SeaLogEgypt · reef · beginner
A shallow sand-and-seagrass inlet inside Wadi el Gemal National Park that you snorkel from the beach, not a dive site.
Sharm El Luli is an inlet on the Wadi el Gemal coast about 60 to 70 km south of Marsa Alam town, roughly halfway to Berenice. The beach runs east to west and the bottom shelves away very gradually, so you can wade a long way out over white sand and seagrass before the reef starts. Beyond the reefs the bottom reaches about 20 m, but almost nothing of what people come for is deeper than a few metres. Dive centres in the area sell it as a snorkelling stop, not a scuba dive, and that is the honest classification: the interest is the shallow lagoon, the seagrass and the reef edge, all of it within snorkelling reach.
The seagrass is the reason to be patient here. Wadi el Gemal protects roughly 7,660 hectares of seagrass bed, and turtles graze on it: both green and hawksbill turtles are recorded in the park, and a local guide reports that around half of the individually identified hawksbills in southern Egypt have been seen in this area. Dugong feed on the same beds and are recorded in the wider area, though seeing one is luck rather than a plan. On the reef itself expect twoband anemonefish in their anemones, masked and stripebelly puffers, parrotfish, butterflyfish and bannerfish, blue-spotted ribbontail rays over the sand and giant clams set into the coral; the same guide reports Napoleon wrasse here.
The practical points matter more than the biology. There is nothing on the beach at all: no hotel, no restaurant, no shop, no toilet, no shade. You arrive by road, normally a taxi or an organised excursion from a Marsa Alam hotel, and you pay a national-park ticket to get in. Visibility is good but not fixed: wind and a lot of people walking around in a shallow sandy lagoon stir the bottom, so a busy afternoon is murkier than an early morning. One name warning: locals and operators use Sharm El Luli and Ras Hankorab interchangeably, but they are two places about 7 km apart, and the fencing, excavation and access dispute reported in the news since 2024 concern Ras Hankorab to the south, not this inlet.
By road from Marsa Alam, roughly an hour to an hour and a half from most hotels, usually by taxi or as an organised excursion. You enter through Wadi el Gemal National Park and pay the park ticket. There are no facilities of any kind on the beach: no toilets, no shop, no restaurant, no shade. Bedouin women sometimes sell jewellery on site. Bring your own water, gear and sun cover.
You can reach the site independently.
A Wadi el Gemal National Park ticket is required to enter; organised excursions normally include it. Overnight camping in the park needs an advance permit from the Coast Guard. Note that Ras Hankorab, about 7 km south and often called by the same name, has been fenced and subject to an access and development dispute since late 2024, with a 250 EGP charge reported for entry there; that is a different beach from this inlet, so confirm with your driver which one you are actually being taken to.
The site sits inside Wadi el Gemal National Park, which covers about 2,000 km2 of marine area along 120 km of shoreline. Park entrance fees are EGP 5 for Egyptians and EGP 40 for non-Egyptians, bought at the park offices at Wadi El-Gemal and Um El-Abbas; camping is EGP 50 for Egyptians and EGP 200 per person per night for others and needs a Coast Guard permit. Permanent construction, motorised watersports and non-biodegradable waste are not permitted on the beach. The seagrass beds are protected habitat for dugong and turtles, so keep off them.
April to May and September to November are the comfortable months here: water in the mid to high twenties, the best visibility of the year, and air temperatures that are bearable on a beach with no shade at all. Midsummer is diveable and the water is warmest, but the beach itself is punishing without cover. Winter stays snorkelable at around 22 C, with wind more likely to be the problem than the temperature.
A calm, very shallow sandy bay with a long gradual wade-out, warm water, and a reef edge some distance from the beach. Water on this coast runs about 22 C at the winter low and up to about 30 C in summer. Visibility is generally good but degrades in wind and in the afternoon once the sand is stirred.
On current: The inlet is sheltered and the sources that describe it describe calm water; nobody reports current as a factor for a snorkeller here. The variable is not current but suspended sand: a local guide notes that visibility drops when the wind is up or when heavy foot traffic stirs the shallow sandy bottom, so the same bay can look very different at nine in the morning and at two in the afternoon.
Best months: Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov
A snorkelling spot. Local dive centres list it as snorkelling only and run it as a beach excursion rather than a dive. The lagoon is shallow sand and seagrass, the reef edge is within snorkelling depth, and the roughly 20 m outside the reefs is not what anyone travels here for.
By road, about 60 to 70 km south of Marsa Alam town, which is an hour to an hour and a half from most hotels. Most people go by taxi or on an organised excursion. You enter through Wadi el Gemal National Park and pay a park ticket on the way in.
You need a Wadi el Gemal National Park ticket, which is EGP 5 for Egyptians and EGP 40 for non-Egyptians, bought at the park offices at Wadi El-Gemal or Um El-Abbas. Organised trips normally have it included. Camping overnight in the park costs more and requires an advance permit from the Coast Guard.
It is one of the better beaches on this coast for that. The bottom shelves so gradually that you can wade out a long way in shallow water before anything drops away, and the inlet is sheltered. The catch is that there is no lifeguard, no shade and no facilities of any kind, so supervision and sun cover are entirely on you.
Green and hawksbill turtles grazing on the seagrass between the beach and the reef are the sighting worth waiting for, and the surrounding park is one of the strongest areas in southern Egypt for hawksbills. On the reef itself expect twoband anemonefish, parrotfish, butterflyfish and bannerfish, puffers, blue-spotted ribbontail rays over the sand and giant clams set into the coral. Dugong feed on the same seagrass beds but seeing one is luck, not a plan.
No, although locals and tour operators use the two names interchangeably. They are separate spots roughly 7 km apart on the same stretch of Wadi el Gemal coast, with Ras Hankorab to the south. This matters right now because the fencing, excavation and paid-entry dispute reported since late 2024 concerns Ras Hankorab, not this inlet, so it is worth confirming with your driver which beach you are actually going to.
April to May and September to November. Water on this coast sits in the mid to high twenties then, visibility is at its best, and the air is bearable on a beach that has no shade whatsoever. Midsummer has the warmest water but a punishing beach; winter is still snorkelable at around 22 C, with wind the more likely spoiler.
None. No hotel, no restaurant, no shop, no toilets, no shade, no equipment rental. That is a consequence of its protected status inside the national park, where permanent construction is not allowed. Bring water, food, snorkel gear, sun cover and a bag for everything you carried in.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Amblyglyphidodon indicus | occasional | 12 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | occasional | 12 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | occasional | 10 |
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 10 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 10 |
| Chlorurus gibbus | occasional | 9 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | occasional | 9 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | occasional | 9 |
| Balistoides viridescens | occasional | 8 |
| Hemigymnus sexfasciatus | occasional | 8 |
| Zebrasoma xanthurum | occasional | 8 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | occasional | 7 |
| Nerita sanguinolenta | occasional | 7 |
| Cephalopholis hemistiktos | occasional | 7 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | occasional | 7 |
| Cheilinus quinquecinctus | occasional | 7 |
| Chromis viridis | occasional | 7 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | occasional | 7 |
| Epibulus insidiator | occasional | 7 |
| Naso elegans | occasional | 7 |
| Acanthurus sohal | occasional | 6 |
| Heniochus intermedius | occasional | 6 |
| Macolor niger | occasional | 6 |
| Pseudobalistes fuscus | occasional | 6 |
| Ocypode saratan | occasional | 6 |
| Stenella longirostris | occasional | 6 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | occasional | 6 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 6 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 5 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | occasional | 5 |
| Pterois miles | occasional | 5 |
| Phoxocampus belcheri | rare | 4 |
| Variola louti | rare | 4 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | rare | 4 |
| Scarus niger | rare | 4 |
| Dugong dugon | rare | 4 |
| Tectus dentatus | rare | 4 |
| Tridacna maxima | rare | 4 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | rare | 4 |
| Abudefduf sexfasciatus | rare | 4 |
| Chaetodon auriga | rare | 4 |
| Flavocaranx bajad | rare | 4 |
| Arothron stellatus | rare | 4 |
| Pinctada margaritifera | rare | 4 |
| Arothron hispidus | rare | 4 |
| Conus tessulatus | rare | 3 |
| Dascyllus trimaculatus | rare | 3 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | rare | 3 |
| Pearsonothuria graeffei | rare | 3 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | rare | 3 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | rare | 3 |
| Ophiocoma scolopendrina | rare | 3 |
| Chaetodon larvatus | rare | 3 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | rare | 3 |
| Diodon hystrix | rare | 3 |
| Divalinga arabica | rare | 2 |
| Diodora ruppellii | rare | 2 |
| Modiolus auriculatus | rare | 2 |
| Neoniphon sammara | rare | 2 |
| Haliotis pustulata | rare | 2 |
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