Mount Sinai: Jabal Musa

Hiking Sinai: Sky above, earth bellow and pace within.

The appeal of the Sinai Peninsula is obvious; Whether you’re seeking a religious pilgrimage, a modern historical journey, a desert adventure a la Lawrence of Arabia, or a scuba diving trip in the Red Sea, the region has something spectacular to offer. We’ll post about all of the above, but in this post we want to focus on the first three (because you can do all of them at once, Sinai is literally that awesome). Specifically, we’re talking about Mt. Sinai.

If you’re religious, Mt. Sinai probably has a very specific meaning for you. Legend has it this is where Moses received the ten commandments from God, and a shrine sits atop the mountain to commemorate the moment in religious mythological history shared by all three monotheistic faiths. The cool thing is, you can actually go there! It’s a real, fully visitable place.

If you’re an avid follower of the news, Sinai probably has a very different meaning. You might associate the name “Sinai” with terrorism, smuggling, kidnapping, and violence. So, let’s get this out of the way first: Sinai is perfectly safe to visit, and perfectly awesome. All of the scary news stories come from the north near the border with Palestine/Israel. South Sinai, alternatively, is very safe, friendly, and offers everything you’d ever want from an off-the-beaten-path travel destination. So again, it’s a real, safe, fully visitable place!

To get to Mt. Sinai

You’ll fly into Sharm El-Sheikh and stay in Dahab (way better then Sharm). There are a variety of freelance Bedouin tour guides, so ask around in Dahab. You’ll find some outfits online, but as is typical you’ll pay more for a more “formal” outfit catering to apprehensive foreign tourists. We paid around 300 USD (although retrospectively we could’ve probably paid a lot less). This included pick up from our hotel in Dahab, round trip ride to the mountain, guided hike with an English-speaking Bedouin guide, permits (although we suspected our guide didn’t actually have to pay for these as part of the tightly knit Bedouin community, but like, support the local economy y’know?), and a trip to St. Catherine’s Monastery, a religious pilgrimage site for the past 15 centuries and home to the largest library of ancient religious manuscripts outside of the Vatican.

As for the trip and hike, they are so cool. Our drive out there was amazing, and our driver was a living treasure trove of information on Bedouin culture and heritage. You’ll pass a fascinating tapestry of semi-nomadic villages, modern Bedouin settlements, ghost towns, and mountains of desert sand – the same ones the bible says Moses crossed in Exodus.

Mt. Sinai is the second tallest mountain on the Peninsula and takes about four hours round trip to hike. On the way up you’ll find awesome, clean “cafes” where you can get some cup-o-noodles, water, and coffee. The views are stunning and surreal, especially toward sunset as the vast desert peninsula becomes shrouded in the light blue tint of desert evenings. The top of the mountain is a spiritual experience whether you find your soul in nature or in books. For us, it was a meditative, beautiful space with beautiful views and deep, resonant history. We spent a couple hours just sitting and watching the sun go down and enjoying each other’s company.

The tips for hiking

Mt. Sinai are typical of any hike in the region, but just in case:

• Bring something to cover your head. If you forget, there are lots of shops at the base of mountain that have Bedouin headscarves. Everyone is wearing them, so it doesn’t feel tacky.

• Sunscreen.

• Skip the camel rides, the walk isn’t that difficult, and you’ll honestly enjoy it more.

• Camp if you can! Lots of guides offer this, and you’ll be treated to zillions of stars if you do.

• Pack snacks, there’s not much around other than the aforementioned cup-o-noodles.

• If you meet a friendly cat on top of the mountain, that’s Pablo, we love him but decided he had a better life on the top of the mountain than living in our Cairo apartment.

Otherwise, enjoy! The trip can be a little intimidating, but we promise, it’s easy, the people are friendly, and it will be well worth the leap of faith. Stay-tuned, we’ll share some more awesome stuff to do in Sinai over the next couple weeks, including our recommendations for dive shops in Dahab.

Until then, have a great adventure!