Sunset & Sunrise at Mount Sinai & St. Catherine Monastery From Sharm el Sheikh
Description
Travel throughout the day to Mount Sinai to climb the mountain during the day to see the sunset and sunrise at the top of Moses Mountain. Camp on the mountain to spend the night, while having a nice dinner and watching the stars. Descent after dawn to visit one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world, St. Catherine's Monastery, built around the site of the Burning Bush.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We are picked up from our hotel at 11h30am, drive to the start of the hike and start the hike at 2 pm. Where we enjoy the magical sights and sounds of the mountainous surrounding area, the area steeped in history and mentioned in numerous religious texts. As we came up on the mountain in a Bedouin tent, with blankets to keep us warm. Enjoy an amazing early sunset over the monastery. We can enjoy looking at the stars as the sunsets. Enjoy the night stars together, and have some dinner, and settle in for the night. Wake up early to enjoy the beautiful sunrise, Enjoy a breakfast on the mountain with an opportunity to share gifts for those who wish to do so.
Then we begin our way back down and visit the Moses Mount and Monastery of Saint Catherine which is considered one of the most famous monasteries in the world and also it’s one of the oldest monasteries of Christianity. It’s located in heart of the Sinai Peninsula at a height of 1570 meters in the place where according to tradition Moses saw the bush on fire which didn’t burn up. The Monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monastery dates back to the age of the emperor Justinian 6th century. It was the same time of building enclosure wall surrounding the monastery right now but the monastery was named Saint Catherine at the beginning of the 11th century in honor of Saint Catherine, one of the earliest Alexandria Christians martyrs. It contains several monuments like the burning bush seen by Moses and the remarkable Icons Gallery. Then return back to your hotel.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We will pick up from all Sharm el Shiekh hotels
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(1)
Possibly one of the hardest and most rewarding things we did on our 2 week vacation in Egypt. The very fact we stayed overnight to see the sunset and sunrise on top of the mountain of such historical religious importance with the local Bedouins was an outstanding life experience. Our Bedouin guide Gemal was local to the area, extraordinarily fit and a total Gentleman....he personally cooked our delicious kebab salad & lentil soup dinner and trad breakfast of soft cheese boiled eggs and local breads.......huge respect! However be warned........the walk up & down the mountain is hard! We had got ourselves used to how walking the 4 k path then up 750 steps might be in the gym and locally in our mountainous Wales. But as fit as we were nothing can prepare you for the heat and subsequent difficulty of the uphill @10% average climb of the 4k path then up the 750 stone steps to the Mount. We took camels at 2.5k up to the end station before the steps as it was so hard! Down is better but still, be prepared for the heat, 35/37 degrees! The Monastery is beautiful, the icons in the museum are a must see, and it is a wonderful all round experience. The one real draw back for us was the company we booked through were literally impossible to get hold of through tripadvisor, to the point we thought we might have been scammed by them! Sadly it was only after our finding them online did we manage to get some travel information from them: such as what we should take for an overnight stay, the temp on the Mt overnight, or where exactly they were collecting us etc etc, and even then it was 2/3 word rather grumpy answers or just cut and pasting what was already listed in the tripadvisor app!. We were not sent any information prior to the trip independently of our asking at all. Our experience has been that all the other trip companies we have used through trip advisor both in Egypt and other countries, have always sent loads of stuff prior to the trip via WhatsApp and email!l Very very disappointing customer service I am afraid. We did most of that research ourselves prior to the trip, so they really should sort this out! But the trip was so brilliant, our guide Gemal was a local hero for us and the whole experience of being in the mountains of thenSinai desert was worth every penny!
