One of the world's most famous dive sites — a sea-floor sinkhole dropping 130 metres, accessible by wading from shore. Extraordinary coral gardens for snorkellers and beginner divers; a notorious technical diving challenge for experts.

The Blue Hole

The Gulf of Aqaba offers exceptional underwater visibility, warm waters year-round, and accessible shore diving throughout Dahab. Multiple dive centres offer PADI courses and daily dive trips to sites along the coast.

World-Class Diving & Snorkelling

Dahab's shallow lagoon and reliable afternoon winds make it a recognised kitesurfing destination, particularly well-suited to beginners learning in flat, shallow water.

Kitesurfing Lagoon

Mount Sinai (overnight trek for sunrise), St Catherine's Monastery, and the Coloured Canyon are all within day-trip distance — combining diving on the coast with desert and mountain adventures.

Sinai Interior

Red snapper, grouper, and sea bream caught in the Gulf of Aqaba and grilled over charcoal at the Mashraba restaurants — typically ordered by the kilogram with salad and flatbread.

Fresh Grilled Fish

Heavily sweetened tea with mint or cinnamon, served in small glasses at virtually every restaurant and cafe in Dahab. The Bedouin custom is to drink many glasses throughout the day.

Bedouin Tea

Egypt's street food classic — rice, lentils, pasta, and fried onions in tomato sauce — available at local Egyptian restaurants in the Assalah quarter for minimal cost.

Kushari

Eggs poached in spiced tomato and pepper sauce, a popular breakfast at the Mashraba restaurants. Eaten with flatbread and fresh-squeezed juice — the ideal fuel before a morning dive.

Shakshuka

The social heart of Dahab — a strip of open-air restaurants, dive centres, and cushioned seating areas along the lagoon. The place for breakfast, evening meals, and watching the afternoon kitesurfers.

Mashraba

The original part of town north of the lagoon, with the highest concentration of cheap guesthouses, shisha cafes, budget restaurants, and the relaxed pace that made Dahab famous among backpacker travellers.

Assalah (Old Town)

8 kilometres north of town along the coast road, with a cluster of small Bedouin restaurants overlooking the famous sinkhole. A full day can be spent diving, snorkelling, and eating here.

Blue Hole Area

Egypt

Dahab is a small resort town on the Sinai Peninsula's eastern coast, 85 kilometres north of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the Gulf of Aqaba provides some of the most remarkable snorkelling and scuba diving conditions in the world. Originally a Bedouin fishing village, Dahab developed as a backpacker alternative to packaged resort towns and has retained that character: a relaxed atmosphere, extraordinary underwater visibility, world-class diving sites within metres of the beach, and prices that remain dramatically lower than comparable Red Sea destinations.

Discover Dahab — Egypt's Red Sea diving and kitesurfing gem with the Blue Hole, Bedouin culture, and Mount Sinai day trips. Plan with ItineraryKit.

Dahab: Travel Itinerary & Planning Guide