Egypt is two completely different holidays sold under one name. One is a Red Sea resort where you never leave the compound and the country stays outside the gate. The other is Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, which is one of the great trips on earth and also relentless in a way that catches people off guard. Decide which one you are booking before you book anything.
Visas
Everyone reading this needs a visa, and it is easy.
| Passport | What you need | | --- | --- | | Armenia | e-visa online, or visa on arrival. 30 days. | | Russia | e-visa online, or visa on arrival. 30 days. | | Georgia | e-visa online, or visa on arrival. 30 days. | | EU and Schengen | Same. | | United States | Same. |
The price changed this year. Visa on arrival went up to 30 US dollars on 1 March 2026, from 25. The e-visa applied for online in advance is still cheaper at around 25 dollars, and it removes the queue at the airport bank window, which is where you buy the on-arrival sticker before you reach passport control. Applying online a week ahead is the better move on both counts.
There is one useful exception. If you are flying into Sharm el-Sheikh and staying only in South Sinai, meaning Sharm, Dahab or Nuweiba, and not going to St Catherine's or the mainland, you can get a free Sinai Resort Permit valid for 15 days instead of the visa. If you plan to see anything outside that zone, including Mount Sinai, you need the full visa.
Bring cash US dollars for the visa. The airport bank does not take cards for it.
When to go
October to April. This is not a preference, it is close to a rule.
Between May and September, Luxor and Aswan sit at 40 to 45 degrees and Upper Egypt becomes genuinely hazardous for sightseeing. The Valley of the Kings has no shade and the tombs hold heat. People do go in summer, and they see the sites between 6am and 10am and then hide.
The Red Sea resorts are a different climate story and work year round, although July and August are still very hot and the sea gets warm enough to stop being refreshing.
December and January are peak season on the Nile: best weather, highest prices, fullest sites. November and March are the sweet spot.
Ramadan shifts each year. Sites and museums stay open with shorter hours, restaurants outside tourist areas close during the day, and the atmosphere after sunset is genuinely worth experiencing.
What things cost
The pound has moved a lot in recent years. At the time of writing, one US dollar buys around 50 Egyptian pounds.
- Visa on arrival: 30 US dollars, e-visa around 25
- Giza plateau entry: 700 pounds for foreign adults, 350 for students
- Grand Egyptian Museum: around 1,450 pounds for foreign adults including the Tutankhamun galleries
- Entry inside the Great Pyramid: a separate and much higher ticket on top of the plateau fee
- Local meal, koshary or ful: 50 to 120 pounds
- Mid-range restaurant: 300 to 600 pounds a person
- Cairo metro: 8 to 15 pounds depending on distance
- Uber across Cairo: 100 to 250 pounds
- Mid-range hotel: 1,500 to 3,500 pounds
Egypt is cheap for a visitor with foreign currency and expensive for the people living in it, and that gap explains most of the interactions you will have. Tipping, baksheesh, is not optional and is not a scam. Small notes for the person who opens a door, points at a tomb, or helps with a bag are part of how the economy works. Carry a stack of 10 and 20 pound notes specifically for this.
What is a scam: anyone who offers to take your photo and then demands money, the camel ride whose price triples once you are on the camel, the guide at a site who is not a guide, and the taxi driver who takes you to a papyrus shop on the way. Agree every price out loud before anything starts, including the way back down from the camel.
The pyramids and the new museum
The Grand Egyptian Museum opened fully on 1 November 2025 after twenty years of delays, and it changes how you plan Cairo. The complete Tutankhamun collection, more than five thousand objects, is displayed together for the first time. It sits next to the Giza plateau, so museum and pyramids are one area rather than two ends of the city.
Give the GEM a half day at minimum. Book online, since walk-up queues are long, and go early.
The old Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square is still open and still worth it for a different, older, more crowded kind of experience, but the headline objects have moved.
At Giza itself, arrive at opening time. The hassle is at its worst in the middle of the day, the heat too, and the light is better early. Entry to the plateau is 700 pounds and going inside the Great Pyramid is a separate ticket that costs several times more. Inside is a steep, hot, narrow climb to an empty stone room. Whether it is worth it is genuinely a matter of temperament.
Getting around
Domestic flights between Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and the Red Sea are cheap and save a great deal of time. EgyptAir runs most of them.
The sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor and Aswan is a real option and an experience in itself. Book ahead, foreigners pay in dollars or euros for the tourist sleeper.
A Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan is the standard way to see the temples, usually three or four nights. The boats are broadly similar and the itinerary is fixed. The alternative is a dahabiya, a small sailing boat, which is slower, quieter and considerably more expensive.
In Cairo, use Uber or Careem rather than street taxis. The metro is cheap, fast and has women-only carriages, marked and worth using if you would prefer them.
Traffic in Cairo is beyond what most visitors have seen. Crossing the road is done by walking slowly and predictably into it and letting cars flow around you. Follow a local the first few times.
Behaviour and safety
Dress modestly outside resorts. Covered shoulders and knees for everyone, and for women loose clothing reduces attention substantially. In Sharm and Hurghada resorts, normal beachwear is fine inside the property.
Harassment of women, verbal rather than physical, is a persistent complaint in Cairo and around tourist sites. Travelling with company, wearing loose clothing and simply not engaging are the usual responses.
Egypt is safe from serious crime against tourists, and the tourism sites are heavily policed. The official advisories that exist are about the North Sinai region and the western desert near the Libyan border, neither of which appears on a normal itinerary. South Sinai, meaning Sharm and Dahab, is not the same place as North Sinai.
Do not drink the tap water anywhere, including in hotels. Bottled water is everywhere and cheap. Be careful with raw salads and ice outside good restaurants for the first few days.
Staying connected
Coverage is good in Cairo, along the Nile, and in the resorts. Vodafone, Orange and Etisalat all work.
A local SIM requires your passport and a shop visit, and there are kiosks at the airports. Roaming from Armenia, Georgia or Russia works but adds up fast.
The specific case for an eSIM in Egypt is different from elsewhere. You want working data at the airport before you have local currency, because that is when you are negotiating a taxi price, checking what the ride should cost and confirming a hotel address. Arriving with no data and no pounds is how the first hour of an Egypt trip goes wrong.
Where to go
Cairo is three days: the Grand Egyptian Museum and Giza, Islamic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili, and Coptic Cairo with the Hanging Church and Ben Ezra synagogue.
Luxor is the reason to come. The Valley of the Kings, Karnak, Hatshepsut's temple and Luxor temple at night. Two full days minimum, three is better.
Aswan is calmer and more beautiful, with the Nubian villages, Philae temple and the felucca sail at sunset. Abu Simbel is a three hour drive from there and worth the early start.
The Red Sea: Dahab is the backpacker and diving town, Sharm el-Sheikh is the resort strip, Hurghada is the package holiday capital, and Marsa Alam is quieter with better reefs.
Siwa Oasis is a long way west and is the trip for people who have already done the rest.
If Egypt sits in a longer route from this region, the UAE guide and the Turkey guide cover the two most common connecting points.
Questions people actually ask
How much is the visa now? 30 US dollars on arrival since 1 March 2026, or around 25 for the e-visa applied for online in advance. Bring cash dollars if you do it at the airport.
Do I need a visa for a Sharm el-Sheikh beach holiday? Not necessarily. A free Sinai Resort Permit covers 15 days in South Sinai if you never leave that zone. Anything beyond it needs the full visa.
Is the Grand Egyptian Museum open? Yes, fully since 1 November 2025. Book online and allow at least half a day.
Is it safe? Yes for normal tourism. The travel advisories concern North Sinai and the Libyan border area, not the places on a standard itinerary.
How much should I tip? Constantly and in small amounts. Carry 10 and 20 pound notes. It is how a large part of the service economy is paid.
Can I go in summer? You can, but Luxor and Aswan hit 45 degrees. You would be sightseeing from 6am to 10am only.
