Four Seasons
Sharm

The Four Seasons Resort Sharm el-Sheikh sits on its own private headland at Ras Um Sid, on the southern end of the Sharm coastline. The position is exceptional: a natural promontory with panoramic views over the Red Sea, the Sinai mountains rising behind and clear, deep water directly below. The resort has been the benchmark property in Sharm since it opened, and it remains so.

The 1km of private beach stretches along the base of the headland, wide, clean and served throughout the day. Four pools are positioned across the resort grounds, each with a different character: an adults-only infinity pool, a family pool facing the beach, and smaller satellite pools in the gardens. The spa, restaurants and fitness facilities are of the standard the Four Seasons brand requires, which in this context means they are comfortably the best in South Sinai.

What distinguishes the Four Seasons Sharm from the many five-star properties on the Red Sea coast is the setting rather than the facilities. The view from the headland, across open water toward Tiran Island with the desert mountains of Saudi Arabia beyond, is one the large resort hotels of Naama Bay simply cannot replicate. The reef immediately below the point is one of the best dive sites in the area, and the Sinai Blues PADI centre makes it easily accessible. For those who want Sharm at its highest level, this is the address.

The gardens deserve specific mention. Walking through the resort grounds is an experience of its own: mature palms, flowering desert plants, shaded walkways and the constant presence of the mountains and sea at the edges. The landscape design uses the natural topography of the Ras Um Sid headland rather than fighting it. An hour wandering the property without any agenda is not time wasted.

Sharm el-Sheikh: the Atlas pick

Sharm el-Sheikh is the Atlas's top destination recommendation for first-time visitors to the Egyptian Red Sea. It tops Hurghada in terms of what the coastline offers: better diving access, cleaner water in the north, proximity to Ras Mohamed National Park and the Straits of Tiran, and a more established international infrastructure. The Four Seasons is where all of that comes together at the highest level. The combination of world-class diving from a world-class hotel, in one of the Red Sea's finest natural settings, is not something easily replicated anywhere else in Egypt.

Ras Mohamed National Park, 20km south, deserves specific detail. The reef wall at the park's southern point drops to approximately 800 metres, driven by the current funnelling north through the strait. Anemone City, on a shelf at 16–20 metres just northeast of Shark Reef, holds one of the densest concentrations of giant sea anemones known anywhere on earth in an area covering less than 100 square metres. No explanation for this aggregation has been established. Yolanda Reef takes its name from a Cypriot freighter that ran aground in a storm in 1980, spilling its entire cargo across the reef: hundreds of bathroom toilets, sinks and a BMW, all still lying on the seabed and now encrusted with coral. The entire 480km² park operates under strict no-take rules, and the ban on fishing is enforced. It is the most substantive marine reserve on the Egyptian coast, and 15 percent of the fish species found there exist nowhere else on earth.