Sharm recommendations

[udscoobychick]

Hi all.  DH and I just booked a 2-week trip to Sharm el Sheikh in April.  We're staying at the Sunrise Diamond Select Hotel, or something along those lines--it's a very affordable but nice AI.  I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on excursions, activities or day trips.  Luxor, Giza, and Petra are on our radar, but I have heard that it's not safe to travel over land to these places at the moment, and there are limited options for air travel for excursions...has anyone heard differently as to whether ground travel is safe?  DH and I also would like to do some diving, so any recommendations for a dive outfit would be awesome.  Although it's an AI, I'm sure we'll want a change from hotel food eventually, so I'd love recommendations for restaurants, too!  Thanks!

[GilliC]

I would absolutely not travel overland across the Sinai peninsula right now. I take most State Dept travel advisories with a grain of salt, but in the UK travel advisories, the northern half of the Sinai is currently still a red zone. I'm pretty adventurous and have considered traveling in yellow zones (with some serious hesitations), but I wouldn't go anywhere near a red zone.



Also, while the US State Dept tends to be a bit melodramatic in their warnings sometimes, when they flat out prohibit the embassy staff from traveling to certain areas, I tend to pay attention. After all, these are people who live in the country and tend to know how to get around more easily than most visitors:

Restricted Areas: The U.S. Embassy restricts its employees and their family members from traveling outside of Cairo without approval and advises all U.S. citizens to carefully consider travel outside of the greater Cairo metropolitan area. U.S. Embassy personnel in Egypt are currently prohibited from traveling to the Sinai, except by air to Sharm El Sheikh. Overland personal travel by U.S. government employees anywhere in the Sinai outside of Sharm El Sheikh is prohibited. In addition, travel by road by U.S. government employees outside of the greater Cairo metropolitan area is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

[GilliC]

Even when the situation was safer, everyone I know who's traveled to Sharm El Sheikh pretty much just stayed in the resort area. Most of the beachgoers seemed to prefer other locations like the Canary Islands or Antalya.

The divers love it, especially since it's one of the best dive locations within easy distance of Europe. (Unfortunately I don't know of particular operations, because these are all former divemasters who cart around their own gear and really just need a base and a boat.)

[udscoobychick]

Poop...I was hoping the recommendations to avoid ground travel were just people being melodramatic. Guess I will look for tours with flights from SeS.

[sunflower]

Lurker here popping in because I actually have something to add on this topic! I too would follow the travel recs for this area.  We did overland travel from Sharm to Israel and Jordan about five years ago (when there were not restrictions) and it felt a little questionable from our perspective even then.  We loved Petra so if you have any luck finding air-travel excursions there, I would recommend it.

We did some fantastic diving while we were in Sharm with Anthias Divers.  They were a very professional dive shop that was also very welcoming.  Their manager, Simona, goes above and beyond for her divers.  The airline had lost my luggage and she personally drove me around town to find me new clothes to get me through until my luggage came in (four days later!).  They're located at the Hilton Fayrouz Resort.

[Wanderista]

I haven't been to Sharm but I've been to Makadi Bay near Hurghada. I agree that it is a good idea to fly to most of the places you'll want to go. Aside from the safety issue, Egypt is a huge country and travel can be slower. When I was there, you went through multiple routine checkpoints to travel around. For example, whenever you would go from one local jurisdiction to another, you would go through a checkpoint. The buses that I traveled with sometimes were able to go through a faster "express lane". Even so, travel there is just slower than you'd be used to here. Sharm is quite far from somewhere like Luxor. I would fly.

I do want to go back to Egypt. In spite of a few negative moments, I generally thought it was an incredible place and I liked being on a resort there. The resorts felt very chill and definitely safe. I found the vendors who had to be licensed to operate in what was basically a private beach compound to be largely great. They faced a lot of competition to get their contracts and they zealously guarded their positions as vendors so most of them were wonderful and extremely friendly.

I went snorkeling both near the resort and out in the Red Sea on a day trip to Giftun Island which is one of multiple barrier islands. I really loved swimming in the Red Sea and I loved snorkeling. It was so easy to swim in and very warm and pleasant but very salty of course. You float easily and I found it to be very enjoyable. That sea is definitely on my list of one of my favorites. I will say that I was the recipient of unwanted sexual harassment from a snorkeling instructor. Sadly, be aware that you might receive some unwanted attention. It would not stop me from going back but I would be careful about not getting separated from your DH while on excursions. Egyptian men can be ... incredibly forward whether selling something or hitting on you. Like I said, weighing the good and the bad, I would visit again. It is an incredible country.