Sharm El Sheikh looks unremarkable from the road and completely different from the water. The town sits on a headland between two gulfs, with a national park at one end, a strait full of reefs at the other, and coral starting a few metres from the shore in between. This is what there is to see on that side, and what each part costs.
Ras Mohammed — the wall
The national park at the tip of Sinai is the thing people come for. Deep water arrives close in, so the reef becomes a vertical face and the current runs along it.
You can reach it five ways: snorkelling from €25 with Shark Divers, as a yacht day at $35 with Hero, or diving it — €80 with Cinderella Eldawley, $95 with Mr. Diver, park and jetty fees included, and €80 with Aqua Sharm, whose park fee of €10 a day is charged on top.
The Straits of Tiran — four reefs in a row
North of town, in the open water between Sinai and Saudi Arabia, four named reefs stand in a line: Jackson, Woodhouse, Thomas and Gordon. They rise from deep water with no shallow approach, and a day boat covers them in one run. Cinderella's snorkelling day is €40 per person, reduced from €50 on the operator's own list. Divers reach the same reefs on the centres' standard boat days.
White Island — a sandbank with a tide
Not an island in any useful sense: a strip of white sand in open sea that rises at low tide and shrinks or vanishes at high. There is no shade and nothing built on it, which is the point. It comes paired with Ras Mohammed on the €25 Shark Divers day.
What can you see without getting in the water?
Coral starts close to shore all along the Sharm headland, which is why a $13 glass boat works here at all: you look at it through a panel in the hull, dry, with no mask and no fins. It is the least expensive thing on the water in town, and the one that has no requirements attached.
From the air
A parasailing flight is $26 per person, winched up from the boat deck and back down onto it. From up there the coastline and the reef line read as one shape, which is the one view of Sharm you cannot get from a boat deck or a beach. It is short, and it is sold on its own rather than inside a longer excursion.
Under the surface with a tank
If you want to be in the wall rather than above it, the dive day is the format: two guided dives, roughly eight hours, €70 to €155 per person depending on the centre and whether you go from the shore or a boat. Beginners start with Nemo's Discover Scuba Diving at €100 for the session — theory, confined water and one open-water dive, about four hours — or take the PADI Open Water course with Anar for €380.
How do you build the week?
| Day | What | Cost per person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glass boat, short and easy | $13 |
| 2 | Ras Mohammed and White Island, snorkelling, 8 h | €25 + park fee |
| 3 | Beach | — |
| 4 | Tiran snorkelling day, 8 h | €40 + fees |
| 5 | Parasailing flight | $26 |
| 6 | Dive day, or a private catamaran for the group | €70–€100, or $600 per boat |
| 7 | Beach | — |
How many boat days fit in a week?
Two eight-hour boat days in a week is a realistic maximum; three turns a holiday into a commute to a jetty. Leave a full day between them.
Two eight-hour boat days in a week is the maximum, with a full day between them. Count the marine park fee into every trip except the glass boat and the catamaran, where it is already inside.
The group option
If there are up to ten of you, run the arithmetic differently. The catamaran Elvira is $600 for the boat on a half day — $60 each with ten aboard — with a licensed captain and crew, a light brunch, unlimited soft drinks, SUP, kayak and tubes, hotel pick-up, and the marine park fees, cruise permit and fuel already included.
And a full day, or an evening?
The operator's grid runs to a full day at $1,200, a dinner cruise at $600 and an overnight at $1,500.
What is not on this list?
The land excursions — the pyramids, Petra, Luxor, Mount Sinai — are a large part of what Sharm sells, but all of it is on land and outside an article about the sea. This article covers the seaward side only, and every figure in it comes from an operator's own published price list as of 3 September 2026, in that operator's currency. Where a fee is named without an amount, we confirm the current figure in writing before your booking.
Updated 3 September 2026.
