How to Visit Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery

Jan 20

Did you know that you can walk the steps of Moses in Egypt?

You can easily book an overnight trip from Sham El -Sheikh or Dahab to complete a sunrise hike of the 6.5 mile Mt. Sinai trail and visit the burning bush.

When you hear the word “Mt. Sinai” you probably jump to unsound conclusions that this is an unsafe place to visit. Tourism is extremely important to the Egyptian economy, and the government has taken extensive steps to keep tourists safe on their journey. Don’t let the media scare you away. This blog post is going to break down how you can easily and safely visit Mt. Sinai.

Hire a Guide

It is vital to hire a guide to take you from your hotel to Mt. Sinai. There are multiple military check-points between the resort towns of Sharm El -Sheikh and Dahab, and you must have special permission to cross these lines. You cannot simply rent a car and drive yourself. Additionally, outside of the resort areas the Sinai Peninsula is a dangerous place to be. Traveling with a guide will provide you with a police escort.

Do not let this frighten you. At no point on my journey did I feel unsafe. These are just precautions to keep you safe in a particularly turbulent part of the world. I was completely relaxed the entire experience.

I booked my tour through Get Your Guide and had a good experience. Be aware that you’ll likely be the only English speaker on your tour, even if you select a tour in English. Sharm El-Sheikh attracts a lot of Russian and Ukrainian tourists and the whole peninsula caters toward them.

What to Expect on Your Mt. Sinai Excursion

Almost all Mt. Sinai hikes are sunrise excursions. This is both to allow you to experience sunrise as Moses, and because there is no shade on the trail.

You’ll be picked up around 9:00 PM the evening before your hike. You’ll then drive about 3.5 hours (with a brief rests top in Dahab if you’re coming from Sham El-Shiek).

You’ll arrive at the base of the mountain between 1:00-2:00 AM and meet your Bedouin guide. The Bedouins are historically nomad tribes that have lived in the desert for centuries. The Bedouins are the only people allowed to take tourists up the mountain as it is their primary source of income. Our guides were absolutely wonderful, and we felt like best pals by the end of the hike.

You’ll begin the 3 miles (one-way) hike with your guides. Along the way the Bedouin people have set up quite nice mountain cafes for you to purchase water, coffee, tea, snacks, or use the restroom. There were about 5 or six cafes along the entirety of the trail, and were a welcome way to break up the hike. If you find yourself too tired to continue, there are a camels at every stop that can take you to the summit for a fee.

You’ll arrive at the summit somewhere between 60-30 minutes before sunrise. Here you can pick up some hot cocoa and rent a blanket to sit on while you wait. I went in November and had temperate weather, although I am told it can get quite cold.

While you wait for the sunrise you can explore a 1934 Greek-Orthodox Church that has been built on the summit, as well as a mosque that is still used by Muslims today.

After sunrise, you’ll begin your trek down the mountain to visit St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Visiting St. Catherine’s Monastery

St. Catherine’s Monastery was built somewhere between 548 and 565 B.C. It is one of the worlds oldest working Christian monestaries in the world. Today, it is inhabited by Greek monks who have taken a vow of silence. Within its walls you can stand face-to-face with what is believed to be the burning bush where Moses spoke with God.

I’m not sure what I expected, but the burning bush was much larger than I imagined! Its believed to be good luck to write down a wish on a piece of paper and crumble it up between some bricks in the monestary across from the bush.

After you’ve had your Moses moment, you can see and touch Moses’s well and visit the ornate Greek Orthodox chapel.