Sharm El Sheikh in 5 Days: Thistlegorm
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Travel advisory: Day 4 below leaves Sharm’s resort-strip carve-out for St Catherine, genuinely inland Sinai. North Sinai is a do-not-travel zone and the interior beyond the St Catherine-Nuweiba-El Tor road is advised against, though the coastal resort strip, Sharm included, is treated as low risk. Go only with a licensed organized tour, and check your government’s current advisory before booking this specific day.
The 5-day version: adds the SS Thistlegorm
Five days builds on the 4-day plan (Naama Bay, Ras Mohammed, St Catherine) with a full-day boat trip to the SS Thistlegorm, then closes with Dahab. Prefer more desert and canyon time instead? The 6-day plan adds the Colored Canyon.
Book these before you go:
- A Ras Mohammed day trip
- An SS Thistlegorm wreck dive day trip
- An organized St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai tour
- A Sharm El Sheikh hotel on Booking.com
| Day | Focus | Rough cost (solo, no hotel) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Naama Bay beach/house reef, Old Market evening | A few hundred EGP (verify) |
| Day 2 | Ras Mohammed National Park boat trip | Boat/dive package price (verify) |
| Day 3 | SS Thistlegorm wreck dive | Pricier full-day package than Ras Mohammed (verify) |
| Day 4 | St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai | Full e-visa (~$25-30, verify) plus tour cost |
| Day 5 | Dahab day trip, departure | Transport fare (verify) |
Day 1: Naama Bay and the Old Market
Settle into Naama Bay, spend the afternoon on the beach or a shore-accessible house reef, then taxi to the Old Market for bargaining and a grilled-fish dinner.
Day 2: Ras Mohammed National Park
Book a day-boat trip to Ras Mohammed National Park for Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef, Egypt’s first national park (1983), gear and park fee usually bundled into the tour price (verify).
Day 3: The SS Thistlegorm wreck
A longer boat run out to the SS Thistlegorm, a British WWII cargo steamship sunk in 1941 and rediscovered by Jacques Cousteau in the early 1950s, still one of the world’s top-ten wreck dives with Bedford trucks, motorcycles, and two steam locomotives visible around the hull. Max depth runs around 30m, recreational-diver accessible, but budget a pricier, full-day package than Ras Mohammed given the distance (verify current operator cost).
Day 4: St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai
The trip’s one inland day, roughly 2.5-3 hours’ drive each way, organized-tour-only. The monastery (548-565 AD, Justinian I) is the world’s oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, with the traditional Burning Bush and world’s oldest continuously operating library; UNESCO inscribed the Saint Catherine Area in 2002. Mount Sinai (2,285m) is where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments, sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This day needs the full Egyptian e-visa, not the free Sinai permit, confirm it before you book.
Day 5: Dahab and departure
Take a shared minibus or tour to Dahab, roughly 80-90km northeast (verify current transport fare), for the laid-back town and the Blue Hole reef, safe for ordinary snorkeling and diving as long as you stay off the deep “Arch” tunnel without technical training. Head back to Sharm in time for your transfer to Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport (SSH).
How much does 5 days in Sharm El Sheikh cost?
Figure a few hundred EGP across days one and two, a pricier Thistlegorm package on day three, the full e-visa plus an organized tour on day four, and a Dahab transport fare on day five (verify all four against current operator pricing). Confirm your visa is sorted before day four, that’s the only day this itinerary needs it.