Egypt

Understand

thumb|The St. Katherine monastery

Egypt is a large, transcontinental country spanning North Africa and the Middle East. It is the world's 29th largest country, with a land area of . It is one of Africa's largest countries, one of the most populated countries in the Arab world.

The country is bounded by the Mediterranean and Red Seas (to the north and east respectively) and geographically dominated both by the Nile River and its fertile well-watered valley, and by the Eastern and Western deserts.

Get in

Egypt's economy depends a great deal on tourism; therefore, most people can enter the country without a visa. Unlike neighbouring Libya and Sudan, Egypt allows Israeli citizens to visit Egypt.

See

Highlights of any visit to Egypt include famous archaeological sites from both Lower (North) and Upper (South) Egypt. The most famous are:

Greater Cairo:

Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx Egyptian Museum Red, Bent and Black Pyramids of Dahshur, neglected but a great alternative to Giza with the oldest known pyramid Citadel of Salah El Din and Mosque of Mohamed Ali Khan al Khalili bazaar and al Hussein Mosque Pyramids and temples of Saqqara, just north of Dahshur Memphis, with some relics of ancient Egypt - including a huge statue of Ramesses II, evoking the image which inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Ozymandias

Alexandria is the country's main summer attraction for Egyptians escaping the summer heat and looking for a place to spend vacation. The city has several Roman and Greek sights:

the stunning new Bibliotheca Alexandrina Qa'edbay's Castle Colonial and Roman buildings Qasr El Montaza (El Montaza Palace), thumb|Aswan next to the Nile Aswan is a great alternative over the hassling and overrated Luxor. Here, you can equally see impressive temples and ancient monuments, but at the same time relax and enjoy the authentic and large souq, and: Tombs of Nobles, with a great view of Aswan and some fine paintings inside the tombs. Abu Simbel, near the border with Sudan at Lake Nasser, one of the most impressive sights in Egypt besides the pyramids. Geziret El Nabatat (The Island of Plants), an island in the Nile River of Aswan which was planted by rare species of plants, tre…

Do

Cairo, for instance has so much to do and see. Besides the ancient Egyptian history, there is the history of Romans, Greeks, Byzantine Empire, Islamic empire, Ottomans, and finally modern Egyptian history. thumb|Coptic icon in the Church of Saint Mercurius in Old Cairo Jewish and Christian history To see more about Egypt's Christian and Jewish history, go to a local tourist office and ask them to give you names of local churches and synagogues. There is at least two synagogues dating back many years ago, when Egypt had a population of a few hundred thousand Jews in the country, who eventually left during the formation of Israel in 1948.

There is a lot of old and interesting churches to see in different areas of Cairo, including downtown Cairo, Heliopolis, Korba, Shubra, Abbasiya, Zamalek, and Maadi. Some of these churches have been around for several hundred years and their architecture resemble that of Churches in Western countries, often built by Europeans who built much of the city's architecture in the 19th century as a resemblance to modern buildings of Europe at the time.

Modern Cairo If you want to see modern Cairo, try walking in the streets of Zamalek, Maadi, Mohandiseen, or Heliopolis where you will see some of the more modern buildings and get to experience the way of life in Egypt.

Local cafés, coffeeshops and restaurants For social times, try sitting in one of the local cafes restaurants where you can meet and interact with fellow Egyptians. There are numerous…

Eat

thumb|Falafel Egypt can be a fantastic place to sample a unique range of food: not too spicy and well-flavoured with herbs and aromatic spices like parsley, cilantro, dill, cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom. For a convenient selection of Egyptian cuisine and staple foods try the Felfela chain of restaurants in Cairo. Some visitors complain, however, that these have become almost too tourist-friendly and have abandoned some elements of authenticity. A more affordable and wider-spread alternative is the Arabiata restaurant chain, Arabiata is considered by locals to be the number one destination for Egyptian delicacies as falafel and fūl too.

Beware of any restaurant listed in popular guidebooks and websites. Even if the restaurant was once great, after publication, they will likely create a "special" English menu that includes very high prices.

As in many seaside countries, Egypt is full of fish restaurants and markets so fish and seafood are must-try. Frequently, fish markets have some food stalls nearby where you can point at specific fish species to be cooked. Stalls typically have shared tables, and locals are as frequent there as tourists.

McDonald's has food which you may not find in your home country like the McFalafel and the long-streched Chicken Fillet.

Drink

See also Stay healthy:Fluids section for hygiene and related info.

Sleep

Egypt has a full range of accommodation options, from basic backpacker hostels to five-star resorts. Most major hotel chains are represented in Greater Cairo, Sharm el Sheikh and Luxor, at least. You can reserve most of your accommodation online or contact a local agent who can organise both accommodation and trips.

Walk-in rates give you great discounts over online reservations, e.g. half-price in Aswan. Generally, online reservations are more expensive due to it being used by so many tourists. However, in Egypt most hotels do not have their own website and do not have to commit to the agreement with online reservations sites to offer the same price online as offline. Nevertheless, have a screenshot of the actual online price ready, just in case you encounter a hotel that is willing to overcharge you. In high season, it is best to reserve the first night and haggle for the following night(s). Otherwise, if there is no general shortage of rooms and less than 60% are booked (usually displayed at the top of online reservation sites), then check out an area with many hotels and go there asking around. Hotels will also happily accept you cancelling your existing online reservation in person for a discount. When reserving online, often you have the flat price, with tax and fees added. Generally, you will get at least these taxes and fees as discount (10-15%) when cancelling the reservation in person and/or when bargaining.

Some online hotel sites state that payment is required i…

Stay safe

Egypt is often labelled as an unsafe country by many foreign governments — a reputation that's not entirely unwarranted — but the average traveller should not be too overly concerned or cautious of their surroundings.

Travelling in Egypt is, more or less, similar to travelling in Morocco, Jordan, Palestine or Turkey.

Perhaps the biggest safety concern is terrorism. The Sinai Peninsula in particular is a hotspot for terrorist activity.

Respect

Egyptians, in general, are friendly and welcoming. As is the case in many Muslim-majority countries, Egyptians consider it shameful to not give a guest a warm welcome.

Egyptians, North Africans, and Arabs in the Gulf share a common culture and form the Arab world; therefore, much of what is considered good manners in Arab world is very much applicable to Egypt.

First-time visitors to the Arab world should keep the following rule in mind: be smart about what you say or do openly. Any action that causes an Egyptian to lose their honour (face) will not be taken positively.

Connect

Egypt has a reasonably modern telephone service including four GSM mobile service providers. The mobile phone providers are Vodafone, Etisalat, We and Orange. According to OpenSignal all of them are similarly good. Actual 4G download speeds are around 15 MBit/s. Vodafone has the most consistent network quality. If you plan to visit rather remote areas, also Vodafone has the widest 4G coverage. (updated September 2022)

Mobile Internet SIM cards can be bought for around €5/US$5 (Dec 2022) including 10 GB for 1 month at the airport or for around LE130 per 8GB in the city. As of April 2021 a SIM card with 18GB was USD10 at the Hurghada airport.

Roaming services are provided, although you should check with your service provider.

Internet access is easy to find and cheap, and often free. Nowadays, most coffee shops, restaurants, hotel lobbies and other locations now provide free WiFi. Connections can be unsafe and under surveillance, try to use a proxy or VPN for your privacy.