Tour Overview
This private 2-day trip from Cairo takes you to South Sinai to climb Mount Sinai for sunrise and visit St. Catherine's Monastery at its foot. A private car drives you to St. Catherine, about six hours away, for a night in a local hotel. At 2:00 am you set off with a Bedouin guide up the mountain, see the sun rise from the summit, tour the monastery and drive back.
Tour Highlights
- Climb Mount Sinai through the night with a local Bedouin guide and reach the summit in time to watch the sunrise over the granite peaks.
- Stand on the mountain where, in Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.
- Visit St. Catherine's Monastery, a center of pilgrimage for some 15 centuries and one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world.
- Travel in a private air-conditioned car from your Cairo hotel, with an Egyptologist guide and bottled water on board.
- Rest in a hotel in St. Catherine before the climb, and return there for breakfast after the monastery before driving back.
Tour Route
How hard is the Mount Sinai sunrise climb?
It is a real hike, not a stroll. You walk uphill in the dark on a rocky mountain trail with a Bedouin guide, starting from your hotel at 2:00 am and coming down by about 7:00 am. You need reasonable fitness and good shoes. Travelers with heart, knee or breathing problems should check with a doctor first.
Why is Mount Sinai important?
In Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, Mount Sinai, known locally as Jebel Musa, is where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. Pilgrims have climbed it for many centuries, and the sunrise from the top is now one of the best-known moments of any trip to Sinai.
At the foot of the mountain, St. Catherine's Monastery was founded in the 6th century under the Byzantine emperor Justinian. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still a working Greek Orthodox monastery, famous for its ancient icons and its library of old manuscripts.
What should you bring for the climb?
Bring warm layers even in the warmer months, since the summit is cold before sunrise, plus sturdy closed shoes, a flashlight or headlamp, water and a small snack. For the monastery, dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered. Keep your passport with you for the hotel check-in and the road.
- Warm jacket, hat and gloves: especially from late autumn to early spring.
- Headlamp or flashlight: the trail is unlit at night.
- Small backpack: to carry water and layers you take off as you climb.
What else can you see from Cairo?
For something closer to the city, the Coptic Cairo day tour visits the churches linked to the Holy Family's journey, and the Wadi El Natrun monasteries trip shows desert monastic life in a day. See all our Cairo day tours.
Tour Itinerary
Day one is mostly driving and an early night; day two starts at 2:00 am with the climb and ends with the long drive back to Cairo.
We pick you up from your hotel in Cairo or Giza in a modern private air-conditioned car. Your Egyptologist guide travels with you, and bottled water is on board for the journey east, under the Suez Canal and into the Sinai Peninsula.
The drive takes around six hours. After the canal, the road runs along the Gulf of Suez and then climbs inland through the wadis and red granite mountains of South Sinai to the small town of St. Catherine, which sits high in the mountains below Mount Sinai.
On arrival you check in at a hotel in St. Catherine. The rest of the day is yours to rest. Go to bed early, because the climb starts in the middle of the night, and lay out warm clothes and good walking shoes before you sleep.
At 2:00 am you are taken from your hotel to the foot of the mountain and meet your Bedouin guide, who leads you up the trail in the dark. The climb is steady and uphill, and the summit, at about 2,285 meters, is much colder than the valley, especially before dawn.
At the top you wait for the sun to rise over the ranges of Sinai, which turn from grey to red and gold as the light grows. The summit has a small chapel and a mosque, and for many visitors this is the most moving moment of the trip, whatever their faith.
By about 7:00 am you are back down the mountain and transfer to St. Catherine's Monastery. It was built in the 6th century and is named after Catherine of Alexandria, a young Christian scholar who was martyred for her faith. Inside its walls you see the old church and the site linked to the Burning Bush.
After the monastery you go back to your hotel for breakfast, which is included. It is a welcome rest after a night on the mountain, a chance to change into fresh clothes and pack your bag, and the last stop in St. Catherine before the long road home to Cairo.
Your private car drives you back across Sinai and under the Suez Canal to Cairo, where you are dropped at your hotel in Cairo or Giza. Most travelers sleep for much of the ride after the early climb, so keep a light layer and a pillow or scarf handy in the car.
What's Included
What the tour price covers, and what to plan for separately.
Paid
★
Your
Own
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about this tour. For anything else, message us on WhatsApp — we reply fast.
It starts at your hotel in Cairo or Giza, where our private car picks you up for the drive to St. Catherine. Pickup from downtown Cairo and the Giza area is included; other areas can be arranged for an extra charge. On day two the car drops you back at your hotel.
The price covers the private air-conditioned car for the whole trip, one night in a hotel in St. Catherine, breakfast on day two, an Egyptologist guide, bottled water, entrance fees to the sites in the program, and taxes. Other meals, tips and optional tours are not included.
Yes. The car and your Egyptologist guide are only for you and your companions. The per-person price falls as your group grows, because the car, guide and room costs are shared, and it changes by season, with higher rates in the busy winter months and over Christmas and New Year.
No. The monastery is run by its monks and sets its own visiting days and hours, and it closes on some religious holidays. Tell us your travel dates when you book, and we will plan the trip so that your visit falls on a day the monastery is open.
Yes. Avicon Travel is a Class "A" travel agency licensed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism under License No. 1962 and registered since 2010. Our office and team are in Karnak, Luxor, so the guides, drivers and cars on this tour are our own local team, not a booking desk abroad.
