This is the section that is not about a place — it is about the numbers and the rules a first-time visitor to Egypt needs to know before booking. Visa rules. Whether the airport SIM is overpriced (yes). The realistic taxi rate from Cairo airport. The dress code at a mosque versus a church versus a museum. Whether the tap water is drinkable (no, but with more nuance than the standard advice). We re-check this section twice a year, in March and September, because the numbers move with the exchange rate and the visa-policy news. Free to read, like everything else here.
None of this is legal advice — it is our best current read of the practical situation, gathered from our own trips and checked against the relevant Egyptian sources where we can. If something here has changed since your visit, tell the desk and we will update it within a week. The tipping schedule and the phrase list at the foot are the parts readers screenshot most often, so we keep them current and complete.
Visa on arrival at Cairo, Hurghada, Sharm and Luxor airports: USD 25 cash, single-entry, 30 days. Buy at the bank kiosks before passport control, not at the desk itself. E-visa at visa2egypt.gov.eg: USD 25 single-entry or USD 60 multi-entry, applied 7 days ahead, faster at the airport. Avoid third-party visa sites — they overcharge by 100–200%.
At the airport: Vodafone, Orange and We have kiosks. A tourist SIM with 30 GB costs about EGP 450. In town: the same SIM is around EGP 350. Best coverage on the Nile-cruise route and at the temple sites is Vodafone. eSIM (Airalo, Holafly) works but costs several times the local rate. A passport is required for any SIM.
Currency: Egyptian Pound (EGP), around EGP 48 to USD 1 and volatile. ATMs: Banque Misr, NBE and CIB dispense up to EGP 5,000, foreign-card fee about EGP 60. Cards work at hotels, mid-range restaurants and museum tills. Cash for taxis, small restaurants, the Khan, tips, boat fares and the Abu Simbel convoy — carry EGP 500 in small notes. Avoid hotel exchange desks.
Uber and Careem work in Cairo, Alexandria, Sharm and Hurghada with the fare shown up front. Standard Cairo fares: Zamalek–Tahrir EGP 70; Zamalek–GEM EGP 250; Zamalek–airport EGP 350. Street taxis: meter or agreed fare, never both, never neither. Metro: EGP 5; lines 1 and 3 are useful; women-only carriages in the middle of every train.
Mosques: shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, women cover hair. Churches: shoulders and knees covered, no shoe rules. Museums: no code, but aggressive air-conditioning — bring a layer. Open-air sites: long sleeves and a hat for the sun. Cities: Cairo and Alexandria are cosmopolitan; Luxor and Aswan conservative. Dress to the city, not the country average.
Water: do not drink the tap; bottled is EGP 5–10 and everywhere. Ice: fine in chain hotels and mid-range restaurants. Food: hot freshly-cooked dishes are safer than cold buffets; the vegetarian staples are reliable. Sun: SPF 50, a brimmed hat, sunglasses. Pharmacies (Seif, El Ezaby, Misr el-Gedida) are everywhere and staffed by qualified pharmacists with working English.
Tipping (baksheesh) is part of the working economy in Egypt and is expected in many service interactions. This schedule is what we recommend — neither stingy nor inflated. It assumes you carry small notes, which is why the money note above stresses keeping EGP 500 in 10s and 20s.
| Situation | Recommended | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel porter | EGP 20–50 / bag | Per bag mid-range, per service for luxury |
| Housekeeping | EGP 30–50 / day | Leave daily, not at the end |
| Restaurant service | 10% of bill | Even if a service charge is included |
| Café / coffee | EGP 10–20 | Round up the bill |
| Taxi driver | Round up to nearest 10 | Uber/Careem: in-app tip works |
| Local guide (half day) | EGP 200–400 pp | Per group; more for a private guide |
| Felucca captain | EGP 50–100 | On top of the agreed fare |
| Restroom attendant | EGP 5 | Carry small coins |
| Helpful site guard | EGP 20 | If they showed you something you'd have missed |
| Camel handler at the pyramids | EGP 100–200 | Negotiate up front, not after dismounting |
| Mosque shoe-keeper | EGP 10 | Even if they do not ask |
Tips are part of the working income of most service workers and the rate is not punitive — it is the local norm, and Egyptians themselves tip in roughly these ranges. The one exception is the camel-handler at the pyramids, where the price is haggled rather than tipped: agree the full amount before you mount and stick to it.
You do not need Arabic to travel in the tourist corridor — English is widely understood at hotels and sites — but a few words are appreciated everywhere and genuinely useful in markets and taxis.
| Arabic (transliterated) | Means | When |
|---|---|---|
| as-salamu alaykum | peace be upon you (hello) | Entering a shop or a home |
| shukran | thank you | Everywhere |
| aywa / la | yes / no | Everywhere |
| bikam? | how much? | Markets, taxis, boats |
| ghali awi | too expensive | Haggling in the Khan |
| mish lazim | no thanks / not needed | Declining a tout politely |
| mafish mushkila | no problem | Smoothing any small exchange |
| baksheesh | a tip / small gift | The word behind the tipping economy |
Learn the numbers one to ten as well — they are useful in markets and taxis, and the effort is always appreciated. An offline translation app (Google Translate's Arabic pack) handles menus and signs when the words run out.
The tourist corridor — Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, the Red Sea coast — is safe in the everyday sense. Petty theft is low compared with most European capitals and violent crime against tourists is rare. The aggressive touts at the pyramids and the Khan are an annoyance, not a danger. The Western Desert oases and the northern Sinai have travel advisories; check your own foreign ministry before planning anything beyond the standard corridor.
Carry a little USD or EUR cash as a backup, but you cannot pay a Cairo taxi or buy a koshary with it. Pull EGP from a bank ATM (Banque Misr, NBE) on arrival — the rate beats any exchange booth and the machine is open all hours. Avoid hotel exchange desks, which run 8–12% worse.
Sunday to Thursday; Friday and Saturday are the weekend. Most museums open at weekends but many government offices and banks close. The Egyptian Museum Tahrir, the Coptic Museum and the GEM open daily; some smaller museums close on Mondays. Avoid mosque visits during Friday midday prayers (roughly 12:00–14:00).
The major Cairo museums now take Visa and Mastercard at the till (the GEM and the Tahrir museum both do). Smaller sites, west-bank tomb supplements and the Philae boat are cash-only. Carry about EGP 1,500 in cash per visiting day to be safe.
No vaccinations are required for entry from low-risk countries. Travel-health services usually recommend being up to date on hepatitis A and B, typhoid and tetanus. Travel insurance with medical evacuation is sensible; the major Cairo private hospitals are good but evacuation cover is the safer call for anything serious.
Yes, for the Luxor–Aswan leg and the river temples (Edfu, Esna, Kom Ombo), which are otherwise tedious to reach. Book direct with the operator in Luxor or Aswan rather than through an international agent — the rate is lower. Three or four nights is the right length; a week is too long.
For October–March (high season), three to four months ahead for flights and hotels. For April–September, six to eight weeks. The Abu Simbel equinox ticket (22 Oct, 22 Feb) sells out three months ahead. Domestic flights are best booked about three weeks out.
Roughly: Cairo–Giza–Saqqara–Alexandria in the north; Luxor and Aswan in the south; Sharm and Dahab on the southern Sinai; Hurghada and the Red Sea resorts. Saint Catherine's sits at the edge. The Western Desert oases are reachable but need local knowledge, and the northern Sinai is not a tourist destination. Always check your foreign ministry's current advice.
Pair this with best months for the month-by-month picture, the day-by-day plans built on these basics, and the area notes for the neighbourhood context.
The numbers move with the exchange rate and the visa news, so this section gets two full re-checks a year. Found something out of date sooner? Tell the desk and we will fix it within a week.
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