Money-Saving Sharm El Sheikh Travel Tips

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Travel advisory: Egypt carries elevated regional-security warnings, but Sharm el-Sheikh sits inside a well-established carve-out. North Sinai is a do-not-travel zone and South Sinai’s interior beyond the St Catherine-Nuweiba-El Tor road is advised against, but the Red Sea resort strip, Sharm, Dahab, Nuweiba, Taba, is explicitly excepted, treated as “generally low risk” (UK FCDO) or normal caution (Canada), and reached by air with routine security checks at the airport and resorts. Check your own government’s current advisory before booking anything below, especially a St Catherine trip.

8 tips that actually save money and avoid mistakes in Sharm El Sheikh

  1. Do the EGP math before you spend. The Egyptian pound has fallen past E£40 to the US dollar (volatile, verify the current rate), so a “500 EGP” quote is really about $12.50, not the number it looks like at first glance. Convert every price before deciding something’s expensive.
  2. Know the free Sinai entry permit rule. Fly into Sharm and stay under 15 days at resorts in Sharm, Dahab, Nuweiba, or Taba, and you get a free entry-permission stamp, no visa needed. Leave that resort strip, for St Catherine, Cairo, or the Nile, or stay longer than 15 days, and you need the full Egyptian e-visa (roughly $25-30, service-inflated third-party quotes run higher, verify).
  3. Agree the taxi fare before you get in. Meters aren’t reliable in practice; negotiate upfront, and expect a wide range depending on distance and how firmly you bargain (verify current fares). There’s no Uber in Sharm, and microbuses cover fixed routes for a few EGP if you don’t need door-to-door.
  4. Baksheesh is usually already on the bill. A 10-15% service charge is typically added to restaurant checks already; extra small tips for porters, tour guides, and restroom attendants are a normal expectation beyond that.
  5. Bargain at the Old Market, not at a supermarket or mall. Haggling is expected and normal on souvenirs, spices, and handicrafts in the souk; fixed-price stores don’t need it.
  6. Dress modestly off-resort. Swimwear and alcohol are fine within resort grounds; cover up more once you’re at the Old Market, a mosque, or a local neighborhood, consistent with Egypt’s broader conservative social norms.
  7. Drink bottled water only. Tap water isn’t for drinking; bottled water is cheap and available everywhere, including resort minibars and Old Market shops.
  8. Remember pork isn’t actually sold here. Even when a menu lists “pork,” it’s typically salted beef, a genuinely useful thing to know before you order expecting the real thing.

Is Sharm El Sheikh actually safe to visit?

The resort strip itself, yes, that’s precisely the carve-out described above: heavily secured, routinely checked at the airport and resorts, and treated as low risk by Western advisories even while nearby North Sinai and the interior carry do-not-travel warnings. The one trip that leaves that carve-out is St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai, genuinely inland and organized-tour-only; check the current advisory specifically before booking that excursion, not before a normal Sharm beach trip.

For where these tips save the most money, see the best places to stay guide , and for the full day-by-day cost breakdown, the main Sharm El Sheikh guide . Check current Sharm El Sheikh hotel rates on Booking.com once you’ve picked an area, and check the current UK FCDO or Canadian government advisory before you book anything that leaves the resort strip.