Colored Canyon
Sinai’s Painted Stone
Hidden in the mountains near Nuweiba lies one of Sinai’s natural wonders: the Colored Canyon. Narrow passages twist and turn through sandstone walls, glowing with layers of red, gold, purple, and ochre. Carved over millennia by water and wind, the canyon is a desert gallery where every curve reveals new patterns of light and color.
The canyon winds for nearly a kilometer, its walls rising up to 40 meters. In places, the path narrows to just a few steps across, the sandstone polished smooth by time. Each layer tells a story of ancient seas and shifting earth, painted in hues that change with the sun’s angle. Walking here feels less like hiking and more like moving through a dream of stone.
Experience It
Bedouins have long guided travelers through the canyon, sharing stories of its origins and its place in the rhythm of desert life. For them, it is not only a spectacle of nature but also a reminder of the land’s enduring beauty—fragile, silent, and eternal.
As sunlight filters into the narrow passages, the walls seem to glow from within. Shadows shift, colors deepen, and the canyon becomes a living canvas. By midday the reds burn brighter; by evening the gold softens into violet. It is a place where the desert reveals its artistry.
Unlike monuments of kings and temples of gods, the Colored Canyon is nature’s own creation—an artwork untouched by human hands.
Experience a masterpiece made by the brush of nature itself.
