St Catherine's Monastery & Dahab from Sharm El Sheikh

We leave Sharm El Sheikh in the morning and drive inland into the high mountains of South Sinai, the road climbing between bare granite peaks. Your guide fills in the history on the way: the Bedouin desert routes, the pilgrims who have come here for centuries and the story of Moses and the Burning Bush.

St Catherine's Monastery sits at the foot of Mount Sinai behind massive walls built in the sixth century under the Emperor Justinian, and it is still home to a community of Greek Orthodox monks. Inside you see the basilica, the bush that tradition holds to be the Burning Bush and the Well of Moses, all part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. The monastery keeps short morning hours and closes on some days, so the tour is timed around them.

In the afternoon the road drops down to the coast at Dahab, an easy-going town of seafront cafés and colourful shops, with views across the Gulf of Aqaba to the mountains of Saudi Arabia. After some free time by the water you head back to your hotel in Sharm, around eight hours after setting off.