Nabq, Sharm El Sheikh: the guide to the newest and roomiest area

Nabq is the newest and roomiest part of Sharm El Sheikh, north of the airport on the road towards Dahab. Where the old areas — Naama, Hadaba, Montazah — grew over decades and are built densely, Nabq was planned in large pieces from the start: resorts of hundreds and thousands of units, wide roads, grounds with gardens and several pools. It is a different scale and a different rhythm of life, and buying here means understanding both.

How the area is laid out

Nabq runs along the shore as a strip between the sea and the mountains. Nearer the water are hotel complexes and residential resorts; behind them the road; behind the road the new residential projects and still-empty plots. There is no single centre like Naama's promenade: life happens inside the compounds and at a few shopping spots by the road. Understand this at once — Nabq is for people who live 'on the grounds', not 'in town'.

The shoreline is special. A large part of the coast belongs to the Nabq protected area with its mangroves, and there is no wide open beach strip with cafés as in Naama. The beaches are mostly hotel beaches and those of residential resorts, with reef and pontoons; there are public stretches of shore. For swimmers and divers this is a plus: clear water, a living reef. For anyone expecting a town beach with a promenade, a minus.

What is being built, and by whom

Nabq holds Sharm's largest projects. Porto Sharm by Amer Group — according to the developer, 5,000 units on 800,000 sq m with pools, a gym, restaurants and a dive centre. The View Resort and Oasis Villas by Kafafy Group — a gated resort by a public beach and a villa complex on the third line. Sunny Village by Sunny Group — a completed residential resort with pools and an aqua park. Sea Beach Aqua Park — residential units on the grounds of a beach hotel with an aqua park. Viva Reef, Laguna Vista Residence, Moona Sharm Resort, Golf Heights by the 18-hole golf course. What is known about each from sources, and where sources disagree, is set out in the compounds overview.

The common thread: Nabq has more recently finished housing and more construction than any other area. That gives a choice of price and stage, but it means a building site next door is checked complex by complex, not by area. A project on paper and a project where people already live are different purchases — a separate article covers that.

The car: Nabq's main question

Nabq is hard without a car. Shops, pharmacies and cafés exist, but not within walking distance of every home; Naama and Hadaba are a drive along the highway. Taxis in Sharm are plentiful and many owners manage with them, but daily trips belong in the budget of living here and in any letting calculation: a guest who arrives for a week without a car gets a resort with grounds, not a town.

The other side of the same coin is quiet and space. Nabq has no promenade noise at night, the courtyards are roomy, there are several pools per complex, and there is parking. For a family with a car, for remote workers and for people who come for long stays and value calm, it is one of the most comfortable areas in town.

Who Nabq suits

• Families and couples with a car who want to live on gated grounds with pools and a garden.
• Buyers of recently finished homes: Nabq has the most of them, with modern services.
• Those considering off-plan from a large developer for the price and ready to wait.
• Divers and daily swimmers: reef, calm water, the reserve next door.
• For nightly lets to guests without a car the area is weaker than Naama; stronger as a 'resort with grounds' for families staying two or three weeks.

What is for sale and what it costs

Studios, one- and two-bedroom flats in resort complexes, townhouses and villas, and units in projects under construction with developer instalments. We name no prices in this article: they depend on the complex, the stage and the line from the sea, and a table without a source only misleads. Current Nabq listings with price, currency and date are in the catalogue linked below; off-plan units there also show the developer and the stated delivery date.

What to check at a viewing in Nabq

1. Occupancy: an empty resort is kept worse than a lived-in one, even when new. Come in the evening and count the lit windows.
2. Construction next door: what is being built, when it finishes, whether it will block the view.
3. Access to the sea: own beach, a hotel's beach under an agreement, or public shore — and by which route.
4. The developer: other projects in town, delivered or not, how they are run. How to check is in a separate article.
5. The service charge: amount, what it covers, who manages the grounds, any arrears.
6. Water and electricity: generator, water treatment, pressure at peak season — critical in large complexes.
7. Shop and pharmacy: on the grounds, by the road, or only in town.
8. Highway noise for the blocks nearest the road.