With the sparkling blue waters of the Red Sea and a steady year-round climate that typically stays north of 20 degrees, Marsa Alam is poised to become a real favourite for holiday makers in the Egyptian southeast, touting plentiful sands and more diving tour operators and interesting dive spots than you can shake a snorkel at.

While the limelight here is definitely on the thriving coral inhabited colourful fishes, dolphin reefs and turtle infested beaches making this one of the best diving spots in the world, your Marsa Alam tour guide will tell you that the greater region is also home to some of the more off-the-beaten-track historic sights this side of the Nile basin. On offer here, are glimpses of ancient graffiti and well-trodden trade routes from the Pharaonic eras at Wadi Hammamat, crumbling Ottoman forts at El Quseir, the temple of Seti I at Khanais, and the sprawling Emerald Mines (widely considered to be the oldest in the world) at the Wadi El Gamal National Park just to the south.