Weather in Sharm el-Sheikh in October

A hard month. October is a hard month in Sharm el-Sheikh, and worth planning around. Daytime highs average 34.2 °C and the afternoon is not negotiable — outdoor plans move to early morning or evening.

October ranks 8 of 12 in Sharm el-Sheikh: past the worst of the year but short of January, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain is not a factor worth planning around this month. Pack for heat management rather than style: shade, water, and a schedule that gives up on the middle of the day.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 11 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest October day reached 41.5 °C and the coldest night fell to 19.8 °C.

October is dependably dry, and that reliability is the point: across the twenty years measured, the wettest October on record still only managed 11 mm, and the driest managed 0 mm. There is no meaningful variability to plan around, which makes this one of the few months anywhere that you can build a fixed outdoor itinerary against without a fallback. The wettest single day in twenty years of Octobers brought 11 mm. Rain simply is not the variable that decides this trip — heat, crowds and cost are.

Wind is light at 12.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 44%.

How October sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 3.5 °C cooler than September, with November dropping another 5.1 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in October

11.5 hours of daylight, losing 0.8 hours across the month. That is between Sharm el-Sheikh's extremes of 13.9 and 10.4 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 27.5 °C in October — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 29.1 °C in August and bottoms out at 22.6 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

October in Sharm el-Sheikh versus nearby

If Sharm el-Sheikh is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Hurghada is a better bet in October — 3.5 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Cairo is a better bet in October — 2.2 °C cooler, 1 day more rain.

So: October is a compromise. January is 52 points better and is what Sharm el-Sheikh is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Sharm el-Sheikh

See all twelve months in Sharm el-Sheikh, or where else to go in October.