Mount Sinai & St.Catherine Monastery

In the monastery we could see the burning bush before which Moses met God.

In 15 years of travelling thru out many Asian and Middle Eastern countries, this is the first tour where we feared for our lives during a tour. The driver (it was a. 280 km drive to Mt Sinai from our hotel in Sharm El Sheikh) ignored any posted speed limit, driving at times close to 150 km/hour (95 miles per hr) on a 2 way curved road. At one point tailgating a van, trying to pass 2 other tourist vans and a truck with a visible car incoming on the other side. TOTALLY wreckless!!! We had already noticed that the driver was driving way over the speed limit during the overnight drive to Mt Sinai the night before, but never made any remarks as there was little traffic at the time. we just felt bounced left and right during the drive. I have 2 advices : - Use another company to book your Mt Sinai tour; there a many good companies out there with much more responsible drivers. - to the tour company, Memphis Tours, install a speed limiter in your drivers cars/vans to prevent excessive speeding and putting tourists in danger. Driving 140-150 km/hour on a 2 way road is just wreckless.

We had a great hike ab to mousas mountain it was 7 km all the way ab Or guide Mohammed he was good Bedouin guide and he was all the with us Very beautiful landscape from the the top If you visit the place for you

Sallam is a seasoned professional who us clearly well known and respected by the Bedouin at the Mountain. He has an incredible knowledge of the area and is fluent in English and German. He arranged a guide for us, who was very experienced and thoughtful. A small group is better, if you can afford it because if there is a problem with someone then the impact is limited to your group. It’s not an easy walk and you need a certain degree of resilience more than fitness. There are plenty of opportunities to eat on the route and support the tribesmen economically. Take plenty if cash for tipping.

It was a wonderful and eventful experience! Top organized, German speaking guide! Always happy to recommend

We booked a hike with sunrise on the mountain and visit of the monastery. The tour was with pick up from the hotel in Dahab, guided tour up the mountain and back and entrance to the monastery. The organizer was "Dahab Safari Day Tours". We were picked up from the hotel in the evening with a bus around 10pm. The journey took quite a long time. We first approached several other hotels to pick up guests. Arriving at the mountain we were assigned to a mountain guide. First you have to queue at some kind of checkpoint and the passports are checked. Then we were driven up the mountain at an insane pace. On the way are always small shops where you could rest. But you can only rest where the respective mountain guide wants it. Probably at the stores of his family/friends. Again and again you are also offered to ride the first piece on a camel (50 dollars). On the last section, which is steepest and consists of 750 steps, young people offer their help to hikers who have come out of the puff. They mutter something out of 15 if they're allowed to carry the bag. It is assumed that there are 15 Egyptian pounds. Once on top, they want dollars! When you are up, it is still a good 2 hours before sunrise and it is dark and freezing. One wonders why one was actually so driven on the way. The descent is then a little easier. Once downstairs, I wanted to visit the monastery and go to the toilet first. There was no water there. Neither for flushing the toilet, nor for washing hands. For this I bought overpriced drinking water from the shop. There was supposedly no more time to visit the monastery. You could only briefly for 5min in the courtyard. But then you were allowed to wait another half an hour at the bus until the departure. Conclusion: The mountains and the sunrise were beautiful. I would do it again. But then maybe with a private mountain guide at my pace. The tourist nap through the resident Bedouins is really bad. something should be done about it.

Unreal experience! The tour is amazing, although is very tiring and demanding. But if you do at your own pace you will reach the summit eventually. There are some tea houses on the way up so its possible to rest as well. The tour guide Amr was very polite and share with us his knowledge about history and took a good care of us. Highly recommended that you book with them!

+1

This activity is strenuous, but very worthwhile. For part of the climb to Mount Sinai I needed a camel. The views from above the mountain at sunrise are wonderful. The monastery of Santa Catalina is very nice. I could see there the burning bush of the theophany to Moses. The staff was very attentive.

This was a ‘private tour’. Meaning it was just us with the guide and driver in a van coming and going and at the monastery. They also set us up with a Bedouin guide that was just us and the guide up the mountain. I had read another review where someone said ‘Ride the camel’. So glad we did. $25 each. A little over 2 miles of uphill rocky switchbacks to start the climb. And of course it is super dark. Had people trying to hire camels part way up after they decided they wouldn’t be able to walk it very well. The 750 ‘stairs’ to the top are stairs in the sense that it is stones and boulders fashioned into stairs. Not consistent in size or steepness. A cold front was coming through the night we went. VERY windy, which made it that much colder. I really wished I had some long socks that would cover my ankles, which is the one thing they didn’t sell anywhere along the way. Saw several other people that wished the same. Other than that it wasn’t unbearably cold until you got to the very top, which wouldn’t have been terrible had it not been for the wind. They rent you blankets at the last coffee shop before the top. Very much worth the few dollars. The coffee and hot chocolate were also very good. The sunrise and the view are phenomenal. You can understand why this was the place God gave Moses the 10 Commandments. With all the cold, lack of sleep and sore legs, it was very much worth the trip. Definitely a bucket list item.

+4

The trip was absolutely fantastic! The guides, Hanafy and Eid, were amazing. I did a great hike and the views were exceptional. It wasn’t a hard climb - did it in less than 2.5 hours - but it was a very long day/night so you’ll need the next day to recover. Highly recommend this. It was my highlight of Egypt!