After leaving Cairo at about 11:00am, we arrived in the small town of St Katherine. Located in the centre of the Sinai Peninsula the main attraction to this area is the St Katherine Monastery and the climb to the summit of Mt Sinai. For me, without the climb to the summit, St Katherine would not have been on the list of “must do’s” of Egypt.
Accommodation at Mt Sinai
Options for accommodation in St Katherine is limited. Our tour group stayed at Catherine Plaza Hotel. What could be said about it – well to say the least it was average. Even checking the ratings on Tripadvisor, 25 reviews out of 50 rated it as terrible. But reading the reviews of the few other accommodation options for tour groups, it appeared to the better of a bad lot!!
We arrived late in the afternoon – close to sunset, we made our way to our rooms – which were not only “tired” but were also not clean. Some of the people in the group said their rooms “smelt”. For me, I was planning on going to the summit of Mt Sinai meant I needed to be up and at the bus by 1:00am so the standard of the room did not impact on me as much. But for Heather, who was not able to take the climb to the summit, staying in this accommodation is something that was only bearable for one night only. The quality of the Hotel could be compared to the night on the Cairo-Aswan Train – except the food at St Katherine’s was a bit better.
To show how good the accommodation was, I didn’t even bother to get my Camera out to take a photo whist at the accommodation.
Regardless of the Accommodation, to experience the climb up Mt Sinai and see the sunrise of this very unique place, made the place we stayed in seem less important. (as long as it was for only one night!!)
For more information about Mt Sinai]
- 2014-03-26 – Mt Sinai – St Katherines to Eilat
- Climbing Mt Sinai – just a few steps!!
- Descending from the Summit of Mt Sinai
- Hamish climbs Mt Sinai
- Ninja Turtle – St Katherine – Sinai Peninsula
- Not a blade of Grass – St Katherine – Sinai Peninsula
- St Katherine Monastery – Egypt
- St Katherine – Accommodation – Mt Sinai
- The Climb up Mt Sinai – Hamish makes the climb
- View from the Summit of Mt Sinai at Sunrise
- What you need to take when climbing Mt Sinai