We liked Egypt. We didn’t love Egypt. But Dahab, a hippie haven coastal community on the Gulf of Aqaba side of the Sinai Peninsula, was quite a different story. Dahab has notes of Goa, India, Pokhara, Nepal and Aqaba, Jordan all wrapped into one tidy little package, which is undoubtedly why so many, mostly younger, digital nomad Europeans flock here to “winter.”

It’s paradise…good internet, cheap prices, some of the best scuba, snorkeling, and kite surfing you can find in the world, yoga and massage opportunities aplenty, and generally, the most sublime location to live in elephant pants and eat vegan or vegetarian full-time. All this said, we became a bit regretful we had booked our ticket out to Milan and only had three nights. So…we’ll obviously be returning, for at least a month, if not longer….

Getting to Dahab

Many people fly directly into Sharm-el-Sheik to get to Dahab. However, we were coming from Cairo, so our route was a wee more complicated.

Following our “sunset” horseback ride, our hotel staff made us a lovely candlelight dinner in the wannabe Bedouin tent as we awaited our next night bus, which wouldn’t leave until a spritely 1 am from downtown Cairo. Our romantic bedouin tent included meal: chicken, (heart-shaped) pomegranate rice, salad, veggies and bread. The cost was $6/each. 

But this ride would prove to be far more eventful than Luxor to Cairo two nights before, thanks to an abundance of  military checkpoints and having to completely disembark for a bag search at the Suez Canal when we had finally drifted off to sleep. The Sinai Peninsula typically has tighter security due to the canal, but we got extra bonus fun thanks to the United Nationals Global Climate Change Conference, which was happening in Sharm-el-Sheikh from November 6-18. 

Adventure and sleeplessness awaits. What was supposed to be a seven hour ride to Dahab morphed into 12. ($15/ticket.) If you know your religious history, you know that Sinai was the purported route of the Israelite Exodus from Egypt where Moses parted the Red Sea.

But unlike Moses and friends, first we had to get through the heavily guarded Suez Canal…at 4 am. The nuisances started infiltrating our sleep masks and ear plugs with a long series of stop and go’s at least an hour prior, and this time, we had a front row seat. After many turns and pauses, eventually the bus joined many others under a massive covering with scores of military officials toting some very beefy guns. We had no idea what was going on, but there was a sign in Arabic, which we plugged into Google Camera.

It said the preceding. Oops. Obviously took a photo 😅 Shortly after, they had us leave the bus, collect our big bags from underneath, and line up to rifle through our bags. Fortunately we didn’t have any illegal contraband (this time) 🤣. We’ve had this happen many times before, so it wasn’t a big deal….just irritating, especially at 4 am.

We got about three hours of sleep following the Suez before we woke up to  full sunshine and nothing but desert expanses….except you guessed it…more checkpoints! 

Moving into the Mount Sinai region, which is revered by Christianity, Islam and Judaism as the place where God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses. 

Around 10 am, the bus pulled over at the official pit stop for Saint Catherine’s Greek Orthodox Monastery. It is here that Mount Sinai is located and the very place where God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush. We only saw the petrol station, however, which charged an exorbitant amount for a bag of nuts and a cup of coffee ($8 USD). And we can assure you, the Egyptian locals on our bus were not paying this. I guess one of those Ten Commandments did not include “Thou shalt not rip off the foreigners.” 🙄

13 hours later we finally arrived and gratefully fell into our bed in Dahab.

Our Airbnb full apartment was a 30 second walk to the beach and cost $23/night. It was a very good value for a few nights, albeit a bit dark. Our little courtyard was also nice and included a complimentary kitty. 

After a long nap, we headed out the door towards the beach, refreshed and ready for a replenishing meal. The narrow dirt alley leading to the radiant sea immediately reminded us of our life in Goa (India) and it felt happily familiar….

….and the environment surrounding the upper floor of our chosen restaurant called Seaduction was also reminiscent of a different world. Absolutely beachy, considerably chill and superbly delicious Lebanese food. We dove into a pile of hummus, taboulleh (maybe the best ever), and a divine upside down chicken, veggies and rice dish. It was the best food we’d eaten in Egypt. ($18 total with tip.) We highly recommend!!

On the first night, watching the full moon rise, we already knew we’d found a winner in Dahab. 

Two Days is Not Enough!!!

As mentioned, the shimmering, and ironically quite turquoise, Red Sea was a 30-second walk down an alley from our apartment. These waters, wedged between Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the distance, flaunt an extensive coral wonderland which makes unbelievable underwater adventures. There is an abundance of snorkeling and diving right off the beach, but if you jump on a tour or two, apparently it’s some of the best.

From our place, it took about 20 minutes to walk down a pleasant seaside dirt path to the heart of the action.

Most hotels and restaurants offered free lounge chairs. Looking north towards the Blue Hole, the most famous spot for scuba diving.

So many cute hotels and apartments to rent! We talked to a Lithuianan gal who was renting hers for $250 a month. Sign  us up please!

And the restaurant selection is off the hook, especially this one, (according to Mandy.🤣)

Every single one offers seaside dining. 

Need some muscle love? Massages are widely available in Dahab. They’re cheap…but not quite Thailand cheap.

Loads of happy hippie clothes as well!

And what else? Indian food 😋

Also, if you’re feeling extra ambitious, with money to drop, you can take ludicrous day trips to Petra or Jerusalem. Ludicrous because you spend almost the whole time en route and not much at the sites, we’ve read. Not how we want to experience either, but seems nice for cram-it-in travelers. 

Due to the little time we had, we spent most of our time in Dahab just soaking it in.

Scuba divers suiting up. It’s a idyllic and affordable place to get your PADI certification also. 

We met Maher at his store while we were (still) trying to find an Egypt t-shirt for Mandy. He was very excited to hear we were Americans and remind us that our president would be arriving to the global climate summit in two days. He also was excited to try and sell Mandy a man’s T-shirt, of which the smallest size swallowed her whole. Of course, “it was Egyptian cotton so it would shrink.” 🙄Why, oh why is it so hard to find women’s T-shirt’s? 🤣 Ladies…who else has this “problem”?! As we move on, we find more quirky Women’s Tshirt-less shops.

Watching these kite boarders near Eel Garden on the Sea of Aqaba with a backdrop of Saudi Arabia was off the charts! Can’t believe how high they flew! This spot, when calm, is usually ideal for snorkeling and seeing eels, but we didn’t get that chance because the water was far too choppy. We were content with the show instead!

Another delicious Lebanese meal at Mirage…a fetteh bowl (toasted flatbread with layers of yogurt, eggplant and other veggies), taboulleh (again because we’re addicted), hummus, and the Middle Eastern version of a spinach and cheese pizza. ($15 total.) Soooo delicious. 

Another seaside meal: Baba ghanouj and bread, sea bass with a cream sauce and veggies and a veggie burger and fries at the Fish House. ($13).  

For a good half day, we snorkeled off the dock and laid in the sun at Lighthouse Reef.

For off the beach snorkeling, it was sensational…on par with Hawaii and better than the Maldives. We rented a snorkel set for the day for a ridiculous bargain of 30 Egyptian ($1.20). Any of the dive shops offer this service.

The coral was vibrant and we saw parrot fish, clown fish, angel fish, puffer fish, needle fish and lots of we-don’t-know-the-names fish too.  

And the lounge chairs were free for the day if we ordered a drink, which ended up being $3 banana avocado milkshakes. Yum. 

It was way too short of a stay!

Striking street art…definitely not something you see everyday.

Locals having a picnic on the beach.

A different night we decided to hike up to a view point through the neighborhoods of Dahab. Instead of running into typical street dogs or cats, we ran into street camels. Certainly a timely reminder of where we were! 

Heading into the desert. Don’t worry…it was short-lived.

We just wanted to grab a quick view of the sea during the golden hour. We discussed Saudi Arabia’s stone-throw-away position, which had our wheels turning for next visit. After all, we’re able to visit free and clear these days… (well, not actually free because the visa is pricy!) 🤔

East colliding with west walking through the streets at sunset. 

These guys wanna see the sunset too! 

But the sunset was not the most amazing part of the day. Instead it was the ravishing moon creeping up from that exotic, peculiar 

Egypt Wrap-Up

We went to Egypt on a whim thanks to super cheap flights and our schedule lining up perfectly with the best time of year to be there. Doing this country independently is not the easiest of travel, but experienced travelers or those with a true sense of an adventure should have no problem. For us, it was easier than Ethiopia, but harder than Tanzania. 

Would we return? Yes, but probably only to Dahab, for a month or so. We’d also consider a Nile cruise in the very distant future. We would like to see Aswan and would be open to the western desert and experiencing the “real” Egypt, but it won’t be a priority. 

Below is a summary of our stats for the country, as well as our personal upsides and downsides. 

Time Spent: 15 days
Money Spent: $940.35 or $62.69/day
Places Stayed: Hurghada (2 nights), Luxor (6 nights: West Bank), Giza (2 nights), Dahab (3 nights) & 2 overnight bus rides

Upsides
-When you give them a chance, Egyptians have a fabulous sense of humor
-Exquisite snorkeling in the Red Sea
-Unbelievable history and sites (duh)
-Flights from Europe are super cheap, if you choose the right airports (Sharm-el-Sheikh/Hurghada)
-Amazing weather (November!!) 
-Easy to be vegetarian 
-Breakfast often included in accommodations and it’s delicious
-Mandy got called Shakira and “beau-ti-ful” here repeatedly 
-Long distance buses (Go Bus Egypt) are good quality, reliable, and cheap
-Uber in Cairo is very safe, easy, and cheap, despite the chaotic traffic 
-Getting invited into a local’s house for a marvelous sit down dinner 
-The West Bank of Luxor is amazing. Totally opposite of the chaotic and hassle-filled east side
-Easy on the budget, except the sites which added up fast
-English knowledge is widespread

Downsides
-The costs of sightseeing is disorganized and adds up quickly because every site within a site has separate entrance tickets. Still, the prices for sites are reasonable for their value, just make sure you have exact change or prepare to fight to get it back!)
-Security check points are frequent when overlanding
-They seem to have the peskiest flies we’ve EVER encountered. Apparently the Ancient Egyptians had this problem too because they’ve found ancient fly swatters 
-The likelihood of getting scammed is very high. They are quite creative and we ran into tactics we’ve never encountered. They also rip you off on basics like overcharging for groceries.
-The likelihood of getting hassled is also very high. However, we found the scamming much more frustrating and new to us than the hassling. It wasn’t that bad (for us.)
-Unfortunately because of these two things, you’re always on your toes and wary about being scammed. Thus it’s hard to relax and let your guard down here and get to know anyone, which is usually our favorite part of travel.
-The treatment of animals is not good, particularly street dogs. Like in other Islamic countries, cats seem to be treated better
-Despite the “green Egypt” signs strategically placed for the climate conference in Sharm-el-Sheik, we saw very few signs of recycling or environmental efforts
-Internet can be hit or miss