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Sharm El Sheikh

Discover Sharm El Sheikh

Why Book Your Sharm El Sheikh Holiday with GotoBeach?

Sharm El Sheikh is the resort divers dream about and beach-lovers fall for by accident. Set at the very tip of the Sinai peninsula, screened by mountains behind and the Straits of Tiran offshore, it holds some of the finest coral reef on Earth — and here's the part that changes everything: much of that reef begins at the shoreline of the hotels themselves. Wade off the beach, put your face in the water, and within a fin-kick you're above a wall alive with fish. Wrap that in sheltered bays that stay calm when the wind blows, a famously mild winter, the great marine park of Ras Mohammed on the doorstep and Naama Bay's lively promenade for the evenings, and you have the Red Sea resort built for anyone who came for the sea itself.

Every Sharm package we sell is one financially protected booking — flights, transfers and hotel bundled under ATOL licence #11211 — with your ATOL Certificate issued the moment you confirm, so you know exactly how your holiday is financially protected before a penny is at risk. And because the reef here is so often the whole point, our in-person 22-point inspection matters more than ever: a lovely-looking beach counts for little if the house reef is bleached or fenced off, and no photograph will tell you that — only someone who has swum it.

I'm Paul Cowley, GoToBeach's Egypt and Red Sea specialist, and Sharm is the coast I keep going back to with a mask in my bag. Over more than forty years in UK travel — on the GoToBeach board, as Finance Director of the Institute of Travel & Tourism and on ABTA's Membership Committee — the one job I've never handed to anyone else is getting in the water and looking. It pays off most here, because two hotels a mile apart can offer completely different snorkelling: one fronts a pristine reef teeming with life, the next a stretch trampled bare by years of careless fins. I won't recommend a Sharm resort I haven't seen below the waterline as well as above it, and when you ring us it's my swimming, not a supplier's brochure, behind the advice. Read more about how I inspect these resorts before you decide.

 

Photos of Sharm El Sheikh

Hand Picked Deals

Top Hotels in Sharm El Sheikh

Pickalbatros Royal Moderna Resort
Pickalbatros Royal Moderna Resort

Sharm El Sheikh / Egypt

All Inclusive

£ 2131.41

Albatros Royal Grand (Adult Only +16)
Albatros Royal Grand (Adult Only +16)

Sharm El Sheikh / Egypt

All Inclusive

£ 2456.93

See more

Discover Sharm El Sheikh

Top hotels in Sharm El Sheikh

Inspected in person · 22-point criteria

These are the Sharm resorts I'd happily book for my own family — each visited, each beach walked and, where there's a house reef, each one swum. Most sit along the big resort belt of Nabq Bay, with a couple closer to the old town; between them they cover premium calm, family aqua parks and superb off-the-beach reef. Match the hotel to who's travelling and the week sorts itself out.

Nabq Bay · Sharm El Sheikh

Rixos Radamis Tirana Hotel

Premium All-Inclusive
★★★★★

The polished, premium end of Sharm all-inclusive, part of the sprawling Rixos Radamis complex along Nabq Bay's wide frontage, with elevated dining, generous grounds and a reef reached by boardwalk. Best for couples and families who want quality and space; the scale is the appeal, and just occasionally the walk to the sea.

🏖 Nabq frontage · reef by boardwalk

View Rixos Radamis Tirana

Nabq Bay · Sharm El Sheikh

Steinberger Alcazar Hotel

Upscale Calm
★★★★★

An elegant, grown-up resort with attentive service, handsome grounds and a calmer, more refined atmosphere than the waterpark giants. My pick for couples and older families who want polish and peace over slides and scale, with a reef flat off the beach reached by boardwalk. Best for a quieter, upmarket week.

🏖 Nabq beach · reef flat by boardwalk

View Steinberger Alcazar

Nabq Bay · Sharm El Sheikh

Pickalbatros Laguna Vista Hotel

Family Aqua
★★★★★

A big, busy family aqua resort on Nabq Bay with generous pools, slides, kids' clubs and the reliable Pickalbatros all-inclusive spread. Wide sandy frontage makes it kinder for small children than the reef-only bays, with the coral reached by boardwalk or a boat trip. Best for families who want everything on site.

🏖 Sandy Nabq frontage · aqua park

View Laguna Vista

Nabq Bay · Sharm El Sheikh

Pickalbatros Royal Moderna Resort

Family Value
★★★★

A keenly priced family all-inclusive with aqua features, pools and a broad buffet, set along the Nabq belt. It won't win design awards, but it delivers a busy, good-value fortnight with the children entertained from breakfast to bedtime, and a reef out beyond the lagoon. Best for value-minded families.

🏖 Nabq lagoon · aqua features

View Royal Moderna

Hadaba · Sharm El Sheikh

Albatros Sharm Resort

House Reef
★★★★

Up on the Hadaba headland near the old market, this is the one I steer keen snorkellers towards — a genuine house reef off the beach, closer to the old town's character than the Nabq belt, and handy for boat trips to Tiran and Ras Mohammed. Best for reef lovers who want the wall off their own beach.

🏖 Genuine house reef · near old town

View Albatros Sharm

Nabq Bay · Sharm El Sheikh

Pickalbatros Golf Beach Resort

Aqua & Space
★★★★

A spacious family aqua resort set back near the golf on the Nabq side, with room to breathe, slides and pools for the children and a reef off the beach reached by boardwalk. Best for families who value grounds and space over being right in the thick of the nightlife.

🏖 Nabq beach · aqua park & grounds

View Golf Beach Resort

Not quite the right fit, or after a particular bay or budget? Browse all our all-inclusive holidays or the wider Egypt holiday range, and tell me who's travelling and whether reef or buzz leads — I'll shortlist the two or three Sharm resorts that genuinely suit you.

Discover Sharm El Sheikh

Sharm rose from a tiny fishing and diving outpost to South Sinai's resort capital within a single generation, and its geography explains the whole appeal. The town sits at the foot of the Sinai peninsula, where the Gulf of Aqaba narrows into the Straits of Tiran, funnelling nutrient-rich water past reefs so rich they draw divers from across the world. The resort itself spreads across several distinct pockets — the original heart of Naama Bay, the older market quarter up on Hadaba, and the long modern resort belt of Nabq stretching north toward the airport — each with a different pace, all sharing the same extraordinary water.

Behind the hotels the Sinai mountains rise almost straight off the coast road, bare and glowing pink at sunset — a desert backdrop closer and more dramatic than anything on the mainland, and a reminder that you're on the edge of somewhere ancient. That setting also hands Sharm the two things it does better than anywhere on the Egyptian Red Sea: reef and shelter. The bays are scalloped into the coast and screened by offshore reefs, so when a north wind chops up the mainland, Sharm's water often stays glassy and swimmable — a genuine advantage in the breezier months and the reason the coral thrives so close to shore. Add the pilgrimage up Mount Sinai with St Catherine's Monastery at its foot, Bedouin dinners in the desert wadis and the marine park of Ras Mohammed a short boat-hop away, and Sharm gives you far more than a sunbed. For how it compares with the rest of the country, our guide to the best Egypt holidays lays it out coast by coast.

Sharm El Sheikh beaches & reef

Come to Sharm for the reef and the beach becomes a second question — but it's still one to ask carefully, because the coral that makes this coast famous also decides how you get into the water. Across much of Sharm the shoreline isn't a soft sandy lagoon but a living reef flat, which is exactly why the snorkelling is so good so close in. Many hotels bridge the shallow coral with a wooden jetty or boardwalk out to a ladder at the drop-off, where you slip straight into deep, clear water above the wall. It's a wonderful way to swim, but the classic walk-in-off-the-sand beach is rarer here than on the mainland, so I always match the shore to who's travelling.

The frontages keen snorkellers should aim for are the Hadaba reefs near the old town and the best of the outer bays, where the house reef is in genuinely fine condition and the wall drops away busy with life just past the boardwalk. My inspection routine is always the same: is the entry by ladder or a scramble, are the corals near the ladder alive or scuffed bare, and how does the hotel manage its guests over the reef? A well-run house reef with a marked channel and a strict no-touch rule is a treasure; a badly run one gets loved to death in a season. Reef shoes are non-negotiable, and a rash vest spares both your skin and the coral from contact. Families wanting a sandy paddle for small children are better pointed to the wider frontages of Nabq Bay, gentler underfoot, with the best coral reached by boardwalk or a boat trip. Wherever you stay, the marquee snorkelling days are out on the water at Tiran and Ras Mohammed, which I've given their own section below.

Things to do around Sharm El Sheikh

Diving and snorkelling lead the days, and Sharm is one of the world's great places to start: the calm, warm, shallow reefs make it ideal for a first PADI course, with dozens of reputable dive centres to learn with. Non-divers aren't stuck on the sunbed either — glass-bottom boats, sea safaris, dolphin trips and easy snorkelling cruises out to the Straits of Tiran open the reef to everyone. On land, the desert is the great counterweight: quad-bike and buggy safaris across the Sinai flats, camel treks, Bedouin barbecues under the stars and some of the clearest stargazing anywhere, the mountains blotting out the light.

The signature excursion is the overnight climb up Mount Sinai to watch dawn break from the summit, with the ancient St Catherine's Monastery visited at its foot — a genuinely moving day that stays with people. Come evening, Naama Bay handles the nightlife with the busiest promenade on the Egyptian Red Sea, while modern SOHO Square offers a calmer, fountain-lit alternative for a family stroll and dinner. To go deeper before you choose, our guides to Sharm El Sheikh holidays and how it compares with Hurghada are the natural next reads.

Naama Bay & SOHO Square

Sharm may be a diver's coast by day, but its evenings are the liveliest on the Egyptian Red Sea, and Naama Bay is the reason. The palm-lined promenade curves along the beachfront wall-to-wall with restaurants, shisha cafes, cocktail bars and a buzzing bazaar, and it stays warm and busy late into the night. It's the natural choice if you want to walk out to dinner and a proper night out rather than stay sealed inside an all-inclusive, and it gives Sharm a holiday energy the quieter mainland bays simply don't have.

For a gentler evening, modern SOHO Square up on the Nabq side is the family-friendly alternative — a landscaped entertainment complex of fountains, an ice bar, an open-air cinema, restaurants and shops, calmer and more polished than the Naama strip, and an easy outing even with young children. Between the two you can pitch the evenings however you like: most nights enjoying your resort, one or two on the Naama promenade for the buzz, and an evening at SOHO for something more relaxed. Agree taxi fares before you set off or use the ride app, keep small notes for the bazaar and for tips, and you'll come home feeling you saw the town as well as the reef.

When to go to Sharm El Sheikh

Sinai's sheltered bays make Sharm one of the most reliable year-round beach resorts within reach of the UK. Here's how the seasons feel at the tip of the peninsula, and when I'd book for beach, value or diving.

When Air Sea Our take
November–February 22–25°C 22–24°C The prime winter-sun stretch and our peak season — mild, sunny and noticeably sheltered, with a sea that stays swimmable when the mainland turns breezy. A short wetsuit makes reef time a joy. Book early for the school holidays.
March–April 26–30°C 23–24°C Warming fast and beautifully balanced, with excellent underwater visibility. The odd windy day, but broadly the sweet spot for an all-round family week at kinder prices.
May–June 33–36°C 25–27°C Hot and dry with the crowds thinning — strong value if you handle heat, and the sea warming into perfect long-swim territory.
July–August 36–39°C 27–29°C Full Sinai summer heat, tempered a little by the sea breeze and bath-warm water. Fine for water-lovers who'll live in the reef and pool; drink constantly and seek shade at midday.
September–October 31–35°C 27–28°C My diving pick: warmest, clearest water of the year, the heat easing and the summer crowds gone. The connoisseur's window on this coast too.

For winter sun, November to February is the safe headline and worth booking well ahead, as Sharm's shelter makes it a favourite when the rest of the Mediterranean has closed for the season. Families locked to the school breaks get hot, dependable summer weeks with warm water for the children. And if the reef is your reason for coming, aim for September and October, when visibility is at its best and the sea holds a glorious 27–28°C.

The practical parts

Getting there

You land at Sharm El Sheikh International (SSH), roughly five to five and a half hours direct from the UK, with good year-round charter and scheduled flights. Egypt is two hours ahead, so jet lag isn't an issue. Nabq Bay hotels sit just 10–20 minutes from the airport; Naama Bay and Hadaba around 20–35 minutes. Your transfer is included in every GoToBeach package.

Passports & entry

South Sinai has a special arrangement: a free entry-permit stamp on arrival covers a stay within the Sharm coastal strip. But it does not extend to Ras Mohammed, St Catherine's or trips beyond the immediate area — for those, and for peace of mind, we recommend the full single-entry Egypt visa from the official visa2egypt.gov.eg portal or on arrival. Passports must be valid at least six months from arrival. Rules can change at short notice, so always recheck the official guidance before travelling.

Money

The currency is the Egyptian pound (EGP), though resorts readily quote euros and sterling, and cards are accepted in hotels and larger restaurants. Keep small sterling, euro or US-dollar notes for tips — baksheesh oils the wheels here, and a little given cheerfully to porters, housekeeping and your dive guide is part of the culture. Hold back some cash for the Naama Bay bazaar, where good-natured haggling is the game.

Health & insurance

No compulsory jabs for a resort stay, though hepatitis A and typhoid are commonly advised — see TravelHealthPro, linked below. Drink bottled water, be sensible with the salad bar in high summer, and pack high-factor reef-safe sun cream. Hospital care is private and pay-first, so comprehensive travel insurance is essential, and divers must confirm their policy covers diving and decompression treatment. We're happy to help you arrange suitable travel insurance.

Getting around

Within a resort you walk; between the bays, hotel transfers and organised excursions do the work, and licensed taxis and Uber run in and around Naama Bay — agree the fare first or use the app. Egypt drives on the right. For Mount Sinai, St Catherine's or a desert safari, book through your hotel or with us so you travel with vetted guides and proper coaches. Naama Bay's promenade and SOHO Square are both easily walkable.

Food & drink

All-inclusive dining carries most of the eating and spans a wide international range, but reach for the local flavours where you can — mezze of tahina and baba ghanoush with warm baladi bread, koshari, and grilled fish along the Naama seafront. Try a glass of karkadeh, the chilled hibiscus tea, at least once. Resorts are licensed, with local Stella and Sakara beers and Egyptian wine on most all-inclusive plans. Stick to bottled water throughout.

Map of Sharm El Sheikh

Handpicked packages featuring the best destinations across the Sharm El Sheikh

Further reading from our specialists

Deeper diver from the team, all based on recent resort visits.

Hurghada versus Sharm El Sheikh

Choose the Right Red Sea for You.

Rixos Radamis Beach Sharm El Sheikh

Rixos Radamis Beach: where the Red Sea becomes a family playground.

Pickalbatros Hotels Egypt

Big Pools. Bigger Smiles. The Pickalbatros Egypt Way

Official guidance & sources

Entry and health rules for Egypt can change at short notice, so always check the official advice when you book and again shortly before you fly. These are the sources we trust.