Located at the northern end of the Red Sea leading up to the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Suez fringes the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula and the eastern coast of Egypt. It primarily serves as an important shipping route as it connects to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Dubbed ‘the sea of calm’, the gulf lies in an inactive 28 million-year-old volcanic rift. The genuinely Egyptian oasis, Ein El-Sokhna (also called Ain Soukhna), is a must-see: a popular hot spring retreat that recently opened to international travellers.