Tours to Sharm el-Sheikh from Odesa — Last-Minute Deals

Swapping Odesa's autumn or winter for the warm Red Sea is fastest via Sharm el-Sheikh: a morning bus from Starosinna station heads to Chisinau airport, a three-hour charter takes off in the afternoon, and you check in by evening in southern Sinai. Egypt's finest coral reefs start right off the pontoons here, and the bays sheltered from the wind stay warm even in January.

The tour includes the return charter between Chisinau and Sharm, airport transfers, accommodation with meals of your choosing and insurance; the bus to Chisinau costs extra. Holidays confined to South Sinai normally don't require a paid visa. The tour search compares offers for your dates, while our managers advise on the district.

From Odesa: Bus and Flight

Catch the first morning bus and you reach the airport by lunchtime, in time for an afternoon flight; for an early departure, come a day ahead. Bucharest is a fallback, but the trip there takes half a day, and Romania, being in Schengen, will enrol you in EES at its border. Parking and the airport itself are described in tours to Egypt from Chisinau.

Sharm's Underwater World

• House reefs. At many hotels in Ras Um Sid, Hadaba and Sharks Bay the reef starts right at the pontoon: a mask and snorkel are enough to see clownfish, rays and Napoleon wrasse.
• Ras Mohammed. A national park at the southern tip of Sinai with sheer reef walls; at Yolanda Reef the cargo of a sunken ship, bathtubs and toilets, still lies on the seabed.
• The Strait of Tiran. Four reefs, Gordon, Thomas, Woodhouse and Jackson, with strong currents and frequent encounters with dolphins and turtles.
• The Thistlegorm. A British transport sunk in 1941 with a cargo of motorcycles and trucks: a legendary wreck dive, open only to experienced divers.
• First dive. Hotel dive centres run trial dives with an instructor, and children first learn to snorkel in the pool.

Don't touch anything on the reef or stand on the coral: it is forbidden and dangerous, and reef shoes will protect you from cuts.

Where to Stay: Reef or Sand

If snorkelling matters, choose hotels with their own reef in Ras Um Sid, Hadaba and Sharks Bay. Toddlers are happier on the sandy beach of Naama Bay or in Nabq, where pontoons lead across the shallows to the reef and many hotels have water slides; see our selection of water park hotels in Sharm. For a closer look at each district, see tours to Sharm el-Sheikh from Chisinau.

Seasons

• October – November. Water at +26…+28 °C and +28…+32 °C by day: peak demand, so book ahead.
• December – March. Days of +21…+25 °C, water at +21…+23 °C; evenings call for a jumper.
• April – May. It gets hotter, and the water warms to +23…+25 °C.
• June – September. The hottest stretch: up to +38 °C, with the sea reaching +28 °C; do excursions early.

Prices

Two people spend roughly UAH 23,500 on an all-inclusive week, plus the Odesa–Chisinau trip there and back. Hotels with their own reef and five-star complexes in Nabq cost more, while the cheapest weeks tend to be early December and post-holiday January.

Entry Rules and Documents

• Sinai Only stamp. Holiday entirely within Sharm and South Sinai, 15 days or less? Passport control gives you a free stamp and you skip the visa.
• A full visa becomes necessary if you head to Cairo or Luxor or stay beyond two weeks.
• Passport. Six months' validity beyond your arrival date is required. An ID card gets you into Moldova, but the airline will want a passport.
• No EES. Moldova is outside Schengen, so flying from Chisinau involves no registration in the EU system.
• Leaving Ukraine. Exit regulations for men of military age and minors keep shifting; confirm them before you book.

People from Odesa also choose Hurghada with its long sandy beaches, and an overview of all the country's resorts is at tours to Egypt from Odesa.