Visit Sharm El-Sheikh: free Sinai entry, Red Sea reefs & Mount Sinai
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Overview
Sharm El-Sheikh is where the Sinai Desert drops into the Red Sea — one of the world's top dive destinations, a year-round beach resort, and the launchpad for Mount Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery.
A South Sinai cove near Sharm El-Sheikh, where the reef shelf drops from turquoise shallows into open Red Sea blue.
© sola_sola / Adobe Stock
Travel
Sharm El-Sheikh sits at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula where desert mountains plunge into the Red Sea, creating one of the planet's most extraordinary marine environments. The coral reefs here — part of the northern Red Sea's unique ecosystem, warmed by tropical currents but enriched by nutrient-poor clarity — support over 1,000 fish species and 200 coral species in visibility that regularly exceeds 30 meters. Ras Mohammed National Park at Sinai's tip is consistently rated among the world's top 5 dive sites. The Thistlegorm wreck (a British WWII supply ship with motorcycles, trucks, and railway carriages intact underwater) is diving's most famous wreck dive. And the Blue Hole in Dahab (90 minutes north) is the most photographed dive site on Earth — a 130-meter vertical shaft in the reef that's both sublime for snorkelers and fatally dangerous for depth divers (over 200 deaths recorded). But Sharm is more than diving. It's the base for sunrise hikes up Mount Sinai (2,285 meters, where Moses received the Ten Commandments), visits to St. Catherine's Monastery (the world's oldest continuously operating monastery, 6th century, housing the Burning Bush and a library older than the Vatican's), and Bedouin desert camps under a sky of stars so dense the Milky Way casts shadows. The resort strip itself — Naama Bay, Shark's Bay, Nabq — offers all-inclusive beach holidays at a fraction of Caribbean or Maldives prices, with year-round swimming (water 22-28°C), making it particularly popular with European winter sun seekers.
Ras Mohammed, at the southernmost tip of Sinai where the Gulf of Suez meets the Gulf of Aqaba, is Egypt's premier marine national park and one of the world's top dive destinations. Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef form the park's signature dive — a wall dropping 700+ meters into the abyss, patrolled by barracuda, jackfish, and occasional hammerhead sharks, with the remains of the cargo ship Yolanda (sunk 1980) scattering toilets and bathtubs across the reef at 25 meters. The reef itself is a vertical garden of soft corals in electric purple, orange, and red. Ras Mohammed is accessible by boat from Sharm (day trips $40-70 including 2 dives, lunch). Certification: PADI Open Water courses run $250-350 (3-4 days) at Sharm's 100+ dive centers. Single guided dives: $30-50. Non-divers can snorkel directly from the shore at Ras Mohammed's beach (park entry 75 EGP + 50 EGP car; boat trips include entry). The marine life visible while snorkeling — Napoleon wrasse, lionfish, moray eels, parrotfish — is extraordinary even in shallow water. The park is also home to mangrove forests, a rare sight in the Middle East.
This overview comes from Visaja's worldwide missions database (visaja.com), checked against official government sources; for binding answers, the mission itself always has the final word.