Nosrani Bay is an exclusive resort offering some of the best hotels in the Sharm el Sheikh region. Noted for its beautiful sandy beach, crystal clear waters and amazing corals reefs, Nosrani Bay is the perfect choice for a quiet relaxing holiday in Egypt. The resort offers a much quieter atmosphere than the cheaper areas of Sharm like Naama Bay. Due to its reliable winter sunshine, the resort is a popular choice for December

Nosrani Bay

holidays, with visitors returning year after year for their winter sun holidays. All of the best Nosrani Bay hotels offer family entertainment and children’s activities, hence why the resort is a popular choice for family holiday packages to Egypt. Nosrani Bay boasts top-class hotels with fantastic swimming pools, stylish restaurants, in-house dive centres, private beaches and beautiful tropical gardens. The areas spa hotels, where guests can enjoy whirl pools, steam rooms, Ayurvedic massages, body wraps, facials and body scrubs, are ideal for a romantic getaway.

Declared a National Marine Park, Nosrani Bay has many sheltered beaches with natural surroundings and a secluded feel. There are also water sports centres which offer facilities for windsurfing and water-skiing.

Ras Nosrani has a first-class reputation for diving holidays with excellent dive schools offering courses for beginners and top-class excursions for more experienced divers. Attracting both snorkellers and scuba divers, the world famous Ras Nosrani coral reefs offer amazing undersea scenery and a spectacular variety of marine life. The crystal clear Red Sea offers excellent visibility and great conditions for fascinating night dives. Visitors to Nosrani Bay will have an unforgettable diving holiday, both snorkelling at the house reef or on an exhilarating excursion to some of the best dive sites in the world such as Ras Mohammed.

Ras Mohammed coral reef

Apart from lazing on the immaculate sandy beach there is plenty to see and do in the surrounding area. Away from the water the hotels offer a range of activities including yoga classes, tennis, volleyball, 5-a-side football, fitness classes, archery, horse riding and much more. There are excursions for the whole family to enjoy, such as camel treks, horse riding treks, desert jeep safaris, quad bike tours and desert Bedouin feasts under the stars. Neighbouring Sharks Bay, Naama Bay and Nabq Bay offer some excellent restaurants, nightlife and shopping opportunities. There are lots of trips available including a desert tour with a visit to St Catherine’s

St Catherine's Monastery

Monastery, hiking in the Coloured Canyon, exploring the Ras Mohammed Wildlife Reserve and trips to Luxor and Cairo to take in the amazing ancient sites.

Nosrani Bay enjoys a typical Red Sea climate with clear skies, uninterrupted sunshine in both the summer and the winter seasons and crystal clear warm waters all year round. July and August see an amazing 12 hours of sunshine a day with temperatures in the high 30′s, even December and January see 7 hours of sunshine a day with temperatures in the low to mid 20′s. Rain is virtually unheard of the summer and very rare during the winter months. Spring and autumn sees temperatures around 30C and are regarded as the best times to visit. Nights in Nosrani Bay are a lot cooler at any time of the year therefore it is advisable to take some warm clothing for the evenings.

With an all year round sunny climate and reliable winter sunshine the resort is the perfect choice for beach holiday deals at any time of the year. Combine your Nosrani Bay holiday with a Nile River cruise to discover all the ancient wonders of Luxor and surrounding areas.

Taba is located on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, 200kms north of Sharm el Sheikh and 50 minutes from Taba airport. With 5kms of prime beachfront with white beaches, pristine waters, stunning desert scenery and luxurious 5 star hotels, Taba is the perfect resort, for perfect last minute holidays.

PLACES TO VISIT

The Monastery of St Catherine

The most popular excursion destinations are The Monastery of St Catherine, The Mountain of Moses (Mount Sinai), and Pharaoh’s Island and Salah El Din Citadel.
The Monastery of St Catherine is one of the oldest monasteries in the world and has the second largest collection of illuminated manuscripts after the Vatican.
Mount Sinai is sacred to Jews, Christiansand Muslims alike. It is best to visit Mt Sinai during sunrise or sunset to enjoy the fantastic view. A climb up the 3000 Steps of Repentance will explain why it is so aptly named!
Pharaoh’s Island and Salah El Din Citadel is an island fort that was built to protect pilgrims who traveled to get to the Monastery of St Catherine. Here you can also dive and explore the reefs surrounding the island.
Other popular excursions include the Canyon Desert Quad Safari, Castle Zaman Day Trip, Colored Canyon Hike, Petra Treasury in Jordan, Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, Dead Sea, Cairo Metropolis, Luxor’s Ancient Temples, Alexandria’s Cosmopolitan Port, and the Sharm El Sheikh Nightlife Scene.

National Park of Nabq

Apart from the historical sites, there are two national parks in Taba Heights, the National Park of Nabq and the National Park of Ras Abu Galum. Both are wildlife preserves where you can see herons, foxes, Nubian ibexes, hyraxes, ospreys and gazelles.

ACTIVITIES
On the beach there is snorkelling, windsurfing, diving, sailing, canoeing, glass bottom boat trips and banana boat rides.
Waterworld, based at Taba heights, is a 5-star Padi dive centre, offering a wide range of activities, including introductory dives, National Geographic open water course and PADI certification. Other water activities available at the Waterworld centre include windsurfing, diving, wakeboarding, snorkelling, pedaloes, water-skiing and para-sailing.

GOLF
Taba Heights has an 18-hole US-championship level golf course in a fantastic location, with a backdrop of the Sinai Mountains on the East coast of the Sinai Peninsula and glorious views over the crystal clear blue waters of the Red Sea and Taba Heights. Three other countries can be seen from the course, the coastlines of Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

DIVING
Diving and snorkelling are one of main attractions of Taba Heights, with most hotels having direct access to the stunning coral reef of the red sea. As well as the snorkeling directly from the hotel beaches, Waterworld Taba Heights water activity centre allows divers the opportunity to discover the underworld garden coral of the red sea.

Pharaoh's Island

Other places to dive in Taba are Salah-El-Din Citadel and Pharaoh’s Island. The Pharaoh’s Island was known as Phoenician port and was constructed to provide protection to pilgrims during their pilgrimage to the St Catherine’s Monastery. In earlier days the port was used as place of toll collection from Arab merchants.
The Picasso Reef is an underwater mountain located about 200 meters from the sea shore. A famous fish called Picasso Trigger Fish can be seen here.

Egypt is hot and sunny for most of the year, with the winter (November to February) being generally milder although temperatures at night can get as low as 10C.

Luxor

Luxor is built on and around the ancient site of Thebes and has lots of temples and monuments to visit.

Luxor is really three different areas, consisting of the City of Luxor on the East side of the Nile, the town of Karnak just north of Luxor and Thebes which is on the west side of the Nile across from Luxor.

THE CITY OF LUXOR

Luxor Temple, situated in the centre of town, was built by the New Kingdom Pharaoh Amenophis III.

Mummification

The Mummification Museum has everything you’ve ever wanted to know about mummies and the process of mummification. Reptiles and birds were also mummified.

The Luxor Museum houses many of the relics found at the Theben temples and necropolis on the west bank.

KARNAK

North of Luxor city are the spectacular Temples of Karnak. In ancient times, Karnak was known as Ipet-isut (The most select of places). The temple complex of Karnak was built over a time period of 1500 years and was the most important place of worship in ancient Egypt. This site measures 1500 x 800 metres, and is a magnificent complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks, all dedicated to the Theban gods. It is thought that the Temples of Karnak are the largest surviving religious complex in the world. Not to be missed is the Hypostile Hall in the Great Temple of Amun.

ANCIENT THEBES (West Bank)

The Valley of the Kings

Across the Nile to the West of the city of Luxor lies the necropolis of ancient Thebes. There are three main tombs here -
The Valley of the Kings – This is where the pharaoh’s were buried and hoped to meet their Gods in the afterlife. Tutankhamun’s tomb, discovered in the 1920′s, is probably the best known to most of us. However, he was a minor king in the scheme of things and had it not been for centuries of looting, the larger more impressive tombs would have yielded riches unsurpassed to the impressive haul found in King Tut’s burial ground.

The Valley of the Queens – This is where the queens of the 18th and 19th Dynasties and their children were buried. Only four tombs are open to the public in the Valley of the Queens, the best being Queen Nefertari’s tomb.

The Colossi of Memnon – Two giant statues make up the Colossi of Memnon. Most visitors get a glimpse of them on their way to the Valley of the Kings but it is worth a stop to see them up close.

Sharm el Sheikh , Egypt

Originally a little fishing village, Sharm el-Sheikh has developed into a very popular tourist resort. Sunny weather, a plethora of charter flights, world famous scuba-diving sites, plus luxurious five-star hotels, shopping and entertainment make it one of the most important tourist resorts in the Red Sea.

Sharm el-Sheikh attracts scuba-divers from all around the world as well as package holidaymakers from Europe, including families and young partygoers.

Red Sea

Location
Sharm el-Sheikh is located in the Sinai Peninsula, on the coastal strip between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai in Egypt.

Sharm el-Sheikh is on a promontory overlooking the Strait of Tiran at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Surrounded by desert and reddish mountains, Sharm el-Sheikh consists of three main areas – the old town Sharm el-Maya (Moya) and its bay, a number of other bays where most of the tourist facilities are located and El Hadaba, where there are holiday villas, apartments, condos and a few hotels.

Weather
Sharm el-Sheikh has two main seasons, both of which remain dry. The winter months are between November and March when the daily temperature is still a warm average of 20°C. During the summer months of April to October the area is hot and humid but still bearable for holidaymakers, however in August the heat can often soar to an uncomfortable 40°C.

Diving in the Red Sea

Beach
Long stretches of natural sand and pebbles beaches are surrounded by a dramatic landscape. The waters around Sharm are clear and calm for most of the year. Coral reefs and marine life offer an amazing experience for divers. Other popular watersports include windsurfing, parasailing, boating and canoeing.

Away from the beach
Ras Mohammed Marine National Park, at the tip of Sinai, southwest of Sharm el-Sheikh, is considered as one of the best dive regions in the world. Also famous for its diving sites, the Strait of Tiran is only a few kilometres north of Sharm el-Sheikh. The strait separates Tiran Island from the east coast of Sinai and the main attractions are four coral reefs in the middle of the channel. Inland attractions around Sharm el-Sheikh include casinos, golf courses and spas.

Families
Sharm is a very family-orientated resort. Most major hotels have swimming pools, themed parks, tennis courts, a multitude of sports facilities, health clubs, diving centres, entertainment programmes and kids clubs. Horse and camel riding and desert safaris are also popular choices for day trips.

Shopping
The colourful Bedouin handicraft stands are always popular with tourists. The main shopping draws are gold and silver jewellery and semi-precious stones from Na’ama Bay or the Old Market. Spices, glass perfume bottles, slippers, leather bags, Bedouin embroidery and Turkish delights are also popular. Good buys include Egyptian cotton bed linen and beach towels. The Old Market is great for holiday bargains and cheaper than Na’ama Bay.

The Camel Bar

Nightlife
Na’ama Bay is the centre of nightlife, with most of Sharm’s clubs, cafes, restaurants and shops found here. Popular venues include Camel Bar (a popular hangout for divers), The Tavern (popular amongst Brits), Pirate’s Bar, Little Buddha (the sister venue of the Buddha-bar Paris) and the MovenPick Beach. Clubs such as The Bus Stop and the world-renowned Pacha throw parties almost every night of the year.

Food
Seafood is widely available, as well as Arabian cuisine and a selection of western options (mainly Italian). Most hotels have waterside grills offering the catch of the day as well as air-conditioned indoor restaurants catering for all tastes.For those who want to venture outside their hotel, Na’ama Bay has many restaurants next to bars and clubs.

Saint Catherine's Monastery

Exploring further afield
A visit to the desert is highly recommended. Hotels offer various trips to the rugged, red rock mountains and barren desert of the interior. The most visited spot is the Coloured Canyon, named for the layers of brightly-coloured stone along the deep canyon walls. Saint Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai are other popular destinations, only a three-hour drive away. Mount Sinai is said to be the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. The mountain is home to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St Catherine, founded in the sixth century. Climbing the mountain on foot or by camel is the main objective for most visitors, but it’s worth spending a couple of hours admiring the monastery’s treasures.