The six options at a glance
Prices below are exactly as we sell them, and the unit matters: quads and buggies are priced per vehicle, not per head, which makes the cheaper trips better value for couples than they first appear.
If you want one recommendation without reading further: couples and friends take the classic quad safari, families take the four-seat dune buggy, anyone who wants a full day out takes the Super Safari to the Blue Hole, and anyone who wants an evening rather than a ride takes the Bedouin dinner safari.
- Classic quad safari — €30 per quad for 2 people, 90 minutes of riding, half day
- Quad and camel combo — €50 per couple on one quad, about 1.5 hours of activity, Echo Valley and Bedouin tea
- Dune buggy experience — €50 per 2-seat buggy, €60 for the 4-seat family buggy, half day
- Super quad safari with Bedouin dinner and show — €70 per quad for 2 people, about 5 hours, evening
- Canyon Salama, Dahab and snorkelling — €50 per person, full day, five experiences in one
- Super Safari: White Canyon, Abu Galum and the Blue Hole — €85 per person, 11 hours, the big one
The classic quad safari: the cheapest real adventure
At €30 per quad for two riders, the classic half-day safari is the best value on the whole site. Ninety minutes of guided riding across moon-like canyons and open desert, dedicated photo stops at the viewpoints, a safety briefing, helmet and protective scarf, and hotel pickup and drop-off. Total time away from the hotel is about five hours.
It is beginner-friendly and escorted the whole way, but two riders share one quad, so somebody is a passenger. If you both want to drive, ask us for a second quad when you book rather than negotiating in the desert. Book the late-afternoon departure if you can: the light is better and the heat has gone out of the day.
Adding the camel, or adding the dinner
The quad and camel combo at €50 per couple is the gentler version. One quad per couple, a stop at Echo Valley where the rock walls throw your voice back, then a camel ride through the dunes and Bedouin tea in a tent. About an hour and a half of activity in total. Guests who want the desert but are nervous about engines usually end up here, and it is also the better pick if one of you would rather not drive at all.
The super quad safari with Bedouin dinner and folkloric show at €70 per quad is the one we recommend most often for a single memorable evening. Ninety minutes of riding at golden hour, a short camel ride, then a Bedouin village for a traditional buffet dinner under the stars, sweet tea and live music and dancing around the fire. It runs about five hours and it gets you the desert, the sunset and a dinner in one booking.
Two practical notes on the evening trip. It genuinely gets cold after sunset, so bring a jacket and a scarf, and tell us about dietary requirements in advance rather than at the buffet.
Dune buggy: the family and nervous-driver choice
A buggy is not a quad with extra seats, it drives completely differently. Four wheels, a seat you sit in rather than on, a frame around you and far more stability on soft sand. For anybody who has never ridden anything off-road, it is the reassuring option, and the guided route across Echo Valley with a Bedouin tea stop is the same landscape the quads cover.
The standard buggy is €50 for two seats and the family version is €60 for four, which is why we point parents here first. A camel ride and the Bedouin dinner with show can be added on request, so you can build the evening trip around a buggy instead of a quad if the quad is the part that worries you. More on travelling with children in Sharm El Sheikh with kids.
The full-day safaris: canyons, coast and the Blue Hole
These are a different category and the engine is no longer the point. The Canyon Salama, Dahab and snorkelling safari at €50 per person packs five things into a day: a guided trek through a narrow canyon, a camel walk along the seashore, a typical lunch, a snorkelling stop in clear water and free time in the Dahab bazaar. Transfers and lunch are included, and the Blue Hole protected-area entrance is optional and paid on site.
The Super Safari to the White Canyon, Abu Galum and the Blue Hole at €85 is our most complete day out: eleven hours covering a trek through the sculpted walls of the White Canyon, a camel ride to the coast, a boat into the Abu Galum protected reserve for a Bedouin lunch by the water, snorkelling at the Blue Hole and free time in Dahab. Protected-area entrances, lunch, camel and boat transfers are all included; snorkel gear rental is not.
Be honest with yourself about fitness on both of these. They are active days with trekking over uneven rock, and the order of activities can change. Bring your passport, because there are Sinai checkpoints on the road north, and bring a swimsuit and closed shoes rather than sandals.
What to wear and what goes wrong
Dust is the thing people are unprepared for. Everything you wear will be the colour of the desert by the end, so wear old clothes, bring a scarf or bandana for your face, and keep sunglasses on even in the evening because sand in the eyes at speed is genuinely unpleasant. Closed shoes, never flip-flops, on every one of these trips.
Contact-lens wearers should consider glasses for the day. Phones and cameras survive fine if you keep them in a pocket rather than in your hand, and the crews on the evening trips will take photos, though those are sometimes charged separately.
On anything with an engine, minimum driver age and valid identification can apply, so bring a document and tell us who is driving when you book.
How we would combine them
In a week, we would book one short engine trip and one full-day safari rather than three of the same thing. The classic quad in the late afternoon on a beach day costs almost nothing and adds a sunset. The Super Safari to the Blue Hole deserves its own day with nothing either side of it.
Do not book a desert day the day after Mount Sinai, and do not stack a desert day against a long inland trip. If you are planning the whole week, our pillar guide to the best things to do in Sharm sets out an order that works, and the best time to visit explains why the desert is at its best from October to April and why we steer guests away from midday riding in July and August.
Good to know
Can I have a quad to myself?
Which desert trip is best for a family?
Is the Blue Hole entrance included on the Dahab safaris?
Do I need a licence to drive a quad or buggy?
What is the single best desert trip if I only do one?
Useful official sources
- Egypt's protected areas — Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency — official information on Abu Galum and other reserves
- Egyptian Tourism Authority — South Sinai — official destination information
- Egypt travel advice — UK Foreign Office — current guidance on Sinai road travel
