Sharm El Sheikh in 6 Days: Colored Canyon
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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 6-day version: adds the Colored Canyon
Six days builds on the 5-day plan (Ras Mohammed, the Thistlegorm, St Catherine, Dahab) with a sixth day for a Colored Canyon jeep safari near Nuweiba before you fly out. Want the fullest version with a flight day trip option? The 7-day plan adds it.
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 Colored Canyon jeep safari
- 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 (verify) |
| Day 4 | St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai | Full e-visa (~$25-30, verify) plus tour cost |
| Day 5 | Dahab day trip | Transport fare (verify) |
| Day 6 | Colored Canyon jeep safari, departure | Bundled jeep-tour price (verify) |
Day 1: Naama Bay and the Old Market
Settle into Naama Bay, spend the afternoon on the beach or a 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, gear and park fee usually bundled into the tour price (verify).
Day 3: The SS Thistlegorm wreck
A longer boat run to the SS Thistlegorm, sunk in 1941 and rediscovered by Cousteau in the early 1950s, one of the world’s top-ten wreck dives, budget a pricier full-day package than Ras Mohammed (verify).
Day 4: St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai
The trip’s one inland day, organized-tour-only, roughly 2.5-3 hours’ drive each way. The monastery (548-565 AD) is the world’s oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery; Mount Sinai (2,285m) is where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments. This day needs the full Egyptian e-visa, not the free Sinai permit, confirm it before you book.
Day 5: Dahab and the Blue Hole
Take a shared minibus or tour to Dahab, roughly 80-90km northeast (verify fare), for the laid-back town and the Blue Hole reef, safe for ordinary diving and snorkeling if you stay off the untrained-only “Arch” tunnel.
Day 6: The Colored Canyon and departure
Head out on a jeep safari toward the Colored Canyon, a narrow sandstone slot canyon near Nuweiba with walls up to 40m tall painted in shades of red, orange, and purple, formed by erosion as the Red Sea retreated, typically bundled with a Bedouin tea stop (verify current tour pricing and drive time). Local Bedouin lore holds Moses was once lost in the canyon, treat that as folklore rather than history. Finish with a last look at Naama Bay before transferring to Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport (SSH).
How much does 6 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 tour on day four, a Dahab transport fare on day five, and a bundled Colored Canyon jeep tour on day six (verify all against current operator pricing). Book the Thistlegorm and Colored Canyon slots ahead in peak season, both can sell out with limited notice.