Red Sea
Best time to visit Sharm el Sheikh: snorkeling in the Red Sea
Translated from the German original.
Now in October
Autumn — the main season
- Water
- 25–27 °C
- Visibility
- 30 m (seen myself, October 2025)
- To see
- Reef at full strength; offshore the big-fish seasons are winding down
The time when I was there myself. The water was still warm, the air already bearable. It is also the time when it's busiest.
Source: Own logbook, October 2025 (Sharm el Sheikh and Ras Mohammed): 26 °C, visibility 30 m, reef at 2–5 m depth. The visibility in SSI entries #8 to #10 from October 31, 2025 is consistently 30 m for all three measured reefs; the 20 m given earlier was a cautious recollection, not a record. Monthly means for comparison: wassertemperatur.org (Sep 27 °C, Oct 27 °C, Nov 25 °C)
The year at a glance
| Months | Season | Water | Visibility | To see |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December–February | Winter — the clearest water of the year | 21–24 °C | the best visibility of the year | Reef and reef fish; no big-animal season |
| March–May | Spring — the most pleasant compromise | 22–25 °C | very good | Reef; from March the whale shark season begins offshore |
| June–August | High summer — warmest water, harshest air | 26–28 °C | good | offshore at the open-sea reefs, mantas and hammerhead sharks |
| September–November | Autumn — the main season | 25–27 °C | 30 m (seen myself, October 2025) | Reef at full strength; offshore the big-fish seasons are winding down |
The values come from my logbook and from named expert sources — each row gives its origin in detail above. Nothing here is estimated.
At the Red Sea you can get in the water all year round. So when it comes to the best time to visit, the question is what you go in with: in winter with a wetsuit, in high summer with a lot of heat on land. The figures above apply to Sharm el Sheikh at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt; that’s where I was myself.
When is the best time to visit the Red Sea?
Spring and autumn, March to May and September to November. Then the water is warm enough, and the air on land stays bearable. If you only go once and aren’t looking for anything in particular, go in these months.
What is Sharm el Sheikh like in October?
I was there in October 2025, in Sharm el Sheikh and at Ras Mohammed. The water was 26 °C, visibility was 30 meters, and the reef is so shallow that two to five meters of depth is enough for everything you want to see. October is peak season; the reefs are busiest then. Which reefs there are is on the page about the house reef in Sharm el Sheikh, and how the week felt is in my experiences snorkeling in Sharm.
Is Sharm el Sheikh good in winter?
If you want clear water and quiet, take winter. Then the visibility is best, and it’s quiet at the reefs. But you have to reckon with 21 to 24 °C and pack a wetsuit. Without one, longer snorkeling gets uncomfortable.
Is Sharm el Sheikh good in summer?
High summer is the worst choice, even though the water is warmest. The air on land makes the day exhausting before you’ve even been in the water.
Can you see whale sharks, mantas and hammerheads in Sharm el Sheikh?
Almost every article about the Red Sea mentions whale sharks, mantas and hammerheads. That isn’t wrong, but one sentence belongs next to it: You see these animals at open-sea reefs such as Elphinstone, Daedalus or the Brothers. You get there by dive boat or liveaboard, not with snorkel and mask from the beach. If you go in the water in Sharm, you see a very good reef with a great many fish. You don’t see a hammerhead. If you snorkel from the beach, you therefore don’t need to plan your trip around these animals.