Dahab

Overview
With more of a Bohemian feel, golden beaches and a laid backatmosphere, Dahab has both budget accommodation and excellenthotels catering for the more luxury-seeking guest. It has afiercely competitive array of seafront restaurants for open-airdining and many souvenir shopping opportunities. Lying alongsidethe deepest section of the Great Rift Valley that extends downthrough Africa, the underwater scenery is dramatic with steepdrops, valleys and canyons. Most of the diving is shore diving, andis easily accessed by taking a pick-up truck to the beachesstretching in either direction. Some of the superb dive andsnorkelling sites nearby include the Blue Hole, one of the best inthe Sinai region, and the Canyon, but only TEC-divers are allowedto dive the deeper sections of such formations.

Money
The unit of currency is the Egyptian Pound (EGP), which isdivided into 100 piastres. Most credit cards are accepted in majorhotels and restaurants. Visitors are advised to take travellerscheques in US Dollars or Pounds to avoid additional exchange ratecharges. Banks are usually closed on Friday and Saturday, butprivate exchange bureaux, called 'Forex', are open daily and banksin major hotels are open 24 hours. Cairo branches of the EgyptianBritish Bank and Banque Misr now have ATMs available that acceptVisa, MasterCard and Cirrus and are quite common in the maintourist areas.

Time
Local time is GMT +2 (GMT +3 from last Friday in April to last Friday in August).

Language
Arabic is the official language although English and French are widely spoken, especially in the tourist areas.