Dahab is the most relaxed, cheapest and most bohemian face of the Egyptian Red Sea. Compared with the big all-inclusive resorts of Sharm or Hurghada, here the slow pace rules: cafés with cushions right by the water where you can spend hours looking at the sea, divers and backpackers from all over the world, friendly prices and a small-town vibe that gets you hooked. Its name means 'gold' in Arabic, after the colour of its sands, and many travellers who come for three days end up staying for weeks.
Underwater, Dahab holds some of the most famous and unusual dive sites on the planet: the Blue Hole, a blue sinkhole more than a hundred metres deep; the Canyon; the Islands; and reefs you can reach straight from the shore, no boat needed. It is also one of the world's great freediving (breath-hold diving) centres and a magnet for kitesurfing and windsurfing thanks to the steady wind over its lagoon. All around, the Sinai desert offers coloured canyons, mountains and starry skies.
This guide tells you how to enjoy Dahab: where to dive and snorkel, how to make the most of its unique atmosphere, which excursions are worth it (Mount Sinai, the desert canyons) and when to go. And one warning that matters more here than anywhere else: the Blue Hole is as beautiful as it is dangerous, one of the dive sites with the most fatalities in the world. You can enjoy it in complete safety, but only by sticking strictly to the rules and not being tempted by challenges beyond your level. We explain this in detail below.
Dahab has Bedouin roots: for centuries it was a settlement of the Mzeina tribe, Sinai fishermen and herders who lived on the coast. Like the whole peninsula, it changed hands in the 20th century: it came under Israeli occupation after the 1967 war and returned to Egypt in 1982, following the peace agreements. In the seventies and eighties, while still a village, Dahab became famous on the international hippie and backpacker circuit as an alternative refuge of sun, sea and cheap living, a reputation it largely keeps. Over the years it grew as a diving and water sports destination, but kept its small scale and relaxed atmosphere, very different from the big neighbouring resorts. The history of the Sinai, its Bedouins and its conflicts is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The Egypt of coral reefs and the holy mountain: the Red Sea's diving resorts and a biblical peninsula that Africa and Asia have fought over for thousands of years.
Read the history of The Red Sea and Sinai →Some places make no sense on your own; with someone explaining them, they change completely. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 9 activities in Sharm el-Sheij. Have a look below: tap any of them to see them all.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Dahab's story begins long before tourism, with the people who lived in Sinai for centuries: the Bedouin. These nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of Arab origin settled the peninsula in several waves and built a culture suited to one of the harshest environments in the world, between granite desert and sea. The tribe traditionally linked to the Dahab area is the Mzeina, the largest in South Sinai. For generations they fished along the coast, herded goats and camels in the mountains and traded by caravan.
For the Bedouin, Sinai was not an empty land but a territory full of routes, wells, pastures and inherited knowledge: where to find water, how to read the desert, how to move between the coast and the interior. Dahab, whose name means 'gold' in Arabic (probably because of the colour of its sand), was one of those coastal settlements where fishing families kept palm-frond huts by the sea. Life went on far from the big events of Egypt's Nile valley, with almost complete autonomy.
That Bedouin heritage is still very much alive in today's Dahab. Many local people descend from those tribes, many camps and tourist businesses belong to Bedouin families, and the desert trip, the dinner under the stars and the camel ride all come straight from that culture. To understand Dahab, remember that under the backpacker and diving layer there is a people who were Bedouin, and in part still are.
Like the rest of South Sinai, Dahab was caught up in the 20th-century struggle between Egypt and Israel. After the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel occupied the whole Sinai Peninsula, including the Gulf of Aqaba coast where Dahab lies. For the next fifteen years the area was under Israeli administration. During that time the first travellers began to arrive, drawn by the beaches and reefs, and Dahab started to build an early reputation as an alternative hideaway.
The outcome came through diplomacy. The Camp David Accords of 1978, brokered by the United States, and the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty of 1979 set out the full return of Sinai to Egypt, which happened in stages up to 1982. Dahab, like Sharm, Nuweiba and Taba, went back under Egyptian sovereignty. From then on, the government in Cairo pushed tourism development along the coast, although Dahab took a very different path from the big resorts.
Sinai's position as a border region has kept shaping its recent history. The peninsula has seen security tensions, mostly in the north, and the tourist coast in the south suffered attacks in the 2000s that hit tourism hard, including one in Dahab itself in 2006. Despite those events, the Gulf of Aqaba strip kept its appeal and its atmosphere, and Dahab held on to its own place on Egypt's travel map, through ups and downs.
Dahab didn't become a well-known name among travellers because of state planning. It got there through a generation's word of mouth. In the seventies and eighties, while it was still a fishing village of palm-frond huts, Dahab earned a place on the international hippie and backpacker trail. It was one of those remote, cheap, laid-back corners where you could spend weeks by the sea, far from everything. Travellers from Europe, Israel and beyond spread the word about an alternative paradise of sun, golden sand and low-cost living.
Over the years, that reputation changed. Along with the bohemian vibe, people discovered that Dahab's waters hid some of the best dive sites on the planet, many of them reachable straight from the shore. The Blue Hole, the Canyon and the nearby reefs drew divers, and later made Dahab one of the world capitals of freediving, with schools, competitions and depth records. The windswept lagoon to the north added kitesurfing and windsurfing.
Dahab managed something unusual: it grew as a tourist destination without entirely losing its scale or its character. Unlike Sharm el-Sheikh or Hurghada, it didn't fill up with huge all-inclusive resorts. Instead it kept a mix of small hotels, camps and local businesses, and a slow pace that still draws a different kind of traveller: divers, sports lovers, backpackers and, more recently, digital nomads who find good connectivity, low prices and a quality of life that's hard to beat.
No story about Dahab is complete without the Blue Hole, which is both its biggest attraction and its darkest shadow. It is an underwater sinkhole, an almost circular shaft that drops vertically to more than a hundred metres right next to the shore, a few kilometres north of town. Its deep blue colour, its perfect shape and how close it is to the coast have made it one of the most famous and most photographed dive sites in the world, and it pulls in divers and freedivers from everywhere.
But the Blue Hole also has a fearsome reputation. It is considered one of the dive sites with the most deaths on the planet, with estimates ranging from 130 to more than 200 deaths over recent decades, which has earned it the nickname 'divers' cemetery'. Most of these tragedies aren't caused by a mystery or a curse, as some local legends suggest. The cause is much more human and avoidable: trying to swim through 'the Arch', a tunnel whose ceiling sits at about 55 metres, well beyond the limits of recreational diving. At that depth, nitrogen narcosis clouds judgement, air runs out and divers lose their bearings, with fatal results. Other deaths involve freedivers who pushed their breath-hold beyond what was safe.
At heart, the story of the Blue Hole is a lesson in humility before the sea. You can enjoy the site completely safely by snorkelling, or by diving within the limits and with a guide, and its upper reef is a marvel that anyone can reach. The authorities have tightened controls and now require divers to go with certified guides. The beauty of the Blue Hole and the memory of its victims share the same water, a reminder that following the rules isn't a formality: it's the difference between adventure and tragedy.
