Sinai - Egyptian Holidays

Egypt is a land of wonderful sights and beautiful vistas, and nowhere shows this better than Sinai. Sinai is not a part of mainland Africa per se, but rather the western most tip of Asia; liberated from Israel by the Egyptians in 1983. This beautiful area has undergone massive tourist renovation in later years, with the number of hotels present mushrooming from the solitary original to over 150, with 50 more in construction.

The main tourist area of Sinai is Sharm El Sheikh, which is also still very much under construction; there are vast tracts of barren land almost everywhere you look, half constructed buildings and pavements to nowhere. However the old 'downtown' market area and Na'ama bay are well developed, with the locals eager, often overly so, to sell to 'wealthy' foreigners.

Shopping in Sinai, as elsewhere in Egypt, is mainly done through barter. Very few items have price tags, and the price the merchant quotes will often be 2 or 3 times the true asking price. The best advice is to offer around ¼ of the asking price and barter from there; if the merchant is still smiling, you're still above the true price.

Na'ama bay in particular is very touristy. If you do want a more authentic shopping experience in Sinai I'd recommend the more traditional market in downtown Sharm El Sheikh.

The red sea, and Sinai in particular, offers some of the best snorkelling and scuba diving in the world. Just meters below the surface of the azure sea is one of the best coral reefs, a profusion of multihued corals and fish. The Egyptians are fiercely protective of their reefs, realising that they are one of the main tourist draws to the area. Still, it's possible to go snorkelling straight from the beach or a hotel pontoon. Indeed one of the best dive area in Sinai, 'The Temple', is about 200 yards offshore from the hotels 'Reef Oasis' and 'Fanara', in Sharm El Sheikh.

As well as Sinai's multitudinous snorkelling opportunities there are also seemingly hundreds of scuba diving schools in the Sharm area. The courses you can take at these dive centres range from an introductory dive around the Ras Mohammed national park to a full PADI course, which would give you a proper open water dive certification. The Camel diving school in Na'ama bay comes highly recommended for both their PADI courses and introductory dives, although your hotel may be able to supply it's own on-site diving staff. Certainly snorkelling and diving around Sinai's wonderful coral reefs in not an experience to be missed.

As well as the excellent reefs Sinai also has it's contingent of bedouins. Although modern society has changed their lifestyle out of all recognition, the Bedouin nomads have retained some vestiges of their prior lifestyle for the tourists. Just outside Sharm El Sheikh you can take a camel ride with the bedouins and drink their traditional 'Habak' tea. Other more modern activities are also available, for instance quad biking across the desert and swimming with dolphins. The latter is apparently far more satisfying than at Discovery Cove, Florida, as you speak far more time with the dolphins.

Christians, Muslims and the Jewish also have another reason to come to Sinai. Mount Sinai is where Moses is said to have received the ten commandments from God, and so people of all religions flock to its slopes. It is possible to climb Mount Sinai and rest overnight on the top to watch the sunrise; a breathtaking experience which many say makes them feel closer to God, as Mosses must the forty days and nights he stayed atop the Mount. In the morning as you descend Mount Sinai it is possible to visit the monastery of Saint Catherine, where the monks watch over the burning bush through which God first spoke to Moses.

Sinai is a wonderful holiday destination, steeped in culture and history. With some of the most breathtakingly beautiful coral reefs in the world it is one of the best places to visit in Egypt, and quite possibly the word.