The short answer
For the best all-round balance, come in October, November, March, April or May. The sea is warm, the air is comfortable, the desert is pleasant in the afternoon and boat days are usually calm.
December to February is the season for inland Egypt: Cairo, Luxor, Petra and Mount Sinai are all far more comfortable when it is cool, and prices and crowds are lower outside the Christmas fortnight. June to September is for people who want guaranteed heat and bath-warm water, and who are happy to be in the shade or the sea between noon and four.
- Sea temperature: roughly 21–22°C in February, around 29–30°C in August
- Calmest water: autumn, especially October and November
- Windiest: spring, when northerly winds and the khamsin can pick up
- Hottest: July and August, regularly nearing 40°C inland
- Busiest: Christmas and New Year, Easter, and European and Russian school holidays
December, January and February: cool air, bright sun
Daytime temperatures sit in the low twenties with strong sun, and nights can drop to single figures inland. The sea is at its coldest, around 21 to 22 degrees, which is still swimmable for most people in a shorty wetsuit and bracing without one. Snorkelling days still run and the visibility is often superb, but a long day on an open boat needs a fleece for the journey home.
This is the right season for everything inland. Cairo by flight and Luxor by flight are far easier to walk around at 22 degrees than at 38, and the Petra day trip is much kinder in winter. Mount Sinai in winter is magnificent but genuinely cold at the summit, often around or below freezing before dawn, so read what to expect on the climb and bring real winter layers.
Christmas and New Year is our busiest fortnight of the year. Book excursions and transfers well ahead for those two weeks, and expect the Old Market and Naama Bay to be lively.
March, April and May: the sweet spot, with wind
Spring is the season we would choose ourselves. The air climbs from the mid-twenties into the thirties, the sea warms from about 22 to 26 degrees, and the desert is at its best: warm afternoons, comfortable evenings, no need to hide from the middle of the day.
The one caveat is wind. Spring is the windiest part of the year here, and when the northerlies get up, or the khamsin blows sand in from the south, boat trips can get bumpy or be rescheduled. It affects the open-water crossing to Tiran Island more than the sheltered runs inside Ras Mohammed, which is one of the reasons we steer nervous guests towards Ras Mohammed and White Island in spring.
Easter is busy, as is the Egyptian spring festival of Sham El Nessim just after it, when local families come to the coast. Book earlier than you otherwise would.
June, July and August: heat, and a very warm sea
High summer is hot in a way that surprises first-time visitors: regularly 38 to 40 degrees, and hotter inland. The sea reaches 29 or 30 degrees, which is extraordinary for snorkelling and useless for cooling off. Hotels and boats are air-conditioned or shaded, and the practical approach is to be active early and late and horizontal in between.
Adjust what you book rather than avoiding the season. Morning boat departures are standard anyway, so a sea day works well. Desert trips should be the late-afternoon or evening departures only: the super quad safari with Bedouin dinner is built for exactly this, riding at golden hour and eating under the stars. We would not put anyone on a midday quad in August.
We also quietly discourage the long inland days in July and August. Walking the Giza plateau or the Valley of the Kings in that heat is endurance rather than sightseeing, and if you must do one, take the flight version rather than the eighteen-hour road day.
September, October and November: the calmest water
Autumn is the best diving and snorkelling season and our own favourite time on the water. September still carries summer heat but by October the air has settled into the high twenties and low thirties, while the sea holds 27 to 29 degrees after a summer of warming. Mornings are glassy and the afternoon breeze is gentle.
If your holiday is built around the reef, come now. Both €50 boat days are at their best, and our comparison of Ras Mohammed and Tiran is worth reading before you choose. Non-swimmers get the same benefit from flat water: the glass-bottom boat at €15 and the glass submarine at €35 both depend on sea conditions, so a calm month means fewer rescheduled trips.
Autumn is also when the desert becomes comfortable again in the afternoon, which reopens the shorter trips in our desert comparison.
Ramadan, Eid and local holidays
Ramadan moves about eleven days earlier each year, which places it in February and March in 2027. Tourist areas in Sharm carry on much as normal: hotels serve food and drink as usual, excursions run, and bars in the resorts stay open. What changes is the rhythm outside the resorts. Some local cafes and shops in the Old Market keep different hours, traffic peaks just before sunset as people head home to break the fast, and it is courteous not to eat, drink or smoke conspicuously in the street during daylight.
In practice Ramadan can be a lovely time to visit, and the Old Market after sunset is worth seeing on the city tour. Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha later in the year are both busy domestic travel periods, so transfers and popular excursions fill up. We will tell you if your dates fall inside one when you message us.
When to book, and what the weather can still do to your plans
We book excursions on WhatsApp with payment on the day, which keeps things flexible, but availability is real: Christmas, New Year and Easter need a week or two of notice for the popular trips, and Mount Sinai only departs on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday nights in any season.
Sea trips are the only thing that genuinely gets cancelled here, and it is wind, not rain. If the port authority restricts sailing, we move you to another day or swap you onto a land trip at the same value, which is a better outcome than a refund you cannot spend. Leaving your last full day free of excursions is the simplest insurance against that.
Finally, plan your arrival and departure around the heat rather than the clock. A midday arrival in August is a long wait in the sun outside the terminal if nobody is there to meet you, so a fixed-price transfer with a tracked flight and a name sign is worth the €15. Our guide to transfers and getting around covers the rest.
Good to know
What is the coldest month for swimming?
Does it ever rain in Sharm El Sheikh?
When is the desert at its best?
Is it worth visiting during Ramadan?
What happens if my boat trip is cancelled for wind?
Useful official sources
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch — Red Sea sea surface temperature — official satellite sea temperature data
- World Weather Information Service — World Meteorological Organization — official climate normals published by national met services
- Egyptian Tourism Authority — official destination and festival information
- Egypt travel advice — UK Foreign Office — seasonal and local-law guidance, including Ramadan
