Start with the sea, because that is why Sharm exists
If you only do one paid excursion, make it a full day on the water. The two best are the full-day boat to Ras Mohammed National Park and White Island and the Tiran Island snorkeling cruise. Both are €50 per adult, both include lunch on board and guided snorkeling stops, and both leave from the same marina.
The difference matters more than the price does. Ras Mohammed gives you two snorkeling stops plus White Island, a sandbank that rises out of turquoise water as the tide drops and is shallow enough to stand on. Tiran gives you three stops on reefs in better condition, in a channel where the water moves more. First-timers and nervous swimmers should take Ras Mohammed; confident snorkellers usually prefer Tiran. We have written the full comparison in Ras Mohammed or Tiran: which boat trip.
If boats are not for you at all, the half-day bus trip to Ras Mohammed reaches the same national park overland for €30 and you snorkel straight from the shore. And for a special occasion, the private luxury yacht charter is €1,200 for the whole group of up to ten, with a chef on board, which works out sensibly for a large family or a milestone birthday and absurdly for two people.
Seeing the reef without getting wet
Not everyone swims, and nobody should feel pushed into it. The glass-bottom boat tour is €15 for three hours along the coastline, watching coral and fish pass under a transparent hull. It is the cheapest genuinely good thing we sell. The one catch is that hotel transfer is not included: you meet us at the marina.
The glass submarine at €35 goes further. It descends below the surface in an air-conditioned cabin with large panoramic windows, hotel transfers included, and it holds the attention of children and grandparents equally. If you have a mixed-age group and you want one activity everyone can do without negotiation, this is it.
- Glass-bottom boat, €15, 3 hours, no hotel transfer, meet at the marina
- Glass submarine, €35, 3 hours, air-conditioned, hotel transfers included
- Both suit non-swimmers, small children and anyone who burns easily
- Both depend on sea conditions, so we may move you to another day
The desert: half an afternoon or a whole day
The Sinai desert begins a few minutes inland and the cheapest way in is the classic half-day quad safari at €30 per quad for two riders, with ninety minutes of guided riding and photo stops. Late afternoon is the right slot: the light is better and the heat is gone.
For a proper evening out, the super quad safari with Bedouin dinner and folkloric show is €70 per quad for two people and runs about five hours: ninety minutes of riding at golden hour, a short camel ride, then a buffet dinner under the stars with tea and live music. Families who want something stable rather than fast should look at the dune buggy experience, €50 for the two-seat buggy and €60 for the four-seat family version, which crosses Echo Valley with a Bedouin tea stop.
The full-day option is a different animal: the Super Safari to the White Canyon, Abu Galum and the Blue Hole at €85 is eleven hours of canyon trekking, a camel ride, a boat into a protected reserve, lunch by the sea, snorkelling at the Blue Hole and free time in Dahab. It is the best single day we sell for active travellers. Our desert trip comparison runs through all five options properly.
Ancient Egypt, and whether it fits your week
The pyramids are reachable in a day. Cairo by flight is €270 per adult with a 50-minute flight, the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Giza Plateau, the Sphinx, lunch and a certified Egyptologist. Cairo by minivan covers the same sites for €120 but turns it into an eighteen-hour day with six to seven hours of road each way. We explain who should pick which in Cairo by plane or by road.
Luxor by flight at €260 is, for our money, the better archaeology day: Karnak's colonnades, the Valley of the Kings with entry inside the royal tombs, and the temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Petra at €230 crosses into Jordan by bus and ferry, departs around midnight and returns about eighteen hours later, with an English-speaking guide and Italian on request.
One honest warning about all of these: whichever you choose, remember that a Sinai entry stamp does not cover Cairo or Luxor, so most nationalities need a full Egyptian visa from US$30, which we arrange on the day for €35.
Sinai itself, which most visitors miss
The Mount Sinai sunrise climb with St Catherine's Monastery is €50 and it is the most memorable thing on our list and the most physically demanding. Pickup is at 20:00, the drive is about three hours, the climb starts after midnight, the last stretch is 700 rock-cut steps on foot, and the summit at 2,285 metres is cold before dawn even in August. Read what to expect on the Mount Sinai climb before you book it, and please do not book it for young children.
A gentler way to see inland Sinai is the Canyon Salama and Dahab snorkelling safari at €50: a narrow canyon trek, a camel walk along the shore, lunch, a snorkelling stop and free time in the Dahab bazaar. Dahab is about ninety minutes up the coast and is a completely different Egypt from Sharm, slower and scruffier in the best way.
Sharm itself, and getting around it
You do not need to leave town to see something real. The Sharm El Sheikh city tour is €15 for three and a half hours: the Al-Sahaba Mosque in the Old Market, the Heavenly Coptic Cathedral and its frescoes, a panoramic stop over the coast and free time among the spice and souvenir stalls. It is wheelchair and stroller accessible throughout, which almost nothing else here is.
For moving around, book a fixed-price private transfer rather than negotiating at the rank: €15 for the airport run or a city ride in a sedan, €60 to Dahab, and a name sign waiting at arrivals. Hotel zones matter more than people expect, because Nabq is a long way from Naama Bay, so our guide to airport transfers and getting around explains the geography.
A week that works
If you have seven days, this is the shape we would book: arrival day for the beach, then the Ras Mohammed boat day, then a rest day, then Cairo by flight, then the city tour or the glass submarine in the morning with the quad safari in the late afternoon, then the Super Safari to Dahab and the Blue Hole, and the last day free so nothing can go wrong before your flight.
Two rules we apply to every itinerary. Never put a long inland day either side of your flights, and never book two full days back to back if there are children or anyone over seventy in the group. And if you are still choosing dates, the best time to visit Sharm El Sheikh covers sea temperature, wind and crowds month by month.
Good to know
How many excursions should I book for a week?
What is the cheapest worthwhile thing to do?
Do you have child prices?
How do I book and pay?
Is there anything you would tell me not to book?
Useful official sources
- Ras Mohammed and Egypt's protected areas — Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency — official protected-area authority
- Saint Catherine Area — UNESCO World Heritage — official listing for Mount Sinai and the monastery
- Egyptian Tourism Authority — official destination information
- Egypt travel advice — UK Foreign Office — current entry and safety guidance
Trips mentioned in this guide
Keep reading
Ras Mohammed or Tiran Island? Choosing your Sharm boat trip
Cairo from Sharm: by plane or by road?
Quad, buggy or Super Safari? Choosing your Sinai desert trip
The Mount Sinai sunrise climb: what it is really like
Sharm El Sheikh with kids: which trips actually work
The best time to visit Sharm El Sheikh, month by month
