MALDIVES OF EGPYT: SHARM EL SHEIKH!

Hello everyone! Today we will go to a place very close to Turkey and where you can have a summer vacation even in November-December. Sharm El Sheikh, aka the Maldives of Egypt.

Sharm el-Sheikh is a resort city in Egypt’s South Sinai region, on the Red Sea coast. Due to its commonly hot weather, it allows you to take a vacation most of the time.

Transportation to Sharm El Sheikh From Turkey

You can reach Sharm El Sheikh with just a 2-hour flight from Istanbul. As a domestic flight, it’s pretty good. However, the flight times of both Pegasus and THY are a bit strange. You leave in the middle of the night and come back in the middle of the night and it is very tiring. We do not know why this is so, there must be an explanation, but we can say that a challenging trip is waiting for you.

When you get off the plane, you land at an airport that feels small and empty. We went to Sharm El Sheikh with discounted tickets from Pegasus. When you leave the airport, you feel like an army of men is welcoming you. Taxi drivers are waiting to take you to your hotel in the middle of the night. Their opening is $25. You should definitely bargain. Our hotel was 10 minutes away, and of course they told us $25 at first, and they dropped it to a maximum of $15 (By the way, our hotel was close, but they gave the same price to those far away, it’s ridiculous!).

We did not accept. While finding a Turkish couple and walking to the entrance gate of the airport, a taxi arrived. We agreed on a total of $15. They dropped us off first and we paid $7. The hotel of the other Turkish couple was 15 minutes away from us and they paid $8. They don’t lower the fee because you need taxi in the middle of the night. Our suggestion is to arrange your taxi from a place like booking and go to your hotel comfortably and without any hassle. We admit, we took some risks :).

Transportation in Sharm El Sheikh

Transportation is a bit of a problem. You can usually reach your destinations by taxi. For example, we always had to use a taxi to go to some centers from our hotel. Although distances of 3-4 kilometers seem walkable, unfortunately, it is not very walkable. The people at the hotel had already said that the roads were not very safe. So if you want to reach everywhere easily, you can use a taxi. There is no fixed price in taxis, everyone gives their own price. Never accept the first quoted price. Always bargain because they give 2-3 times of the real price every time.

For example, we went to Soho square, which is 4-5 kilometers from our hotel, for 100 EGP, from Soho to Nama Bay (12 km) for 100 EGP, and finally from Nama Bay to our hotel (15 km) for 100 EGP, you can think about the rest :)).

Money (EGP)

There are minibuses called micro bus on some routes in the city. We also used these minibuses on the route from Old Town to Nama Bay, and we paid 5 EGP (3.80 TL) per person. The taxi driver gave us the price of 100 egp, and that’s with a discount! By the way, micro bus drivers can say too much price, bargain over every price you hear, that’s the best :).

Microbus

When to Go to Sharm El Sheikh?

The best periods for Sharm El Sheikh are spring and autumn. As the temperatures drop a little in December, January and February, you may not be able to swim much during these periods. In the summer, we’re sure it’s extremely hot! We chose to go at the end of November, the weather was so beautiful. Also, there was no overcrowding. It can be really unbearable if it is hotter and crowded.

Do You Need Visa for Sharm El Sheikh? (For Turkish Citizen)

We would like to answer with a clear conscience, NO!

You can stay in Sharm El Sheikh without a visa for 14 days. In May 2022, although Egypt normally asks us for a visa, the visa to Sharm El Sheikh was lifted (Turkey). Unfortunately, the Egyptian consulate’s own website is not very up-to-date on this issue. We had some hesitation before we went, we called and they said you need a visa, but actually there is no visa. We received information from our friends who went before us. Sometimes they could ask for the account statement at the entrance, but no one asked us about them. We entered the country very comfortably without a visa.

Where to Stay in Sharm El Sheikh?

There are many hotels in Sharm El Sheikh to meet your needs. While we were looking at the hotels, we noticed that most of them were in old buildings. As a result of our long research, we stayed at Sunrise Remal Beach Resort. From what we researched, Sunrise is already one of the chain and good hotels out there. Although Sunrise’s other hotels look better than ours, our hotel’s sea reviews and price were very good. For this reason, we preferred Sunrise Remal Beach Resort. Staying in the Shark Bay area, which is close to the airport, our hotel was really great by the sea. The sea of other hotels in nearby were generally praised. We think that the sea is very good in certain areas in Sharm El Sheikh, if you do some research and examine the comments, you can find those areas. And we think that you will be very pleased to stay in a hotel with a beautiful sea, since the main theme is the sea in Sharm El Sheikh.

Let us remind you again that Shark Bay, the area near the airport, is among the places with beautiful sea.

Sunrise Remal Beach Resort

Let’s give a brief information about our hotel. The hotel is not very new but the view was nice. We can say that its cleanliness is between medium and good. The hotel provided free towels for the beach. The food was also quite good, we did not feel hungry, especially the dinners in the main restaurant were very good. The drinks were average, especially the alcoholic ones not so good. There were free a la carte restaurants and it was enjoyable. The best part of the hotel was the sea, which is why we chose it. It was incredibly beautiful. As soon as we entered the sea from the pier, we encountered a completely different world. We saw a thousand and one kinds of beauty without diving into the depths. For this reason, we were more than satisfied. Because the sea is so beautiful, we didn’t even feel the need to go to the Ras Muhammed national park, where diving tours are held. You will understand what we mean when you look at the photos :).

In the meantime, make sure to bring face-covering snorkels with you! With the face snorkel, you can explore the beauties without leaving the sea for a long time. For those who do not have snorkels with them, these facial snorkels we mentioned were rented for 3 dollars per day at the hotel.

Where to Visit in Sharm El Sheikh

Old Town: The oldest center of Sharm El Sheikh. Here, in the middle of the big square, is the very beautiful Al Sahaba Mosque. The structure is really beautiful. You can take great photos.

Al Sahaba

There are rows of shops around the mosque and the square. You can buy magnets, essences or perfumes from these shops. I guess we don’t have to say you have to bargain anymore! If you can get 1/3 of what they say, it’s okay. We recommend that you do your souvenir shopping in this region, as this is the most suitable place in the region. In addition to these, you can eat mango in places such as greengrocers, and you should definitely eat it. Legend, unbelievably beautiful. Unfortunately, we couldn’t buy mango because we didn’t have room in the luggage, and this made us a little sad.

Mango

Nama Bay: One of the most crowded centers of Sharm El Sheikh. There is a building that says Hollywood at the entrance, you realize that you have come to Nama Bay. There are also rows of shops here. There are nice cafes as well as shops. The world famous Hard Rock cafe is also here. By the way, there are 2 different Hard Rock cafes, the other is in the upper part of the city and some nights there is a party. You can look at the events of your current period and make a reservation from Booking, click cliicckk!

Soho Square: A square with a more modern structure compared to other centers in Sharm El Sheikh. It was beautifully decorated for the New Year when we went. There is a musical show every hour in the water pool, it is fun, it can be watched. There are also shops, but definitely more expensive. In fact, the price is 2-3 times higher than the Old Town, for your information.

Activities to Do in Sharm El Sheikh

Ras Muhammed Diving Tour: As we said before, we did not go to Ras Muhammed because the sea of our hotel is quite beautiful. But since many people go to Sharm El Sheikh for diving, you may want to take this tour. Those who have previous diving experience should definitely go. We’re sure there’s some amazing stuff down there. It is truly a different world, you are fascinated. There are people who arrange these tours in hotels, you can ask them, or there are tours on Booking, you can take a look at them. Now you can choose whichever is suitable for you and have a perfect experience. Click, clickk!

These photos are from out hotel, but we are sure that there are much more beautiful ones in diving.

Safari in the Desert: Safari tours in the desert are also held at sunrise or sunset. It’s up to you which one you want to see :). You can choose from the general links we left below!

We did not do this tour, but a friend of ours loved it. Be sure to bring something like a shawl in your suitcase, because on this tour you need items like a shawl to protect yourself from the sands. If you don’t put it in your suitcase, you’ll get it more expensive in Sharm.

Mount Sinai Tour: Mount Sinai is a mountain with a height of 2285 meters, which is considered sacred by the monotheistic religions because it is accepted as the place where the 10 commandments were given to the Moses. Mount Sinai is 2.5 hours away from Sharm El Sheikh. It looks like a climbing tour. You can review the tour from the link, click!

Tirana Island Snorkel Tour: This tour is also an activity for diving like Ras Muhammed. All around under the sea in Sharm is very good, we are sure that this tour is also very beautiful.

Camel Tours: There are also tours that travel with this style of camel. We leave one for sample purposes in case you want it, click!

I leave a link here for all booking tours, there are many options. Choose with your heart :). Click Click!

Do We Recommend Sharm El Sheikh?

Definitely yes! Everyone should come here at least once in their life!

We can say that Sharm El Sheikh is a very good journey alternative. Especially the sea is magnificent. The Red Sea was truly legendary. Sharm El Sheikh gave us an experience that we will never forget for the rest of our lives!

Lots of travel days!

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