wigwam12

During the week or so we have at Sharm I hope to take a taxi one morning for a return trip to St Katherine's to see the Monastery/Burning Bush etc.
I understand the desert scenery on the way is spectacular as well.
Now I'll have 2 young kids with me (both under 10) and after prior day trips (by air) to Cairo and Luxor I know their patience (esp young sir's!!) will be paper thin!

Would appreciate advice on:
1) How much should I expect to pay? Most likely will use the hotel taxi service at the Sultan Gardens

2) Route - via Dahab there and back or should I look to come back via El Tur (+/- Ras Mohamad)?

3) Places to stop during the drive: clean places for snacks/rest-stops etc. I doubt they will really be into treks into the desert to see Wadis.....

4) any other advice!!

Thanks

Casual_Cairo

I don't know what they will be charging you, but if you use the hotel taxi the price may well be pretty well set to be sure everyone expecting a bit of a commission from the driver will be paid - so talk to your hotel about it.
Second, I don't know where all the BEST stops are, but I recommend you not have too much of an idea what you MUST do, as you don't know how well your driver will speak English yet to understand that you want to stop here or there (especially on the advice you will get here that won't probably be real specific - certainly might not be real specific when it comes to rest stops)and your driver very likely will have stops he likes to make, either because he has buddies working there that he likes to visit with while you do your thing, or he knows he can expect a decent commission from what you spend there.
I understand the issue with the youngest child, but maybe you can turn the car trip into a game of some sort with such things as camels and bedouin tents or whatever to be watching for along the way.
I think stopping at Dahab is a great idea.
I do have friends that did this in a taxi two weeks ago. If I can get the price they paid (2 adult men) I'll post it here. If they have the drivers name and number, I'll post it here too so you'd have an option.

wigwam12

thanks c_c that would be really useful.
i figured the hotel taxi may be more expensive but the trade-off may be that i could get someone to explain to the driver any specific routes/plans/stops etc ?

having names of people used before would be great.

Casual_Cairo

He recalls he paid LE700 (Egyptian Pounds) to be picked up at about 11:30 p.m. - taken to St. Catherines - climbed the mountain - were driven back via Dahab and there was time to snorkel in Dahab and then walk around and visit the town a bit.
Then back to Sharm. He was with them the best part of 17 hours.
The driver was found at the Sharm el Maya Market and his name was Mr. Abis (or something like that) We don't have a number for him yet. I suspect if you went to this market you could find him. If you want to email me, I'll send you a photo of Mr. Abis so you can know what he looks like when EVERYONE there with a car claims to be him. LOL

qwovadis

http://www.memphistours.net/hurghada...ions/index.php

Full day tour nice with kids for me

Have also done driver/guide makes sense with kids pricewise

paid $50/half day plus tip worked out to be $80 or so

Figure a full day especially if you want to hike up

Gabel Musa.. Have fun,

Casual_Cairo

qwovadis - when was that? Last week? Last month? Last year? It might make a difference when you did that. Also, when you say "half day", what were you doing for 4 hous? Or is a "half day" longer than that? Certainly didn't drive all the way to St. Catherines, I guess.
Thanks for your answer.

wigwam12

thanks.
what i hope to do is set out early so we can have time to explore the monastery during its limited opening hours.
i would quite like to head to the nearby hagar musa as well.

what else locally in St Kats would you recommend?
i think lunch will likely be in the town itself.

would probably look to do the drive as a loop one way via dahab and the other via el-tur...