How many days do you need in Egypt?

Ten to twelve for a first trip: four or five in Cairo, then the Nile between Luxor and Aswan. A week works if you fly one leg instead of sailing it.

When is the best time to visit Egypt?

October to April. March, April, October and November give warm days without the summer peak, and the Nile valley is punishing in July and August.

Is Egypt expensive to visit?

Not by European standards. Food, domestic flights and transport are cheap; the costs that add up are site tickets, guides and Nile cruises.

Do you need a visa for Egypt?

Most visitors do. A single-entry tourist visa costs $30, bought online before you fly or on arrival at the airport, and the fee rose in March 2026.

Can you drink the tap water in Egypt?

Stick to bottled or filtered water. It is cheap and sold everywhere, and it is the easiest way to avoid losing a day of the trip.

Egypt travel guides, city by city

Quick answer · where to go in Egypt

First-timers give Cairo four days for Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum and Islamic Cairo, then move south to Luxor and Aswan for the temples and the river. Add the Red Sea or South Sinai if you want reef diving. Travel between October and April: the Nile valley in high summer is punishing rather than merely hot.

Jump toCity guides Fun fact Stereotypes Famous Egyptians Food FAQ

4 Egypt city guides

Sorted by what travelers are saving this month.

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

Around 95 percent of Egyptians live on the roughly 4 percent of the country the Nile waters. The map is enormous; the inhabited strip is not.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"Egypt is one long queue of tourists"

The realityGiza and Karnak are crowded from mid-morning and quiet at opening. Start at the gate, break through the afternoon, and the same sites feel half empty.

"You have to book a package to see any of it"

The realityTrains, domestic flights, museum tickets and licensed guides are all bookable independently. A package buys convenience, not access.

"It is all desert and ruins"

The realityThe Red Sea and Sinai coasts hold some of the best reef diving anywhere, and Alexandria is a Mediterranean city with its own food, its own accent and its own weather.

"Nobody will leave you alone"

The realityTouting is real at the big sites and thins out fast away from them. A friendly, unambiguous "la shukran" ends most of it.

Camels at the pyramidsHaggling over everythingEndless glasses of hibiscusThe curse of the pharaohsSand to the horizonBaksheesh for every small favourStreet cats running the place

Cultural notes that actually help

Greet before you ask. As-salamu alaykum first, then the question, changes the whole exchange.
Carry small notes. Baksheesh for a hand with a bag or a door opened is the norm, and nobody can break a large bill.
Cover shoulders and knees at mosques and churches, and bring a scarf for your hair. Many mosques lend a robe at the door.
Friday is the day off and the midday prayer empties the streets. Plan museums and long journeys around it.
Ask before photographing people, and put the camera away at checkpoints, bridges and anything military.
Eat and pass with your right hand. The left one stays out of shared dishes.

Famous Egyptian faces

The names behind Egypt's music, cinema, writing, science and sport. Pick a field.

Umm Kulthum

Singer whose Thursday night broadcasts stopped the Arab world

Naguib Mahfouz

Novelist, and the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature

Omar Sharif

Actor of Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago

Mohamed Salah

Liverpool forward and captain of the Egypt national team

Ahmed Zewail

Nobel laureate in chemistry, and the founder of femtochemistry

Gamal Abdel Nasser

President who nationalised the Suez Canal in 1956

Anwar Sadat

President, and joint Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1978

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996

Abdel Halim Hafez

Crooner known across the Arab world as the Dark Nightingale

Mohamed Abdel Wahab

Composer who pulled Arabic music toward the orchestra

Amr Diab

Pop singer who has topped Arabic charts since the 1980s

Youssef Chahine

Director who carried Egyptian cinema onto the festival circuit

Faten Hamama

Actress at the centre of Egyptian film’s golden age

Nawal El Saadawi

Physician and writer on women’s rights in the Arab world

Alaa Al Aswany

Novelist behind The Yacoubian Building

Magdi Yacoub

Heart surgeon, and founder of the Aswan Heart Centre

Zahi Hawass

Archaeologist and former minister of antiquities

Ahmed Elgendy

First African to win Olympic modern pentathlon gold, Paris 2024

Cleopatra VII

The last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt

Tutankhamun

Boy pharaoh whose tomb was found near-intact in 1922

Ramesses II

Pharaoh behind Abu Simbel and much of what stands at Karnak

Hatshepsut

Pharaoh whose terraced temple sits under the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari

Imhotep

Architect of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Taha Hussein

Writer and reformer known as the Dean of Arabic Literature

Feryal Ashraf

Karate gold at Tokyo 2020, the first Olympic gold won by an Egyptian woman

Must-try Egyptian food

The staples first, then the street plates, the coast and the sweets. Pick a category.

Koshari

Rice, lentils and macaroni under tomato sauce and fried onion.

Ful medames

Slow-cooked fava beans, the standard Egyptian breakfast.

Mahshi

Vine leaves, courgettes and peppers stuffed with herbed rice.

Hawawshi

Spiced minced meat baked inside flatbread until the edges crisp.

Feteer meshaltet

Layered pastry folded thin, served sweet or savoury.

Shawarma

Meat shaved off the stack into bread with tahini and pickles.

Om Ali

Warm bread pudding with milk, nuts and coconut.

Basbousa

Semolina cake soaked in syrup.

Karkade

Hibiscus tea, hot in winter and iced through the summer.

Ta'ameya

Egypt's falafel, made with fava beans rather than chickpeas.

Molokhia

Jute-leaf stew, green and heavy with garlic, served over rice.

Fattah

Rice and crisped bread under garlic, vinegar and meat.

Kebda Eskandarani

Alexandrian liver, fried hard with chilli, garlic and lemon.

Sayadeya

Fish baked over cumin-spiced rice, an Alexandria staple.

Grilled sea bass

Picked off the ice at the counter, then grilled whole.

Kunafa

Shredded pastry over cream or cheese, drenched in syrup.

Roz bel laban

Rice pudding, served cold under cinnamon.

Sahlab

Thickened warm milk under cinnamon and chopped nuts.

Asab

Sugarcane juice, pressed to order at street counters.

Top 10s across Egypt

When to visit Egypt