Masbat promenade
Bedouin cafés by the sea.
Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia — CC BY 2.0 · Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · jay8085 — CC BY 2.0 · Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia — CC BY 2.0 · D T G — CC BY 3.0 · Grand Parc - Bordeaux, France from France — CC BY-SA 2.0 · JJ Jones — CC BY 3.0 · Abdelaziz fawzy — CC BY-SA 4.0
A laid-back coastal town on the Gulf of Aqaba, about an hour and a half by car north of Sharm el-Sheikh, that began as a Bedouin fishing village and became a favourite of divers, backpackers and anyone after a simple pace away from the big resorts. Its heart is the seafront walk around Masbat and the Lighthouse, lined with restaurants and cafés spread with Bedouin cushions at the water's edge, where you eat fresh fish looking across the gulf to the mountains of Saudi Arabia, and lights brighten the promenade in the evening. Dahab is known for freediving and shore diving, as the coral reef begins a few steps from dry land, its most famous sites being the Blue Hole and the Canyon north of town. The Lagoon to the south draws windsurfers and kitesurfers with its steady winds. Wandering the town is free, and prices are generally lower than in Sharm el-Sheikh. It works as a day from Sharm, but many stay several days, and night trips to Mount Sinai and safaris into the wadis leave from here.
Bedouin cafés by the sea.
Reefs a few steps out.
Wind and kitesurfing.
Dahab, South Sinai, on the Gulf of Aqaba north of Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm for big resorts, nightlife and services; Dahab for calm, simplicity and shore diving at lower prices.