Sharm El Sheikh - the good and bad?

[kkelly82]

Considering Sharm El Sheikh for a family holiday which children aged 9 and 12. I’m not one for sitting by the pool all day everyday and like to get out and explore where I’m staying, so I’d like to know what Sharm is like and more importantly what it’s like to visit local towns and places of interest. I have been to Turkey a fair bit over the years and to Cape Verde and although there was lots of great things about these countries I absolutely hated the way that people (mostly women) are hassled when they go into shops to go in and buy things and I want to know if this is what it’s like when visiting shops etc in Sharm too.
Also knowing what the area is like generally too would be really helpful. TIA.

Sharm good for snorkelling and water park/beach fun, we did trips to Sinai, buggy trips into desert, Bedouin etc - our kids loved it at that age. Good mix of pool/water park and culture.

not so good is the hard sell - but that’s to be expected in these countries - forewarned is forearmed! Just a smile and a repeated “no thanks”

we did Cairo then Sharm on a two centre and Valley of Kings from Hurghada another year. The pyramids and Valley of Kings were amazing but much worse for being hassled to buy.

Yes there is a lot of hassle.

You do get used to it.

Not much of interest very locally but there are probably day trips (we went for the diving)

Hurghada has day trips to Luxor etc which are amazing,

Very little to do apart from snorkelling and diving, both amazing. If you do go pick a hotel that has snorkelling straight from beach or hotel pier.

we did a desert trip to see the stars that was cool. But really there’s nothing to walk round and see or even get driven to on a trip.

we combined it with Nile cruise and Cairo. Both amazing. We were on our own in Cairo and didn’t get hassled at all. Dark glasses, appropriate clothing and an air of knowing where you are going really help.

There is hassling, it doesn’t bother me but really bothers my DH. It’s very good for excursions but not so good for walking around and doing your own thing.
When was you thinking of going?

I've stayed in the sharks bay area snorkeling direct from the hotel beach was incredible and no hassle from shop keepers.
https://www.soho-sharm.com/

But to explore further you would probably need arranged excursions.

I went there about 15yrs ago, so clearly things might have changed. We stayed here Sharm Waterfalls Resort - Om El Sid, Sharm El Sheikh - On The Beach
People rave about the diving, but I wasn't impressed compared to the Barrier reef and other places. We also like exploring the local town and doing things outside the hotel. The local town wasn't welcoming and I didn't see a single woman the whole day! It was very much focused on things to do inside the hotel!

The highlight was an excursion where we walked up Mt Sinai to see sunrise. I preferred Luxor in terms of history and things to do- but both places had heckling and I felt harassed stepping out of the hotel. Not just men staring, but taxi drivers touting and just feeling like people were trying to rip you off.

We went recently for the first time. Wouldn’t go back unless I just wanted to stay at a nice hotel by the pool/beach and do some snorkelling.

not a lot to do, we went to the sharm museum, it wasted a couple of hours.
soho sq was mainly bars and tat shops, it wasted another couple of hours.

We had some amazing holidays in Sharm pre-kids. As others have said, it’s mostly about the snorkelling and beach life for me. We also climbed Mt Sinai and rode camels which was great.

I’d love to take my kids but is it considered safe these days? Pretty near the Gaza Strip apart from anything else!

Sharm is a holiday resort built for tourists. There isn't a local town or anything for locals, everything is about tourists. If you want sight seeing you need to do full day trips out to other places.

We took a boat trip to the nature reserve and White Island
This year we’re going to go to tiran island, we love Egypt Old Town and our hotel were we stayed and we’re going to again in across the road from there, the hotel has it’s own private reef,

There has been increasing level of shark attacks so that puts me off