Travelling to Egypt: your questions answered

A tourist visa is required for almost every nationality, including French, Belgian, Swiss, Canadian, Italian and Spanish travellers. It allows a 30 day stay and is obtained online before departure or at the desk on arrival. The one common exception is a stay limited to South Sinai, which comes with a free 15 day stamp.

Budget 30 US dollars for a single entry, whether you use the online e-visa or the desk on arrival, and 65 dollars for multiple entries online. These prices went up in spring 2026 and many websites still show 25 dollars. At the airport, payment is cash only.

It is possible for French, Belgian and Italian travellers under bilateral agreements, provided the card stays valid for six months after your return and you bring two passport photos. The visa is then issued on a cardboard document that cannot be extended once you are there. Other nationalities still need a passport.

Six months of validity after your return is the rule to remember, and British travellers are also asked for one blank page. Check the condition of the document too: a badly damaged passport can cause trouble at the border, so renew it before booking rather than discovering the problem at the airport.

If you do not have an e-visa, you buy one at the bank desk before passport control, then clear immigration and collect your luggage. A member of our team is waiting at the exit with an Osiris sign and drives you to your hotel or your boat. No taxi to haggle over.

Drones require prior authorisation in Egypt and are regularly confiscated on arrival, including small recreational models. Do not count on filming archaeological sites with one. If you absolutely must bring one, check with the Egyptian consulate before departure rather than taking your chances at baggage control.

October to April, with mild bright days that suit the temples and the Valley of the Kings. November to February is peak season, so book early. Summer is still very pleasant on the Red Sea, where you can swim all year round, as long as you visit the sites first thing in the morning.

Seven days cover the essentials: Cairo plus a cruise between Luxor and Aswan. Ten days let you add Abu Simbel or a few nights on the Red Sea. From fifteen days you can fit in the White Desert or the Siwa oasis without ever rushing from one site to the next.

The main line item is the international flight, followed by accommodation and the cruise. Then come the visa, site entrance fees, meals outside your board basis and tips. The rest depends entirely on the style of trip you choose. Our quotes are free and itemise every line, with no costs appearing at the last minute.

In Upper Egypt, July and August are very hot, especially in Luxor and Aswan, but the heat is dry and visits happen early in the morning, before the afternoon break. The Red Sea stays pleasant all summer thanks to the sea breeze, and the sites are far quieter than in winter.

Light but covering clothes, a scarf for mosques, good walking shoes, a hat, sunglasses and high factor sun cream. Add a small first aid kit, a water bottle, an adapter if your country does not use European sockets, and a supply of small notes for tips.

We advise starting in Luxor. The densest sites, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, are better tackled at the start of the trip, and you finish in Aswan, the gentler of the two, where the Abu Simbel excursion begins. Both directions visit exactly the same temples: most of the time it is your flights that decide.

Allow two to three nights in Luxor and one to two in Aswan, on top of the nights on board. Luxor calls for two half days of sightseeing, one per bank, while Aswan needs only one, the rest being free time. Add a night in Aswan for Abu Simbel and one in Luxor for the balloon flight.

There is no age restriction, and we regularly host families with babies. From five or six a child genuinely enjoys the temples, because they follow the story being told. Below that age the trip is built around the Red Sea, the boat and the pool rather than around archaeology.

With the season, not the itinerary. The time of year decides what you can visit in the middle of the day, the price of the flight and how busy the sites are. Then comes the length, ten days being the ideal format, and only then the itinerary itself: Cairo and a cruise between Luxor and Aswan.

Prices are set in Egyptian pounds and revised several times a year: the only amount that counts is the one shown on the official portal egymonuments.gov.eg. The major sites have moved to card payment, so bring a card accepted internationally. The Grand Egyptian Museum is booked at tickets.gem.eg.

A full day for both, or better two mornings. The plateau takes about three hours, including going inside a pyramid, and the Grand Egyptian Museum at least as long. With an extra day in Cairo, add Saqqara and Dahshur, where you understand how the Giza pyramids came to be.

The best time for a honeymoon in Egypt runs from October to April, with a preference for October, November, March and April. After a summer wedding the Nile valley often goes above 40 °C: you then shorten the cruise and lengthen the Red Sea stay, swimmable all year round, or move the trip to autumn.

Hurghada is the best choice to combine the Red Sea with Luxor and a Nile cruise, about four hours away by road. Sharm el-Sheikh suits a sea focused stay better, with the Ras Mohammed reefs and Saint Catherine's monastery, but the temples can only be reached by plane. Marsa Alam, further south, is the quietest.

Allow two to three hours on site to visit three tombs and one extra ticket in the Valley of the Kings. Arrive at opening time, before the cruise boat groups and the midday heat. For the whole west bank of Luxor, with Hatshepsut's temple, the Colossi of Memnon and Medinet Habu, plan a full day.

Allow two to three hours to see the essentials of Karnak Temple with a guide: the avenue of rams, the hypostyle hall, Hatshepsut's obelisk and the sacred lake. With the open-air museum, plan half a day. Come at opening time or late in the afternoon to avoid the heat and the cruise boat groups.

Allow one to one and a half hours for the temple of Edfu and about an hour for Kom Ombo, crocodile museum included. It is best to see Edfu early in the morning, before the heat, and Kom Ombo late in the day, when the temple lights up. On a cruise, these times are already built into the programme.

Allow one and a half to two hours for the temple of Philae, boat crossing included, with about an hour on the island. It is best to go at opening time or in the late afternoon, to avoid the heat and enjoy the light. The visit is easily combined with the Aswan High Dam in the same half day.

Yes, Grand Egyptian Museum tickets are booked online, with a timed entry slot, at visit-gem.com, which leads to tickets.gem.eg, the only official site. Avoid resellers, who add a margin without faster access. Book a few days ahead in high season. On our tours, entrance fees are included and booked for you.

Every trip we run is private: your Egyptologist guide, your air conditioned vehicle and your driver, for you alone. You leave at the time that suits you, you linger where you want to and you follow no umbrella and no group timetable. In a country this dense, that changes everything.

That is the whole idea. Every itinerary published on this site is a starting point: we adjust the dates, the length, the hotel category, the pace of the visits and the add ons such as Abu Simbel or the Red Sea. Tell us what you want to see and we build the programme around it.

Our guides are qualified Egyptologists who work in English, French, Italian and Spanish, and other languages are possible on request. They are what turns a temple visit into a real reading of the walls. They live in Egypt year round and have been working with us for years.

It is the heart of a first trip to Egypt. In four or five nights between Luxor and Aswan you take in Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae without ever repacking, and you watch riverbanks go by that the road never shows. The boat becomes a hotel that moves.

Children tend to love Egypt, as long as the pace is adapted. The pyramids, the feluccas and life on board leave a lasting mark on younger travellers. We lighten the days, plan breaks in the shade and favour hotels with a pool. A Nile and Red Sea combination works particularly well as a family.

It is one of our most requested formats: temples first, beach afterwards. Allow nine days to follow the cruise with a few nights in Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh without rushing, with the transfer made by road or on a domestic flight depending on your programme.

Siwa is reached from Cairo or Alexandria and offers one of the finest contrasts in the country, between hot springs, palm groves and dunes. The oasis pairs with the White Desert and the Black Desert. Allow at least four days: the drive is long, and it is part of the journey.

The Giza pyramids and the Cairo collections, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, the Philae temple and Nubia in Aswan, Abu Simbel if your programme allows. Each city also keeps quieter places that our guides often save for the end of the day.

It is the format we recommend most often to families: a single room to unpack for four nights, while the temples come to you. Between visits the ship offers a pool, a deck and meals at fixed times. Ask for connecting cabins when you book, as their number is limited.

Two options: about three hours by road, with a pre-dawn start, or a short hour by plane. Either way, allow a full day and arrive early, before the groups. The excursion is best decided when booking rather than once you are there, and it slots in naturally at the end of a cruise.

Yes, with a ticket separate from the plateau one, and the number of daily entries into the pyramid of Khufu is capped. Expect a low corridor where you walk bent over and burial chambers that are entirely bare, with no paintings. Khafre and Menkaure can also be visited, cheaper and often less crowded.

It is the most striking visit in Cairo alongside the plateau itself. Fully open since November 2025, two kilometres from the pyramids, it brings together Tutankhamun's treasure in full for the first time. Allow at least three hours and book at tickets.gem.eg, its only official site.

Egypt is a wonderful honeymoon destination if you alternate discovery and rest. In ten to twelve days you can combine the pyramids, a Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan, then three or four nights on the Red Sea. The secret is to keep a single major visit per half day and to end the stay by the sea.

For a honeymoon, the dahabeya is the most romantic choice. This traditional sailing boat rarely has more than about ten cabins and stops on quiet riverbanks, away from the big ships. The classic cruise ship remains more affordable, with a pool and frequent departures. A dahabeya is ideally booked four to six months ahead.

The Valley of the Kings ticket gives access to three tombs of your choice among around ten open on a rotating basis. The tombs of Seti I, Ramesses V and VI and Tutankhamun are paid for separately. If you only take one extra ticket, Seti I is the longest and most richly decorated tomb in the valley.

Tutankhamun's tomb is worth the extra ticket mainly for its story. It is small, only the burial chamber is painted, and the treasure is on display at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. You see the place of the 1922 discovery and the king's mummy in a glass case. For the finest decoration, choose the tomb of Seti I.

Yes, Karnak and Luxor Temple complement each other and are easily visited on the same day. Karnak, vast, is the house of the god Amun; Luxor Temple, more compact, is superb when lit in the evening. The two are linked by an avenue of sphinxes reopened in 2021. The right rhythm: Karnak in the morning, Luxor at sunset.

The best time to visit Luxor Temple is late in the day: arrive an hour before sunset, visit in the golden light, then watch the temple light up at night. It is one of the few major sites in Egypt open in the evening. Allow one to one and a half hours, and check the closing time, which varies with the season.

Yes, they are two of the finest temples in Egypt. Edfu, dedicated to Horus, is the best preserved temple in the country, with its roof and sanctuary intact. Kom Ombo is a unique double temple, devoted to Sobek and Haroeris, set on the bank of the Nile. Both are classic stops on cruises between Luxor and Aswan.

Yes, Edfu and Kom Ombo can also be visited by road, as they lie on the route between Luxor and Aswan, about three and a half hours' drive without stops. A private transfer with driver and guide lets you see both temples in a day, then arrive in Aswan or Luxor in the evening.

The temple of Philae was moved to escape the rising waters caused by the Aswan dams. With UNESCO, it was dismantled into more than 40,000 blocks and rebuilt identically on the neighbouring island of Agilkia, work completed in 1980. Today it can be visited in remarkable condition, a few hundred metres from its original site.

The temple of Philae is reached by boat: about twenty minutes by road from Aswan to the Shallal landing, then a crossing of about ten minutes to Agilkia island. The site ticket is bought at the landing and the boat is paid separately. On our tours, transfer, boat and tickets are included.

The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square is Cairo's historic museum, opened in 1902, and keeps the Narmer Palette and the treasures of Tanis. The Grand Egyptian Museum, fully opened in November 2025 near the pyramids, displays Tutankhamun's entire treasure in a modern building. On a first trip, the Grand Egyptian Museum comes first.

Yes, feluccas leave Aswan for two to three days of sailing towards Kom Ombo and Edfu, with nights on deck and meals cooked on board. A car then takes over to Luxor. Comfort is basic, with no shower or proper toilet: to sail with cabins, a dahabiya is the right compromise.

In Alexandria, the must sees are Qaitbay Citadel, built on the site of the ancient lighthouse, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Roman Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa and Pompey's Pillar. With more time, add the Kom el-Dikka amphitheatre, the National Museum and the Montaza gardens, then end on the Corniche at sunset.

Yes, Alexandria can be visited on a day trip from Cairo: allow two and a half to three hours by road or train each way, which leaves about six hours on site for the highlights. A night there is more comfortable and lets you enjoy the Corniche in the evening. We arrange it as an extension on request.

The local currency is the Egyptian pound. Hotels, cruise boats and city restaurants take cards, but always keep cash for tips, small shops and the souks. Change money once you are there, in a bank or an official exchange office, rather than on the street.

Tips are not included in our prices and are never compulsory, but baksheesh is part of daily life and tops up the income of many jobs. Keep small notes handy for hotel and boat staff. For your guide and driver, the amount is entirely up to you.

Stick to sealed bottled water, which is available everywhere and inexpensive. Also avoid ice cubes in small venues and rinse fruit with mineral water. That single precaution prevents the vast majority of digestive upsets during a trip.

Light clothes that cover the shoulders and knees work everywhere and spare you unwanted attention. To enter a mosque, women cover their hair with a scarf and everyone removes their shoes. In beach resorts, swimwear stays on the beach and by the pool.

Mobile coverage is good in the cities, at the tourist sites and along the Nile, patchier in the desert. Wifi is available in hotels and on most cruise boats, at variable speeds. A local SIM card or an eSIM bought before departure settles the question for a few euros.

Not from continental Europe. The Egyptian grid runs at 220 volts, 50 hertz, with type C and F two round pin sockets: your devices plug in directly. An adapter is still needed from the United Kingdom, Switzerland or North America. Above all, bring a power bank, as a day of sightseeing drains a phone.

The second obelisk of Luxor Temple has stood in Paris, on the Place de la Concorde, since 1836. Ramesses II's two obelisks originally framed the temple entrance; only one remains on site, in front of the first pylon. Seeing it in Luxor after passing its twin in Paris is often a memorable moment of the trip for visitors who know the French capital.

The royal mummies can be seen at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, in Fustat, Old Cairo. Twenty-two mummies of kings and queens, including Ramesses II and Hatshepsut, were moved there in April 2021. Neither the Grand Egyptian Museum nor the Tahrir Square museum displays them: plan a dedicated visit of about an hour and a half.

Late afternoon is the best time for a felucca in Aswan: you board an hour to an hour and a half before sunset, when the heat eases and the light turns the west bank dunes golden. Early morning is a lovely, quieter alternative. From May to September, avoid the middle of the day.

A felucca ride in Aswan usually lasts one to two hours: one hour to sail around Elephantine Island, two to add Kitchener's Island and the sunset. The price is set per boat and per hour, never per person, and is negotiated before boarding. On our trips, it is fixed in the quote from the start.

The tourist areas, from Cairo to Aswan and along the Red Sea, are busy all year and closely supervised. Some border areas are still advised against: the official, up to date information is on your own foreign ministry website, which we encourage you to check before booking. During the trip you have the direct number of our local team.

Many women do it every year. Unwanted attention is common at tourist sites but rarely threatening: covering clothes, sunglasses and a firm no are usually enough. Travelling with a private guide changes a great deal, especially for transfers and late afternoon visits.

No vaccination is required for travellers coming from Europe, other than a yellow fever certificate for anyone arriving from an endemic area. Up to date routine vaccinations and, depending on your profile, hepatitis A and B or typhoid are often recommended. Ask your doctor or a travel clinic at least a month before departure.

Bottled water only, fruit you peel yourself, well cooked dishes and caution with raw salads and lukewarm buffets. Wash your hands often or keep a gel in your bag. Pack something to treat a short bout of diarrhoea plus rehydration salts: it is the most common complaint, and it passes quickly.

Tell your guide or our office straight away. Cities and tourist areas have private clinics used to foreign visitors, and hotels will call a doctor on request. Before you leave, take out travel insurance covering medical costs and repatriation, and keep its contact details on you throughout the trip.

Border areas and the north of Sinai are subject to restrictive advice, while Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, the Nile valley and the Red Sea resorts are visited all year round. Alert levels differ from one country to another: check the official advisory matching your passport before booking.

Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada are not areas travellers are advised to avoid. The FCDO describes Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam as generally low risk, while North Sinai is advised against by all the main advisories and has nothing to do with the resorts. The real risk on the ground is driving at night outside towns, so rely on a driver for excursions.

Write to us through the form, by email or on WhatsApp with your dates, the number of travellers and what appeals to you. The quote is free, with no commitment, and sets out the itinerary day by day. We usually reply within twenty four hours, Monday to Saturday, Egypt time.

The quote is free and carries no commitment. The exact terms, deposit and balance, are set out in writing when you confirm, before any payment is made. Nothing is charged until you have approved the programme and the price in writing.

It is not required to enter the country, but it is strongly recommended. Choose a policy covering medical costs, repatriation and cancellation. Check what your bank card already covers too: it is often useful, but rarely enough for a long haul trip that includes a cruise.

Changes are common and we accommodate them where we can, as long as the services are not yet locked in. Cancellation terms depend on the hotels, boats and flights chosen: they are set out in writing with the quote, before you confirm, never afterwards.

Your guide is your first point of contact, and before departure you receive the direct number of our office along with our WhatsApp. We are a local agency based in Egypt, not a call centre on the other side of the world: whoever answers knows your programme and can act quickly.