Things to Do in Sharm El Sheikh (2026): Reefs, Desert & Sinai

Quick answer: Sharm El Sheikh is the Red Sea's headline resort, on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula where the Gulf of Aqaba meets some of the clearest, most coral-rich water on earth. What you actually do here splits three ways: world-class snorkelling and diving on the reefs of Ras Mohammed and Tiran, desert adventure by quad and camel in the Sinai interior, and day trips deep inland to St Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai. Across more than 1,400 bookable experiences the typical price is about 2,632 EGP (~$54) per person, and 73% offer free cancellation. Here is how to spend your days.

Snorkel or dive Ras Mohammed & White Island

This is the signature Sharm day and the single most-booked thing to do here. A boat carries you south into Ras Mohammed National Park — declared Egypt's first national park in 1983, at the very point where the peninsula ends and the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba meet. Here the reef falls away in vertical coral walls that drop hundreds of metres into deep blue, dense with soft corals and pelagic fish. The park's legendary sites — Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef, where the scattered cargo of a wrecked freighter still litters the seabed — are among the finest drift dives on the planet, and the shallows are just as rich for snorkellers. Most trips pair the park with White Island, a dazzling sandbar that surfaces from the open sea at low tide. Snorkellers and divers share the same boats, so non-divers see just as much: turtles, napoleon wrasse, moray eels, and clouds of anthias over the coral. If you do only one thing in Sharm, do this.

Boat trips to the Straits of Tiran

Between the Sinai coast and the island of Tiran, the Straits of Tiran funnel water — and marine life — through a narrow channel guarding the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Four legendary reefs line up across it: Jackson, Woodhouse, Thomas and Gordon, each swept by currents that make for exhilarating drift snorkelling and diving over hard-coral gardens and steep walls. A Tiran boat day is the classic alternative to Ras Mohammed, and many operators alternate between the two through the week.

Dive the SS Thistlegorm

Off the Sinai coast in the Strait of Gubal lies the SS Thistlegorm, a British armed merchant ship sunk by German bombers in October 1941 and rediscovered by Jacques Cousteau in the 1950s. Consistently ranked among the greatest wreck dives on earth, she still holds her wartime cargo — motorcycles, trucks, rifles, aircraft parts and two steam locomotives — frozen on the seabed between about 15 and 30 metres. Day boats and liveaboards reach the wreck from Sharm; it is a dive for certified divers and the highlight of many Red Sea trips.

Sharm as a dive base

Beyond the headline sites, Sharm is one of the world's great places to learn or log easy dives: sheltered house reefs, warm water and dozens of dive centres mean you can take a PADI course, do a first try dive, or fit in a shore dive between boat days. Local sites like Shark Bay, the Gardens and Ras Katy suit every level, and non-divers can join almost every boat as snorkellers.

Quad, camel and a Bedouin night in the desert

The second great Sharm experience happens on land. An ATV or quad-bike safari roars across the desert behind the resort at sunrise or sunset, and the best tours bundle it with a camel ride, a Bedouin dinner and stargazing under some of the clearest night skies in Egypt. These are the cheapest and highest-rated experiences in town — a "super safari" of quad, camel, BBQ and a telescope is practically a Sharm rite of passage, and a good introduction to the Bedouin culture that has shaped Sinai for centuries.

The Colored Canyon & the Sinai interior

Inland from the coast, the Colored Canyon near Nuweiba is a narrow sandstone gorge whose walls are streaked with red, gold, ochre and purple mineral bands — a half-day scramble through cool, shaded passages that feels a world away from the beach. Trips often take in the nearby White Canyon and Mushroom Rock, a Bedouin lunch, and a stop in the laid-back coastal town of Dahab, famous for its own dive site, the Blue Hole — a near-vertical sinkhole in the reef and one of the most iconic dive and snorkel spots on the Sinai coast.

A day trip to St Catherine's Monastery & Mount Sinai

The greatest journey out of Sharm heads deep into the granite mountains of central Sinai. St Catherine's Monastery was founded in the 5th century AD and fortified around the 560s by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I — which makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monasteries on earth. Inside its still-standing walls are the Chapel of the Burning Bush (built over the spot where Moses is said to have seen the bush that burned but was not consumed), a collection of more than 2,000 icons — including rare works that survived the Iconoclast destruction — and a library of over 3,000 early manuscripts, considered second only to the Vatican's. The monastery sits at the foot of Mount Sinai (Jabal Musa, 2,285 m), sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews alike as the mountain where God gave the Law to Moses. Overnight trips from Sharm climb the mountain in darkness — either the gentler camel path or the steep Steps of Repentance — to reach the summit for sunrise, then descend to visit the monastery. It is a long, cold, unforgettable night out.

Naama Bay, Nabq & staying dry

Not everything needs a wetsuit. Naama Bay is Sharm's pedestrian heart — a promenade of restaurants, cafés, bazaars and dive shops that comes alive after dark. North of the airport, the Nabq Protected Area shelters Sinai's largest mangrove forest, where desert meets sea and rarer reefs stay quiet. And for families or non-swimmers, glass-bottom boats and semi-submarines reveal the coral without anyone getting wet, while the clifftop Shark Observatory in Ras Mohammed gives one of the best sea views in Sinai.

What a Sharm experience costs

The top-rated experiences travellers book

• Sharm El Sheikh: White Island & Ras Mohamed Dive & Snorkel — 4.88★ · 2,988 reviews · from 1,335 EGP (~$27).
• From Sharm: White Island and Ras Mohamed Snorkeling Trip — 4.7★ · 3,698 reviews · from 1,397 EGP (~$29).
• Sharm: Ultimate Ras Mohamed, White Island Snorkeling w/Lunch — 4.78★ · 3,010 reviews · from 1,343 EGP (~$27).
• Sharm El-Sheikh: ATV Quad Sunrise & Sunset Desert Safari — 4.82★ · 1,781 reviews · from 1,970 EGP (~$40).
• Sharm: Super Safari ATV, Camel Ride, Stargazing & BBQ Dinner — 4.81★ · 1,391 reviews · from 2,025 EGP (~$41).
• Sharm: Ras Mohamed & White Island Snorkeling, Diving & Lunch — 4.88★ · 1,115 reviews · from 1,659 EGP (~$34).

Browse all things to do in Sharm El Sheikh, go deeper on the reefs in our Sharm El Sheikh diving guide, or compare activity prices in the Egypt activity price guide.

When to go

Sharm is a year-round destination — the Red Sea sits at a swimmable 22–28°C even in winter, and the desert climate means reliable sun. March–May and October–November are the sweet spot for warm water and comfortable air; July–August is hot but fine if you are mostly in the sea. The Sinai mountains are much colder than the coast, so a winter St Catherine's climb can be near-freezing at the summit.

Getting around & practical notes

Most experiences include hotel pickup from the Naama Bay, Hadaba and Nabq hotel zones. Ras Mohammed and marine-park trips add a small park entry fee; St Catherine's and Sinai-interior trips are long days with very early starts, so pack warm layers and sturdy shoes for the mountain. A light wetsuit helps for winter snorkelling, reef-safe sunscreen is expected in the national parks, and modest dress is required to enter the monastery.

Where Sharm fits in your trip

Sharm pairs naturally with a few days in Cairo (a short flight) for the pyramids, or with a Nile cruise if you want ancient Egypt alongside the reef. Deciding between Red Sea bases? See things to do in Hurghada and our Hurghada vs Sharm diving comparison.

How we built this guide

This guide combines the live prices and details of 1,400+ bookable Sharm El Sheikh experiences (June 2026) from our marketplace with Egypt's official Red Sea & Sinai tourism guide, the UNESCO record for the Saint Catherine Area, and operator descriptions for the site-level detail on Ras Mohammed, Tiran and the Colored Canyon. Prices are per person in Egyptian pounds at about 49 EGP to the dollar; we use the median. Updated as prices and availability change.