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Dave Richardson |
| Registered: | 19 July 2007 | | Last visit: | 30 July 2007 |
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| Sharm el Sheikh Travel Guide: Becoming more mainstream, and losing it's cultural identity
| | Written by Dave Richardson on 19 Jul 2007 about a trip in Jul 2007.
Trip was for a group of friends on short break. Dave Richardson would probably visit again.
| Sharm el Sheikh shopping |   5.0 | | Sharm-el-sheikh is now a mainstream tourist destination, as such, modern air-conditioned shops and a large shopping center have all but displaced the small bazaars that used to flourish. The art of bartering is now much less common, all too often we found the shopkeeper was unwilling to move much on hte price. The best we did was a reduction of 25%. A t-shirt costs ~30 to 40LE (4 years ago it was 10 to 15LE). I would not say there are any "must buys", but the small "supermarkets" are definately the place to go for water (2LE per 2l), and the "drinks shop" aka "off licence" sells Stella (local) for 8.5LE (vs 25LE in a restaurant). |
Sharm el Sheikh nightlife | 8.0 | | There are too many nightclubs to list, but the noteable ones are Headkandi (expensive), and the "Camel Bar" (been around since year dot and extremely popular, particularly with the diving community). Sitting in a touristy "shisha-bar" with the "hubbly-bubbly pipe" watching the world go by is probably a must do activity, the apple/strawberry flavour tobacco is quite acceptable. |
Sharm el Sheikh restaurants | 7.0 | | Franco's is a long established pizzeria on the seafront, reasonable prices. Movenpick icecream is to die for!. I'm still wary of seafood, but standards of hygene seem to have improved immesurably over the last 5 years. Take care that any salad you order is washed in bottled water. I was even invited to the kitchen of one restaurant to watch it being washed. There is no "Egyptian" food, but you can eat italian, engligh/american (McDonalds, pizza hut and Hard Rock), chinese (and other far eastern), seafood, steaks. I do not remember seeing a curry-house (indian restaurant) but that doesn't mean there isn't one. The coffe shops (starbucks et al) have yet to arrive in force. |
Sharm el Sheikh attractions | 6.0 | | Scuba and snorkelling are the big 2. There's St. catherines monastery inland (warning to divers : it's at altitude - consider your no-fly time 1st), bedouin nights are becomng much more commercialised, quad biking - be aware of the strong sun and heat, camel rides - why?, flea/fly infested uncomfortable so-called ships of the desert. (Yes, I've done it 3x now, still unimpressed). Beaches vary from rock/stone, to coarse sand. Generally very clean. |
Sharm el Sheikh events | | | The egyptian 2-step to the toilet (and the shuffle as you come out 'cos there's no loo paper!!!) |
Sharm el Sheikh day trips | | There are only about 5 day-trips available:
1. - Cairo, not cheap and you don't get long there. If you want to do Cairo, best to do a day return flight from outside the country (eg Rome), internal flights can be so-so and are not cheap. It's an 8 hour coach drive (each way), or a long private taxi. Don't even think about driving it, there are security checkpoints along the main road and they want all sorts of papers.
2. - St. Catheries Monastery (Search for it on google, thee are excellent reviews out there)
3. - Snorkelling/glass bottom boat - the sights are great, but a day trip to Tiran is a waste (expensive, hot and you won't see 99% of whats there), you're better off learning to dive and dong it for real.
4. - Ras Mohammed (Scuba) - has to be done, some of the best diving on the Sinai peninsula
5. - Dahab etc - give it a miss, 20 years go it was a great hippie drop out place, 5 years ago a Sh*t hole, did't bother this year |
Sharm el Sheikh History and Culture | | | Tourist trap. Discovered by divers ~15 years ago when it was half a dozen tents, now a mainstream tourint destination (families with young kids - the bucket and spade brigade) with 100+ hotels and a 2 terminal international airport. Culture has been wiped out and what you now get is a very sanitised Egypt. I cannot think of any museums in Sharm. |
Getting to Sharm el Sheikh | 7.0 | | There's 2 ways, flight to Sharm-El-Sheikh international (SSH), or via fast ferry from Hurghada (which you will fly to in the 1st place). Transfers from the airport are from 10 minutes to 1 hour, depending on where your hotel is. |
Getting around Sharm el Sheikh | | Walk if you can, taxi if you have to, local minibus type taxi if you're feeling adventurous and can speak local, car hire if feeling rich and suicidal (have you seen how they drive out theree!!!!!) |
When to visit Sharm el Sheikh | | Remember Egypt is hot, 30C in November, 43C in July, there is no wet season (that's why you often find bare wires going into outside light fittings). |
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Sharm el Sheikh Hotel Reviews
Dave Richardson reviewed these Sharm el Sheikh hotels...
| Tropicana Rosetta review |  | | better than I expected | | Travelling as part of a group of 20 diving in the red-sea, we needed a hotel for the last night. This was chosen by the tour operator. This is what our room was like (Rm 8228 I think)
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