Sharm El Sheikh: 7-Day Itinerary
Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use.
Seven days keeps our 6-day itinerary intact for its first five days, arrival, Ras Mohammed, St Catherine’s, Dahab, and a Tiran or Thistlegorm dive day, then swaps the closing Old Market day for a fuller two-day finish: a desert safari and Colored Canyon day, then Nabq Protected Area before departure.
Day-by-day at a glance
| Day | Focus | Est. spend (excl. hotel) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrival, Naama Bay | ~$30-60 |
| 2 | Ras Mohammed National Park | ~$40-90 |
| 3 | St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai | Tour price, plus full visa if needed |
| 4 | Dahab and the Blue Hole | Taxi/tour price |
| 5 | Straits of Tiran or the Thistlegorm wreck | Dive package price |
| 6 | Desert safari and Colored Canyon | ~$20-25 quad, plus canyon tour |
| 7 | Nabq Protected Area, Old Market, departure | Tour price |
Travel advisory: Sharm el-Sheikh sits in a well-established carve-out from Egypt’s wider Sinai advisory, the UK FCDO rates the Red Sea resort strip “generally low risk” (updated 4 August 2026) even while advising against travel to North Sinai and the South Sinai interior. Day 3’s St Catherine trip is the one day here that crosses into that interior; check your government’s current advisory before booking it, and go with a licensed organized tour.
Day 1: Arrival and Naama Bay
Agree a taxi fare before the bags go in the trunk, drivers waiting outside arrivals routinely quote three to five times the fair local rate. Check into a Naama Bay hotel, spend the afternoon on the beach, and walk the promenade for dinner and an Old Market browse in the evening.
Concrete tip: Book Ras Mohammed and St Catherine’s now, a full week gives you room to be flexible on the rest but St Catherine departures rarely take same-day bookings.
Day 2: Ras Mohammed National Park
Egypt’s first national park (1983), about 12km southwest, Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef are the standout dives, some of the best visibility in the northern Red Sea. Entry runs around $5 cash, plus your boat package. Go early, visibility is best before 10am.
Concrete tip: Ask if the itinerary includes the park’s shallow Mangrove Channel for a change of pace from the deep-wall diving.
Day 3: St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai
A full day, about 2.5 to 3 hours each way. Tours leave in the small hours, climb Mount Sinai (2,285m) via the camel path or the “3,750 Steps of Repentance” for sunrise, then visit the monastery, built 548-565 AD under Justinian I, the world’s oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, UNESCO-inscribed in 2002. The free Sinai permit doesn’t cover this trip, since St Catherine sits inland; you’ll need a full Egyptian e-visa, commonly around $25-30, regardless of the rest of your stay.
Concrete tip: Confirm your tour includes both the summit and the monastery, some budget operators quietly drop one.
Day 4: Dahab and the Blue Hole
Dahab, about 80-90km northeast, roughly 1-1.5 hours by road, is South Sinai’s laid-back diving capital with genuinely strong windsurfing too. The Blue Hole’s fatality reputation is almost entirely about divers attempting the “Arch” tunnel without technical training; the surrounding reef is safe for ordinary diving and freediving.
Concrete tip: Dive with a guide who knows the specific site rather than relying solely on a certification card from elsewhere.
Day 5: Straits of Tiran or the Thistlegorm wreck
Option A, Straits of Tiran (about 2h by boat): a reef chain, Jackson, Gordon, Thomas and Woodhouse, strong currents and big pelagics. Tiran and neighboring Sanafir Island are Saudi Arabian territory since a 2016 border deal, ratified by Egypt in 2017, even though Sharm boats still dive these reefs. Option B, the SS Thistlegorm (multi-hour boat run, certified divers): a British WWII cargo ship sunk in 1941, trucks, motorcycles and two locomotives still visible at around 30m.
Concrete tip: Uncertified divers should default to Tiran, some sections work for strong snorkelers, the Thistlegorm genuinely needs a certification.
Day 6: Desert safari and the Colored Canyon
A full day inland: a quad-bike or jeep safari through the Sinai desert, around $20-25 per person for a two-hour tour (verify current pricing), often bundled with the Colored Canyon, a narrow sandstone slot near Nuweiba, walls up to 40m tall, striped red, pink and orange by mineral deposits, and a Bedouin-camp dinner with stargazing to close the day. Confirm whether the dinner is included or a separate add-on, tour listings aren’t always clear.
Concrete tip: Wear closed shoes for the canyon scramble, not sandals, and bring more water than feels necessary.
Day 7: Nabq Protected Area, Old Market, and departure
A lighter final day: Nabq Protected Area, about 12km north, holds the Red Sea’s northernmost mangroves, a 4.5km fringe co-managed with the local El Mezina Bedouin tribe, worth a morning if you haven’t done a nature-focused day yet. Spend the afternoon in the Old Market for last souvenirs, then arrange your airport transfer with extra buffer time for security.
Concrete tip: Exchange leftover EGP in town rather than at the airport, rates there run consistently worse.
Things to know before you go
Egypt’s currency is the Egyptian pound (EGP), heavily devalued in recent years. Cash matters for markets and small vendors; cards work at hotels. For the fuller etiquette and safety picture, see our Sharm el-Sheikh travel tips ; our Sharm el-Sheikh guide covers the destination overall.
Is a full week too much for Sharm el-Sheikh?
Not if diving is genuinely the point. Two dive days at Ras Mohammed and Tiran or the Thistlegorm, a full St Catherine’s day, Dahab, a desert day, and Nabq to close is a real week’s worth of this coastline, not a city trip stretched thin. If that’s more than you want, our 5-day itinerary drops the second dive day and the desert-and-Nabq finish while keeping everything else.