Al-Gabal al-Ahmar – The Red Mountain of Sinai

Among the granite giants of Sinai’s high mountain region, Al-Gabal al-Ahmar — The Red Mountain — stands out for its color and its commanding views. Its slopes of iron-rich granite glow crimson at dawn and dusk, earning it a place not just in maps, but in Bedouin memory and story.

The Mountain and Its Landscape

Located near Saint Catherine, Al-Gabal al-Ahmar rises alongside other iconic peaks like Mount Sinai and Jebel Katherina. Its reddish cliffs and dome-like ridges mark it out from the black volcanic rock of nearby summits. From the top, hikers can see across the Sinai highlands: Mount Mousa, the jagged ridges of Jebel Rabba, and beyond them the endless desert stretching to the Gulf of Aqaba.

The trail is less defined than those to Mount Sinai. Bedouin guides lead hikers up rocky slopes that require scrambling, often weaving through wadis where acacia trees grow and springs trickle after winter rains.

Why Climb Al-Gabal al-Ahmar?

Unlike Mount Mousa, crowded with pilgrims, Al-Gabal al-Ahmar offers silence. It is a mountain where the color of the land meets the voice of the Bedouin, where a guide’s story turns a ridge into a memory and the red stone itself feels alive at dawn.

For travelers staying at Dar Katrine, this hike is a chance to experience Sinai away from the crowds — to stand on a crimson summit, listen to the wind in the granite valleys, and feel the pulse of a landscape shaped as much by people’s stories as by time and stone.