How To Go To St. Catherine
How To Travel To St.Catherine
For the time being, St Catherine’s Village remains poorly connected to certain intuitive destinations within Southern Sinai. With that being said, it’s very much worth the effort.
Bus to St Catherine’s Village
There is a daily bus service from Cairo to St Catherine. The bus leaves from Cairo each morning at 11 AM. It arrives in St Catherine’s the same day at 6 PM. From St. Catherine’s the bus leaves at 6 AM, arriving in Cairo at approximately 1 PM From Cairo, it is advisable to buy your ticket a day in advance and arrive at the terminal 1 hour prior on the day of departure. Tickets may not be purchased in advance if traveling in the other direction from St Catherine’s to Cairo.
Sadly there are no public bus connections from St Catherine’s to elsewhere in Sinai (e.g. Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba).
Bedouin Bus
If traveling to/from Dahab or Nuweiba to St Catherine’s, travelers may now take a community bus service known as Bedouin Bus.
Private Bus to St. Catherine’s
For tourists wanting to visit St Catherine’s for the sole purpose of climbing Mount Sinai, there are organized trips departing Dahab, Nuweiba and Sharm El Sheikh each evening, returning the following morning after the climb.
Buses typically leave late evening at around 11 PM from Dahab/Nuweiba or 10 PM from Sharm El Sheikh. You’ll be dropped off outside St Catherine’s monastery at the start of the trail around 1 AM.
Climbers typically arrive back to the monastery just before 9 AM in time for its doors to open. Buses usually head back to their point of origin at around 11 AM.
Taxis to St Catherine’s
If you’re coming from Dahab, Nuweiba or Sharm El Sheikh and you want to spend a few days in St Catherine’s you will more than likely need to involve the services of a taxi driver.
From Sharm, you should take the public bus to Dahab from where taxis can be negotiated to around 450 LE for a one-way trip (2 hours).
The price (and distance) is similar to that one from Nuweiba. A taxi all the way from Sharm El Sheikh will cost you in the region of 1100LE.
Air
St Catherine’s does have an airport although it is currently reserved only for Egyptian military use.
