St. Catherine's Monastery Tours and Tickets

Very good adventure would recommend to anyone going. Loved it from start to finish. Guide spoke really well in English

Great adventure from Cairo to St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai . Overnight in accommodation with a start onto the mountain at midnight. Osama and driver from Sun Pyramid Tours really looked after us and our guide up and down the mountain (Ali) was a star. This trip is physically demanding but spiritually rewarding. A must do if you’re in Egypt. Many thanks again to Ali, Osama and driver. Sun Pyramid tours.

This is a very long journey, in our case 7:45pm on evening up until around 12pm the next day but would recommend atleast once for its religious significance. I’ve broken the review into three sections (1) what to expect for transport (2) What to expect at Mount Sinai and (3) General tips To begin then - (1) What to expect for transport: - We were picked up around 8pm from our hotel in a minibus that holds around 12 people. The first few hours involved picking other people up and smoke breaks. Total journey time in minibus from hotel to start of the Trek was over 4 hours. Expect similar time for return. - The minibus is air conditioned but can get hot. Also not much leg room. - There are toilet breaks and you can buy food/water during these stops - You will unfortunately not be able to sleep much on the bus due to the regular road potholes. Also the driver has to play music to keep awake. - Our guide (‘Ramadan’) was very friendly knowledgeable about the mountain and history and gave us a brief during the bus ride. (2) What to expect at Mount Sinai: - The guide will stop at the monastery (where the bus stops) and meet you there the next morning. You will be taken up the mountain by a separate Bedouin guide. - You will go up in your transport group but there are many other groups present too (I’d guess more than 70 people were at the top for sunrise). - Our Trek began at 12:30pm and we were at the top before sunrise around 5:30am (5 hours up). We needed to be back at the monastery by 8:30am. Hence expect an 8 hour round trip up and down the mountain. - The path starts off paved and quickly becomes just gravel. Most of the journey involves taking steps on various rocks. It is very tiring but you will stop multiple times along the way. - You can rent a camel for between $15-$20 USD (or equivalent) for one way. This however is not an easy way out as its very painful on the groin area (more detail below). Camels are scattered throughout the mountain near each stop. - There are no toilets on the way up. Once you get to the very top you can pay to use one (we didn’t see it until the way down) but it is apparently extremely dirty according to the guide. Worth noting if you need to make ablutions to pray. - There are 750 steps at the top which are very tiring after the long trek to get to them. - Once you get to the top the views are breathtaking! (see pictures) You will stay at the top until sunrise then make your way down. - You will be given a tour of the monastery when back down but will be less than an hour before you must return to the bus. Your tour will include the burning bush and the well of Moses (Peace Be Upon Him). (3) General tips - Dress well e.g. sports clothes and also have warm clothes for when you’re at the top as its cold up there. You can rent a blanket but its extortionate. Good shoes are vital. - Take your own food, water and energy drinks. Otherwise expect to pay a lot e.g. 100 EGY for a water. - Take your own mini torch as it will be better than the one provided. - Please note that if you get tired the camels are not an easy way out. They will give your legs a rest but you will suffer in other ways because the saddle is quite small so with each step they take you will be constantly impaled at your stomach and back by the wooden edge of the saddle. As a result you have to use your hand as a shock absorber and they will be hurting within minutes. What’s far worse though is they crush your groin area with each step they take because of the hard impact of each step which is pretty much unavoidable. Would not recommend using a camel unless extremely tired. Our only negative experience was on the return to the bus from the monastery we were asked to pay an extra 25 Egyptian pounds per person to get a minibus for 30 seconds to our main minibus instead of walking 10 minutes. We took it instead of walking as we didn’t want other travellers to wait. We gave a 100 as we didn’t have change was this taken and no change given (despite asking). I didn’t like that Ramadan just took the money and refused to give me the change. I ended up telling him to keep it as I was too tired to argue. I appreciate it’s not a large amount but this lack of integrity when people are tired is really not acceptable. Despite this I would recommend this difficult but rewarding experience