Practical Information and Accommodations

The bus station in the center of town is near the police station, where you can register your passport from 9am-2:3Opm. A 10-minute walk down the road toward the beach leads to the Nuweiba Holiday Village Hotel (tel. 76 88 32, fax 16 27 01), home to the tourist police, an international phone (8am-l 1pm), and a money exchange (open 9:30am-2pm and 7-9pm).

Daily buses arrive from Sharm ash-Sheikh and Dahab, Taba, Cairo or Suez via Sharm ash-Sheikh or St. Catherine’s, and directly from Cairo. Leaving Nuweiba, buses go to Cairo (11am, 3pm, LE55), Sharm ash-Sheikh (7am, 3:30pm, LE10), Dahab (7am, 3:30pm, LE7-8), Taba (scheduled 6am but normally delayed lhr. by tunnel work at Suez, and 11:30am, LE10), and St. Catherine’s (1 lam, LE15).

The best place to stay is Tarabin, a sleepy Bedouin village 2km north of town. You’ll find about 6 camps there; huts cost LE4-5. Get a thatched hut; the breeze through the walls will keep you cool and collected. The camps have restaurants but be careful about what giardia-ridden goodies you gulp down. Old Sinai hands lament that Tarabin is what Oahab used to be like before it got overrun by tourists-see for yourself.