The Sinai Peninsula is the easternmost part of Egypt between the Mediterranean and the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, both forks of the Red Sea. The western and northern coasts are practically uninhabited, but several Bedouin settlements-cum-tourist attractions dot the eastern coast.
Above ground is a harsh, forbidding and (in summer) brutally hot desert of parched rock. The reason most tourists come here is the vistas underwater: the Sinai coast offers some of the best diving in the world.
Cities
Other destinations
Talk
Like in all Egypt, the language of the Sinai is the Egyptian Dialect of the Arabic language. But in tourist areas you also get through with English, and on the east coast also with Hebrew, because here many Israelis come for holidays.
Get in
No Egyptian visa is required, as special 14-day Sinai permits are granted on arrival at the Taba border, Taba Airport and Sharm el-Sheikh's airport. Note that this permit allows travel only on the eastern Sinai coast and the Mount Sinai with St. Catherine's monastery.
By land
There is a busy border crossing between Eilat, Israel and Taba. See the Taba article for details on crossing in either direction.
By ferry
Two ferries run between Nuweiba and Aqaba, Jordan. One is a standard speed ferry, the other a so-called high-speed ferry. For travelers interested in bypassing Israel by crossing the Gulf of Aqaba from Egypt to Jordan directly, these ferries offer some degree of convenience. Patronized mainly by Arab nationals prohibited from entering Israel, the ferries will save other travelers little time and hassle over the land route from Taba through Eilat to Aqaba.
Regular ferry: US$35, plus 50 EGP or 5 JD departure tax.
High-speed ferry: US$50, plus 50 EGP or 5 JD departure tax. Though its marketing materials say, "On time departure, first class service," that is not quite true of the high-speed ferry, named the Princess. The boat departs daily from Nuweiba at 3PM, or so its schedule says. However, the consensus among regular travelers is that the real time of departure is more like 5PM. (Schedule of Aqaba to Nuweiba trips unknown.) For trips departing Egypt, passengers must arrive at the station in Nuweiba and purchase tickets by 1PM. AB Maritime, the company that owns the Princess, does not offer any baggage handling service; indeed, luggage must be stacked against the walls of the vast cargo hold beneath the passenger deck, and cannot be taken as "carry on." And, non-sensically, dirty crowded buses transport passengers from the customs terminals in both Nuweiba and Aqaba to the boat, meaning an extra busride on each end of the trip adds time to the schedule.
By train
There are trains to Port Said.
Get around
Whether you're going from the airport to your hotel, traveling from beach resort to beach resort, trekking up to St. Katherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai, or heading to Nuweiba to catch the ferry to Aqaba, Jordan, the trick to getting around in Sinai is to coordinate all ground transport through your hotel.
By taxi
If you're on any kind of reasonable budget, avoid at all costs the local taxis, whose prices are higher than Cairo taxis by a factor of around 10.
By minibus
Inexpensive minibuses travel on regular scheduled throughout the peninsula. The key to utilizing them is to do it through your hotel. Ask your hotel to coordinate your timetable, pick-up, and pricing. The exceptions to this hotel rule are minibuses traveling to and from Cairo, which leave all day, as soon as they are full of passengers, from Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab. In Sharm el-Sheikh, you can find these minibuses at the west end of the taxi parking lot in front of the strip mall in the center of town.
By bus
Regular cheap full-sized coaches depart daily for points throughout the peninsula from bus stations in Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab. Be sure to check schedules at the bus station, however, because the times are always changing and even hotels can get them wrong. In Sharm el-Sheikh, the East Delta bus station lies about 2km outside of town on the road toward the airport and Dahab. As of Feb 2007, buses from Sharm el-Sheikh to Dahab and Nuweiba ran daily only at 9:00 AM and 2:30 PM.
See
Do
Several local organisations offer trekking and excursions into the Sinai desert. The Bedouin tribe of the mountains (http://www.sheikmousa.com) organises treks in St Katherine's national park.
Others offer yoga trips to the St Katherine's area and the desert itself (http://www.yogatravel.co.uk) where the silence and tranquility is ideal for relaxation and meditation.
:For other uses of the word Sinai, please see: Sinai (disambiguation).
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai (Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا; Arabic, sina'a سيناء; Sinin in most Semitic languages, Hebrew: סיני Si-nai) is a triangle-shaped peninsula in Egypt. Sinai is the part of Egypt that lies in Asia. It lies between the Mediterranean Sea (to the north) and Red Sea (to the south), forming a land bridge to Southwest Asia. Its area is about 60,000 km².
History
The Sinai was inhabited by the Monitu and was called Mafkat or Country of Turquoise. From the time of the First dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in Sinai at two locations, now called by their Arabic names Wadi Maghareh and Serabit el-Khadim. They were operated on and off on a seasonal basis for thousands of years. Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable. These may be the first known mines.
Modern history
The Mamluks of Egypt controlled the Sinai from 1260 to 1518, when the Ottoman Sultan, Selim the Grim, destroyed them at the Battles of Marj Dabiq and al-Raydaniyya. From then until the early 20th century, Sinai, as part of the Pashalik of Egypt, was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. In 1906 it became part of the British-controlled Egypt, when the Turkish government yielded to British pressure to hand over the peninsula. The border imposed by the British runs in an almost straight line from Rafah on the Mediterranean shore to Taba on the Gulf of Aqaba. This line served as the eastern border of Sinai ever since, and is now the international border between Israel and Egypt.
In 1948, Egyptian forces passed through Sinai on their way to invade the newly-created state of Israel based on a United Nations partition dividing the land between the Jews and the Arabs. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israeli forces entered the north-eastern corner of Sinai, but withdrew shortly after, following British and American pressure. Under the terms of the 1949 Armistice Agreement, Sinai, together with the Gaza Strip, remained under Egyptian control, although parts of it were demilitarized.
In 1956, Egypt used its control of Sinai to impose a blockade on the Israeli port of Eilat. Following this, Israeli forces, aided by Britain and France (which sought to regain control over the Suez Canal) invaded Sinai, and took control over the entire peninsula within a few days (see Suez Crisis). Several months later, Israel withdrew its forces from Sinai, following strong American and Soviet pressure. Following this, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), was stationed in Sinai to prevent any military occupation of the Sinai.
In 1967, Egypt reinforced its military presence in Sinai, renewed the blockade on Eilat, and on May 16 ordered the UNEF out of Sinai effective immediately. Secretary-General U Thant eventually complied and ordered the withrawal without Security Council authorization. In response, Israel initiated the Six-Day War in which the Egyptian army was defeated, and Israel took control over the entire peninsula. The Suez Canal, the east bank of which was now controlled by Israel, was closed.
In the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Egyptian forces built pontoon bridges to cross the Suez Canal, and stormed the supposedly impregnable Bar-Lev Line to gain control of most of the Eastern Bank. With depth reaching 20 km in Sinai, the war ended with some of each side's forces on both sides of the canal. As part of the subsequent Sinai Disengagement Agreements, Israel withdrew from west of the canal and pulled out of an additional strip in the western Sinai - while Egyptians held positions in Sinai - allowing for the later re-opening of the canal eventually under Egyptian control.
In 1979 Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in which Israel agreed to transfer all control over Sinai to Egypt, despite the fact that large oil reserves had recently been found in the region. Subsequently, Israel pulled out of Sinai in several stages, ending in 1982. The Israeli pull-out involved the dismantling of almost all of the Israeli settlements, including the town of Yamit in north-eastern Sinai. The exception was Ofira, which became the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Present
The Sinai Peninsula is currently divided among several governorates, or provinces, of Egyptian administration. The southern portion of the Sinai is called Janub Sina' in Arabic, literally "South of Sinai"; the northern portion is named Shamal Sina', or "North of Sinai". The other three governates converge on the Suez Canal, including As Suways, literally "the Suez"; on its southern end and crosses into Egypt-proper. In the center is Al Isma'iliyah, and Bur Sa'id lies in the north with its capital at Port Said.
Approximately 66,500 people live in Janub Sina' and 314,000 live in Shamal Sina'. Port Said itself has a population of roughly 500,000 people. Portions of the populations of Al Isma'iliyah and As Suways live in Sinai, while the rest live on the western side of the Suez Canal in Egypt-proper. The combined population of these two governorates is roughly 1.3 million (only a part of that population live in the Sinai, while the rest live on the western side of the Suez Canal).
In part due to its being a tourist destination due to its proximity to Israel, the Sinai has been the site of several terrorist attacks targeted at Westerners and Israelis, but also Egyptians on holiday.
References
See also
External links
