Too far from the desert: in 2-hours route, only 40 minutes is actual ride in desert, the remainder time is spent to get there and to return back. For 2 hours, better choose stables at the edge of desert. EUR45 for 2 hours.

Quad bikes

There are dozens of operators who seem to use just the same route, length and sequence of stops: when you drive, you meet many groups who follow just the same route as yours. There are several really shaky pieces of the route, very much like a washboard.

Wear a long-sleeved shirt; shoes are safer than sandals. Expect all your wear (and skin) to be covered with grey dust.

2 hours of riding is just enough for a non-professional rider; expect several stops along the way. It's ideal to start your ride at 4pm or later--to catch a sunset and ride back when air is not that hot.

At departure point, choose a bike in the beginning of the motorcade: being one of the first allows to drive faster, and results in less dust.

• Tiba Safari / Tiba Trip. Sold by Orbit agency and many others. Groups are 10-15 bikes; two persons per bike is allowed (although bikes are originally designed for a single person). Tasting Berber tea is very risky for your stomach--proven several times. Group is accompanied by a car with camcorder--video is not worth buying, and the car generates much extra dust (you can't do much with it unless your whole group ask in advance to not make video at all). $20 single person per bike for 2 hrs; $25 for two people sharing the same bike for 2 hrs.

Camel trekking

The best place to do this is in the Sinai desert on a tour with the Sinai's on their own bred camels. After this you can look up at the desert stars at midnight after having a homemade meal cooked by the Sinai's themselves.

Shopping, Sharm_el-Sheikh souvenirs

Good restaurants and cheap meals

Guava fresh juice is a must-try, excellent in any cafe.

Alcohol (including beer) is not available in restaurants and street cafes.

Mid-range

• Beirut Bay, Bowling St. - Naama Bay (infront of Blom Bank), ☎ +20 (69) 360 1033. 11:00 am - 2:00 am. You can safely say "the only REAL Lebanese taste in town". With almost all range of diffrent Lebanese Mezza & favourite Lebanese BBQ. Fair prices ''expect to pay, LE 8 for mezza, LE 30-55 main course''..

• Fawanes Cafe. Lebanese cuisine. Good place for waterpipes; order a smaller one (Fawanes); apple one is ideal.

• Safsafa. Probably one of the best fish cafes in the town. A rare place where grilled calmaras are really good. The only don't is a mixed plate (lobster is dry there)--better order the same mix fish by fish.

• Tempo Cafe. Features some percentage of locals. Waiters are uniformed in disctinctive orange-and-green. Waterpipe is good, but when served for several people (with many hoses), the menu price may be multiplied by number of people--ask in advance; maybe it's just a scam.

Sharm_el-Sheikh nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.

• Black House. Second famous venue after Pacha club. Presumably owned by Russians.

• Ministry of Sound Red Sea, Pacha/Sanafir hotel, ☎ +31624930603. 23-03.45.

• Pacha club, Sanafir hotel, Naama Bay, ☎ +20(69)360-0197-8, [8]. One of the most famous dancing clubs.

Hotels, youth hostels, lodging

Some hotels are in Naama Bay itself. Frequently, their hotel area is crossed by a pedestrian street, so the beach may appear across the street from the hotel building--obviously that can affects isolation even when using a hotel's pool.

Others are quite far from Naama Bay, so you either are tied to there all-included ration, or need to pay for taxi for every dinner in Naama (although taxi is inexpensive from most of hotels).

Mid-range

• Savoy. Extremely spacious and modern rooms.

• Sierra. Very small territory for its number of visitors. Airport is very close, and planes fly over the hotel's territory.

• Sofitel. Large territory is isolated and private, but still within walking distance from Naama Bay--allowing pleasant promenades through a flower alley for a dinner in Naama. Moroccan-style interior and territory decoration; territory smothered in flowers. Very courteous staff--compared to many other resorts of this grade in Sharm. Built around late 80s-early 90s, as bathrooms equipment suggests; plastic chairs on most private terraces. Large swimming pool, tennis court (pay for electric light only?), gym, horse stables available. 3 private beaches, each with a private piece of a coral reef right near the beach.

Splurge

The only Five Stars Plus resorts are:

• Four Seasons.

• Ritz Carlton.

• Hyatt Regency.

• Maritim Royal Peninsula Hotel & Resort, [9].

Get out

• Mount Sinai — a holy mountain known for the ancient Monastery of St. Catherine

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