Traveling to foreign countries can be very exciting and sometimes a little scary, especially with places so culturally different than what you’re used to. Egypt is a beautiful country with thousands of years of history and I hope you get to see all of the beauty it has to offer! Before you travel, here are a few things to consider to make your trip smooth-sailing and put any nerves to rest.
As mentioned in my previous Egypt post, Egypt is as safe of a country to visit as Spain, France, and even the United Kingdom just to name a few. Of course, you will still want to be diligent about protecting your passport, money, and other valuables as pickpockets can be found in high-traffic areas. Feel free to use the menu below to skip to an area you’re interested in.
- Customs and Immigration
- What to wear
- Currency
- Expenses
- Street vendors
- Tipping
- Food & Water
- Restrooms
- Internet and cellular plans
To enter the country, of course you will need a passport. Make sure it will be valid for at least 6 months from the final day of your travel.
You will also need a travel visa, which can be obtained upon arrival at the airport for about $25. This visa will be valid for 30 days, which will likely be longer than you will need.
One thing I was very concerned about before traveling was what clothing would be appropriately modest. Virtually all of the Egyptian women will be fully covered with a hijab as Islam is the official religion of the country. From experience, no matter what you wear you will be stared at just for being American. Even so, it is always important to be respectful of the culture. I always had my full legs covered with pants, long dresses, or leggings under a dress. Some women travelers in my tour group did wear above-the-knee shorts, and at tourist locations I saw a few other women travelers wearing them as well. No one shouted profanities at them or openly scoffed, so if you want to wear them you will likely not be alone, but I would opt for leg-covering options. Also, I would not wear leggings as pants as they can be more revealing than wearing shorter shorts. The only time I wore leggings was underneath a knee-length dress just to keep my legs from being exposed, especially as it was a flowy dress that had potential to fly up in the wind. Keep in mind that it will likely be very hot (the heat index one day when I traveled at the end of April was 105!), so make sure the pants you bring are breathable or even flowy. For shirts I do not think long sleeved is necessary, but I would make sure it has at least a little bit of sleeve and avoid tank tops or spaghetti straps. Be sure to check that the neckline isn’t deep or plunging and that you’re not exposing cleavage. For your own comfort, stick with light colors and breathable material! You will not have need for a headscarf unless you enter a mosque, which we never ended up doing, but I had one with me just in case. If you take a Nile river cruise, you will be on a boat with other tourists and can therefore wear whatever you like, so feel free to take a swim on your rooftop pool.
I purchased a small sunhat before this trip and it was an absolute lifesaver! I wore it almost every single day of the trip, and my skin thanked me!
The official currency used is the Egyptian Pound. In 2010 the exchange rate was 1 USD to about 5.5 EGP, by the end of 2016 that skyrocketed to 1 USD for 17 EGP where it has steadily stayed between 17 and 18 EGP. To get a good exchange rate, wait until you arrive in Egypt to exchange your money. Learn from my mistake and make sure to exchange any leftover pounds back to US dollars BEFORE leaving the country! Due to the inflation and the infrequency of tourists traveling to Egypt, you won’t be able to exchange your money when back in the States! Even in JFK airport they would not accept the currency. I took my EGPs to London with me in hopes of exchanging there, and I found one place that said they would accept the currency, except that was the day I accidentally left the money at the hotel! Soon we will be traveling to Iceland and Switzerland and I’m hoping to find someplace that will accept it (fingers crossed!). However don’t exchange all of your money; keep several single US dollars. There will be many little souvenir places that will sell magnets, water bottles, etc. for $1, and we found Egyptians like to receive tips in US dollars as well.
Egypt has by far been the cheapest country I have ever visited! We stayed at all 5-star hotels during our trip from April-May, considered to still be during peak tourist season, and on average the price was only $125/night! When we would eat dinner at restaurants in these 5-star hotels, my bill would usually be under $10 for food and a soda, which is cheaper than some fast-food restaurants back home! At a Starbucks, I got my favorite grande white chocolate mocha for $1.90, compared to $5 in the US. Check out this cost of living in Egypt price sheet in case you don’t believe me!
When shopping, it’s hard to try to think of how much items cost in USD when the price tag is an inflated number like £50 for a snow globe. It’s easy to whip our your phone and use your calculator for a conversion, but I like to save time and do some quick mental math. At the time when I traveled £100 was roughly equivalent to $5, so that £50 snow globe was about $2.50.
My biggest piece of advice when spending money is to haggle all of the prices when shopping. Prices you see or are told by the shop owners are inflated, so if you do not negotiate prices you will be getting scammed. Be wary to not get caught up in negotiations and buy something just because you got a “great deal” on it; if you don’t truly want the item, walk away!
Egypt has the absolute worst street vendors of any place I’ve ever visited. Europe has been dealing with a migrant crisis for a few years, and you will have noticed if you have been across the pond recently. You can’t walk in tourist areas without being constantly bombarded with people trying to sell you things. They will follow you around and try to stick flowers in your hand or tie bracelets on your wrists as you walk and expect payment. While this is still true in Egypt, the vendors aren’t just meandering around the streets; they have dedicated booths. For instance: when you leave Edfu Temple in order to leave you must pass by a long row of what felt like over 50 permanent vendor booths. I’ll give you the advice our tour guide gave us; you see air. If you want to be left alone, look straight ahead and act as if you only see air; don’t even say “no thank you”.
Something else to consider when traveling anywhere, not just Egypt, is be respectful of street performers. Please do not take photos or videos of performers if you have no intention of giving them money at the end. Egypt had snake tamers, New York has dancers, Italy has spray paint artists, and the list goes on. It is a pet peeve of mine to see small crowds of people video taping these performers for several minutes then walking away when the tip jar is passed around.
If you’ve travelled to other countries you know that the subject of tipping can be stressful. Should you tip in Egypt? Yes, always yes. Tips are welcome and expected pretty much in every situation and location! After a horse carriage ride I tipped the driver. He then asked for more money, so I gave him a little bit extra because he went out of his way to take a lot of photographs for me earlier. Then, he asked for even MORE money “for the horse”! On another occasion a different man gave us a carriage ride back to our hotel for a couple dollars, but when he dropped us off he said we owed him twice the amount he said earlier! I told him that was unacceptable and would only pay him the initial amount. I’m not someone who likes confrontation, but you have to look out for yourself or you will get ripped off left and right.
Take care to be aware of your surroundings as Egyptians will stay around tourist areas and try to get you to take photos of them, or they may even sneak into your photos at the last second and want you to pay them for it. As soon as I saw someone purposefully go into my camera frame, I would lower my camera and shoo them away indicating I wasn’t going to pay them. Nothing is free here!
Here you will want to avoid tap water and drink only bottled water. My mom advised me to even brush my teeth using bottled water, but I thought that was a little overkill. Guess who got sick halfway through the trip? Make sure to bring medicine for your stomach such as Pepto Bismol or Immodium, and please do not consume water from the sink!
Along those same lines, avoid raw or unpeeled produce. During several buffet style meals it was hard to pass by delicious looking fruit and salads, but the stomach pain wasn’t worth it.
Virtually all public restrooms you encounter will cost you money, even in establishments such as the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. When we went to the restroom at the Pyramids in Giza, a woman and her son had a table outside where you paid a small amount of money and they gave you a few squares of toilet paper before directing you to the entrance. While at the Egyptian Museum, you will enter the bathroom without paying, but attendants will be inside handing out toilet paper and paper towels for a fee. I learned very early on to keep a pack of tissues in my purse to use as toilet paper and hand sanitizer to clean my hands afterwards. The attendants will not like you, but that’s ok.
We use AT&T as our cellular carrier and have the International Day Pass added to our plan, so typically when we travel we pay a flat $10/day to have the same service we use at home (which for us is the unlimited talk, text, and data). This plan is available in a wide range of countries, but unfortunately not in Egypt. Instead, I used AT&T Passport. There are two plans available, both with unlimited texting, $0.35/minute phone calls, and 1 or 3GB of data. For a flat rate of $60 per device you will get the 1GB of data, while the 3GB of data will cost $120 per device. I opted for the cheaper plan, and even with unlimited texting my service was unreliable. My phone showed several bars, but it was delayed in sending and receiving text messages.
Wifi is sparsely available around most of the country. Most hotels offered wifi for a fee, and even then the coverage may only be in the common areas like the lobby.
