Where to stay in Sharm El Sheikh
Naama Bay is the one stretch you can walk out to dinner and dive shops; pick Nabq for an all-inclusive switch-off, Sharks Bay if the house reef is the point.
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In short
Where to stay in Sharm El Sheikh
For a first Sharm trip, base yourself in Naama Bay unless you have a clear reason not to: it's the one bay where you can walk out to dinner, dive shops and bars instead of being penned inside a single resort. Book Nabq Bay if you want a big all-inclusive switch-off week with kids, Hadaba for quieter, better-value resorts within reach of Old Market, and Sharks Bay if house-reef snorkelling straight off the jetty is the whole point of the trip.
The short version
- Best all-rounder: Naama Bay.
- Best value: Hadaba (Umm El Sid).
- Best atmosphere: Naama Bay's promenade and Soho Square evenings.
- Best for all-inclusive families: Nabq Bay.
- Avoid picking your hotel purely for a 'Soho Square' or 'Naama beach' postcode if you've booked an all-inclusive — you'll barely leave the resort gate.
Best areas to book
Naama Bay
££ mid-rangeThe only genuinely walkable base in Sharm: a beach promenade backed by bars, restaurants, dive centres and small malls, about 15 minutes from SSH. Best if you want to stroll to dinner and dive briefings rather than be locked into one all-inclusive. The trade-off is noise and touts on the strip after dark, and beaches that are busier and narrower than the outer bays.
Best for: First-timers, couples, divers, walkable evenings
Nabq Bay
££ mid-rangeThe big all-inclusive belt northeast of town and the closest bay to the airport (~11km). Large, newer family resorts with long private beaches, water parks and house reefs you snorkel off a jetty. The catch is isolation: there's nothing walkable, so any trip to Naama Bay or Old Market is a taxi each way — you commit to staying put for the week.
Best for: All-inclusive families, kids-and-pool switch-off weeks
Hadaba (Umm El Sid)
£ valueA quieter clifftop district south of Naama Bay, with calmer mid-range resorts, strong Red Sea views from the headland and walking access to Old Market. The better-value middle ground: cheaper than equivalent Naama Bay rooms but a short taxi from the nightlife when you want it, rather than total resort isolation.
Best for: Quieter couples and families wanting value and Old Market nearby
Sharks Bay
£ valueA smaller bay between Naama and Nabq with some of Sharm's best fringing house reef and a low-key, diver-led feel. You can fin straight off the jetty over hard coral that rivals paid day-boats. Dining outside the hotels is thin, so plan to eat in or taxi to Naama Bay; it suits people whose holiday is the reef, not the bar strip.
Best for: Divers and snorkellers prioritising the house reef
Ras Um Sid / Ras Nasrani
£ valueOlder, established headland resorts above two of Sharm's best shore-dive reefs — Ras Um Sid lighthouse reef in the south, Ras Nasrani up near the airport. Often the cheapest sea-view stays in town because the buildings aren't new, but the reef access is the real draw for divers who'd rather walk in than pay for a boat every day.
Best for: Budget divers wanting shore-dive reefs on the doorstep
The simple choice
If you're booking in a hurry, filter for Naama Bay first, then compare Hadaba if Naama prices look steep. That one rule keeps most first-timers out of the two common traps: booking a remote Nabq all-inclusive when you actually wanted to walk to bars, or paying a Naama premium when a Hadaba resort five minutes away does the same job for less. The exception is a kids-and-pool week with no plans to leave the resort — then Nabq's bigger family complexes earn their distance.
Match the bay to the holiday: walk-out evenings → Naama Bay; all-inclusive with children → Nabq Bay; quiet value → Hadaba; reef off the jetty → Sharks Bay or Ras Um Sid.
Safety and noise
Sharm sits outside the FCDO's South Sinai warning zones and is treated as a low-risk tourist area with routine security checks (GOV.UK) — the everyday nuisances are pushy touts and inflated taxi fares on the Naama Bay strip, not danger. For your room that means picking a quieter Hadaba or Sharks Bay resort over a Naama Bay block right above the bars if you're a light sleeper or travelling with young children. Wherever you stay, buy comprehensive insurance with medical evacuation, and if you're diving check it covers scuba to your planned depth, because your GHIC does nothing in Egypt (GOV.UK).
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