Dahab Travel Guide

          Dahab is one of the most amazing places in Egypt, Located in South Sinai right above Sharm El Sheikh city. It is 535 km from Cairo and 88 km from Sharm. There are many companies offer the transport between Cairo and Dahab like East delta and Go bus, but since it takes almost 10 to 12 hours to get there in the travel season, many people chose to take a flight. Dahab is one of the Red Sea cities and it’s is known for the amazing coral reefs and being at a short distance from the famous Sinai “Moses” Mountain, the ancient Saint Catherine’s Monastery and the highest peak in Egypt which is Saint Catherine Mountain. However, it’s one of the cities that you will enjoy travelling solo as much as travelling with your friends. Although you will never feel bored in front of the sea mountain view, you will find yourself making friends from all around the world with just smiling and starting a small conversation. It’s one of the few places in which you will interact with the Bedouin people daily and you might be lucky and invited to a local Bedouin dinner and taste their unique tea. Dahab is well known for certain activities that make it one of the most amazing travel destinations in the middle east.

Here are five of the most famous activities and where to do them in Dahab:  

        1.Diving:

Dahab has several diving sites starting from the city itself where many diving centers offers scuba dive courses down to 12 meters and accompanying the ones with experience of an open water course to more than 20 meters, and along the coastal line. But one of the most famous sites is the “Blue Hole” 

        ·  Blue hole

     Located 8 Km north of Dahab, is one of the most dangerous yet interesting and adrenaline boosting diving sites in the world. It's required however to have an open water certificate to be able to have permission to dive there. you can go there from Dahab by jeep, it costs 200 to 250 EGP depending on your bargaining skills and it takes 5 persons. but if you are going by bedouin truck it will take from 5 to 9 persons for 20 to 25 per person.

      2.Kite surfing

One of the most exciting and famous activities to do in Dahab. You can see the surfers in many places, starting from the Laguna beach and reaching to the most famous Lagoon in Egypt the Blue Lagoon. You can ask for lessons or if you have an experience already just rent the gear and jump as high as you can. you can reach there by a bedouin truck from Abu Galum, it costs 30 EGP per person and your going to buy something at the bedouin tents there to sit in them. it will cost you around 50 LE for the bedouin tea pot.

      3.   Snorkeling

It’s certainly the easiest and most known activity in Dahab, as you do not have to take any permissions to float on a vast blue sea full of corals and reef fishes, just put on your mask and explore the under world of the Red sea! Although you can snorkel in any part of the sea there are some places which’s is famous and have better corals and reefs than the others.

·      Blue hole

The blue hole is not limited to Diving only as the corals and reef fishes appear a few centimeters from the surface from the bells to the blue hole itself.

    ·      Ras Abu Galum

It’s a marine protected area and a Bedouin village where you can spend a peaceful and relaxing day and if it charmed you spend the night and sleep at one of the bedouin tents. The easiest way to reach there is to go by speed boat from the blue hole. it costs around 50 EGP per person one way and 100 EGP if you're going to return by it.

           ·      Lighthouse reef

Located few steps from the center of the city, it’s one of the most popular snorkeling spots in Dahab due easy beach access where individuals and diving centers’ instructors and constantly going in and out of it. The shallow wall of the fringing reed plate is perfect for snorkelers where the turtles and wide variety of corals and fishes can be spotted easily.

           4.   Trekking

A fascinating mini trek from the blue hole to Ras abu galum is popular among travelers. Just around 8 kms along the coast line where you can walk or ride a camel with the Bedouins taking 1.5 hours to 2 hours from the blue hole. Just make sure you bring enough water and some snacks for the trek.

          5.   Hiking

There are several travel agencies offer trips to Sinai “Moses” mountain and St. Catherine Monastery, depending of the

type of the car you will go by the price range starts from 350 EGP. The car will arrive around 10 pm and talk you to the mountain where you will spend the night hiking to see the sunrise on top of the one of famous mountains in the world. If someone is not able to hike he can ride a camel and climb on top of it.

Stopping every hour or so to rest for a couple of minutes and drink Bedouin tea or buying some chips or snack or watch the Bedouins crafts.

 On arriving you will see a church on top before sunrise, and if you’re lucky you might witness a praise from monks there before sunrise.

The sunrise is so beautiful up there that makes you forget everything and just enjoy the re-birth of the sunrays on the vast scene of the mountains.

The Last place I will talk about in Dahab is the Laguna beach. It lies 3.5 km from the center where you can walk beside the sea or rent a bicycle and grab enough water, snacks and some sandwiches and spend the day in the best beach in Dahab. Where the mountains is so close and the water looks more smother than any other place in Dahab. just make sure to take a large sea towel to lie on there or rent a one from the Bedouin ladies there.

Although the large variety of the activities and the places around Dahab, it will be an amusement in itself to pick a café on the sea and just relax. There are many cafes in the center and they all serve a variety of food and drinks.

Dahab is certainly one of my favorite places in Egypt and I believe it’s a must travel place to anyone coming to Egypt.
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Here is my travel video of Dahab and all these amazing places:Dahab Travel Video

How travel shows you the real core of the human soul

            Last month I was solo traveling Dahab Egypt, I woke up at 2:15 am in a hostel dorm, through the tiny little ray of light I saw a guy named Patric who was sleeping in the bed next to mine waving at me and pointing up at the upper bed next to me, there slept a guy named Adham, suddenly I started seeing Adham throwing up beside my bed and his friend Nada jumping from her bed and repeatedly saying “it’s okay it’s okay”, I started getting up in my bed and I saw her helping him descending the bed stairs and helping him to go to the toilet, she immediately took tissues and went to clean behind him and then came back to support him in the toilet, after he finished she supported him back to the bed and started to comfort him by gentle words and tried to make him laugh and not to be shy or sad over what happened, she wasn’t disgusted and showed her friend care and compassion you might not see often.

That made me recall what happened to me the year before in Sri Lanka, when I made an accident with the scooter I was driving with friends I only knew for one month, how Omar, George from Egypt and Hassan from Iraq took care of me and the guy named Mohamed that was sitting behind me *who we only knew the day before*, they took us to the hospital with several injuries and although the ambulance took us to the public hospital * which was the most unclean utility I ever saw* they made sure Mohamed who had a very bad cut in his foot and I take anodyne and they stayed up with us the whole night until the morning when they moved us to a private hospital and make sure they gave us medication and how the girls who were traveling with us came in the very morning and had a really loud arguing with the hospital there due to some issues I can’t recall, and they returned with us to the public hospital and checked us in, and made sure we were examined and that the cut in Mohamed was cleaned and bind and stayed with us until the night while another friend named Eslam who was traveling with us but happened to be in another city came to us with another friend named Vania from Hongkong and stayed the whole night with us after the owner of the Hostel and her husband came to visit us. In the morning Basma, Amira and Aya came and brought me a breakfast and sat with me on a bed in a very strange men medication hall dorm and kept talking with me and trying to cheer me up, later I found that they had took the scooter and drove it back to the guy we rented it from and gave him the compensation money which was 200$ and they only asked me to pay 90$! Omar and Eslam spent that last night with us until the morning they were arguing with the management because Mohamed was staying in a really filthy dorm and they were afraid that we might have infection, and called the embassy and a lot of issues. That morning Hassan came and helped me checking out and pay the bill, and asking about Mohamed’s bill we’ve noticed it was so expensive and after Omar and Eslam came to pay the bill for Mohamed found that they charged him for staying for eight days while he actually stayed for two, and after arguing with the head of the financial department payed the right price. I will never forget the emotional support these friends gave me, how they stood by my side and showed me compassion and love even though the accident was my fault! I would never have felt that without travelling alone to a country I only heard of two months earlier.

After recalling these unique memories and reflecting on what had just happened, I’ve come to realize how travel make you so vulnerable and open to every helping hand and how the travel shows you what the core of anyone made of and helps you make friends for life.