Explore Egypt

The 16th-century Sultan Selim fortress guarding the old harbour, now a museum of the town's spice- and pilgrim-trade past.

Coral-block houses with carved wooden balconies line sleepy lanes around the harbour — a rare old Red Sea townscape.

A pristine fringing reef metres off the beach, regularly rated among the best shore dives on the whole coast.

Domed white bungalows tumbling down to a private bay, a low-key eco-minded resort built around its famous reef.

From this quay millennia of trade sailed — Pharaonic expeditions to Punt, then Roman, then the Mecca pilgrimage.

A simple harbour-side grill where the catch comes straight off the boats — the town's freshest seafood.

A tiny historic mosque in the old quarter, its modest minaret a landmark of the pilgrim town for centuries.