Top Attractions In sharm El Sheikh

 

Sharm el-Sheikh is the Sinai Peninsula's major tourism center and one of the world's top diving destinations. It was the underwater wonders of the Red Sea — particularly the waters of the Ras Mohammed Marine Park just south of town — that put "Sharm" center-stage in the first place, and the diving and snorkeling on offer here continue to attract flocks of diving enthusiasts each year.

Top Attractions In sharm El Sheikh

Top Attractions In sharm El Sheikh

1- Naama Bay

Naama Bay is widely considered to be an exceptional tourist attraction in Sharm El Sheikh. The public beach doesn’t just boast of turquoise waters but also features cabana rentals and covered seats to help you cool off after taking a swim. As a visitor in Naama Bay, you are spoilt for options. You can choose from the multiple jet skis, paddle boats, and snorkeling gear to showcase your diverse watersports skills. A trip to Naama Bay isn’t complete without sampling tantalizing cuisine prepared by seasoned chefs. Whether you are interested in the Mediterranean, local or seafood dishes, the Naama Bay got you covered courtesy of the various restaurants available.

2-Ras Mohammed National Park

Ras Mohammed National Park is what put Sharm el-Sheikh on the tourist map. Surrounded by some of the world's most incredible dive sites, this peninsula is home to glorious beaches with excellent snorkeling just offshore, the world's second most northerly mangrove forest, and a saltwater lake. A trip here is a must-do for anyone staying in Sharm el-Sheikh. The best beaches are Old Quay Beach (with its top-notch coral reef easily reached from the shore) and Aqaba Beach. Travelers seeking a good view should head to the Shark Observatory cliff top right on the southern edge of Ras Mohammed, where views stretch across both sides of the Red Sea. Location: 38 kilometers south of Sharm el-Sheikh

3-Quad Bike Adventures

Participating in a quad bike race should get your adrenaline flowing and reinvigorate your vacation. The quad bike race allows you to witness Egypt’s desert at its best during sunset or sunrise. As the sands whip past your skin, you can feel the adrenalin rush kicking in as you race through the desert sand in your four-wheel bike. A stop for tea in a traditional Bedouin tent serves as the perfect end to quench your thirst and try some Egyptian delicacies after an exhilarating race.

4-Old Town Market

Sharm Old Market (also known as Sharm al-Maya) is the town's souq (bazaar) area, where twinkling Arabic lamps, traditional shisha pipes, and finely engraved woodwork can be found in abundance. It's best to come at sunset or later, when the worst heat of the day has dissipated, and you can shop and browse in comfort. The area is full of cheap and cheerful restaurants and cafés as well, so it's a good place to spend the entire evening. There's a distinctly different feel here than the rest of Sharm el-Sheikh — the market is imbued with a much more higgledy-piggledy local atmosphere than the rest of the city.

On the edge of the market area is the new Al-Sahaba Mosque with an imposing facade that cherry-picks influences from Fatimid, Mamluk, and Ottoman mosque styles.

5-El Sahaba Mosque

El Sahaba mosque is 35 meters high and can host around 3,000 worshipers. The mosque has two minarets that are 70-meter high, which makes it the second biggest in Sharm El Sheikh. It comes fully-self-sufficient with its own solar power station and with a total cost of roughly 31 million EGP.

6-Coptic Orthodox Church

The Coptic Orthodox Church wields a formidable reputation for attracting millions of tourists in Sharm El Sheikh annually. The towering landmark features two large bell towers with extended stained glass windows and an embellished entrance. The church’s interior depicts religious artworks and murals depicting prominent scenes from the Bible. As a visitor, the crucial artworks and murals offer you a deep insight into the Church’s ancient history and existence. Such information builds up your knowledge as you traverse various destinations in Sharm El Sheikh.

7- St. Catherine Monastery

Away from the enchanting wildlife and nightlife destinations in Sharm El Sheikh, the St Catherine Monastery offers a unique experience of its own. Despite being two hours from Sharm El Sheikh, the monumental construction is a spectacle to behold courtesy of its rich history. As a visitor, you can obtain an informative guide regarding the building’s unique architectural design and incorporate it into your construction projects.

8- Shark’s Bay

The Sharks Bay area forms a beautiful cove, ringed by hotels, bars and restaurants. It is the perfect location for divers and snorkellers, located as it is opposite stunning Tiran Island. Trendy restaurants and shopping malls abound at Soho Square for when you’re not in the water, under or alongside it.

9-Tiran Island

A visit to Tiran Island offers you an alternative fun experience away from the desert lifestyle. You can take a boat trip from Sharm El Sheikh to Tiran Island to not only relax on the sandy beaches but also snorkel in the azure and encounter a variety of marine life.

10-Gardens

Located at the northern end of Naama Bay, the Gardens is a group of three different snorkeling and diving sites called Near Garden, Middle Garden, and Far Garden. We highly recommend you to visit the Far garden. It is a fringing reef which drops to 25 meters and is scattered with small pinnacles swirling with glassfish.

11-Al-Mustafa Mosque

If you are planning an unforgettable sightseeing experience in Sharm El Sheikh, then the Al-Mustafa Mosque should be in your bucket list. Its striking architecture makes this worship sanctuary a worthwhile location not just to worshippers but to tourists as well. With an extraordinary dome and stunning marble, you can experience an unrivaled serenity meditating or appreciating the profound Islamic teachings.

12-Thistlegorm Dive Site

For many advanced divers, a trip to Sharm el-Sheikh means only one thing: diving the Thistlegorm. One of the top wreck dives in the world, this ship packed full of cargo to resupply British troops was sunk during World War II by German bombers. Fish now flit through its rooms and cargo holds filled with jeeps, motorbikes, and armaments that never made it to the front. The wreck is situated in the Straits of Gubal, off the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula, so it is offered as either a long one-day boat trip from Sharm el-Sheikh or an overnight trip. All boat tours here offer at least two dives of the wreck plus a stop at one of Ras Mohammed's dive sites. The overnight trips have the added bonus of a night dive of the wreck

13- Jolanda Reef Dive Site

Jolanda Reef (also called Yolanda Reef) is one of the most popular dive sites in the northern section of the Red Sea and lies within the Ras Mohammed Marine Park. Divers flock here to explore the remains of the Jolanda, an old Cypriot freighter ship that ran aground in 1980. It's more than just a wreck dive though, as Jolanda Reef also encompasses the coral walls of Shark Reef with its huge numbers of fish life and enchanting coral gardens.

14-Ras Um Sid Beach and Reef

One of Sharm el-Sheikh's best beaches is Ras Um Sid, right at the southern tail of the town, near the lighthouse. Here, people slouch on the beach between snorkeling trips into the water where an excellent coral reef is just offshore. Farther away from the sand, Ras Um Sid Reef is perfect for first-time forays into diving and is used as a try-dive site by many local dive operators. Even if you're just snorkeling, there is plenty of fish life to see.
15-Mt. Sinai at sunrise

Inland from the sun-drenched beaches of the coast, the Sinai's rugged, mountainous heart is rawly beautiful. For a taster of this craggy landscape, hike up to the summit of Mt. Sinai to see an expanse of orange-hued peaks rippling out before you. Revered by all three of the monotheistic faiths as the place where Moses received the 10 Commandments, the summit hike is a pilgrimage for many people (and usually combined with a visit to St. Catherine's Monastery which sits at the trailhead for the hike).

There are two main trails up to the top. The Camel Trail is a well-worn switchback path, while the Steps of Repentance is a more difficult, but much more scenic, set of stone-cut staircases that was carved out by one of the monastery's monks.

From Sharm el-Sheikh, most tours travel overnight to reach the trailhead in the wee hours of the morning so that the hike up the Camel Trail is completed in the cool, dark hours, and the summit is reached in time to watch sunrise over the surrounding peaks.

Location: 209 kilometers northwest from Sharm el-Sheikh

16- Jackson Reef Dive Site

In the Straits of Tiran between the Sinai Peninsula and the southern tip of Saudi Arabia, Jackson Reef is one of Sharm el-Sheikh's prime dive sites. There are masses of large pelagic fish to be seen here, and it's one of the Red Sea's top spots for shark sightings. The reef is also home to the wreck of the Lara, and for advanced divers, exploring this freighter ship wreckage adds an extra element to this dive.

17- The Blue Hole

Sinai's most notorious dive site is the Blue Hole, and people come from far and wide just to dive here. This sinkhole claims the lives of a few divers every year, mostly through people diving way beyond their limits and experience. Despite the site's reputation for danger, divers who stick within sensible limits are perfectly safe here, and the fish life and incredible vistas of ethereal blue below make this an incredibly beautiful dive. It's also a popular snorkeling spot, with plenty of fish life to see near the surface if you don't fancy heading into the depths.

Location: 100 kilometers north of Sharm el-Sheikh

18. Day Trip to Dahab

Dahab is the Sinai's backpacker beach resort and a chilled-out alternative to the holiday package feel of Sharm el-Sheikh. Along the shore is a huge number of casual restaurants and cafés, while a cute shopping district winds its way up to the main highway in a jumble of souvenir shops. There is some excellent diving and snorkeling here, which is the reason most people come, but Dahab's laid-back atmosphere is also great for a day out from Sharm el-Sheikh.

Location: 90 kilometers north of Sharm el-Sheikh

19. Dunraven Dive Site
The SS Dunraven had been traveling to Mumbai (then Bombay) when it hit the reef and sunk just off the tip of the Sinai Peninsula in 1876. Today, this 80-meter steam ship, torn in two pieces on the sea floor, is home to a rich variety of fish, which have made their home within the barnacle-encrusted hull. Divers here spot big schools of cardinal fish and goat fish, as well as moray eels and scorpion fish. It's roughly a two-hour boat trip from Sharm el-Sheikh, and a dive here is often combined with Ras Mohammed National Park dives or with a Thistlegorm dive trip.

20-Colored Canyon

The swirling mineral-rich layered rock formations of this canyon are one of the Sinai's top out-of-the-water natural attractions. It's a showcase of the natural beauty of the desert, with plenty of opportunities for scrambling around the rock faces and hiking fun. For nature lovers, this is one of Sharm el-Sheikh's top days out, and exploring the bizarrely shaped pinnacles and boulders, which have been brushed with shimmering red and orange hues makes for some fantastic photography.

Location: 177 kilometers north of Sharm el-Sheikh