Sharm El Sheikh: Things Worth Doing
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.
Most Sharm el-Sheikh lists lead with the beach and treat the reef as an afterthought. Get the order right: the diving here is the actual draw, world-class by any measure, and everything else, the market, the desert, the mangroves, fills in around it.
Nine things at a glance
| Thing | Type | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ras Mohammed National Park | Diving/snorkeling | ~$5 entry, plus boat trip |
| Straits of Tiran | Diving | Package price |
| SS Thistlegorm wreck | Diving (certified) | Package price |
| House reefs (Naama, Ras Um Sid, Shark’s Bay) | Shore diving/snorkeling | Often free from a hotel beach |
| Old Market / Sharm el-Maya | Shopping, food | Free to browse |
| Naama Bay promenade | Dining, nightlife | Free to walk |
| Desert safari (quad/jeep + Bedouin camp) | Adventure | Tour price, ~$20-25/2h quad |
| Nabq Protected Area | Nature, mangroves | Tour price |
| Glass-bottom boat / semi-submarine | Marine sightseeing | Tour price |
Dive or snorkel Ras Mohammed first
Ras Mohammed National Park, at the Sinai’s southern tip about 12km southwest of town, was Egypt’s first national park, established 1983, and its reputation is earned: Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef are sheer coral walls with some of the best visibility and biggest fish counts in the northern Red Sea. It’s boat-based for most visitors, and it rewards snorkelers almost as much as divers, since the shallow reef sections here rival what divers see deeper down. Go early; boats stack up by mid-morning and underwater visibility is best before 10am.
Try the Straits of Tiran if you want a harder drift dive
The Straits of Tiran’s reef chain, Jackson, Gordon, Thomas and Woodhouse, is the standard step-up dive from Ras Mohammed, strong currents and bigger pelagics, reached by about two hours’ boat from Sharm’s marinas. One fact worth knowing before you go: Tiran and neighboring Sanafir Island became Saudi Arabian territory under a 2016 border deal, ratified by Egypt’s parliament in 2017, so the water you’re diving is Saudi sovereign territory even though the trip departs from and is run entirely by Egyptian operators.
Certified divers should add the Thistlegorm
The SS Thistlegorm, a British WWII cargo ship sunk in 1941 in the Straits of Gubal, sits at around 30m and is routinely ranked among the world’s best wreck dives, Bedford trucks, motorcycles and two steam locomotives still visible in the holds. It’s a multi-hour boat run each way, so budget the whole day, and it’s for certified divers rather than a snorkel add-on.
Shore-dive or snorkel the house reefs without a boat
Naama Bay, Ras Um Sid, Shark’s Bay and the “Gardens” reefs are Sharm’s standard shore-accessible dive/snorkel sites, shallower and calmer than the boat-based drift dives, and the default choice for PADI open-water training. Water temperature runs roughly 21-28°C year-round, warmest in late summer, coolest in January/February (verify exact figures with a dive shop, as ranges vary by source).
Bargain at the Old Market
The Old Market, in the Sharm el-Maya district, is the city’s older, more local end, souvenirs, spices, textiles, and the renovated Al-Sahaba Mosque. Bargaining is expected and not rude; start well under the first quoted price and work up from there. It gets going properly after dark, once the heat breaks.
Walk Naama Bay’s promenade after dark
Naama Bay is the central hotel, restaurant and dive-shop hub, roughly equidistant from both the airport and the Old Market, and its seafront promenade is the liveliest strip in town after sunset, bars, shisha cafes, and shops. Treat it as your base rather than the whole trip.
Book a desert safari for the evening you skip diving
Quad-bike or jeep safaris into the Sinai desert, often paired with a Bedouin-camp dinner and stargazing, run around $20-25 per person for a two-hour tour with groups of 10-15 bikes (verify current pricing with your operator). Camel treks and hotel-stable horseback riding are also common add-ons if you want something slower-paced.
See the mangroves at Nabq Protected Area
Nabq, a 600 km² reserve about 12km north of Sharm, holds the northernmost mangrove stands in the Red Sea/Indian Ocean region, a roughly 4.5km fringe of Avicennia marina that shelters fish nurseries and nesting birds. It’s genuinely biodiverse, 208 hard coral species and 438 fish species recorded, plus threatened species like marine turtles, dugongs and Nubian ibex, and it’s co-managed with input from the local El Mezina Bedouin tribe.
Take a glass-bottom boat or semi-submarine if you don’t dive
Parasailing, glass-bottom boat rides and semi-submarine trips are standard offerings from Sharm’s marinas alongside the snorkel-boat trips already covered above, a reasonable way to see the reef without getting in the water.
For the deeper day-trip detail behind Ras Mohammed, Tiran and St Catherine’s, see our day trips guide ; where to stay covers which area puts you closest to the house reefs above. Browse a Ras Mohammed snorkel or dive trip before you land, peak-season boats fill up a few days out.
One concrete move: book your Ras Mohammed trip for your first or second morning, not your last. If the reef is the reason you came, don’t leave the best dive site on the itinerary to chance on a departure-week schedule.