Sharm El Sheikh With Kids
A coral reef a few kicks from the beach, resorts that run the whole day for the kids, a desert of red mountains behind, and the pyramids an hour’s flight away. Sharm is the Red Sea week I put at the end of an Egypt trip, and the one the kids rate above the tombs.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
Is Sharm El Sheikh good for kids?
Yes. A coral reef right off the resort jetties, all inclusive hotels with water slides and kids' clubs, calm warm water, boat days with snorkel stops, a desert evening with camels and Bedouin tea, and a market for lanterns and juice. Best for kids 6 and up who can snorkel.
How many days do you need in Sharm El Sheikh?
Five nights for the reef, a boat day, the desert evening and the Old Market. Seven if you add Saint Catherine and Mount Sinai or a day in Dahab.
Do you need a visa for Sharm El Sheikh?
US passports get a visa on arrival for about 25 dollars that covers all of Egypt. A free Sinai only stamp exists but does not cover Ras Mohammed or Cairo, so most families buy the full visa.
Where should a family stay in Sharm El Sheikh?
At a resort with a house reef at Sharks Bay or Nabq, where the jetty takes the kids straight over the coral. Naama Bay is the lively center and good for an evening out, but its reef is a swim from the beach.
When is the best time to visit Sharm El Sheikh?
October, November, March and April for warm sea and 80 degree days. Winter is sunny and mild but the water is cooler. Summer is very hot, with the resorts built to cope and the desert trips too hot for small kids.
The Reef At The End Of The Sinai
Sharm sits at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula where the Red Sea is at its clearest, and the coral starts a few yards off the beach. The town is a string of bays, Naama in the middle with the promenade, Sharks Bay and Nabq to the north by the airport, the Old Market and the big mosque to the south, and behind all of it the red mountains of the Sinai running up to Saint Catherine and Mount Sinai. Most families do not leave the resort and the reef. The ones who do get a desert and a 1,500 year old monastery.
Five nights covers two or three days on the reef and the pools, a boat day to Ras Mohammed or Tiran, an evening in the Old Market and a desert trip with the Bedouin. A week adds the Saint Catherine day.
Getting Around
Taxis and resort shuttles. Sharm is spread along 20 miles of coast and nobody walks between bays. Agree the taxi price before you get in or use the Careem app. Within Naama Bay the promenade is on foot. Trips to Ras Mohammed, the desert and Saint Catherine come with a driver or a tour.
Neighborhoods worth basing in
Naama Bay
The center of Sharm, with the beach promenade, the restaurants, the shops and the widest choice of hotels. Lively at night, walkable, and the simplest base if you want to leave the resort in the evening. The reef here is further out than the northern bays.
Sharks Bay and Nabq
The northern bays near the airport, where the house reefs are right off the jetties and the resorts are big, new and built around pools and kids’ clubs. Quieter, with the resort doing everything and a taxi into Naama when you want it. The base I use for most families.
Ras Um Sid and the Old Market
The southern end, with the lighthouse reef, the cliffs, the Old Market with its spice stalls and the huge Al Sahaba mosque. Smaller hotels, a more Egyptian feel, and Ras Mohammed the closest. Good for a family who has done the resort thing before.
Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh
On the cliffs above its own reef at Sharks Bay, with terraced gardens, pools, a kids’ club, a funicular down to the beach and snorkeling off the jetty. The splurge on the Red Sea and the one I book for a family who wants the reef and the service in one place.
Rixos Premium Seagate
A huge all inclusive at Nabq with a water park, a kids’ club, a long jetty over the reef and more restaurants than you can try in a week. The one for a family who wants the slides and the buffet and does not want to think about dinner.
Jaz Mirabel Beach
An all inclusive resort at Nabq with a wide sandy beach, a jetty out over the reef, pools, a kids’ club and family rooms. Good value and a strong house reef for the kids’ first snorkel.
The Three I Build Every Sharm El Sheikh Trip Around
The reef and the house jetties
The coral here starts in a few feet of water, which is why Sharm works for families who have not snorkeled before. The resort jetties at Sharks Bay and Nabq walk you out over the reef flat to a ladder, and the kids drop in among parrotfish, clownfish and the occasional turtle 20 yards from their sunbed. Buy or bring masks that fit the kids’ faces, rent nothing. A morning and a late afternoon on the house reef is a full day, and the water is calmest before 11.
Naama Bay and the boat days
Naama Bay is the promenade, a mile of beach, cafes, shops and the evening walk, with the dive boats leaving from the jetties. The boat days go south to Ras Mohammed, the national park at the tip of the Sinai with the Shark and Yolanda reefs, or north to the Straits of Tiran for the big coral gardens. A family boat with lunch and two or three snorkel stops is the day the kids talk about most, for ages 6 and up. Ask for a boat that stays in the sheltered bays if anyone gets seasick.
The Old Market and the mosque
The old town at Sharm el Maya is the Egyptian evening, with spice and lantern stalls, fresh juice stands, fish restaurants and the Al Sahaba mosque, a huge new mosque in old Islamic style that lights up at night and lets visitors in outside prayer times. Haggle gently, let the kids pick a lantern, eat grilled fish and koshari, and get a taxi back. Nearby, Ras Um Sid has a reef off the cliffs and a lighthouse that is the quiet snorkel spot when the resorts are busy.
Family Time, Built In: Sharm El Sheikh With Kids
Sharm with kids is clownfish 20 yards from the sunbed, a water slide for the afternoon, a camel at sunset, a lantern from the market and a monastery under the mountain Moses climbed.
A boat day to Ras Mohammed
Bedouin tea in the desert at sunset
Lanterns in the Old Market
The resort water slides
PARK & DOWNTIME PICK
The resort is the park here, and the kids’ clubs, pools and water slides at Nabq and Sharks Bay fill the hot afternoons. For a change of scene, the Bedouin desert evening, a jeep or camel ride into the mountains behind the town for tea, bread baked in the sand and stars, is a few hours and works for small kids and teenagers alike. SOHO Square at Sharks Bay has an ice rink, a bowling alley and a dancing fountain for an evening out that is not the buffet.
Five Things To Eat In Sharm El Sheikh
Koshari
Taameya, the Egyptian falafel
Grilled fish in the Old Market
Fresh aish baladi bread
Egyptian coffee and mint teaNicole’s Perspective
The beach week I put after the pyramids
Egypt with kids is Cairo for the pyramids and the museum, Luxor or a Nile cruise for the tombs, and then the whole family is hot, tired and done with ruins. Sharm is where I send them next. An hour’s flight, a resort with a reef, and the kids spend three days in the water while the parents remember what a vacation feels like.
I book Nabq or Sharks Bay for the house reef, one boat day, one desert evening with the Bedouin and one dinner in the Old Market. The Saint Catherine day is for families with older kids who will do a 3 am start. Five nights is right after a busy Egypt week, and the all inclusive price is a relief after Cairo.
The Day Trip: Saint Catherine and Mount Sinai
Three hours northwest through the desert, Saint Catherine’s Monastery sits at the foot of Mount Sinai and has been a working monastery since the 500s, with a chapel, a library of ancient manuscripts and what the monks say is the burning bush growing in the courtyard. The classic version leaves Sharm around midnight, climbs the mountain by camel path in the dark with a Bedouin guide, 750 steps at the top, watches the sunrise over the Sinai, then visits the monastery when it opens at 9. It is a long, cold, early day and one of the great ones for kids 10 and up. For younger kids, do the monastery by day and skip the climb.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
How Many Days
Five nights covers the reef, a boat day, the market and the desert evening. Seven adds Saint Catherine and a slow day.
Two days on the house reef and the pools, a boat day to Ras Mohammed, the Bedouin desert evening, and the Old Market and mosque on the last night.
Add the Saint Catherine and Mount Sinai day for older kids, a second boat day to Tiran, and a day at Dahab for the Blue Hole and the laid back beach town.
Three nights in Cairo for the pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, three on a Nile cruise or in Luxor for the tombs, then the flight to Sharm for five on the reef. Eleven days and the whole of Egypt for a family, with the beach at the end as the reward.
Sharm El Sheikh With Kids, Answered
Is Sharm El Sheikh good for kids?
Yes. A coral reef right off the resort jetties, all inclusive hotels with water slides and kids’ clubs, calm warm water, boat days with snorkel stops, a desert evening with camels and Bedouin tea, and a market for lanterns and juice. Best for kids 6 and up who can snorkel.
How many days do you need in Sharm El Sheikh?
Five nights for the reef, a boat day, the desert evening and the Old Market. Seven if you add Saint Catherine and Mount Sinai or a day in Dahab.
Do you need a visa for Sharm El Sheikh?
US passports get a visa on arrival for about 25 dollars that covers all of Egypt. A free Sinai only stamp exists but does not cover Ras Mohammed or Cairo, so most families buy the full visa.
Where should a family stay in Sharm El Sheikh?
At a resort with a house reef at Sharks Bay or Nabq, where the jetty takes the kids straight over the coral. Naama Bay is the lively center and good for an evening out, but its reef is a swim from the beach.
When is the best time to visit Sharm El Sheikh?
October, November, March and April for warm sea and 80 degree days. Winter is sunny and mild but the water is cooler. Summer is very hot, with the resorts built to cope and the desert trips too hot for small kids.
Ready To Put Sharm El Sheikh On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will put Sharm at the end of your Egypt trip, book the resort with the right house reef, and set up the boat day and the desert evening.
Keep exploring from Sharm El Sheikh
Nearby places and the whole region.
Click any card to open that page
Zoom out
All of Africa
Egypt