Sharm El Sheikh (, , literally "bay of the

Sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

"), alternatively rendered Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el Sheikh, or Sharm El-Sheikh, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

, in

South Sinai Governorate South Sinai ( ') is the least populated Subdivisions of Egypt, governorate of Egypt. It is located in the east of the country, encompassing the southern half of the Sinai Peninsula. Saint Catherine's Monastery, an Eastern Orthodox Church monaste ...

, on the coastal strip along the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

. Its population is approximately 13,000 . Sharm El Sheikh is the administrative hub of Egypt's South Sinai Governorate, which includes the smaller coastal towns of Dahab and Nuweiba as well as the mountainous interior, St. Catherine and

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...

. It was historically a fishing town and military base, and was developed into a commercial and tourist-centric city in 1968 by Israel. After the Camp David Accords, Israel withdrew from Sinai in 1982, and Egypt resumed control. Egypt continued and expanded the development, promoting Sharm El Sheikh as a major international resort city. Today, the city and holiday resort is a significant centre for tourism in Egypt, while also attracting many international conferences and diplomatic meetings.

Name

The English name of Sharm El Sheikh is a borrowing of the

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian, or simply as Masri, is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic variety in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt. The esti ...

"شرم الشيخ", ''šarm aš-šayḵ'' and, as such, does not have a fixed

romanisation In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

. There are documented uses of alternate spellings such as Sharm el Sheikh and Sharm el-Sheikh, sometimes within the same news article. Sharm El Sheikh is sometimes referred to as the "City of Peace" (Egyptian Arabic: "''Madinet el-Salam''"), referring to the large number of International Peace Conferences that have been held there. Amongst Egyptians and also many visitors, the name of the city is commonly shortened to "Sharm" (), which is its common name in

Geography and history

Sharm El Sheikh is on a promontory overlooking the

Straits of Tiran The Straits of Tiran ( ') are the narrow sea passages between the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai and Arabian Peninsula, Arabian peninsulas that connect the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. The distance between the two peninsulas is about . The Multinatio ...

at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Its strategic importance led to its transformation from a fishing village into a major port and naval base for the

Egyptian Navy The Egyptian Navy (), also known as the Egyptian Naval Forces, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the Middle East as well as Africa, and is the twelfth largest (by the number of vessels) navy in the w ...

. It was conquered by Israel during the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

of 1956 and returned to Egypt in 1957. A

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

peacekeeping force was stationed there until 1967 when it was ordered to leave by Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

, a fact that precipitated the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

during which it was reoccupied by Israel. Sharm El Sheikh remained under Israeli control from 1967 until the Sinai Peninsula was returned back to Egypt in 1982, after the

Egypt–Israel peace treaty The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minist ...

of 1979 that was signed in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

During that time, an Israeli settlement named Ofira was built in the area. In 1968, Israel opened an air force base there which functions today as the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. Unlike Sinai's other well-known settlement, Yamit, Ofira was not demolished after Israel ceded control of Sinai to Egypt following the

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...

, but was returned intact and is today a thriving tourist town and home to local Egyptian residents. Egypt's then-president

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

designated Sharm El Sheikh as ''The City of Peace'' in 1982 and the Egyptian government began a policy of encouraging further development of the city. Egyptian businessmen and investors, along with global investors contributed to building several mega projects, including mosques and churches. The city is now an international tourist destination, and environmental zoning laws limit the height of buildings to avoid obscuring the natural beauty of the surroundings. A hierarchical planning approach was adopted for the Gulf of Aqaba, whereby the area's components were evaluated and subdivided into zones, cities and centers. In accordance with this approach, the Gulf of Aqaba zone was subdivided into four cities: Taba, Nuweiba, Dahab and Sharm El Sheikh. Sharm El Sheikh city has been subdivided into five homogeneous centers, namely Nabq, Ras Nusrani, Naama Bay, Umm Sid and Sharm El Maya. Sharm El Sheikh city, with Naama Bay, Hay el Nour, Hadaba, Rowaysat, Montazah and form a metropolitan area. The site off the shore gun emplacements at Ras Nasrani opposite Tiran Island is now a diving area. In 2005, the resort was hit by the Sharm El Sheikh terrorist attacks, which were carried out by an extremist Islamist organisation targeting Egypt's tourist industry. Eighty-eight people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded by the attack, making it the second deadliest terrorist attack in the country's history. The city has played host to a number of important Middle Eastern peace conferences, including the 4 September 1999 agreement to establish Palestinian self-rule over the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. A second summit was held at Sharm on 17 October 2000 following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada, but it failed to end the violence. A summit was held in the city on 3 August 2005 on developments in the Arab world, such as the situation in the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...

. Again in 2007, an important ministerial meeting took place in Sharm, where dignitaries discussed Iraqi reconstruction. The

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

on the Middle East was hosted by Sharm El Sheikh in 2006 and 2008. Amidst the 2011 Egyptian protests, then-president Mubarak reportedly went to Sharm El Sheikh and resigned there on 11 February 2011. The 2014 World Economic Forum in Sharm El Sheikh heralded a new initiative for desert cities urban development in Egypt. In November 2022, the United Nations Climate Change Conference ( COP27) was held in Sharm El Sheikh. This conference led to the first loss and damage fund being created.

Climate

The city experiences a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

arid climate, classified by the Köppen–Geiger system as hot desert (BWh). Temperatures are just short of a

tropical climate Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of or higher in the coolest month, featuring hot te ...

. Typical temperatures range from in January and in August. The temperature of the Red Sea in this region ranges from over the course of the year. Marsa Alam, Kosseir and Sharm El Sheikh have the warmest winter night temperatures of cities and resorts in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. The highest recorded temperature was on 3 June 2013, and the lowest recorded temperature was on 23 February 2000.

Economy and tourism

Sharm El Sheikh's major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its landscape, year-round dry climate with long hot summers and warm winters and its long beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

and

snorkeling Snorkeling (American and British English spelling differences#Doubled in British English, British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of human swimming, swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing ...

. There is scope for scientific tourism due to the diversity of marine life: 250 different coral reefs and 1000 species of fish. These natural resources, together with its proximity to tourist markets in Europe, have stimulated rapid growth in tourism in the region. The number of resorts has increased from three in 1982 to ninety-one in 2000. Guest nights also increased in that period from sixteen thousand to 5.1 million. International hotel companies that currently operate in the city include

Accor Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor ope ...

( Mövenpick, Novotel, Rixos), Deutsche Hospitality (Steigenberger), Four Seasons, Hilton (

DoubleTree DoubleTree by Hilton is an American hotel chain managed by Hilton Worldwide. DoubleTree has been the fastest growing Hilton brand by number of properties since 2007, and by number of rooms from 2007 to 2015. , it has 587 properties with 135,745 ...

), Marriott (

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, Sheraton), and Rotana, with categories of three to five

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s. In 2007, the first aqua park hotel resort opened in the area. The four-star Aqua Blu Sharm Resort was built on the Ras Om El Seid, with an area of . Sharm is also home to a congress center, located along Peace Road, where international political and economic meetings have been held, including peace conferences, ministerial meetings, world bank meetings, and Arab League meetings. The Maritim Sharm El Sheikh International Congress Centre can host events and congresses for up to 4,700 participants. There is nightlife in Sharm El Sheikh. The colorful handicraft stands of the local Bedouin culture are a popular attraction. Ras Muhammad National Park, at the southernmost tip of the peninsula, has been designated a national park, protecting the area's wildlife, natural landscape, shoreline and

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

. There are a number of international hotels and restaurants in the centre of Sharm, in the area known as Naama Bay, with golf courses and other leisure facilities further up the coast. The Nabq Managed Resource Protected Area is a area of mangroves, coral reefs, fertile dunes, birds and wildlife. As of 2012, nationals from the EU and the US do not require a visa for travel to Sharm El Sheikh if the visit is for fourteen days or less, although those travelling outside the Sinai area may still require a visa, which is purchasable for a small fee on arrival. Visitors are often ushered into a queue to buy a visa after entering the airport upon landing.

Flight incidents

On 23 August 2015, Thomson Airways Flight 476, approaching Sharm El Sheikh at the end of a flight from

London Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's Airports of London, third-bu ...

with 189 passengers aboard, took evasive action to avoid a missile traveling toward it. the missile missed the airliner by about , and the plane landed safely. A UK investigation concluded that the missile was an

Egyptian armed forces The Egyptian Armed Forces () are the military forces of the Egypt, Arab Republic of Egypt. The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces directs (a) Egyptian Army forces, (b) the Egyptian Navy, (c) Egyptian Air Force and (d) Egyptian Air Defense Forces. ...

missile that had strayed from a military exercise, although the Egyptian government said the flight was never at risk. On 31 October 2015, while flying from Sharm El Sheikh to Saint Petersburg, Metrojet Flight 9268 was destroyed by a bomb above the northern Sinai following its departure from Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, killing all 224 people on board, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for this incident. This caused the repatriation of British and Russian tourists from 5 November 2015. Following these events, many countries ordered all flights to Sharm El Sheikh be suspended. These suspensions were gradually lifted as the security situation improved, with the UK government ending its ban on direct flights on 22 October 2019. The process of lifting flight suspensions was completed on 9 August 2021, when the first direct flight from Russia since November 2015 (operated by

Rossiya Airlines Rossiya Airlinesrossiya-airlines.com – About us
retrieved 2016-09-19

) landed at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport.

Transport

Lampposts on El Salaam Street use solar power. Taxis and buses are numbered for safety. Sharm's marina has been redeveloped for private yachts and sailing boats, with a passenger terminal for cruise ships. The city is served by Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, the third largest airport in Egypt. Sharm has frequent coach services to Cairo leaving from the Delta Sharm bus station. File:Sharm airport.JPG, Sharm El Sheikh International Airport File:Ras_Nasrani_Departure_Hall.jpg, Departure Hall

Scuba diving and water sports

Sharm El Sheikh has become a popular location for scuba diving as a result of its underwater scenery and warm waters. Other beach activities include snorkeling, windsurfing, kite-surfing, para-sailing, boating, and canoeing. Ras Muhammad National Park is located at the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula where the waters of the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez meet, producing strong currents and providing a habitat for diverse marine life. Two reefs popular with divers are Shark Reef, a vertical wall descending to over , and Yolanda Reef, the site of the wreck of the Yolanda. The Straits of Tiran are located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba and in a major shipping lane. There are four reefs there, each named after one of the British cartographers who first mapped them: Gordan, Thomas, Woodhouse and Jackson. In summer months, hammerhead sharks swim in schools near the reefs. The Sharm El Sheikh Hyperbaric Medical Center was founded in 1993 by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism with a grant from

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

, to assist with diving-related medical conditions.

Shark attacks

On 1 December 2010, four tourists − three Russians and a Ukrainian − were attacked and injured by an oceanic whitetip shark or sharks in three separate incidents off Sharm El Sheikh. One victim lost a leg, and another an arm. The Egyptian authorities claimed that the shark responsible for the attacks had been captured alive, but the identification was disputed by the diving industry, based on eyewitness and photographic evidence. Four days later, on 5 December, an elderly German woman was attacked and killed by a shark while snorkeling at the resort.

Education

* St. Joseph Schools * L'école française de Sharm el Sheikh EFSSH (FRENCH SCHOOL) * Fayroz Experimental School * Geel October School * Sharm College * Sharm British School * King Salman International University, Sharm El Sheikh campus

Twin towns

Aqaba Aqaba ( , ; , ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative center of the Aqaba Governorate. The city had a population of 148, ...

, ''(since December 2015)'' * Arzachena, *

Hévíz Hévíz () is a spa town in Zala County, Hungary, about from the city of Keszthely. Description of the lake The town is located near Lake Hévíz, the world's second-largest thermal lake, but biologically the biggest active natural lake. ...

, ''(since 2013)'' *

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

, Swakopmunder Lightbeams, Newsletter of the Municipality of Swakopmund: ''SISTER CITIES & TOWNS'', S. 6, July 2008
(PDF; 940 kB) ''(since June 2008)'' *

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

''(since 2009)''

Gallery

File:Naama Bay R01.jpg, Naama Beach File:Surf_on_beach_at_Na'ama_Bay.jpg, Naama Beach File:Coral_reef_in_Ras_Muhammad_nature_park.JPG, Ras Muhammad National Park File:Naama Bay Promenade R03.jpg, Naama Bay Promenade File:Sharm el-Sheikh & Tiran island aerial view.jpg, Aerial view File:Red sea-reef 3206.jpg, Red Sea reef File:Red sea-reef 3990.jpg, Red Sea reef File:Bottle-nosed_Dolphin_by_Hatem_Moushir.JPG, Bottle-nosed dolphins at a local

dolphinarium A dolphinarium is an aquarium for dolphins. The dolphins are usually kept in a pool, though occasionally they may be kept in pens in the open sea, either for research or public performances. Some dolphinariums (sometimes called dolphinaria in plu ...

File:SharmView.jpg, View of the Red Sea from a local resort hotel File:Nabq Protected Area by Hatem Moushir 4.JPG, Nabq Protected Area

References

External links

Sharm El Sheikh - Egyptian Tourism Authority
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharm El Sheikh Populated places in South Sinai Governorate Port cities and towns of the Red Sea Seaside resorts in Egypt Red Sea Riviera Cities in Egypt Tourist attractions in Egypt