Sharm El Sheikh

What Sharm El Sheikh actually is

Sharm El Sheikh is a purpose-built resort strip stretched along about twenty kilometres of the southern Sinai coast. It exists for one reason: the reef. The Red Sea here drops into coral walls within metres of the shore, the water is clear almost every day of the year, and Ras Mohammed National Park sits at the tip of the peninsula. Everything else - the hotels, the bazaars, the quad-bike touts - was built afterwards, around that fact.

It suits divers and snorkellers above all, families who want a warm, reliable, low-cost all-inclusive week, and winter-sun travellers who want to swim in November and December. It does not suit anybody who wants a town with a history. There is no old Sharm. What is sold as the Old Market is a shopping street from the 1980s, and it is pleasant, but it is not Cairo.

The bay decides your holiday

This is the single most important thing on this page. Sharm is not one place, and the three main areas produce completely different weeks.

Naama Bay is the centre. It is genuinely walkable: a promenade, restaurants, dive schools, shops and bars along one strip, with a sheltered sandy bay that has one of the easiest sea entries in Sharm. It is lively in the evening and the hotels tend to be older, some of them across the road from their own beach. If you want to leave the hotel and find life, stay here.

Nabq Bay is the northern zone, closest to the airport, and it is where most of the big modern all-inclusive resorts sit. Grounds are enormous, rooms are newer, prices are competitive. The trade-offs are real: there is nothing to walk to, it is noticeably windier, and the shoreline is a wide, very shallow reef flat. Many hotels here reach deep water by a long jetty, and at low tide the lagoon can be too shallow to swim in at all. Some Nabq hotels have a proper sandy lagoon; many do not. Never book Nabq without checking this hotel by hotel.

Sharks Bay and Ras Nasrani sit between the two, close to the airport, mostly on low cliffs. Hotels have lifts or long staircases down to the sand, house reefs are excellent, and the sea entry is usually via a pontoon into deep water. Superb for snorkelling, awkward for a toddler with a bucket.

Hadaba and Ras Um Sid, on the southern headland, have the strongest house reefs in Sharm and a short taxi to the Old Market. Entry is almost always by ladder or pontoon over the reef wall.

Sharm El Maya and the Old Market area, at the southern end, is where you find the most genuinely sandy, gently shelving beaches, the local restaurants and the cheapest food. It is also the least polished part of the resort.

Reef entry, and why it matters more than the star rating

In most Mediterranean resorts you walk into the sea. In Sharm you frequently do not. A large share of the coastline is a living coral shelf that ends in a drop-off, and hotels solve this with jetties and pontoons that take you over the reef and drop you into six metres of water.

For an adult snorkeller this is the best thing about the destination. For a family with a three-year-old who wants to paddle and dig, it can ruin the week. If small children are travelling, the question to ask is not how many stars the hotel has, but: is there a sandy entry, is it swimmable at low tide, and is the lagoon protected? Reef shoes are essential for everyone regardless, both because of urchins and because standing on coral kills it and can carry a fine.

Hotel stock and what a budget buys

Almost the entire market here is all-inclusive, and the anchor on this page - from EUR 380 per person per week - is a realistic low-season figure for a decent 4 star on that basis, flights excluded.

At 4 star level expect a large buffet, local-label spirits, a few themed evenings and a pool complex that works. At 5 star, roughly EUR 550 to 800 per person per week in the good months, you get better food variety, a la carte restaurants included in the package, imported brands and a noticeably better-maintained property. The gap between a weak 4 star and a strong 5 star is wider in Sharm than in most destinations we quote, so this is a place where paying a little more genuinely changes the week.

Two practical notes. First, check whether the pool is heated if you are travelling between December and February; many are not, and it matters. Second, check the hotel's own beach: some Naama Bay properties do not have one and use a beach club across the road.

Getting there and moving around

The airport is Sharm El Sheikh International (SSH), inside the resort area. Nabq and Sharks Bay are 10 to 20 minutes away, Naama Bay 15 to 25, Hadaba and the Old Market 25 to 35.

Check your flight routing before anything else. The direct-flight map to Sharm has changed several times over the last decade, and what was available two years ago from your country may not be available now. Direct services are typically four to five hours from central and eastern Europe; the alternative is a connection through Cairo, which adds four to six hours and an internal flight.

To be clear about what we do: our own vehicles and drivers operate in Turkey. In Egypt we quote accommodation through our partner agencies only. The airport transfer there is arranged locally, usually by the hotel or included by the tour operator, and taxis within the resort are cheap but unmetered, so agree the fare before you get in.

On the visa: if you stay within South Sinai and do not leave the peninsula, most nationalities can enter on a free permit valid for a short stay. If you want to go to Cairo or Luxor, you need the full tourist visa instead, which is bought on arrival. Decide before you land, because it is easier to buy the visa at the airport than to fix it afterwards.

When to go

March to May and October to December are the months this destination is priced and sold for, and they are the ones to aim at.

April, May, October and November are close to ideal: air around 28 to 33 degrees, sea 24 to 27, wind manageable. March is slightly cooler and cheaper. December still swims comfortably at around 23 to 24 degrees in the water, but evenings drop and you will want a jacket after dark.

January and February are the cheapest weeks of the year and the honest answer is that they are a gamble: daytime is pleasant at 20 to 23 degrees, but the sea falls to about 21 to 22, the wind picks up in the northern bays, and evening temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees make an unheated pool useless.

June to September runs 38 to 43 degrees and higher inland. The sea reaches 28 to 30 degrees and stops being refreshing. Prices drop, the diving is excellent because visibility is at its best, and if you are in the water rather than beside it, it can be a good time to come. For a family beach week it is punishing.

Practical detail

Drink bottled water, be sensible about ice and salads outside good hotels, and choose a hotel with a strong recent hygiene reputation - we will tell you honestly what feedback we have.

The standard excursions are a boat day to Ras Mohammed or the Tiran straits, both roughly an hour by road plus the sailing; Dahab, about ninety minutes up the coast, which is the most rewarding half-day out; St Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai as an overnight; and Cairo, which is a one-hour flight and a very long day, or an exhausting seven to eight hours each way by road. Take the flight.

Tipping is expected in small amounts throughout, and it makes a real difference to service. Bring small notes.

Who should skip Sharm El Sheikh

Skip it if you need culture and street life around the hotel, if you are travelling with a toddler and cannot verify a sandy entry, if you can only travel in July or August and want to sit outdoors, or if a modest all-inclusive standard will disappoint you at 4 star level. Skip it too if you dislike being approached by shop and excursion sellers, because in Naama Bay you will be.

How we quote

Tell us your dates, who is travelling, whether diving or a sandy beach is the priority, and the budget per person for the week. A consultant prices it with our partner agencies and comes back with a handful of specific hotels, with the bay, the sea entry and the board basis spelled out. Normally within one working day. The quote is free, no payment is taken on this site, and nothing is booked until you confirm.