Visiting Egypt- FAQs & Planning Guide

This post shares all relevant details if you plan to visit Egypt. (Written for tourists from India, you can use the same info with relevant modifications if starting from somewhere else)

Q1: How much is cheap flight to Egypt?

From various cities in Egypt, if you can get a return ticket for under 25000 INR, it is super cheap. Many low cost airlines fly to Cairo, Alexandria and other Egyptian cities. Flynas, Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Zareera etc. If you can track their sales and spot a good deal under 25k, it is great. Note that food and baggage will be extra with LCCs

With full service airlines like Etihad, Kuwait Airways etc, if you can get a one stop flight to Cairo for around 28-30k INR return it is a good deal. Etihad had a return ticket for as low as 22k for Feb 2024, but hard to spot such deals and plan instantly. So I peg 30k as a good price for Egypt, with food & bag included, possible to get if you can plan 4-6 months in advance.

Last minute flight tickets to Egypt easily cost 50k return, which I feel is high. Unless very very keen or not able to plan few months in advance, I would say wait for better deal.

An alternate option is to include Egypt on your way back from USA, Europe etc. Fly to Cairo on your return journey, spend a few days and then fly to your destination in India.

Q2: How many days are needed for Egypt?

At least 7 to 10 days is recommended

• 2 days for museums in Cairo city + arrival & departure days
  
• 1 Day for Pyramids in Giza
• 4 days Luxor- Axor Nile River Cruise (Expensive, skip if on budget)
  
• 1 day trip to Alexandria
• 2 days buffer for inter city travels, additional day trips

If short on time or budget skip Luxor, Nile River cruise, stay focused on Cairo, Alexandria, Giza and nearby for at least 4-5 days

Q3: How much should we budget for exploring Egypt

• Flight for 2 people: 60-70k
• Day trip to Alexandria- 100-120 USD + entry fee, food (12000-15000 INR for 2 people)
• Entry ticket for Pyramids of Giza, with entry to one pyramid: 10000 INR for 2 people
• Budget hotel stay for 2 people, 7 nights- 15000-20000 INR
• Visa: 3700 per person, 7-8k for 2 people
• Museum and various entry fees, approx 15000-20000 INR (150 to 500 EGP per person)
• One more day tours, say Fayoum: 160 USD for 2 pax + entry fee, food: 15000-18000 INR for 2
  
• Food & misc expenses: 20000 INR for 1 week for 2 people 

Roughly you're looking at spending 1.5 lakh INR for 2 people for 1 week, at best possible rates, budget hotels, self planning. Same thing with a tour package will cost 1.5 lakh for land package+ flights & various non included items extra, costing 2.2-2.5 lakhs for a couple.

If going on Nile cruise- 1 to 1.2 lakh rupees extra for 2 people

• Nile cruise charges- 400-500 USD per person, 80000 INR for 2 people
• Domestic flights-Cairo-Luxor,Aswan-Cairo etc- 20-30k for 2 people
• Hotel stay at Luxor, Aswan: 10000 for 2 people, 2 night

Q4: How to save money in Egypt trip?

• Airport taxi from Cairo city via Uber is 200-300 EGP or 350-500 INR but if asked to arrange, hotels will charge 20-25 USD, which is 4-5x more expensive.
• Nile river cruise is sold for 15 USD per person in travel shops. Hotels, online portals charge more. Our hotel asked for 25 USD per person, one online portal was showing 15 $ but when we went to payment was asking 50+ USD
  
• Cairo has affordable metro. Bus numbers are not in English which can be an issue. Learn arabic numbers and you can explore city using public transport & walk, not having to spend on day tours, taxi etc 
• At the great pyramids, it is feasible to walk around and explore on our own. No need to spend on horse cart, donkey ride etc which costs more (on a per hour basis)
• Lots of things are cheaper in Egypt than in India. Water, mango, banana, cucumber, biscuits etc are available at super markets for good price. 
• Do your research, explore, try to manage on your own. It is possible to explore Egypt for less compared to tour packages.

Q5: Where we should plan our stay?

• Spend at least 1 night near the pyramids in Giza, so that you can walk in and explore them at leisure, not constrained by tour buses that give you just a few hours.
• Alexandria can be explored via day trip from Egypt. if you prefer you can even fly in into Alexandria, spend a night there and then proceed to Cairo
• Decide if you have the time, budget & inclination to visit Luxor and try 3-4 days Nile River cruise. This will add 1 lakh+ to your budget easily (cruise, flights, stay etc). 
  
• Staying put in Cairo city for rest of your trip will be good. You can do one or 2 day day trips from Cairo to various places
  

Q6: Forex in Egypt

• Egypt uses EGP or Egyptian Pounds. 1 EGP is 1.75 INR, roughly 50 EGP= 1 USD
• Most shops happily accept USD as payment. However expect them to keep a small margin while calculating conversion rate.
• Many attractions do not accept cash for ticket. You've to buy tickets online.

Q7: Why we should visit Egypt? What is unique?

• Pyramids are very unique to Egypt, not available anywhere else in the world
• Lots of historic artifacts are unique to Egypt
• Within various countries in Africa, Egypt has good flights, decent infra, easy visa etc. If you've never been to Africa, Egypt can be a good start 
• Visa is relatively easy
  

Q8: Is Egypt safe for solo travelers?

Egypt is extremely crowded place. The towns are very dirty, dusty, filthy, similar to various Indian cities. However we saw Police presence everywhere. I couldn't see any risk as such. Use standard precautions. However, I feel Egypt is better explored with a buddy or partner, as lots of trips are very expensive for 1 person, will be reasonable if split between 2-3 people.

Q9: What is the impact/Risk due to war in middle east?

There was no impact of Israel-Iran war during our trip in September-October 2024

Q10: Is Egypt visa easy for Indians?

Yes, got eVisa with Atlys. A detailed post is available here

Q11: Is Vegetarian food easy to find in Egypt?

Yes. Egyptian breakfast includes a kind of roti/bread as main component, which can be had with jam or some of their local side dishes. Lots of bakeries are around, so you can grab various bread based products.

Fruits and vegetables are easily available- Banana, Mango, watermelon, sugarcane etc. Very well priced too (like Banana just 40 INR per kilo). You can have fruits or fruit juices.

Couple of Indian restaurants available- visited one inside Ramse Hilton- these are veg + non veg restaurants but you can get various veg items.

Milk, Curd, Coffee readymix etc are available in supermarkets. Overall it is not difficult to survive for a week in Egypt if you're a vegetarian.