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Sunrise at Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine Monastery
4.4
67 Ratings
Saint Catherine
Experience the breathtaking sunrise at Mount Sinai and visit the historic St. Catherine Monastery from Sharm el Sheikh. Discover the biblical history of the sacred mountain and enjoy the stunning views. Don’t miss this unique adventure!
Experience the breathtaking sunrise at Mount Sinai and visit the historic St. Catherine Monastery from Sharm el Sheikh. Discover the biblical history of the sacred mountain and enjoy the stunning views. Don’t miss this unique adventure!
Duration:
18 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Mount Sinai - Ascending the mountain in the darkness with a guide, witnessing the dawn from the summit. Camel rental is available.
- St. Catherine’s Monastery - Following the sunrise experience at the peak, the tour proceeds to St. Catherine’s Monastery situated at the base of the mountain.
- Mount Sinai - Ascending the mountain in the darkness with a guide, witnessing the dawn from the summit. Camel rental is available.
- St. Catherine’s Monastery - Following the sunrise experience at the peak, the tour proceeds to St. Catherine’s Monastery situated at the base of the mountain.
What's Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Entrance fees included
- Comfortable travel with in-vehicle air conditioning
- Expert Bedouin guide for mountain climbing
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Entrance fees included
- Comfortable travel with in-vehicle air conditioning
- Expert Bedouin guide for mountain climbing
What's Not Included
- Food&Drink
- Camel ride
- Food&Drink
- Camel ride
Additional Information
It’s a unique experience to follow the biblical history of the sacred mountain, where it’s believed Moses received the Ten Commandments. Climbing to the summit (2285mt) to watch a spectacular sunrise is worth the tough efforts you do. ⠀ After you meet sunrise at the mount top, the group goes to the monastery of St. Catherine, located at the foot of the…
It’s a unique experience to follow the biblical history of the sacred mountain, where it’s believed Moses received the Ten Commandments. Climbing to the summit (2285mt) to watch a spectacular sunrise is worth the tough efforts you do. ⠀ After you meet sunrise at the mount top, the group goes to the monastery of St. Catherine, located at the foot of the mountain.
The trip starts around 19:30-21:00 from your hotel. Ends around 14:00.
Our tips:
- be ready for a cold weather on the top and take with you heavy clothes (gloves, hat, jacket);
- you can take hot drinks with you in thermo cup and some snacks. The prices on the mountain are “touristic”;
- there is option to rent a camel, but the last part of the route - 750 steps to the top you have to walk.
Attention: the microbus has no luggage space, so you can’t take it for the trip. Pick up from the airport, Royssat bus station, Dahab is with extra charge.
Location
Mount Sinai
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.4
(67 Ratings)
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Dylann_n
Sep 7, 2025
Highly recommend. This... - Highly recommend. This was an amazing tour. Once in a life time experience. I would definitely recommend.
Review provided by Viator
659clairr
Jan 22, 2025
The BEST trip you will do in Sharm - The best trip ever. So worth it. It's a long 16 hrs but so so worth going. The guide was amazing. You feel so proud of achieving getting to the top. Pick up was on time. We had a few stops on the way and got to the base at about 01.45 a steady walk up, stopping at little cafes run by locals on the way up. The option for a camel can be taken at any time. It gets so cold so wrap up but you can rent a blanket for the top. The view was amazing. I'm not religious so my trip was just for the sunrise. I highly recommend doing this. This trip has made an otherwise terrible holiday a great memory. On the way down you do encounter local kids begging, or just demanding you give them food or your clothing. So I would say take warm clothes you are happy to give away because it gets hot walking down and you get less to carry. Absolutely bloody brilliant. You will never see a sunrise like it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Zainab_h
Jan 19, 2025
Definitely recommend, the... - Definitely recommend, the tour company was very communicative and responsive ahead of time, letting us know what we needed to pack and bring with us. The hike itself was tough, but there were plenty of breaks provided which really helped. It can get cold at the top so definitely take warmer clothing and coats. It’s a long trip overall so be prepared, but the views are absolutely worth it.
Review provided by Viator
Bobo_s
Aug 11, 2024
Breathtaking stars and sunrise in the mountains - This trip was a great experience. It is a long drive in the night from Sharm El Sheikh but with plenty of stops along the way. There are many tour busses leaving together at the same time and we travelled in a convoy with police armed with AK47s for safety. The hike is long and pretty steep in the night. We were given flashlights, but the experience was better without as you can see all the stars in the black sky. There are a lot of tourists but I liked watching the trail of lights snaking up the mountain in the night. It was really cool watching the sunset reveal the hidden landscape full of mountains. St. Catherines Monastery was quite nice to walk around. The only thing that detracted from the experience were the relentlessly annoying people everywhere asking for money, trying to get people to rent camels or buy ponchos/blankets.
Review provided by Viator
437suziem
Jun 6, 2024
Mount Sinai and st Catherine’s monastery - St Catherine’s monastery was amazing. Both the setting and the historical importance. Seeing the ancient manuscripts was a huge highlight. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, good driving and everything was on time and well communicated. Our kids were 11 and 9 so in between the young kids and teens section. They were the youngest there by far but they managed fine (mum and dad more struggled) staying up all night and heat on way back down the mountain are all things you need to take into account to weigh up if this is for you, but it’s worth it. The only thing that could really be improved on is our Bedouin guide (who is separate from sun tours I believe) rushed us really fast at the start of the walk for no reason as we had plenty of time and kept overtaking the other groups. This stopped us being able to enjoy the walk at an easy pace and also made us feel that he was trying to get us to take the camels / buy drinks as getting hot and then get sweaty and then cold from the sweat to hire the rugs at the top. Once the camel rides were over (which is the east part of the walk anyway) he slowed right down and could tell he was as exhausted as us! We were at the top well before sunrise just a shame we could not enjoy the walk more.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Vinoj_l
Jun 2, 2024
Absolutely Blessed - Blessed Trip, we started from the hotel the guide picked up, and we reached the monastery by 1 AM, started hiking toward the summit and reached by 5 AM, had a blessed time in the summit, my eyes saw the place where mosus received the word of God means the 10 Commandments. Joyfully came down and visited the burning bush.
Review provided by Viator
Ian
Dec 22, 2024
An epic adventure - The level of difficulty is under played in this 16 hour adventure of an excursion. It is excellent yet the hike up the mountain is not for the faint hearted or unfit. The sunrise is spectacular, the hike guide good and sensible. The drive to and from the hike is about 3 hours with stops. Our driver drove at 140kmph and frequently took and made calls, as well as texted whilst driving. Facilities are limited, for those that may need, take a roll of paper.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Thomas_e
Sep 30, 2025
Great location, poor tour company. - 3 star entirely due to staff
Location is 5 star. Amazing experience. Beautiful.
Hike is challenging, but camel would be good alternative and reasonable - 10USD for entire 3 hour time.
Views are amazing.
Too is cold, get the blanket (200EGP)!
Our tour provider didnt follow their own instructions on pick up. Wasted 15 min and caused everything after to be rushed.
Vehicle did not inspire confidence.
Do not take a tour without motor coach. We had airporter, uncomfortable, no power, no facility.
Staff almost lost one of our group.
Staff discouraged shopping in monastery and pushed a commercial stop in morning that was far more expensive.
I would do trip again, but avoid this tour company.
Review provided by Viator
Iftikhar_a
Jan 23, 2025
Trip which could be better organised - The communication about the programme was poor. The guide became rude when we informed that we did not fave torch and fad not organised breakfast. He charged £20 in local restaurant for breakfast which consisted of a few pieces of tomato, cucumber a stale bread with cheese and cup of coffee. The trip through saint Kathrine monastery was quick finishing in less than 10 minutes and when I insisted on going through the museum I was charged $5 and then 5 minutes through the museum as he was worried to miss the convey and asked us to spend $2 on taxi to reach the coach. Then we left without convey.
Earlier the trip to mount senai was extremely disappointing with no facilities and I wil suggest Viator to visit public toilets as I saw distressed people.
The whole trip was enjoyable as it was on my buck list but it left me with the impression that we were to be fleeced on every step. The guide who accompanied us to the mountain Senaie was excellent and gentle soul. I strongly recommend Musa.
This trip us not got faint hearted.
Review provided by Viator
Theresa
Sep 12, 2025
Nice sunrise - miserable bus tour - Bad rating because the bus ride was miserable.
We were picked up first, but then had to spend 2 hours (!) picking up the other passengers. From here it took 3.5 hours to drive to the mountain (including 15-20 minutes).
We drove in a small minibus from the 80s with a cooling system (but the nozzles from which the air came did not always work...). There was room for 22 in the bus and it was full. In addition, the seat was narrow. I am 1.75 m tall and my knees were squeezed up from the front seat. Honestly, it seemed that it had been attempted to maximize earnings at the expense of passengers.
The trip up the mountain takes place in two parts: First an unmarked grass path (3/4 of the road) and then a hard, steep “stairs” chopped into the mountain (1/4 of the road). It is dark and sometimes smooth - so be careful. Security is non-existent! Bring a headlamp!
There are small shops on the way up, where you can buy drinks and chocolate bars (e.g. twix etc.).
The sunrise is really beautiful.
The monastery is fine enough, but nothing special. Our guide was most busy getting us through so we could drive home again.
Without the bus trip out and home I would give the experience 4/5 stars - for the trip up the mountain is hard!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
