St Catherine's Monastery at the Base of Moses' Mountain

The Sinai Peninsula’s Moses’ Mountain (aka Mount Sinai, Mount/Gebel Horeb, Mount/Gebel Musa) rises behind the storied, 4th century St. Catherine’s Monastery, the oldest continuously operating Christian monastery in existence today.  The monastery — formally named Sacred and Imperial Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai — is built upon the supposed location of the Bible’s famed “burning bush”. The site of the burning bush is where god supposedly revealed himself to Moses, as recounted in Exodus 3: “The Lord spoke to Moses in this place, saying I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, I am who I am.” The monastery’s origins date back to Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, who isolated the spot of the “burning bush” in 337 AD. A small shrine/chapel was built on the site. This shrine of the burning bush is not visible, however, as it sits behind the apse of the church, and is not open for viewing. Thereafter, Roman Emperor Justinian built a 12-pillar granite basilica (constructed 542-551) to house Helena’s shrine. Justinian also fortified the site, by building fortified granite walls for protection — it is these walls that still stand around the city to this day.

Although there is heated debate as to whether the summit of Moses’ Mountain is the actual historical site where Moses received the Ten Commandments, this is certainly the traditional, recognized location.

From the summit, the views of the surrounding mountains and valleys are great! The climb is certainly worth the effort.

• When to do it. Seeing sunrise or sunset from the top is traditional (although we actually climbed to the summit during the day, missing the crowds at sunrise and sunset, and really enjoyed the experience).
• Geology of the mountain.  The mountain is made of granite.
• The summit is not visible from the Monastery, but the ascent up the mountain is visible off the northwest corner of the Monastery. The stone step path that rises to the summit was likely constructed in the sixth or seventh century.
• Summit altitude of 2,285 meters. This amounts to a 685 meter climb, given an altitude of 1,600 meters at the gates of St Catherine’s.
• Climbing to the summit. You can take two different routes to the top:
  • The camel track (ascent takes 2.5-3 hours up). This is a less taxing route and certainly riding a camel reduces the climbing strain, but probably not the riding sores.
  • The 3700 steps (ascent takes 1.5-2 hours, descent takes 1 hour). We would definitely recommend this route (we went up and down this route). It is much prettier, not to mention faster, plus it is the “historical” route taken by pilgrims up the mountain. Although many guidebooks warn about this being a brutal ascent, with some steps over a meter high, we did not find it difficult and certainly did not encounter any meter-high steps!  We would recommend taking a flashlight (for each person) if you are going to undertake this at night or during the early morning.

  Further, no matter which route you select, certainly bring a jacket because the wind really blows at the top.

See our custom map for the location of Moses’ Mountain and St Catherine’s Monastery.

Certainly a trip to Moses’ Mountain would not be complete without a visit to St. Catherine’s Monastery.  See our ApproachGuide to The Christian Icons of St Catherine’s Monastery.