You just landed at Sharm El-Sheikh Airport or are about to? Congratulations. You are in for a treat. Well, not in the airport, but on the Sinai Peninsula. So let’s find out how to get you out of Sharm El-Sheikh Airport and into your Sinai adventure.
In this article we cover all options ton get from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab from the cheapest method to the overall best solution. Also we will be taking a second to think about the best places to stay in Dahab and the best things to do already. This is your Sharm El-Sheikh Dahab transfer guide.
Key Takeaways
- Dahab is a charming, affordable alternative to Sharm El-Sheikh with a relaxed atmosphere and local vibe.
- The closest airport to Dahab is Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport; Dahab itself has no airport.
- You can get from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab by bus (cheapest), taxi (fastest), or private transfer (best balance of cost and convenience).
- Dahab offers great diving, beach cafés, desert tours, and easy access to Mount Sinai, making it a great base for exploring the Sinai Peninsula.
- Key Takeaways
- Why Go to Dahab instead of Sharm El-Sheikh?
- How to Get from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab
- Where to Stay in Dahab
- What to Do in and around Dahab
- The Bottom Line
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Go to Dahab instead of Sharm El-Sheikh?
Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty details of your transfer from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab, let’s ask the obvious question. Why not stay in Sharm El-Sheikh instead of Dahab? A
fter staying in both places several times, these a three strong arguments for choosing Dahab over Sharm El-Sheikh:
- Dahab is cheaper: From a simple taxi ride into town to diving trips of desert safaris, prices in Sharm El-Sheikh are catered towards foreign resort tourists. Most riders and providers are focused more so on extracting as much money as possible from their clients than creating a memorable experience. In fact, Sharm El-Sheikh is one of the prime reasons people say “Egypt is only worth it, if you stay in your resort”, which is NOT true.
- Dahab is nicer: Owing to its booming resort tourism, Sharm El-Sheikh is pretty much dead outside of the many hotel compounds and beaches. While the is a beautiful mosque, the famous Farsha Café, the shopping strip and some nightlife, one cannot help but notice, just how artificial the city of Sharm El-Sheikh is. Dahab, on the contrary, has developed out of a small Bedouin town in a vibrant mix of Bedouins, Egyptians and foreigners who often stay several weeks or months.
- Dahab is more accessible: The beach town of Dahab is yet to be exploited by major hotel chains privatising beaches and killing local businesses. Instead, you will find an open boardwalk with countless beach cafés, a variety of restaurants that cater to all preferences and an active local community that eagerly connects through Facebook groups. Even the daily activities are more accessible with tons of shore diving spots and hikes close to town.
In our personal experience, Dahab is not only better than Sharm El-Sheikh, but also better than Hurghada. Find out why, in our extensive comparison between Dahab and Hurghada.
How to Get from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the small town of Dahab does not have an airport of its own. Instead, the Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport is the closest you can get to Dahab by airplane. So how does one get from the airport to the Sinai’s hidden gem, Dahab?
These are your best transportation methods from tourist buses to private transfer services:
By Bus – The Cheapest Option
If you are travelling on a budget, taking a bus from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab is your best shot. While there are no direct bus connections from Sharm El-Sheikh Airport, there are two bus stations in Sharm El-Sheikh itself with direct connections to Dahab: Sharm El-Sheikh GoBus Station and Royssat Station.
To get to one of the two bus stations, we recommend soliciting a ride from the ride sharing app InDrive. Booking a ride through the app is a lot more transparent and hassle-free than negotiating with the taxi drivers waiting at the arrivals terminal of Sharm El-Sheikh Airport. When booking your ride to one of Sharm’s bus stations, you can expect to pay between 250 EGP and 300 EGP.
At the bus station, you can head to the GoBus Office to book your bus ticket. Alternatively, you can also book your GoBus ticket online via the website, which is actually quite usable. Depending on the class you are travelling on, the bus ride to Dahab will cost you another 250 EGP to 300 EGP.
The bus connection to Dahab is direct and takes about one hour to Dahab’s GoBus station. Overall, getting to Dahab by bus will take about two to three hours and cost between 500 EGP and 600 EGP per person.
By Taxi – The Fastest Option
If you don’t feel like travelling into Sharm El-Sheikh first, you can also hire a taxi directly from Sharm El-Sheikh Airport. To get a taxi from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab, you can either hire a driver waiting at the arrivals terminal or look for one on the InDrive app.
When hiring a taxi right in front of the airport, you have the advantage that you can get going straight away. However, you will also have to negotiate with the driver on the spot. As these drivers are used to taking resort tourists to their hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh, there drivers will not only expect you to pay in foreign currency, but also driver a very hard bargain.
If you don’t mind overpaying on your ride, a taxi is certainly an option. But if you prefer a more hassle-free option, we recommend getting one through the InDrive app instead of hiring a taxi on the spot. When booking through the InDrive app, you have the advantage of getting various offers allowing you to get an idea of the real price for the ride.
Also, you can start looking for a ride the day before, ensuring that you will have a rider waiting for you when you arrive. We recommend exchanging numbers with the driver and reaching a clear agreement on the price before accepting your ride. A fair price for a taxi ride between Sharm El-Sheikh Airport and Dahab would be between 1,200 EGP and 1,400 EGP with the ride taking about an hour.
By Private Transfer – The Overall Best Option
Our personal preference for getting to Dahab from Sharm El-Sheikh is booking a private transfer in advance. While this might seem expensive at first, a private transfer to Dahab is only slightly more expensive than a bus ride and significantly shorter.
To book your private transfer to Dahab, join some of Dahab’s Facebook groups a few days before your ride and look for posts advertising Dahab transfer services. These transfer services offer transfers from Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab several times a week – either as a group or privately. If you get a spot on a group transfer, you can get your transfer for as little as 800 EGP to 900 EGP.
If there is no group transfer scheduled for the day of your arrival, you can book a private transfer instead. A private transfer is significantly more expensive coming in at approximately 2,500 EGP to 3,000 EGP. This price, however, is applied per vehicle, not per passenger.
This gives you the chance to share the full fare with your travel buddies and other travellers arriving to Sharm El-Sheikh Airport on the same day. Especially during high season, there is a good chance, you will find other passengers by positing your transfer on some of Dahab’s Facebook groups a few days before. A private transfer from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab takes about an hour and a half depending on the number of stops.
Where to Stay in Dahab
Do you have your Dahab accommodation booked already?
If not, these are the best places to stay in Dahab according to your travel style from cheap hostels to boutique hotels and private apartments and houses:
- Hostels in Dahab: Many travelers heading to Dahab opt for staying in a hostel for three reasons: they are cheap, social and have great tour offers. Hostels in Dahab such as Rafiki Hotels can be as cheap as 13€ ($15) per night, all while offering free breakfasts and day trips at competitive rates. Staying in a hostel is also a great option, if you are looking to connect with other backpackers to go out or plan other activities outside the hostel.
- Boutique Hotels in Dahab: For a more relaxed atmosphere close to the beach, you can opt to stay at one of Dahab’s boutique hotels. While Dahab lacks the imposing sight of large hotel chains on the beach, there is a fair few boutique hotels that offers a luxurious experience only a few meters from the beach. One of those is NEOM hotel featuring high-quality rooms, a hotel pool and breakfast restaurant, a co-working area and a beach café starting from 104€ ($120) per night.
- Private Apartments: The last option, renting one of Dahab’s holiday apartments or houses, is the best option for slow travelers and digital nomads planning to stay in Dahab for more than just a few days. There is a vivid rental market in Dahab, with apartments of all sizes and qualities being offered. For the best renting experience, we highly recommend seeing your apartment first before making any agreement. Also, we urge you to avoid paying excessive rents and to rent from locals only to support Dahab’s local economy.
What to Do in and around Dahab
Is this your first time travelling to Dahab? If so, let us give you a little taste of what is possible in and around Dahab. Although Dahab is a comparatively small town on the Sinai Peninsula, the amount of things to do in and around it is seemingly infinite.
These are just three of hundreds of activities you cannot miss when you visiting Dahab:
Scuba Diving in the Red Sea
More than anything, Dahab is known all around the world for its great diving spots. From Ras Mohammed National Park on the Southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula all the way to the infamous Blue Hole, there is dozens of diving spots in and around Dahab, you shouldn’t miss out on. Even if you have never scuba dived before, we highly recommend giving it a shot in Dahab. In fact, this is what I did.
Dahab is absolutely teeming with dive shops renting basic diving equipment and dive schools offering introduction dives and extensive PADI diving classes, such and the PADI Open Water certification. Rates for diving classes in Dahab are significantly cheaper than in other places, while still exposing you to some of the best marine life and coral reefs of the world. So, whether you are a first-time diver or an experienced diving veteran, scuba diving in the Red Sea is a must for you.
Taking a Jeep Tour to the Colored Canyon
What makes Dahab truly special, is its mix of sea and mountain activities just a stone’s throw from each other. After a morning dive at Lighthouse, you can easily join a desert safari in the afternoon to explore some of the Sinai desert’s hidden gems and end the day with some banging Egyptian food. What more can you wish for?
For any first-time visitor to Dahab, taking a jeep too to the Colored Canyon and Wadi Wishwash is an absolute must. To the outsider’s eye, the Sinai Peninsula might be a barren desert, but with the right guide you will come to discover unique rock formations and hidden oases in this very desert, all while learning more about the Sinai’s history and Bedouin culture that has shaped it for centuries. Other destinations in the desert worth mentioning are Wadi Gnai, Wadi Arada, Double Canyon, Bier Safra, Dragon Mountain and many more.
Summiting Mount Sinai
Your trip to Dahab isn’t complete without a summit hike of Mount Sinai – at night, of course. Mount Sinai is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula that is said to be the site where Moses receives the Ten Commandments from God. Unsurprisingly, this makes Mount Sinai a major pilgrimage destination and a great low-difficulty hike. While the summit of Mount Sinai takes several hours, the path is well maintained and there is many snack stops along the way.
For your summit of Mount Sinai, you can compare tour offers in Dahab. You will notice that most hikes begin in the late evening stretching well into the night. This is to catch the sunrise at the summit of Mount Sinai which is truly remarkable.
But beware: Some tour providers leave to early, which means you will end up waiting for the sunrise at the top, renting blankets and buying overpriced instant coffee to keep warm. For reference, your tour should start in Dahab no earlier than 11 p.m., factoring in a 1.5 hour ride to St. Catherine’s and a 3-4 hour hike to the summit point.
Looking for even more activities in and around Dahab? Keep discovering in our extensive guide with everything you need to know when visiting Dahab for the first time.
The Bottom Line
From its beach cafes to its world-class diving spots such as the Blue Hole, Dahab is always worth a visit. Luckily for you, the Sinai’s hidden gem is also easily accessible from Sharm El-Sheikh. For a cheap transfer, take a GoBus from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab. For a fast transfer, get a private taxi from the airport. And for the overall best transfer method, book a seat on a group or private transfer to Dahab. That being said, we wish you a safe journey and an unforgettable time in Dahab.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get from Sharm el Sheikh to Dahab?
To get from Sharm El-Sheikh to Dahab, you can either take a tourist bus, a private taxi or a group or private transfer from the airport. In our opinion, the latter is the best choice combining savings and convenience.
What is the difference between Sharm el Sheikh and Dahab?
While Sharm El-Sheikh is a classic tourist hotspot full of resorts, group tours and an aftertaste of soullessness, Dahab enchants its crowd of outdoor enthusiasts, backpackers and digital nomads with its bohemian vibes, outdoor activities and overall accessibility.
What is special about Dahab Egypt?
Dahab is considered by many travelers as the hidden gem of the Sinai, if not Egypt. The dusty Bedouin town in the desert earned this title with its amazing conditions for snorkeling, shore diving and windsurfing as well as its vibrant, alternative community of Bedouin, Egyptians and free-thinking expats.
Why did tourists stop going to Sharm el Sheikh?
While Sharm El-Sheikh did suffer a stretch of restricted flights from the UK and Russia, the resort town has actually experienced a surge in tourism along with all of Egypt. In the last year alone, tourism in Egypt increased by 21 %. What we can see, however, is a change of mentality among tourists seeking a more mindful and immersive experience opting for Dahab of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Wadi Tribe 