VacationSelector
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Sharm el-Sheikh or Tampa?

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
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’s own page.

Choose Tampa for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Sharm el-Sheikh 87, Tampa 70: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Sharm el-Sheikh 30, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Sharm el-Sheikh 12, Tampa 42: Tampa leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Sharm el-Sheikh 42, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sharm el-Sheikh 82, Tampa 55: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Sharm el-Sheikh 30, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Sharm el-Sheikh 62, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Sharm el-Sheikh and Tampa are level on 22.
Shopping & style. Sharm el-Sheikh 25, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Sharm el-Sheikh 74, Tampa 40: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sharm el-Sheikh 10, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sharm el-Sheikh 50, Tampa 30: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sharm el-Sheikh and Tampa.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Sharm el-Sheikh
44match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tampa
Best match
49match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Sharm el-SheikhTampa

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.

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. Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSharm el-SheikhTampa
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation1 m30 m
Main airportSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSharm el-SheikhTampa
City population73,000384,959
People per km²-848
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sharm el-Sheikh or Tampa somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.