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Mount Sinai & St Catherine in January
Mixed month: January is outside the recommended season (March – November). Coptic Christmas can fall this month. Nothing in our data flags January as a problem, but it isn't the season the place is best in.
The season opens in March, 2 months away.
2 days in Mount Sinai & St Catherine in January · from ₹7,733 for two
Stay, food & local travel; getting there extra
Before you book January
Closures, crowds and rules at Mount Sinai & St Catherine this month.
Worth knowing
Sinai: Where You Can Go
North Sinai is closed to visitors, and roads across Sinai have police checkpoints: carry your passport. The South Sinai resorts, Dahab and St Catherine are visited normally, but some governments' travel advice is stricter (the US State Department's has said not to travel to Sinai except to Sharm El Sheikh by air), which can affect travel insurance: check your own government's advice and your policy.
What’s on in January
Timing a trip around these changes what you pay and what you can book.
Coptic Christmas2027: 7 Jan
Egypt's Copts celebrate Christmas on 7 January with a midnight mass on the 6th; a public holiday. St Catherine's Monastery keeps the Orthodox calendar and may close to visitors on feast days.
What it costs
For two sharing a room; 2 days on the ground, getting there not included.
Budget
₹7,733 for two
- Room a night₹2,420
- Food a day, each₹910
Mid-range
₹18,058 for two
- Room a night₹5,320
- Food a day, each₹2,100
Luxury
₹39,150 for two
- Room a night₹10,650
- Food a day, each₹4,900
Totals cover the room (taxes included), food, local transport, entry and a 10% buffer: the figures the planner opens on. These are typical rates; Tourisma has no month-by-month rates for Egypt yet, so they don't move with the month.
Getting there
Fly into Sharm El Sheikh (SSH), 79 km away
Then: Transfer · 3h (Car with driver / Uber, per vehicle)
Flights from India: from 2 cities, one way from ₹30,000
Fly into Hurghada (HRG), 145 km away
Flights from India: from 2 cities, one way from ₹30,000
Routes compared
Entry rules
E-visa before you fly for up to 30 days, about ₹2,900
- Before you fly, apply for the tourist e-visa at visa2egypt.gov.eg: US$30 single entry or US$65 multiple entry, each stay up to 30 days. Apply at least a week ahead and carry the printed approval.
- If you hold a valid US, UK, Schengen or GCC visa that you have already used once, you can instead buy a 30-day visa on arrival (US$30, cash, at the bank counter before passport control); carry that visa's passport.
- At immigration, show your passport, the e-visa and your return ticket. To stay longer than 30 days, apply for an extension at the passports office (in Cairo, Abbasiya) before the visa runs out.
Carry: Passport valid for at least 6 months from the day you arrive, with a blank page; E-visa approval (printout), or a used valid US, UK, Schengen or GCC visa for the visa on arrival; Confirmed return or onward ticket; Hotel bookings for the stay; US dollars in cash if you plan to buy the visa on arrival.
The visa fee rose from US$25 to US$30 in March 2026, and a separate levy (reported at US$12, rising to US$15 in 2027) may be added; pay only on visa2egypt.gov.eg, as look-alike sites charge more.
Checked 2026-10; confirm with the embassy before you fly.
Elsewhere in Egypt in January
Instead in season this month.
- Abu Simbel · great month
- Aswan · great month
- Bahariya & the White Desert · great month
- Cairo · great month
- Giza · great month
- Luxor · great month
- Siwa Oasis · great month
Nearby in South Sinai:
Want this as a real plan?
Mount Sinai & St Catherine in January, day by day, priced for your group.