Trekking in Sinai via St. Catherine Trails
Trekking in Sinai Heights of Egypt and experiencing the beauty of Sinai’s wilderness. It is very diverse, a combination of trekking between the boulder-strewn wadis, dramatic gardens, ancient Sinai trails, and breathtaking landscapes of the highest mountains in Sinai peninsula.
Trekking Sinai are one of the most important experiences for trekking, long-distance hiking, and camping in Egypt because it has the most important seven mountains in Egypt. It is also one of the most important heritage areas, as mentioned by UNESCO.
Your trekking in Sinai will let you discover the authentic traditional mountain lifestyle of the tribe of Gebalia Bedouins, including cooking over fire and sleeping under the stars, and learn a lot about the customs and traditions of the Gebalia tribe.
Hard
13 Days
117 KM
Trail Highlights
Mount Sinai " Jabal Mousa "
Mount Catherine roof of Egypt
Mount Al-Ahmar
Mount Abas Basha
The black peaks or El-Somra
Hike the 3 peaks
El-Galt El-Azraq Natural pool
Mount Na'aga
Shaikh Awad village
Wadi Al-Furai
Mount El-Banat or Jabal El-Banat
Saint Catherine Monastery
Itinerary of Trekking in Sinai
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Arrival to Saint Catherine City
Day 1
You will arrive in St. Catherine and stay at a local camp in the city to rest, prepare yourself, and enjoy the city before starting the trekking in Sinai mountains on the next day.
Hike Mount Sinai & Old churches trails 9.83 km
Day 2
In the morning, after breakfast, we will prepare our hiking backpacks and luggage bags to carry them on the camels. We will walk along the Wadi Al-Fara trail and then the ancient monastic churches to wander between them and have lunch in this area, then head to the top of Mount Sinai to enjoy the sunset, and then return to the feet of the top. Once again, go to the camping place to set out tents, have our dinner around the fire, and then sleep under the stars in the Al-Louzah or Elias wadi.
Hike Saint Catherine Mountain roof of Egypt 14.7 km
Day 3
We will leave the camping site to go to Wadi Al-Arbaeen, then to a winding path called Shaq Musa, reaching Umm Sella, and then to the summit of Mount Catherine, the highest point in Egypt, to enjoy the picturesque view and have lunch in the mountain, then go down a rocky path to reach Wadi Al-Mutahhar to camp for the night in a garden.
Hike Mount Ahmer 6.76 km
Day 4
We will take a walk towards Wadi Al-Ahmar and enjoy jumping over boulders to reach the top of Jabal Al-Ahmar and enjoy the view of the city from the top. Then we will have lunch and enjoy the same way down again to Wadi Al-Shaq Park to camp our night in Odaa Garden.
Hike Mount Abbas the old palace foundation 8.37 km
Day 5
From Wadi Al-Shaq to Wadi Al-Zawatin, passing through ancient gardens on our path, we began our ascent through a slippery rocky trail, reaching the summit of Mount Abbas Helmi, seeing the foundation of the old palace and the city, eating lunch, and then descending via a mountain path to the secret garden to spend the night in Wadi Boali’.
Hike Mount El-Somra trail 10.87 km
Day 6
From Wadi Bawali’, then to the trails of Jabal al-Samra and Wadi Nashil, eating lunch during the trail, and then descending to Farsh al-Rummaneh to camp for the night there.
Hike Mount Bab El-Donya & Mount Abo Alda & Mountb Abo Qroun 11.8 km
Day 7
From Farsh Al-Rummanah via a mountain trail and jumping over large boulders through Wadi Mubarak to the summit of Abu Qarun and then to the summit of Abu Alda. If the weather is clear, we can see the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez, then go to Ain Al-Najila for lunch and the summit of Bab Al-Dunya Mountain, and then return again to Farsh Al-Rummanah to spend the night.
Hike and swim in El-Galt Al-Azraq 7.59 km
Day 8
From Farsh Al-Rummanah, we will head to a natural swimming pool via Wadi Al-Tabaq and Ain Abu Hobeik, arriving at the Blue Galt for swimming and eating lunch, and then climbing to Farsh Umm Silah and Wadi Abu Tuwaytah, passing through Shaqq Saqr, to camp for the night in Wadi Saqr.
Hike Mount Na'ga 11 km
Day 9
We will hike from Wadi Saqar to Mount Na’ga trail to the top of the mountain to enjoy the amazing panorama to see El-Tih Plateau and Wadi Sheikh Awad village, then we will have lunch and walk to Wadi Shaq Tenya trail, then to Wadi Etlah to spend the night there.
Hike thru Wadi Shaikh Awad village 11.96 km
Day 10
We will walk through Wadi Itlah, then we will get to Wadi Ganab, then Wadi Madamen, until we get to the first garden in Wadi to have lunch, then we will continue walking through Shaikh Awad village to Al Karm Ecolodge to spend the night there.
Hike Wadi EL-Furai 12.7 km
Day 11
From El-Karm Ecolodge, we will hike through the wadis until Wadi Nuqra to have lunch, then we will continue our trial until we get to Wadi El-Free to spend the night in the garden there.
Hike Mount El-Banat 10.64 km
Day 12
We will walk from the garden to El-Ramanat, then we will get to the summit of Mount Elbanat to enjoy the view, then we will walk down to have lunch and back to the same garden to spend the last night together.
Visit Saint Catherine monastery 1.5 km
Day 12
After breakfast, we will say goodbye to all the team members and walk to Abo Sela village and ride the cars to Saint Catherine monastery to visit it and enjoy the last hours there. Then we will go back to the camp to get our bags, and we will leave Saint Catherine city.
Trekking Sinai Map
Elevation Profile
Distance
117 km
Ascent
7960(-7989) m
Max Elevation
2642 m
Min Elevation
1100 m
The Price Includes
Expert Bedouin Guide
A professional bedouin guide knows the wilderness of st catherine hike like the back of his hand to help you have a special trip
Camel & Porterage
You will only carry your daily bag of snacks, water and personal items & overnight luggage and main supplies during the mountain trek carried up the camels
Camping Gardens
The Gardens where we will camp and blanket and mattress for each person
3 Meals a Day
Three bedouin traditional meals cooked with love up the firewoods
Some Equipment
Carpets and some furnishings will be provided for wild camping in the mountains and all cooking utensils
Transfer to Saint Catherine City & back
We will help you to find the best transportation to St. Catherine
ِAccommodation in a camp
One-night accommodation includes dinner and breakfast in the camp of your choice
The Price Doesn’t Includes
Tipping for Escorts
Tipping according to your personal preference around 12.5% from the trip price
Bottled water on the hike "optional"
Everyday there is 3 liters of water for every person 2 Bottles
Personal Expenses
You can spend some of these expenses on buying local gifts, such as handicrafts and local products
Personal Camping Equipments
Personal camping equipment such as a comfortable, weather-appropriate sleeping bag, tent, and sleeping mattress
Any extras not mentioned in the program
Example snacks gifts
What To Expect
Weather of Trekking Sinai
Sinai’s unique mountains weather is hot during the day and cold, pleasant, and cold at night. We prefer to run this trip in spring and autumn, when the daytime temperatures are lower and more pleasant for Sinai trekking (usually ranging from 15 to 25 °C). But we run a lot of other hikes during the winter with prepared hikers. Winter nights can be really cold, but blankets and sleeping bags are provided for safety. Accurate data is crucial for understanding the weather conditions as the trip date approaches. Summer is not a good choice to hike and trek in sinai desert. We will be able to gather information about the weather conditions that we are going to face. We’ve got to be well prepared for all conditions—the hot weather and the cold weather—with the right clothes and good equipment. The weather in Sinai at night is colder than what most people would expect, especially if they are not familiar with it.
Accommodation
The Bedouins usually sleep under the stars. They call it the million-star hotel.
But sometimes there will be camping nights in the gardens equipped with Rocky rooms by the Bedouins; some of them contain mattresses and blankets, and sometimes we will camp our way through the pristine Sinai Trail. You will learn basic camping skills and how to set up a tent. Everyone should have a tent and a sleeping bag suitable for all seasons to ensure that there is enough space to make you all feel comfortable. A 3- or 4-season sleeping bag (depending on the time of year) will be enough to make your experience safe and comfortable.
Trekking in Sinai
You don’t need to be an expert hiker to join the trekking in Sinai, but you do need to be fit enough to hike for at least 5–6 hours every day in Sinai weather. You will walk through the amazing boulder-strewn wadis, dramatic switchbacks sometimes and through rocky trails or green valleys. However, each day will just keep you motivated for the next with the great company and breathtaking scenery.
Food
You will have three extremely delicious bedouin meals cooked up the wood fire all the trekking Sinai trip, and you can also help in their preparation if you want to. Breakfast is usually eggs, cheese, beans, honey, and jam; lunch is on the lighter side with salad, grilled eggplant, tuna salad, mashed potatoes, and white cheese; and dinner is the amazing cuisine of bedouins, which is soup, pasta, rice, lentils, vegetables, meat, or chicken slow-cooked on charcoal or on the fire with some fruit.