Snorkelling in Sharm for the first time: house reef, boat or national park
8 min read
Take a boat, and take the shortest one. Here you do not wade in from sand, and that one fact decides most of the rest. The shortest snorkelling boat day is the White Island and Ras Mohamed snorkelling trip, six hours, from €20.69 per person, rated 4.7 from 3,870 reviews – long enough to be worth the money, short enough that a bad first ten minutes does not cost you the whole day. If the boat worries you more than the water, the four-hour Ras Mohammed half-day by bus stays on the road and starts at €18.14. And if you want to try diving on the same day, the eight-hour trip that combines both is rated 4.9 from 2,040 reviews, from €32.40. That trip allows diving from age 11 – younger guests snorkel only – and its listing says it is not suitable for people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Sharm El Sheikh has 39 snorkelling trips on GetYourGuide, from €12.22. If you have never snorkelled before, none of that tells you the one thing you need to know first.
Here you do not walk into the sea. On most of this coast the shore is living coral, and walking across it would kill it, so you go out along a jetty or a floating pontoon and get in at the end. At Ras Um Sid, at the end of a small pier, there is a ladder where “you can easily enter the water, directly on the reef”. Snorkeling Report
Read that phrase again with beginner’s eyes. You climb down a ladder and the seabed is already not under your feet. There is no shallow bit to stand up in while you sort out your mask. That is not dangerous – it is why the reef here is as good as it is – but it is the opposite of the gentle sandy wade-in most people picture, and it is where first attempts go wrong.
Everything below follows from that one fact.
The three ways in, and who each suits
The hotel jetty. Free, five minutes from your towel, and you can stop the moment you have had enough – which is the real advantage, because a first attempt usually lasts four minutes, not forty. The catch is the drop-off. Do not make your first ever attempt off a jetty ladder in deep water with nobody beside you.
A boat trip. Counter-intuitively, this is often the easier start. You usually get a life jacket, a guide or instructor and a ladder into open water with people watching; check the booking page of your trip for the life jacket. The nine-hour Ultimate trip includes “life jackets for all participants” and states plainly:
Snorkeling experience is helpful but not required; instructors are available on board
The cost is that you cannot leave. A nine-hour boat is a long commitment for something you might discover you dislike. The shortest of the snorkelling boat days is the six-hour trip to White Island and Ras Mohamed, and for a first attempt that is the one to take.
See availability and prices for the six-hour White Island and Ras Mohamed trip
The national park by road. The half-day trip to Ras Mohammed by bus runs 4 hours from €18.14 plus €10 national park entry per person unless you add it at checkout, with 1,526 reviews – no crossing, no swell, and you are back by lunchtime; snorkelling gear is an add-on. For anyone who is nervous about the boat as much as the water, this is the underrated option.
See dates and prices for the Ras Mohammed half-day by bus
What the trips cost, and what the price is actually for
| Trip | Duration | From | Rating | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ras Mohammed half-day by bus & Allah’s gate | 4 hours | €18.14 | 4.7 (1,526) | anyone nervous about boats, and small budgets |
| White Island and Ras Mohamed snorkelling trip | 6 hours | €20.69 | 4.7 (3,870) | first-timers, and families whose children swim |
| Ultimate Ras Mohamed & White Island with lunch | 9 hours | €26.10 | 4.8 (4,632) | confident swimmers with a whole free day |
| Ras Mohamed & White Island with diving and lunch | 8 hours | €32.40 | 4.9 (2,040) | anyone aged 11 or over who wants to try diving the same day |
Between the second row (€20.69) and the third (€26.10), the difference is three more hours on the boat. Between the third and the fourth (€32.40), the difference is one hour less and two introductory dives in the description; whether the park fee is included is not clear from its list, so check it on the booking page. None of it buys a better reef – it is the same park.
The equipment question, which decides more than the price
The single most expensive mistake a beginner makes here is assuming the mask is included. On the nine-hour Ultimate trip the booking page lists:
Snorkeling equipment ( available in all options except Explorer Package )
and, on the same page:
National Park Entry Fees (10 USD) in Explorer Package
So the Explorer Package on that page comes without the gear and without the park fee. On the six-hour White Island and Ras Mohamed trip recommended here, snorkelling gear is an add-on you select when booking, and the marina entrance fee of €5 per person is paid on arrival unless you add it.
A mask that leaks ruins a first attempt more reliably than cold water or waves. If you can, buy or borrow one before the trip and try it in the hotel pool: press it to your face without the strap and breathe in through your nose – it should hold on its own. That five-minute test is worth more than any amount of comparing booking pages.
See the eight-hour snorkelling and diving trip and its options
When the water is warm enough to stay in
| Month | Sea |
|---|---|
| February–March | 22°C |
| April–May | 23–25°C |
| June | 26°C |
| July–August | 28°C |
| September–October | 27°C |
| November–January | 23–26°C |
Sharm el Sheikh climate averages
Twenty-two degrees is swimmable and it is not warm. Floating still, face down, in a thin swimsuit, you lose heat much faster than you do swimming – and a beginner floats still, because they are concentrating. From December to April, ask whether a wetsuit is available and whether it is included, before you are on the boat.
Five things that make the first attempt work
- Practise breathing through the tube with your face out of the water first, standing on the jetty. The panic, when it comes, is about the breathing, not the depth.
- Wear the life jacket if one is offered, even if you swim well. It removes the question of staying up and leaves you only the question of looking down.
- Go in the morning. The wind builds during the day, and chop is what turns a first attempt into a mouthful of water.
- Do not clear your mask by taking it off in deep water. Get back to the ladder or the boat.
- Stop early. Four good minutes are a success. Twenty bad ones mean you never try again.
What not to do
Do not stand on the reef, ever – not to adjust a fin, not for a photograph. It is the whole reason for the jetties.
Do not book the nine-hour trip as your first attempt. If snorkelling turns out not to be for you, you have eight hours left on a boat.
And if you already know the water is not going to happen, you can still see the reef: the semi-submarine has a glassed deck about three metres down and runs ninety minutes, and it is covered in Sharm El Sheikh with children, which is where most people find it. Once you are comfortable, the big day is Ras Mohammed and White Island, and the next step after that is under diving, from €22.50.
Our recommendation
For most first-timers: the six-hour White Island and Ras Mohamed trip, from €20.69, 4.7 from 3,870 reviews. A boat, a ladder, people around you, and you are back in the afternoon with the day still half intact if the water turns out not to be your thing.
See availability and prices for the six-hour trip
If boats are what worry you: the Ras Mohammed half-day by bus, from €18.14 plus €10 national park entry per person unless added at checkout, 4.7 from 1,526 reviews. No crossing, no swell, back by lunchtime.
If you already know you want to dive as well: the eight-hour day with snorkelling, diving and lunch, from €32.40, 4.9 from 2,040 reviews – the only one of the four where diving is part of the plan rather than an extra, for divers aged 11 and over.
For nobody’s first attempt: the nine-hour day, from €26.10. It is good value and well rated, 4.8 from 4,632 reviews, but nine hours is a long time to be stuck on a boat you have decided you want off. Save it for the second week. And if you are fairly sure you will not get in the water at all, none of these four is for you – the semi-submarine in Sharm El Sheikh with children is the honest answer instead.
