Photos: Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped; St. Pete Beach by Jeffrey Eisen, Pexels License.
Sharm el-Sheikh or St. Pete Beach?
Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.
Choose Sharm el-Sheikh for
- prices
- nature and the outdoors
- nightlife
What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’s own page.
Choose St. Pete Beach for
- day trips
- food and drink
- families
What lies behind each score is written up on St. Pete Beach’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sharm el-Sheikh and St. Pete Beach.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, 2 points apart
Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.
Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Sharm el-Sheikh in July
St. Pete Beach in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Sharm el-Sheikh has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.
St. Pete Beach has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
St. Pete Beach's sunshine is measured 34 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sharm el-Sheikh: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. St. Pete Beach: 1998-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Saint Petersburg (12.2 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Sharm el-Sheikh | St. Pete Beach |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Arabic | - |
| Currency | Egyptian Pound (EGP) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | CF220 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180 | 911 |
| Elevation | 1 m | 2 m |
| Main airport | Sharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinations | St. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport (PIE)21 km from centre60 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 15 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Sharm el-Sheikh | St. Pete Beach |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 73,000 | 8,879 |
| People per km² | - | 173 |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 2 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | 8 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sharm el-Sheikh or St. Pete Beach somewhere new.