Sharm is an easy place to learn to dive, and the reason is geography rather than marketing: the reef starts metres from the shore, the water is warm and clear, and a beginner does not need a boat to reach a wall worth looking at. Two products cover the whole beginner path, and they answer different questions.
First question: do you want to try, or to be certified?
| Discover Scuba Diving | PADI Open Water Diver | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | Nemo Dive Club, Ras Um Sid | Anar Dive Center, Hadaba |
| Price | €100 for the session (list €110) | €380 per student |
| Length | About 4 hours — half a day | Several days |
| What you do | Theory, confined water, one open-water dive | Theory with an exam, pool dives, 4 dives to 18 m |
| What you get | The experience, no certificate | An entry-level certification |
| Not included | Marine park and boat fees | Student manual and certification |
The trial dive
Nemo's PADI Discover Scuba Diving is €100 for the whole session, not a per-head rate inside a group; the club's own list price is €110. It runs in three stages — theory, a confined-water session where you learn to breathe and clear a mask, and one dive in open water — and takes about four hours in total, so it fits into half a day and leaves the rest of it free.
Nemo is at Ras Um Sid and holds 4.9 on Google from 389 reviews. Marine park and boat fees are separate lines on the same price list and are paid on top.
There is also a version of a boat day with an introduction dive: Hero sells the Ras Mohamed yacht trip at $35 and, as a separate product, the same day with an introduction dive at $45 per person — booked in advance rather than paid for on board.
The certification
Anar Dive Center's PADI Open Water Diver course is €380 per student. It includes the theoretical part with an exam at the end, pool dives with the required exercises, and four practical sessions in open water in the coastal zone to a depth of 18 metres. The student manual and the certification itself are charged separately — that is the one line to read twice before comparing this price with another school's.
Anar's €380 course excludes the manual and the certification; Nemo's €100 trial excludes the park and boat fees. Compare either price with another school only after adding those lines.
How many days does the course take?
The course runs over several days, and the centre agrees the daily start times with you when it takes the booking. Anar holds 4.9 on Google from 187 reviews as of 3 September 2026.
Why does language decide more than price here?
A dive briefing is safety information, and understanding it is not optional. Anar states Russian, English, Turkish and Italian, and names the people: the instructor Anar Huseyn, with twenty years of teaching experience stated, and divemaster Aynur, both teaching in Russian. That is unusually specific for Sharm. Among the other centres, Dolphin works in Russian and English, Story Divers in English and German, and Dive In in English and Italian; the rest list English only.
After the course: what does a dive day cost?
Once you are certified, you join the standard day: two guided dives, roughly eight hours, €70 to €155 per person. The cheapest is The Wave's shore day at €70, which carries no boat fee at all because there is no boat. The most predictable is Mr. Diver at $95 with the National Park and jetty fees inside the price, plus transport, meals and nitrox.
And if you plan a week of it, Camel sells seven nights and three diving days from €559 per person with free nitrox and airport transfers.
Practical notes
The schools do not publish a minimum age or medical requirements — we confirm them in writing before booking. Plan the park and boat fees into the budget; they are outside both prices. And for the course, count the days: four open-water dives do not fit into one afternoon.
All prices are the operators' own published figures as of 3 September 2026.
Updated 3 September 2026.
