Nuweiba is the Sinai at its most unhurried — a long, loose scatter of palm-shaded Bedouin camps strung along the Gulf of Aqaba, where the desert mountains fall almost straight into a startlingly blue sea. There is no real town to speak of, no rush and little noise; people come here precisely to slow down. By day the light is fierce and the water calm; at dusk the mountains behind the beach glow a deep rose, and across the narrow gulf the coast of Saudi Arabia turns gold then violet. It is the kind of place where a planned overnight stretches, easily, into a week.

The pleasures are simple and shaped by the landscape. Tarabin Beach, just north, is the liveliest strip, its huts and cafes spilling onto the sand. Further along, the camps at Ras Shaitan are quieter, built for hammocks, swimming and doing very little. Inland, a 4x4 and a short walk bring you to the Coloured Canyon, a narrow gorge of sandstone walls banded in ochre, rust and violet, while the gentler Wadi El Weshwashy offers a half-day hike through palm and rock. Back on the coast, the house reefs drop away just offshore, easy snorkelling straight from the beach.

After dark, life gathers around the fire. At camps like Habiba Beach Lodge and the Ras Shaitan huts, Bedouin hosts grill the day's catch and serve it under a sky thick with stars, the only sounds the lap of the gulf and the crackle of driftwood. There is a practical magic to the place too: from Nuweiba's port, a ferry crosses to Aqaba in Jordan, putting Petra within reach of a longer trip. But most travellers find the greatest luxury is simply staying put, barefoot, with nowhere in particular to be.