Sharm El Sheikh in 7 Days: Full Sinai
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Travel advisory: Day 5 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 7-day version: the fullest Sinai loop
Seven days is enough to cover Sharm’s whole regional menu without rushing: three separate dive days (Ras Mohammed, the Straits of Tiran, the Thistlegorm), an inland day at St Catherine, Dahab, and a Colored Canyon jeep safari to close it out. It builds on the 6-day plan by adding a dedicated Tiran diving day rather than compressing it with Ras Mohammed.
Book these before you go:
- A Ras Mohammed day trip
- A Straits of Tiran drift-dive 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 | Straits of Tiran drift dive | Dive package price (verify) |
| Day 4 | SS Thistlegorm wreck dive | Pricier full-day package (verify) |
| Day 5 | St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai | Full e-visa (~$25-30, verify) plus tour cost |
| Day 6 | Dahab day trip, Blue Hole | Transport fare (verify) |
| Day 7 | 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 shore-accessible house reef, then taxi to the Old Market for bargaining, sugarcane juice, and a grilled-fish dinner.
Day 2: Ras Mohammed National Park
Book a day-boat trip to Ras Mohammed National Park, Egypt’s first national park (1983), for Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef, gear and park fee usually bundled into the tour price (verify).
Day 3: The Straits of Tiran
A shorter boat ride to the Straits of Tiran reef chain, Jackson, Gordon, Thomas, and Woodhouse, a strong-current drift-dive circuit known for big pelagics. Note that Tiran and Sanafir islands themselves are Saudi Arabian territory since a 2016-2017 transfer, though Sharm boats still dive the reefs around them.
Day 4: 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, with Bedford trucks, motorcycles, and two steam locomotives still visible around the hull. Budget a pricier full-day package than Ras Mohammed (verify).
Day 5: 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, 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. Most tours offer an overnight sunrise climb option via the longer camel path or the steeper 3,750 “Steps of Repentance,” with a guide mandatory either way. This day needs the full Egyptian e-visa, not the free Sinai permit, confirm it before you book.
Day 6: 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 7: The Colored Canyon and departure
Head out on a jeep safari toward the Colored Canyon near Nuweiba, sandstone walls up to 40m tall carved by centuries of erosion, typically bundled with a Bedouin tea stop (verify current tour pricing). Finish with a last look at Naama Bay before transferring to Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport (SSH).
Is Cairo or Luxor worth adding to this itinerary?
Only with a spare day or two beyond this one. Both are flight-only from Sharm, a short domestic hop rather than a road trip, and neither fits as a same-day add-on to this schedule (verify current EgyptAir routes and fares if you’re extending the trip).
How much does 7 days in Sharm El Sheikh cost?
Figure a few hundred EGP across days one and two, separate dive-package prices for Tiran and the Thistlegorm, the full e-visa plus an organized tour for St Catherine, a Dahab transport fare, and a bundled Colored Canyon jeep tour to close it out (verify every package against current operator pricing). Book the Thistlegorm, St Catherine, and Colored Canyon slots ahead in peak season, all three can sell out with limited notice.