Where to stay in Sharm el-Sheikh
Naama Bay, Sharks Bay, Ras Um Sid or Nabq — four bays choosing between going out on foot, a reef off the jetty and a hotel you never leave at all.
- For going out
- Naama Bay
- For the reef
- Ras Um Sid and Hadaba
- For diving
- Sharks Bay
Sharm is a string of bays with hotels and almost no town between them, so you choose a bay: Naama Bay is the only one with a promenade you walk out onto, Ras Um Sid and Hadaba have the best reef off the jetty, Sharks Bay is nearest the boats for Tiran, Nabq is furthest and quietest. Everything else is a taxi, at a price agreed before getting in.
Naama Bay — for going out on foot
The bay in the middle, with a promenade along the water, restaurants, shisha bars, clubs and shops open late — the one place in Sharm where people walk at night and where you do not depend on a taxi. The hotels are older and closer together, the beaches are hotel beaches with a jetty, the reef is modest. Anyone choosing to go out every evening chooses here; anyone choosing the sea looks further.
Ras Um Sid and Hadaba — for the reef
The cape at the southern end of town and the hill above it, with hotels on the cliff and a jetty that drops straight onto a coral wall: twenty metres from the jetty the reef falls into blue. The best hotel snorkelling in Sharm, with Old Sharm and the fish restaurants ten minutes by taxi. The evenings are quiet; anyone wanting Naama takes a fifteen-minute taxi. For anyone coming for the sea, this is the choice.
Sharks Bay — for diving
The bay north of Naama, with the dive centres and the boats that leave for Tiran in the morning; the reef off the shore is good and steep, the hotels are new and big. There is no town, Naama is ten minutes by taxi. This is the base for anyone diving every day who does not want a transfer to the boat.
Nabq — for families and quiet
The northernmost part, by the reserve with the mangroves, with big hotels on wide beaches and shallows that are for children; the reef is far from the shore and reached by a long jetty. Everything is inside the hotel, Naama is half an hour by taxi. Chosen for a week with children in which no going out is planned.
What to avoid
- A hotel without a jetty. In Sharm the shore is coral and you do not walk on it; a beach without a jetty is a beach you look at the sea from.
- Naama for the sea. The bay is for going out, not for the reef; anyone coming with a mask chooses Ras Um Sid or Sharks Bay and comes to Naama in the evening.
- A taxi without an agreed price. There is no meter; the price is stated before getting in or you do not get in. The hotel knows what each route costs.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which part of Sharm is best for snorkelling from the hotel?
Ras Um Sid and Hadaba on the southern cape: the jetty drops straight onto a coral wall and the reef falls into blue twenty metres out. Sharks Bay is the second choice; Naama and Nabq have a modest reef.
Can you leave the hotel in Sharm in the evening?
In Naama Bay yes — the promenade with restaurants and bars is the one place people walk at night. From every other bay you reach Naama by taxi, ten to thirty minutes, at a price agreed before getting in.
What is the jetty and why does it matter?
The shore in Sharm is a coral reef you do not walk on, so hotels have a wooden jetty leading over the coral to deep water. A hotel without a jetty has a beach from which you cannot enter the sea; that is checked before booking.
Ready for Sharm el-Sheikh?
Where to next
Day trips from Sharm el-Sheikh
→Ras Mohammed by boat, Tiran, Mount Sinai at night and Dahab for a day — four trips from Sharm that all fit…
Dahab · 65 km
→A Bedouin village that became a divers' town, where the cafés spread across the beach on cushions and the Blue Hole is entered from the shore
How well does Sharm el-Sheikh suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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