White sand beaches in Sharm El Sheikh

Sharm El Sheikh is sold on the image of powder white sand meeting turquoise water, and it is worth being clear eyed about what that image really is. The Sinai coast here is a living fringing reef, which means the natural shoreline is mostly coral, rock and rubble rather than a long sandy shelf. What gives you the soft pale sand of the brochures is the resort bays, where the hotels have groomed, placed and maintained a comfortable beach on top of that reef. Understand this and you choose well, because the softest sand and the finest reef are not always the same beach.

For sand you can sink your toes into and walk barefoot along, the big curved bays lead. Naama Bay in the centre is the classic, a lively resort beach of soft sand backed by the promenade, and Nabq Bay to the north gives you wider, calmer, more spread out groomed sand along its line of hotels. The reef fronted bays, Coral Bay, Sharks Bay, Ras Nasrani and the dramatic point at Ras Um Sid, have pretty sandy patches but you go to them for the snorkelling off a jetty or reef edge, not to lie on deep sand.

The short honest version. Naama Bay is the soft central sand and the buzz, Nabq Bay the wide quiet family sand, Coral Bay a sandy fronted reef for easy snorkelling, Sharks Bay a small sandy cove over coral, Ras Nasrani a breezier open stretch, and Ras Um Sid a stony point with a little sand but a wall of reef that steals the show. Pick sand or reef first and Sharm gives you either beautifully.

The single thing to hold onto is that Sharm is a reef coast first and a sand coast second. The natural shore is coral and rock, and the soft white sand at the famous bays is largely a groomed resort amenity placed over that reef. This is not a criticism, a comfortable sandy beach with clear calm water and a reef a few metres out is a wonderful thing, but it does mean the deepest soft sand and the wildest reef rarely sit on the same beach. Naama and Nabq give you the sand, the reef bays give you the water.

Choose by what you actually want from the day. For lying on soft sand, wading in from the shore and having the resorts and restaurants close, Naama Bay and Nabq Bay are the clear picks, with Nabq the calmer and more spacious of the two. For snorkelling straight off the beach over spectacular coral, Coral Bay, Sharks Bay and Ras Um Sid are the ones, entered over a jetty or a marked channel with reef shoes on and the coral never touched. We never invent a resort, a fee or a facility, so where entry, access or an amenity is uncertain we mark it to be confirmed.

The overrated expectation is the untouched powder white cay, which this stretch of Sinai simply is not, and chasing it leads to disappointment at a reef point with barely any sand. The honest reward is different and arguably greater, some of the clearest warm water and finest shore reef in the world, fronted by a comfortable groomed beach when you want to dry off. Set your sights on that and Sharm delivers superbly. Conditions, currents and lifeguard cover are typical only and vary by resort, so check the flags and supervise weaker swimmers.

Much of the good soft sand in Sharm sits in front of the resorts, so the practical way to enjoy the best beaches is often a hotel beach or a day pass that includes a lounger, a pool and access to the house reef. The bays at Naama, Nabq and Coral Bay run this well, and a day base solves the sand, the shade and the jetty entry in one. We never invent a venue, a day rate or a minimum spend, so unconfirmed details are marked to be confirmed and checked with the venue.

Tell us the bay and the day you want and we will pass your enquiry to a beachfront resort or club so they can confirm access, any day pass and the entry to the reef, and you can settle onto soft sand with the coral a few strokes away.