Dahab Travel Guide

A COUPLE MORE PICTURES TO COME WHEN INTERNET IS BETTER.

One more Dahab post. This one is basically a Dahab travel guide as we spent almost 3 weeks there in the end, stayed in 3 different hotels, and ate at about 20 different restaurants. We originally wrote this up for a friend we met in London (more on that soon) and we're too lazy to edit it, so it's more informal and written in the second person... Now, here's some info for anyone thinking about making a trip to Dahab:

HOTELS:

First off, all the hotels there have salt-water showers, just so you know...

Pengiun should be fine if you don't mind hostels. It seemed clean enough, but yeah - the private bath would probably be worth the splurge, especially as it's still a good price and right in the center of things.

If you decide to move, however, here are the places we stayed:
1) Christina - near to Penguin and nice - my parents paid for this one. It's about 50 euros/night for a double room with private bath and a huge breakfast spread included. Probably a bit pricey for what you get relative to Egypt, but definitely the nicest place we stayed in Dahab.

2) Bamboo House - near another center (right by the bridge), this place was definitely a step down from Christina, but still decent, clean, and with incredible ocean views. Breakfast also included, but kinda weak, to be honest.

3) Sheikh Salam House - down at the very end of the strip past the Lighthouse Reef. I wouldn't stay here. The bed was really uncomfortable and the kitchen was filthy. But it did have a kitchen. And they also have snorkel gear you can borrow for free, which is nice.

But my recommendation if you don't like the Penguin is just to walk up and down the boardwalk and check out a few likely looking places as there are probably about a hundred hotels within walking distance.

OK, restaurant time. The numbers beside each one are how we ranked them overall in terms of overall awesomeness. But we broke them up into different sections based on type and location of place.

SOUTH OF THE BRIDGE:

1.Shams
Really, really delicious food and Hassan, the server/host, is awesome. His mom cooks all the food in the back, and you should probably listen to his recommendations.
If you want to listen to ours, definitely go for the chicken shwarma here (so tasty with homemade bread with crispy cheese baked onto it) and the tomato and/or chicken soups. Sheesha here is more expensive than elsewhere, but they do it well.

7.Lakbatita -
Italian food that is real Italian food and not some weird Egyptian take on it. At least the stuff we got was good. Milkshakes, however, were a bit watery for my liking.

8.Penguin -
One of the many standard restaurants around town, this one was very welcoming and had above average food. It was also the first place we ate in Dahab, so could have fonder memories than if we'd tried everywhere else first. The special Egyptian fish plate (whose name I can't recall) was particularly good).

9.Funny Mummy -
Probably the best all around lounge spot in town. Free WIFI that actually works, decent food, and cheap sheesha and tea (5 pounds each). Only food we had here was on New Year's Eve, where I had the big mixed grill which had some especially delicious chunks of BBQ'd beef (though my mom claims it made her sick) and Kate had the coconut curry, which, while good, was a little cold. Still, gotta at least check it out for a cup of tea...

11.Bedouin Divers -
Didn't actually eat here, though the food looked quite good. This one we used mostly just as an occasional break from the Funny Mummy sheesha scene.
Bedouin Divers is a slightly posher atmosphere... but also slightly more expensive and the sheesha, while better, is lit with auto-start coals that kept going out.

18.Jasmine -
Not that good and the guy tried to overcharge us. He was hard selling this platter that came with fish, calamari, and shrimp, and even though my dad ordered something else that had much less than that, he still wanted to charge about 3 times the price of that platter. It was a genuine misunderstanding I think, but he was shady about it all the same and, like I said, food was pretty subpar.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH:

2.Sea Bride -
Delicious seafood. It's not on the water, but in town, just off the main pedestrian shopping street. There's a little fishmonger's stand out front where you pick what you want and they charge you about 50 pounds per kilo, then cook it up and serve it to you upstairs with heaping portions of soup, hummus, baba ganoush, salads, pita, etc... Probably the best fish we had in town and certainly the most ridiculously oversized portions.

4.Lazy Camel -
The cafe out at the Sheikh Salam House. If you find yourself snorkeling/diving at Eel Garden, check them out as they know how to cook a mean burger, as well as some other veggies options not always standard fare, like a vegetable curry, cous cous salad, and vegetable wraps. Their tea, however, is a bit pricier than other spots - though good - and the sheesha pipes were always broken.


CHEAP EATS:

6.Al Hussein -
This is right across from King Chicken on the pedestrian street. Scrumptious BBQ meats. Really, really good steak as well as chicken at tiny prices. HOWEVER, the guy who runs it really, really, really tried to rip us off. So just keep a copy of the menu nearby and point out that a) your meal does include the salads and b) the price really is listed as 20 and not 70 pounds.

12.Mega Mix -
You'll probably never find this as it's on the street side of Sheikh Salam house and then outside of the little town area around there... but if you do, it's the best of the basic chicken, rice, soup, salads places. And decent pizza too.

13.King Chicken -
Soup, rice, half a chicken, and salads for about 15 pounds. A pretty good deal and decent food too. Basic, but a good change from the seaside restaurants with their identical menus.

14.New al Hussein -
Another soup, rice, chicken... place. Identical menu to King Chicken with very similar results. Except we preferred the King Chicken soup to the one here.

16.Koshary House -
Cheapest option in town and the only place we saw offering koshary, the Egyptian pasta. Not the best koshary we had in Egypt, but mostly just because the food wasn't hot. Still, for 3 pounds a bowl... tough to beat that price.

17.Panda -
This is down by the lagoon, and the only cheap option we could find. Decent food, but nothing too special. Still, if you're down by the lagoon and don't want to go out for a huge meal, this might be the place.

SEASIDE CLONES NORTH OF THE BRIDGE:

3.Carm Inn -
Tasty gourmet food on the waterfront but without waterfront seating. They serve a lot of stuff on sizzling hotplates which makes for a good presentation, plus the atmosphere is quite romantic as well. They also have weekly entree and desert specials. One that's always on the menu and incredibly delicious is the Fish Carm.

5.Ali Baba -
Probably the best of the standard sea front fare. Partly because they threw in a ridiculous amount of extras: free soup, free humus, free baba ganoush, free desert, free appetizers... and definitely tasty too.

10.Napoleon -
Another seaside clone. Can't remember what I ate there as I don't think it was anything that special. But definitely not that bad that I remember it either.

15.Al Capone -
Right next to the bridge. We eventually went as Osama, their tout, had been hassling us for literally weeks to go there and by this time, we were almost friends. He also threw in a ton of free stuff... but the food, unfortunately, just wasn't that good. Kind of bland and overpriced relative to the other restaurants offering the same stuff just down the way.


DIVE SPOTS:

Now, as for dive spots... we didn't go diving so can't tell you. But we can recommend snorkeling spots. Here are our reviews of the ones we went to:

Eel Garden - close to Sheikh Salam House, it's a bit annoying to get out to the reef itself as you have to swim over the reef table, but there is a ton of life and we always had great visibility here. Definitely one of our favorite spots.

Lighthouse - the most visited spot in the area, I think. The reef does drop away quite spectacularly but its usually crowded and we never had good visibility as the waves were always kicking up silt. Despite this, it's probably the most wind shielded spot in the area.

Islands - in between the main town and the Lagoon resort area. Islands is pretty cool. There wasn't a whole ton of life, but the coral here is pretty amazing. And, as the name suggests, it's basically a bunch of coral islands that you can wind through, swim over, etc...

Lagoon - way too touristy. There actually weren't many other divers/snorkelers when we went but there wasn't a ton to see either. However, we did later do a glass bottom boat trip with my dad and they dropped us off in the reef a ways away from the shore for 30 minutes of snorkeling in some of the clearest water we had. So that part actually turned out to be one of the underwater highlights.

Blue Hole - the most famous spot in the area and worth it to check out. There is an instant drop off from shore to about 70 meters below the surface and it's just coral reef straight down. Make sure to go a little north of the main entrance point and let the current take you back to the "Blue Hole" itself as the whole region is teeming with life. It's a bit touristy and crowded, but definitely worth it.


DAY TRIPS:

We went with King Safari on a trip to the Colored Canyon and White Canyon. The canyons themselves were quite spectacular, but the guides were not. I'd particularly recommend the White Canyon, especially if you're thinking about going to Wadi Rum in Jordan as I hear it's very similar to the Colored Canyon. But the Colored Canyon was quite cool too. We went with King Safari as they offered the best price and said we'd be in a jeep with like 4 other people. We were in the jeep with 4 other people... but there were about 30 jeeps that joined us at every stop and the guide didn't really explain anything - he was mostly just there to make sure that we didn't get lost.

For some reason, we also went with King Safari to climb Mt. Sinai. We did the day trip, but the overnight is supposed to be much better. Again, a let down guide wise as our Bedouin at the mountain itself literally did not say a single word without being heavily prompted first. Still, if you want to see St. Catherine's Monastery and the mountain, King Safari isn't a bad option as it's basically the same price as organizing everything on your own and much easier. Just don't expect much service. As far as the mountain itself... definitely some pretty cool views on the climb - which does get quite hard when you get to the steps near the top - but the monastery, while also cool, was completely overrun. Literally, it was like being in a crowd at a concert - just nowhere to move. And bring something to eat as the restaurant there is reservation only and the cafe doesn't sell any food other than biscuits and candy bars.

If you don't mind spending a little more money on a tour, Embah is supposed to be the best operator in town...

And a quick note about Sharm el Sheik - it's really expensive. Internet in Dahab is like 4 pounds and hour, for example, and in Sharm, it's about 20 pounds at the cheap places. It was 50 pounds an hour for WIFI at the hotel we stayed at. Likewise, restaurants, hotels, etc... all highly overpriced. And taxis... at the airport, you will have to take a taxi to the bus station. It should cost about 35 pounds, but they most likely will insist for several minutes that they won't take less than 100. They'll tell you that they have to pay a premium for taking taxis into the airport. This is true - the premium is 5 pounds. So offer to pay an extra 5 pounds on top to cover this and claim you've been to Sharm before to convince them you know what you're talking about. Also, I wouldn't have them use a meter if you can help it as I'm pretty sure the meters are often rigged. We never took a taxi from the airport to the bus station (just into town, then on to the bus station) so I can't give the price exactly, but I would guess that a fair price is around 50 pounds. I think we paid 40 from town to the airport and 15 from the bus station to town, both after some serious haggling...


PETRA:

First off, make sure that if you organize it on your own, you bring plenty of either US dollars or Euros, preferably dollars. Now, as for the route you'll have to take...

First up, taxi from Dahab to the Dahab bus station - 10 minutes (and this is probably a good time to mention - the standard taxi price from Dahab to the bus station is 5 pounds a person). Next, take a bus from Dahab to Nuweiba - about 1.5 hours. The bus stops right next to the port, but you'll have to walk a couple blocks back the way you came to get to the ticket office where you'll have to leave them your passports for about 15-30 minutes while they work out the tickets. Tickets cost $70/person or €65/person from Nuweiba to Aqaba. Next, you'll have to walk back to the port, go through metal detectors, etc... Then find the departure terminal, which was more difficult than we thought it'd be. Then get your passport stamped. Then wait several hours for the ferry that will invariably be late. Then take the ferry, which takes about 2 hours. While on the ferry, you'll have to give up your passport again to get the (free) Jordanian visa. They won't give you your passport back until you get off the ferry... and get into the Aqaba arrivals hall where all the foreigners will be clustered waiting for the officials to call their name. You actually don't want to be one of the first ones called either as that means they're going to question you about something. It took us another hour or so to get the passports back after deboarding. Then, you'll be ushered past the Arabs waiting in line and emerge outside into a really chaotic and disorienting indoor/outdoor unlit tunnel lined with touts for taxis. The tunnel leads to the parking lot where the taxis and buses are... so you're almost there at this point. I would highly recommend arranging a taxi with your hotel in Petra to come and pick you up. You pay a slight premium over the return journey... but I don't think you'll pay any more than you would getting a taxi at the port and your driver will meet you before tunnel, usher you out, etc... and then it's another 1.5 hours drive to Petra. You should pay about 40 dinars for this service, about 25 for the return.

As far as where to stay in Petra, basically anywhere but the Petra Gate is probably OK. It was probably the worst hostel we've stayed in, at least in the past several months. Just falling apart, bugs everywhere... and the bed literally did fall apart and was never fixed while we were there so I just had a mattress on the floor. That said, it is cheap and the owner is extremely nice and helpful...

I would recommend 2 days in Petra to really get to see it all. Also, it's financially smart as well as 1 day is like 24 dinar (which are about 1:1 with the euro) and 2 days is 27 or so. Not sure that you need a guide as wandering around and exploring is the best part - but a guidebook with some info would be helpful as there are few signs and they didn't have any English language pamphlets when we went. But if they're out of those and only German is displayed (as it was for us) make sure to ask at the counter for Spanish or another language you speak as they for some reason didn't display those.

As for food, there is the Red Cave restaurant that's right next to the Petra park entrance and that was pretty tasty at pretty decent prices (under 10 dinar/person for starter, drink, and main). We also went to a little shwarma place in town that was also quite good, but I can't remember the name. You'll want to bring water and food with you when you go to see the ruins as it's a full day thing and only 1 fancy restaurant inside. There are a few tea shops, however, positioned outside of the big ruins where it can be nice to stop for some tea...

For the return trip back to Dahab... you can pay this ticket in Jordanian dinars, but you'll still have to jump through some hoops to get your exit stamps. Just make sure to get to the port with plenty of time before the boat leaves. When you get back to Egypt, it will be chaos. Their arrivals port is horribly run and really confusing - just look for other foreigners. You'll have to pay for a new visa here too unless you can get a multiple entry one in the UK before you leave. By the time you arrive back, you'll most likely be too late for the last bus to Dahab from Nuweiba as the ferry is always late. There are taxis and mini buses waiting, of course, and they will want to charge about 100 pounds per person. We were able to get seats in a mini bus for about 30 pounds per person (which is still double the regular bus price) after more serious haggling that resulted in several stopped cars, getting into one car, being forced to get out of it, haggling some more, getting in another car, getting the price dropped for everyone else in the car, getting yelled at an cursed by a couple different drivers, etc... pretty insane return to Egypt...

The only other note I can think of is to always take your passport with you on day trips as there are a ton of police check points and you have to show a valid visa each time.

That's the email.

Though, as Laurel pointed out and we maybe should have added, there are lots of stray kittens, like these two. But to sum up our last 10 days in Dahab... we did a lot of lounging. We stayed at the Sheikh Salam house and went snorkeling about every other day, slept in late, took some walks into town, did some shopping... but nothing all that interesting. We needed to recuperate after the whirlwind couple weeks with the family. And then, before we knew it, we were moving on to Alexandria via a night bus. But that'll be covered in the next blog.