Egypt

Entry is straightforward: an e-visa from the official portal in advance, or a visa-on-arrival sticker (bring US dollars cash), both US$30 for a 30-day single entry in 2026 — and scheduled to rise to US$33 on 1 January 2027. If you’re headed only to the South Sinai Red Sea resorts, the free Sinai-only stamp saves the visa — just not if you’ll also see Cairo or Luxor.

The money story is the 2024 float: the pound dropped from the low 30s toward the low 50s against the dollar (about EGP 53 by late 2026), the black market largely vanished, and Egypt became markedly cheaper for visitors holding hard currency — a mid-range meal runs US$15–30, bottled water cents. The state has been raising foreigner site-entry fees to compensate, so the sightseeing is where the money goes. Carry dollars or euros in exact bills for the visa and the near-constant baksheesh; cards work in hotels and larger places, cash everywhere else.

Come October to April. Winter days are warm and the evenings cool (Cairo and Luxor can drop to around 10°C at night), and December–February is the busy, priciest peak. Summer turns Upper Egypt and the desert ferocious — Aswan averages about 42°C — so the temples are a trial by day; only the Red Sea, moderated by the water, stays comfortable.

Two calendar notes: Ramadan (around 8 February–9 March in 2027) keeps the sites open on adjusted hours while many restaurants close by day and reopen at dusk — fewer crowds, livelier evenings — and the spring khamsin can throw dust and haze over a few days at a time.

What Egypt is for is the ancient world, concentrated: the Pyramids and the new museum at Giza, the open-air pharaonic city of Luxor (Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s temple), and Aswan opening onto the Nubian Nile and the colossi of Abu Simbel. The classic trip pairs Cairo with the Luxor–Aswan stretch, usually by Nile cruise, and tacks on a few days of Red Sea diving at the end.

In Cairo, the traffic is legendary — use Uber or Careem (both operate) rather than hailing taxis, and don’t self-drive. The GEM has no metro link yet; reach it by app (10–15 minutes from Giza). The new Sphinx airport (SPX) near the pyramids is an alternative gateway to the main Cairo airport.

At Giza, general plateau admission (around EGP 700, ~US$14) covers the grounds and the Sphinx. Beside it, the Grand Egyptian Museum is now the headline of any trip — give it the best part of a day. Between the plateau and the GEM, Giza has gone from a half-day photo stop to a destination in its own right.

Going inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu is a separate, pricier ticket (around EGP 900–1,500) that sells out in the October–April season — book ahead if it matters to you. The old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir stays open but secondary, and the royal mummies are now at a separate museum (NMEC) in the city.

Luxor is an open-air museum of pharaonic Egypt — Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s temple — and the pattern at every site is the same: a modest base ticket, then paid extras for the marquee tombs (Tutankhamun’s, and the lavish Seti I) and once for photography. Aswan adds the Nubian Nile, the island temple of Philae and the gateway to Abu Simbel. Link the two by Nile cruise and you see the riverside temples of Edfu and Kom Ombo along the way.

Carry a thick wad of small notes and expect layered tickets at every pharaonic site: a modest base ticket gets you through the gate, then the marquee tombs (Tutankhamun’s, the lavish Seti I) and the right to photograph each cost paid extras on top — so the real per-site spend is well above the headline entry price. With baksheesh (small tips) expected from guides, drivers and attendants too, a stack of small Egyptian-pound notes is the most useful thing in your pocket.

Egypt sits at the US “exercise increased caution” (Level 2) level, and the key to reading it is geography. The mainstream circuit — Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh — operates normally and is heavily secured. The “do not travel” zones are North Sinai (an active insurgency, quite separate from the safe South Sinai resorts), the Western Desert near the Libya border, and the Sudan-border area.

Day to day, the real friction isn’t danger but persistent hassle: touts at the sites, constant baksheesh, pushy vendors, and some unwanted attention toward women travellers. Security alerts are episodic — the UK FCDO notes that travelling against its advice can void your insurance, so re-check the current advisories close to travel.

• The “do not travel” headlines (North Sinai, the Western Desert)Skipassuming they apply to your tripGothe heavily-secured corridor — Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea and the South Sinai resorts
• North Sinai insurgency warningsSkipconflating them with Sharm el-Sheikh or DahabGothe South Sinai resorts, which are a separate, safe zone with their own airport
• Persistent touts and “helpful” strangers at the sitesSkipengaging, or feeling obliged to tip for help you didn’t ask forGoa firm “la, shukran”, a licensed guide, and small notes ready for genuine baksheesh

Baksheesh — small tips — is pervasive: for guides (EGP 100–200 a day), drivers, restroom attendants and anyone who renders a service, so keep a wad of small notes. Women travellers should expect some catcalling, especially in markets and outside the resorts, and modest dress (shoulders and knees covered, a scarf to hand) eases it; at mosques, women cover their hair and everyone removes their shoes. Alcohol is served in hotels, resorts and tourist bars but is limited elsewhere.

The essentials: don’t drink the tap water — bottled only, and go easy on ice and raw salads, as an upset stomach is common; plugs are European Type C/F at 220V; the weekend is Friday–Saturday; and Arabic is the language, with English widely used in tourism. Weighing Egypt against the region’s other headline trip? See Egypt vs Jordan, measured.