Traveller's checks

Practical pre-trip basics for visiting Egypt

The traveller's checks section is the working back-of-the-quarterly section that gathers the practical material readers actually need before they leave home. Visa rules. Whether the SIM card sold at the airport is overpriced (yes, by a predictable margin). What the realistic taxi rate from Cairo airport actually is (not what the unmetered driver suggests). The dress code at a mosque versus a church versus the Egyptian Museum. Whether you can drink the tap water (no, but the calculation is more nuanced than the standard tourist advice suggests). The cards in this section are short and factual and re-rotated for every printed issue, because the numbers change with the EGP exchange rate, the visa-policy news and the seasonal closure calendar.

The eight cards below cover the eight topics readers write in about most often. They are not exhaustive — Egypt is a big country with a lot of practical wrinkles, and there are shorter prep cards in the quarterly's traveller's annex on topics like SIM-card data top-ups, the working week (Sunday to Thursday, not Monday to Friday), the cash-versus-card balance for haggling, the realistic time to book a Nile cruise, and a few more. If your question is not on this page, write to the desk; the traveller's-checks inbox is the easiest to answer quickly because the answer is usually a number rather than an opinion.

CHECK 01

Visa on arrival versus e-visa

Visa on arrival is available to most Western and Arab passports at Cairo, Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh and Luxor airports. Cost: USD 25 cash (not card), single-entry, 30 days. Buy at the bank kiosks before passport control, not at the passport-control desk itself. E-visa is available at visa2egypt.gov.eg, USD 25 single-entry or USD 60 multi-entry, applied for online seven days before arrival. The e-visa is faster at the airport (no kiosk queue) and is the right choice if you can plan ahead. Avoid: third-party visa websites — they overcharge by 100-200%. The only official URL is the one above.

Last rotation Apr 2026Flag a change →

CHECK 02

SIM cards and mobile data

At the airport: Vodafone, Orange and We have kiosks in Arrivals. Tourist SIM with 30 GB data costs EGP 450. In town: the same SIM at a Vodafone shop in Zamalek is EGP 350. Recommended operator: Vodafone Egypt has the best coverage on the Nile-cruise route and at the temple sites. eSIM: Airalo and Holafly both work in Egypt but cost three to four times the local SIM rate — use only if you cannot deal with the kiosk queue. Passport required for any SIM purchase under Egyptian telecommunications law.

Last rotation Apr 2026Flag a change →

CHECK 03

Cash, cards, ATMs and the EGP

Currency: Egyptian Pound (EGP). Current rate ~ EGP 48 = USD 1 (volatile, check before the trip). ATMs: Banque Misr, NBE and CIB ATMs are reliable and dispense up to EGP 5,000 per withdrawal. Foreign-card fee EGP 60 plus your bank's fee. Cards: Visa and Mastercard accepted at hotels, mid-range restaurants and museum ticket counters. AmEx at chain hotels only. Cash needed for: taxis, small restaurants, the Khan, tips, boat fares, the Abu Simbel convoy. Carry EGP 500 in small notes (10s and 20s) at all times. Avoid: hotel exchange desks (8-12% worse than the bank rate).

Last rotation Apr 2026Flag a change →

CHECK 04

Taxis, Uber, Careem and the metro

Uber and Careem both work in Cairo, Alexandria, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada — both show the fare up front, both are safer than street taxis. Standard fares (Cairo): Zamalek to Tahrir EGP 70; Zamalek to GEM EGP 250; Zamalek to airport EGP 350; Zamalek to Khan EGP 100. Street taxis: insist on the meter or agree the fare in advance — never both, never neither. Metro: EGP 5 single ride, EGP 10 for the longest legs. Lines 1 and 3 are useful; Line 2 less so. Women-only carriages in the middle of every train. Avoid: the taxi mafia at Ramses station — walk 100 m to the main street and hail one there.

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CHECK 05

What to wear, where

Mosques: shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, women cover hair (scarf provided at major mosques or rented at the gate for EGP 20). Churches: shoulders and knees covered, no shoe restrictions, head-covering optional but appreciated. Museums: no dress code, but air conditioning is aggressive — bring a layer. Open-air sites: long sleeves and a hat, not for modesty but for the sun. Lightweight cotton or linen. Cities: Cairo and Alexandria are cosmopolitan; Luxor and Aswan are conservative; the Red Sea resorts are international. Dress to the city you are in, not the country average. Swimming: resort beaches yes, public beaches no.

Last rotation Mar 2026Flag a change →

CHECK 06

Water, food and sun

Water: do not drink the tap. Bottled water is EGP 5-10 (500 ml) at any kiosk, ubiquitous. Brush teeth with bottled if your stomach is sensitive. Ice: in chain hotels and mid-range restaurants, fine. In small street-food places, ask if it is made from filtered water — usually it is, but ask. Food: hot freshly-cooked dishes are safer than salads or cold buffets. The vegetarian staples (fuul, ta'meya, kushari, koshary, mahshi) are reliable. Sun: SPF 50, hat with brim, sunglasses. The desert sun at the Giza plateau in summer is genuinely harsh. Pharmacy: Misr el-Gedida, Seif and El Ezaby chains are everywhere — staffed by qualified pharmacists who speak working English.

Last rotation Apr 2026Flag a change →

CHECK 07

Useful Arabic phrases

Seven phrases that change every day: shukran (thank you), aywa (yes), la (no), bikam? (how much?), ghali awi (too expensive), mish lazim (no thanks), mafish mushkila (no problem). Numbers: learn 1-10 in Arabic, used in markets and taxis. Greetings: as-salamu alaykum on entering a shop is universally appreciated. Tipping word: baksheesh — small tips EGP 10-20 for porters and restroom attendants. English coverage: almost universal in hotels and at tourist sites; minimal in local restaurants and small shops. Translation app: Google Translate offline Arabic pack works for menus and signs.

Last rotation Mar 2026Flag a change →

CHECK 08

Tipping schedule

Hotel porter EGP 20-50 per bag. Housekeeping EGP 30-50 a day, leave daily. Restaurant service 10% of the bill even if a service charge is included. Café EGP 10-20 round-up. Taxi round up to the nearest 10. Tour guide EGP 200-400 per group for half a day; double for a private guide. Felucca captain EGP 50-100 on top of the agreed fare. Restroom attendant EGP 5. Helpful museum guard EGP 20 if they showed you a corner you would have missed. Camel handler at the pyramids EGP 100-200, agree up-front. Mosque shoe-keeper EGP 10 even if they do not ask. Tips are part of the working economy, not punitive rates — Egyptians themselves tip in these ranges.

Last rotation Apr 2026Flag a change →

Eight questions the desk hears every week

Is Egypt safe?

The tourist corridors (Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, the Red Sea coast) are 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 Giza pyramids and the Khan are an annoyance, not a safety issue. The Western Desert oases and the Sinai interior have intermittent advisories from various Western foreign ministries; check your own ministry's current advice before planning anything beyond the standard cultural corridor. The Egyptian authorities maintain a heavy tourist-police presence at every major site.

Should I take Egyptian pounds or dollars?

USD or EUR cash in modest amounts (USD 200-500) is useful as a backup and is accepted by many tourist-facing businesses, but you cannot pay a Cairo taxi or buy a koshary with dollars. Pull EGP from a Banque Misr or NBE ATM on arrival at the airport — the rate is better than any exchange booth and the ATM is open 24/7. Avoid hotel exchange desks (8-12% worse than the bank rate).

What is the working week?

Sunday to Thursday. Friday and Saturday are the weekend. Most museums are open on Friday and Saturday but many government offices, banks and embassy services are closed. The Egyptian Museum Tahrir is open every day; the Coptic Museum is open daily; many smaller museums close on Mondays. Mosque visits are best avoided during Friday midday prayers (roughly 12:00-14:00).

Do I need cash for museum tickets?

Most major Cairo museums now accept Visa and Mastercard at the ticket window (the GEM has chip-and-PIN terminals; the Tahrir museum has them too as of January 2025). Smaller sites, west-bank tomb supplements, and the boat fare to Philae remain cash-only. Carry EGP 1,500 in cash per visiting day to be safe.

What about vaccinations?

No vaccinations are required for entry from low-risk countries (yellow fever is required only if you are arriving from a yellow-fever-endemic country, almost never an issue for Western travellers). Most travel-health services recommend being up-to-date on hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid and tetanus. Travel insurance with medical evacuation is recommended; the major Cairo private hospitals (Dar Al Fouad, As-Salam) are good but evacuation insurance is the safer call for serious incidents.

Is the Nile cruise worth it?

Yes, for the Luxor-Aswan leg and the river-side temples (Edfu, Esna, Kom Ombo). The cruise handles the logistics of three temples that are otherwise tedious to reach independently, and the on-board calm is the part of the trip many readers say they remember best. Book direct with the cruise operator in Luxor or Aswan rather than through an international agent — the rate is consistently lower. Three or four nights is the right length; a week is too long.

How early should I book?

For October-March travel (high season), three to four months ahead for flights and hotels. For April-September (shoulder/low), six to eight weeks. The Abu Simbel equinox ticket (22 October and 22 February) sells out three months ahead and is the only timed-entry sell-out in the Egyptian tourist calendar. Domestic flights are best booked three weeks ahead — the sweet spot between availability and price.

Can I use a credit card everywhere?

No. Cards are accepted at hotels, mid-range and upmarket restaurants, supermarkets and most museum ticket counters. They are not accepted at street-food places, small bazaar shops, taxis (other than Uber/Careem), feluccas, the Abu Simbel convoy minibus, west-bank tomb supplements, or most small museum gift shops. Treat the card as a back-up payment method; carry sufficient EGP in cash for the day's small transactions.

Pair this section with calendar watch for the month-by-month picture, with route plans for the trip plans that the basics support, and with region notes for the neighbourhood orientation that contextualises the practical material.

The traveller's-checks pages stay short by design

Each card answers one practical question in one screen. Subscribers receive the working version in the traveller's annex at the back of every printed quarterly, with the numbers re-rotated for each issue.