Northern Aqaba Coast

Between Nuweiba and Taba lie 70km of some of the most beautiful beaches in the Sinai. They are also relatively accessible, as the highway in this section runs along the coast (it turns inland farther south). This stretch still feels remote and pristine, but hotels are beginning to erupt along it and soon it will go the way of Na’ama Bay.

There are several quiet and secluded beach camps here. 16km north of Nuweiba is Maagana Beach, a Bedouin camp near some colorful rock formations, with nearby reefs. Huts cost LE5, and there’s a restaurant. Devil’s Head is this camp’s mirror image; you’ll find it lkm north on the other side of the rocky point. (Huts LE5.) Thirteen km north of Devil’s Head (40km south of Taba, in Ras Burqa) is Basata. Truly a snorkeling paradise, the camp has beautiful bamboo/thatched architecture and is kept immaculate. The fully-stocked kitchen works on a self-service basis: take what you want, when you want, and fix your own. Huts are LE20 for a single, LE30 for a double. Camping on the clean beach costs LE7.

Farther up the coast approaching Taba is a remote and beautiful spot called The Fjord, where a small inlet cuts into the steep hills. The Salima Restaurant and Camp (tel. 67 51 22) is right off the highway on a small ledge overlooking the bay. A few rooms are crammed between the restaurant and the rock slope behind it; if Salima hasn’t rumbled off its perch, it may be worth checking out.

Eight km south of Taba is Pharaoh’s Island (Gazirat Faraun; Israelis call it Coral Island), a rocky outcrop just offshore which bears the ruins of a castle, built circa 1115, which once guarded this extreme end of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Salah ad-Din took the fortress in 1171 but abandoned it in 1183 after European counterattacks. The site has recently undergone extensive restoration, allowing you to see the palm log-reinforced ceilings, the huge cisterns, and the bases of sunken columns in the salt-water pond. A boat ferries visitors from the shore to the island, where there is a cafeteria and where you can get a ticket to tour the castle. This spot is a popular excursion by boat from both Eilat and Aqaba (see those cities for details); the diving is renowned, as the name suggests. On the Sinai shore is the Salah al-Din hotel, an expensive but attractive stone construction.

Taba itself has only the Hilton. The vast air-conditioned lobby could easily accommodate 50 thatched huts at LE5 per night, but inexplicably the hotel overlooks this potential gold mine.