Sharm El-Sheikh

Ras Muhammad, at the very southern tip of Sinai where the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba meet, is Egypt's first and most important marine national park, and for many divers it is the single best reason to come to Sharm. Underwater, sheer coral walls plunge hundreds of metres into deep blue, and the current-swept points draw in big pelagic life: barracuda, jacks, tuna, huge schools of snapper, reef sharks, and turtles, over some of the densest hard and soft coral in the Red Sea. The legendary sites are Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef, usually dived together on one drift, the latter scattered with the cargo (famously including a load of toilets and bathtubs) of a wrecked freighter. Above water it is stark desert meeting mangrove and turquoise lagoon, with a few shore-snorkelling spots and the clifftop Shark Observatory viewpoint. Snorkellers can enjoy the shallower reefs, but the wall dives are the real headline. Entry is ticketed as a protected area.

Naama Bay is the original resort heart of Sharm, a horseshoe of beach and hotels built up from the 1980s into the town's main promenade of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, and dive centres. A pedestrianised boulevard set back from the sand fills up in the evening with a strolling, browsing, shisha-smoking crowd, and it is the most concentrated place to eat, shop for souvenirs, and go out after dark. The beach itself is calm and family-friendly, with a gently shelving entry, though the good coral is out at the reef edges rather than off the sand here. It has faded a little as newer areas and all-inclusive resorts further out have drawn off some of the crowd, and the hard-sell from shops and touts can wear you down, but it stays the most walkable, sociable corner of Sharm and the easiest base if you want life on your doorstep rather than a sealed resort compound.

The Straits of Tiran are the narrow channel between the Sinai coast and Tiran Island, where the Gulf of Aqaba squeezes shut and four great reefs rise almost to the surface right in the shipping lane, named after the nineteenth-century cartographers who charted them: Jackson, Woodhouse, Thomas, and Gordon. They rank among the most celebrated dive and snorkel sites in the Red Sea, with strong currents feeding vivid coral, big schools of fish, frequent turtles and eagle rays, and, at Jackson Reef, a chance of sharks in season plus the rusting wreck of the Lara freighter marooned on the reef top. Because the coral comes so near the surface, the shallower reefs (Gordon especially) are superb for snorkelling from a boat as well as for diving. It is a standard full-day boat trip from Sharm, usually combined with a stop in the sheltered water behind the reefs for lunch and swimming. Conditions can be current-swept, so trips are weather-dependent.

Sharm's desert safaris head inland into the raw Sinai interior, a landscape of coloured rock, wadis, and mountains quite different from the flat coastal desert further west. The typical afternoon-into-night trip strings together quad bikes or buggies over the sand, a camel ride, and a visit to a Bedouin camp, finishing with a grilled dinner, sweet tea, and stargazing under skies so clear the Milky Way is easy to pick out. Some operators run to more distinctive spots such as the Coloured Canyon near Nuweiba, a narrow slot canyon of banded sandstone, or a sunset high in the mountains, which are far more rewarding than the standard camp routine. As with every Red Sea safari, the Bedouin experience is staged for visitors, but the desert itself and the star-filled sky are entirely real. It is dusty and turns genuinely cold once the sun drops, so cover up and pack a warm layer.

Inland, a two-hour-plus drive up into the Sinai mountains, sits St Catherine's, one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monasteries in the world, founded in the sixth century by the emperor Justinian around the site traditionally identified as the biblical Burning Bush. Behind its fortress walls it guards an extraordinary library of ancient manuscripts, second only to the Vatican's, and a collection of early icons that survived the ages, and a living bush said to descend from the original still grows in the courtyard. Above it rises Mount Sinai, Jebel Musa, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments. The classic pilgrimage is to climb it before dawn, by the camel path or the steep Steps of Repentance, to watch the sunrise from the 2,285-metre summit. It is a long, early, physically demanding excursion, usually starting in the middle of the night, and the monastery keeps limited hours, so trips are tightly timed.

The Old Market in Sharm El Maya, down near the port, is the town's most local and atmospheric quarter, an antidote to the polished resort strips. Its main lane and the alleys off it are lined with spice sellers, souvenir and perfume shops, jewellers, clothing stalls, shisha cafes, and a run of no-frills seafood and grill restaurants where Egyptians and in-the-know visitors eat for a fraction of Naama Bay prices. In the evening it comes alive with the smell of grilled fish and shisha, vendors calling out, mounds of coloured spices and dried hibiscus, and a genuinely Egyptian buzz. The hard-sell is real and bargaining is expected, so it helps to arrive in a haggling mood. It is the best place in Sharm to buy spices, karkadeh (hibiscus tea), and souvenirs at something close to fair prices, and to eat a cheap, good fish dinner among locals rather than tourists.