Travel Infos

DAHAB HOLIDAY – TRAVEL INFO

How to get to Dahab
By plane: The main airport is Sharm El Sheikh (SSH), which is approx. 1-1.5 hours away from Dahab. We organise transfers from the airport to Dahab. The next airport is Taba (TCP), which is around 2-5 hours away.
By Bus: There are about 4-5 buses per day from Cairo to Dahab (there is also a night bus), the journey takes around 9 hours.
If you arrive from the Taba border: the easiest is to take a taxi from there, it will take you about 2.5 hours (for approx. 400 LE). Otherwise, a public bus runs about 1-2 times per day only.

Luggage and dive gear
Divers or surfers may well want to bring their own equipment with them. Please bear in mind that there is normally a 20 kg per person limit on luggage. Most airlines will push that up to 30kg if you let them know in advance you’ll be travelling with sports equipment. So make sure you give them a call and also pack sports gear in a separate bag. Dive torches must have their bulbs removed.
You can buy most of your holiday accessories in Dahab, but there are some vital items you should make sure you don’t forget: Sun glasses, sun hat, sun cream, mosquito spray or cream (Off or Autan), warm clothing for the evenings. Short-sighted divers might like to take disposable daily contact lenses with them.

Average Temperatures (Air / Water in Celsius)
With an average of 2 days rain per year, little clouds, Dahab is almost sunny all year around, making it a great holiday destination to escape from the cold and grey.

Visa and documentation
You can buy your visa at the Egyptian embassy in your country before you leave, however it’s far easier to buy it on arrival at the airport, for this, you’ll be given a landing card on the plane It costs about 15 USD / 15 Euros – you simply go to the bank counter in the arrivals hall where you’ll be given two stamps to stick in your passport. Make sure that your passport is valid for at least another six months. The visa you’ll receive is ‘All Egypt’, allowing you to travel beyond Sinai if you want to explore the rest of the country.

If you’re planning to stay only in Dahab, you can get a „SINAY ONLY“ visa, which is normally free and you won’t need stamps for your passport. If you want a „SINAY ONLY“ visa, remember to write this on your landing card.
Important: this visa is valid for stays of max. 14 days, and you cannot go e.g. to Ras Mohamed or to Coloured Canyon!! Getting an ‘All Egypt’ visa once you’ve left the airport is very complicated and difficult (you might need to go to Israel!!).

Please also check the website of your government to see the latest entrance visa rules.

Insurance
We strongly recommend that you take out travel insurance before leaving home. Particularly if you’re planning on diving or riding horses or camels, make sure your policy covers these activities. You can buy special diving insurance at www.padi.com or www.daneurope.org.

Vaccinations
There are no requirements for vaccinations when travelling to Egypt at the moment. However, it is advised that you’re vaccinated against polio, hepatitis A and tetanus.

Advice for divers
Make sure you’re fit and healthy before diving. If you want to do a PADI dive course then you’ll need to fill out a PADI health check form. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions you are advised to get medical approval before you dive, and bring this with you. Feel free to ask dahab.net to send you the PADI health-check document.

Telephone and internet
The mobile network in Egypt now has very good coverage. Mobile phones work in most places. You can also make calls with phone cards from public phones and phone shops for about 1 Euro per minute. If you plan on staying longer in Dahab, it is worth getting an Egyptian call-by-call SIM card (Mobinil or Vodafone), this will save you a lot of money.
There are plenty of internet cafes – most are high speed DSL connections and cost 8 LE (approx. 0.80 GBP) per hour.
Numerous Beach-Cafes now also offer free WLAN.

Money
The currency is the Egyptian Pound (written as LE), which translates to about LE8 to GBP1 and about LE 7 to 1 EUR. All banks and some shops will change currency for you. Banks are open normally from 9am – 2pm and 5-10pm.

Click for the latest: exchange rate

Holes in the wall / ATMs
There are several holes in the wall in Dahab. You can take out money using Visa, Mastercard, Maestro as well as EC and Cirrus Cards, using your PIN number. Beware: the ATMs do not always work (slight exception: CIB Bank in Mashraba), so do not wait till the last minute to retrieve cash! If you would like to retrieve cash upon arrival in Egypt, there is an ATM at the SSH airport before the passport control.

Prices:
Dahab ist quite inexpensive for Western standards. Here some guidelines:
Supermarket:
Water 1,5liter: 2-3 LE           Cola can: 2-3 LE
Crisps/small snacks: 2-4 LE
Restaurant:
Nescafe/Tea: 5 LE                   Fruit juices: 12 LE   Beer: 12 LE
Vegetarian meal: 20-30 LE       Meat: 60 LE            Fish: 70 LE                      
Cigarettes: 5-10 LE
Taxi within Dahab: 5-10 LE (per Taxi, not per person!! Please don’t pay more, a lot of taxi drivers are spoiling prices by asking outrageous amounts)

Local culture
Please respect the local culture. Women should dress moderately when walking in the streets and men should not walk without shirt in the streets  – despite the rise in skimpy outfits due to the increase in tourism, the local Egyptians and Bedouins do find this offensive and you should avoid it as much as possible.

Safety
Petty crime rates are low here compared to European countries and the tourism police have a high presence in the town. Most of them speak English and are very willing to help in case of difficulty.

Health
Dahab has plenty of doctors, excellent dentists and physiotherapists as well as a hospital. There are several pharmacies and most hotels will have a doctor on call if necessary.
Divers should make sure they have specific diving insurance in case of accidents, which may require them to use the decompression chamber in Dahab. Divers can get an insurance at the local dive centers for the chamber DECO International Dahab.
Remember to drink at least 2-3 litres of water each day to avoid dehydration, and in the summer or if you are a diver even much much more!

Transport
In Dahab you can use any of the jeeps and pickups that act as taxis, and should charge you between LE 5 for most local journeys. If you want to take a bus to Sharm, Cairo or Nuweiba, then you need to take an East Delta bus from the station – it’s best to reserve tickets at the office, open 8am – 10pm, before travelling.
Further schedules are at www.ask-aladdin.com/transportation_in_egypt.htm

A few arabic phrases…
Greeting: salam aleikum     Answer: aleikum salam
Please: min faddlak            Thank you: Shukran           You are welcome: Afuan
Bye bye: ma’salaama Yes: aiwa   No: la

Important phone numbers
Prefix Egypt: +20  Prefix Dahab: 069

Emergency
Police station   069-3640 215
Tourist police  069-3640 188
Hospital Dahab  069-3640 208

Doctors
Dr Heikal  010-1433 325
Dr Ahmed Sadek  012-3486 209

Dentist
Dr Adel Ramadan  012-4515 998

Sharm el Sheikh
Emergency  069-3661 744 / 745
International Hospital  069-3660 201

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