Where to stay in Sharm el-Sheikh: the 4 neighborhoods to know in 2026
Sharm el-Sheikh does not gather around any old square. It is a string of bays stretching over more than forty kilometres as the crow flies, from Ras Mohammed park in the south to the Nabq reserve in the north. Each hotel lives as a closed estate, with its own beach and pools. When you book, you are therefore choosing a bay, and the ride that separates it from the evenings of Naama Bay.
Our member Andre did not find Egypt here, and rightly so: people come for the sea. A room can be had for under $45* a night, while the Four Seasons in Sharks Bay goes beyond $340*. Here are four bays, from the centre northwards then southwards, with two addresses in each.
I didn't really feel like I was discovering Egypt while staying in Sharm El Sheikh. I think that without the tourism industry, there would basically be no life there at all.
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At a glance: our picks by traveller type
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The neighborhood map in Sharm el-Sheikh
Get your bearings on the neighborhoods and must-see sights before choosing where to drop your bags. Click a name to jump to its description.
Naama Bay, the bay of evenings The central bay and its pedestrian promenade, halfway between the airport to the north and the old market to the south
for a first stay, for going out at night without a taxi, for diving with a club
It is the only place in Sharm where people stroll on foot after dinner. The Naama Bay promenade follows the beach along the whole length of the bay, lined with restaurants, bars and shops, and the hotels open straight onto it. The dive clubs keep their offices here, and the day boats leave for the offshore reefs. The trade-off: the music rises as the night goes on, and the sellers insist at every terrace.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Naama Bay Promenade Beach Resort Managed By Accor Mid-range
The bay's former Marriott, now managed by Accor. What you pay for here is the address: 8.7 for location, in the heart of the promenade, for an overall score of 7.8, with more than sixteen hundred guests behind that figure. Its guests describe dated rooms and a standard below the five stars it displays.
Camel Dive Club & Hotel Mid-range
A dive club that houses its divers, in the middle of Naama Bay. Its location is rated 9.6 across more than two hundred reviews, and its guests talk first about the dive centre and its instructors. It is the address for someone who comes to go underwater every morning, not for a pool with slides.
Pros
- Restaurants, bars and shops on foot from the hotel
- In the middle of the coast, so shorter taxi rides to the other bays
Cons
- The music from the bars carries late near the promenade
- Sellers who insist at every terrace
Sharks Bay and SOHO Square From Shark's Bay beach to SOHO Square, between Naama Bay and the airport, with the golf course and, offshore, the reefs of the Strait of Tiran
for calm, for a large hotel, for staying close to the airport
Nine kilometres north of Naama Bay, the coast changes pace. The estates are larger, the beaches quieter, and the evening gathers on SOHO Square, a pedestrian complex of restaurants and shops right next to the Savoy. Offshore, the reefs of the Strait of Tiran, including Jackson Reef, are among the most requested boat trips in Sharm. You sleep more peacefully here, and go out less far.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh Luxury
9.2 across more than eleven hundred reviews, the highest score among the eight addresses on this page. Its guests describe several beaches, a reef in front of the hotel, diving and snorkelling centres, and very well-kept gardens. A night costs more than $340*, and it is its own reviews that find this rate very high for Egypt.
Savoy Sharm El Sheikh Luxury
SOHO Square is at its door, and that is the reason to pick it: restaurants and nights out without a taxi, then grounds large enough that the noise of the square does not reach the rooms, its guests say. Its score holds at 8.7, carried by nearly two thousand guests, and its private beach stays quiet.
Pros
- No one does better across these four neighborhoods: 9.2 at the Four Seasons
- SOHO Square for dinner, without getting back on the road
Cons
- Naama Bay is a taxi ride away, nine kilometres further south
- Both addresses in this bay are luxury resorts, and their prices follow
Nabq Bay, north of the airport Nabq Bay and Rehana beach, past the airport, up to the mangroves of the Nabq nature reserve
for families, for all-inclusive, for never leaving the hotel
Past the airport, the streets stop and the large resorts take over: pools, water slides, buffets and long beaches. Nabq Bay suits anyone who does not plan to leave their hotel, and with children that is often the right call. Further north, the Nabq reserve keeps mangroves and a desert without buildings. The downside is distance: Naama Bay is more than fifteen kilometres away, and every evening out goes through a shuttle or a taxi.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Rixos Premium Seagate Luxury
A high-end all-inclusive, rated 9.0 by more than thirteen hundred guests, with a water park, several pools and a series of à la carte restaurants. Its guests recommend it to families, and warn that these restaurants are so popular that a table is hard to book.
JAZ Mirabel Resort Mid-range
A very large planted estate, six pools, a water park, and regular shuttles to Naama Bay, which settles the evening question. With 8.6 and more than a thousand reviews, it owes its reputation first to its staff, rated 9.0.
Pros
- Water parks and pools for children
- The airport a few minutes away by road
Cons
- Naama Bay more than fifteen kilometres away
- Outside the resort, almost nothing can be done on foot
Hadaba and old Sharm The Hadaba plateau and the Ras Um Sid reef, the old market and the port, on the road to Ras Mohammed National Park
for Ras Mohammed, for the old market, for a tight budget
South of Naama Bay, this is the part of Sharm that looks most like a town. The old market has its grocery shops, its cafés and its great mosque, and the hotels of the Hadaba plateau slope down towards the Ras Um Sid reef. Ras Mohammed park is only about fifteen kilometres further south as the crow flies. The downside lies in the cliff beaches, which are narrow, and where sunbeds are won early in the morning.
While the land side is very arid and pretty monochrome (ochre color and dust), the seabed is magnificent, with coral, fish of all different sizes and colors, rays, and sometimes small sharks.
What to see & do in the neighborhood
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Safir Sharm Waterfalls Resort Mid-range
The former Hilton Waterfalls, clinging to the Ras Um Sid cliff, rated 9.0, an average drawn from more than fifteen hundred stays. Its beach mixes a little sand for children with the reef for snorkelling, and its guests warn that it lacks space: people queue before opening time for a sunbed.
El Khan Sharm Hotel Budget
A three-star hotel a short walk from the old market and a shopping centre, rated 7.7 across nearly five hundred reviews. Its guests praise the welcome and the value for money, mention a private beach included in the stay, and fault rooms that need refreshing.
Pros
- The shortest departure towards Ras Mohammed
- The old market and its cafés, a real neighborhood life
Cons
- Narrow cliff beaches, where you have to get up early for a sunbed
- Naama Bay is reached by taxi
Our tips for booking the right place
- Agree the taxi fare before getting in: Taxis in Sharm are negotiated: state the price before getting in, and stick to it on arrival. This is where the choice of bay costs you, in evening rides to Naama Bay from Nabq or Hadaba. Many large hotels run their own shuttle: ask before booking.
- Tiran, an island where nobody lands: Trips to the reefs of the Strait of Tiran, including Jackson Reef, are among the most requested on the coast. The island itself has been Saudi since 2017: the boats moor over the reefs, and nobody sets foot ashore.
- Ras Mohammed is seen from a boat: The park covers the southern tip of Sinai. On land, our members remembered only an ochre desert; at sea, it was the best moment of Andre's stay. So choose a boat trip with several snorkelling stops rather than a drive through the desert.
- Winter is not a lost season: Andre snorkelled at Ras Mohammed in December, with a thin wetsuit, and did not feel cold. Year-end holidays therefore remain sea holidays, not a week spent watching the water from a sunbed.
- Booking in Nabq Bay to go out every evening: Naama Bay is more than fifteen kilometres away, and every evening starts with a journey.
- Coming for ancient Egypt: no pyramids and no major museum nearby, and Cairo and Luxor are far away.
- Getting into a taxi without having agreed the fare.
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