Swim with dugongs or dolphins at Marsa Alam
Seagrass beds south of Hurghada support dugongs, and offshore reefs have resident spinner dolphins.
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Home › Destinations › North Africa › Egypt
North Africa
Things to do in Egypt
Five thousand years of history along a river that made all of it possible.
Explore Egypt on the map →Budget$
Best for7-10 days
CapitalCairo
Visae-Visa or visa on arrival, about $30 for most nationalities
CurrencyEgyptian pound (EGP)
LanguagesArabic
InternetGood
Typical lodging$15–$40/night
Driving sideRight
Power & voltage220V / 50Hz (Type C/F plug)
Time zoneUTC+1
Emergency number122 (police) / 123 (ambulance)
Dialing code+20
★★★★★ Culture★★★★★ Photography★★★★★ Adventure
Visa rules and emergency numbers can change without notice. Confirm the specifics for your nationality and dates before you travel.
Travel smart
Bottled water only. Small tips are expected for many everyday services.
Almost the entire population lives on about 4% of the land, the thin green strip along the Nile. Fly over it and the country reads as a river with edges. That concentration is why the monuments sit so close together, and why a boat is still the natural way to see them.
When to go
Peak seasonOctober–April
The comfortable window, and the right time for a Nile cruise. Warm days, cool nights, and desert mornings that need a jacket.
WinterDecember–February
Coolest and busiest, especially around Christmas and New Year. Upper Egypt stays pleasant while Cairo can be genuinely chilly at night.
ShoulderMarch–April, October–November
Warm without being punishing, and slightly quieter at the big sites. Spring can bring khamsin dust winds.
SummerMay–September
Luxor and Aswan regularly pass 40°C, sightseeing means starting at dawn and stopping by eleven. Red Sea diving stays good, and prices drop hard.
21 things to do
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Wildlife & nature
1▾
Culture & history
8Watch sunrise over the Giza pyramids$10–15
Arriving at opening puts you on the plateau before the buses. The Sphinx and three pyramids sit on the edge of the city, not in empty desert.
Go inside the Great Pyramid$10–15
A cramped, hot climb up the Grand Gallery to a bare granite chamber. Claustrophobic, and worth it for the engineering alone.
See Tutankhamun's treasures at the Grand Egyptian Museum
The new museum beside the pyramids holds the full Tutankhamun collection together for the first time, plus Khufu's solar boat.
Walk into the tombs of the Valley of the Kings
Painted burial chambers cut deep into rock near Luxor, colours still vivid. Tickets cover three tombs; Seti I and Nefertari cost extra.
Stand in the hypostyle hall at Karnak
134 columns, some 21 metres tall, in a temple complex built and rebuilt over roughly 2,000 years.
See Luxor Temple lit after dark$10–15
Open into the evening, far cooler, and floodlighting that makes the reliefs read better than daylight does.
See Abu Simbel
Two temples cut into a cliff by Ramesses II, sawn into blocks and moved uphill in the 1960s to escape the rising lake behind the dam.
See Coptic Cairo
The Hanging Church, Ben Ezra synagogue and the Coptic Museum in a small walled quarter, a reminder Egypt isn't only pharaonic and Islamic.
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Food & markets
2Eat koshari from a street counter
Rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, fried onion and tomato sauce in one bowl. The national dish, and usually about a dollar.
Try ful and ta'ameya for breakfast
Slow-cooked fava beans and Egyptian falafel made from the same bean, eaten from carts from early morning.
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Adventure & outdoors
2Climb Mount Sinai for sunrise
A three-hour night walk up steps and camel path to a summit with a chapel, timed to arrive before first light.
Drive into the White Desert
Chalk formations eroded into mushrooms and towers, camped in overnight from Bahariya oasis. Absolute silence.
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Coast & water
3Cruise the Nile between Luxor and Aswan$10–15
Three or four days on the water, stopping at Edfu and Kom Ombo, watching farmland and mudbrick villages slide past.
Dive or snorkel the Red Sea
Coral in extremely clear, warm water off Dahab, Hurghada and Marsa Alam. Dahab's Blue Hole is famous and has killed a number of divers.
Walk Alexandria's corniche
A Mediterranean city with Greek and Roman layers underneath, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina above ground, and seafood along the seafront.
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Cities & design
1Wander Islamic Cairo
Medieval mosques, madrasas and gates around Al-Muizz street, plus the Khan el-Khalili bazaar and its 14th-century courtyards.
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Slow days
4Sail a felucca at sunset
Traditional lateen-rigged boats with no engine: just wind, current and a boatman. Aswan's stretch of river is the classic one.
Sit in a Cairo ahwa
Old coffeehouses with backgammon, shisha and mint tea. El Fishawy in Khan el-Khalili has reputedly been open continuously for two centuries.
Visit Siwa Oasis
Near the Libyan border, with salt lakes you float in, a mudbrick fortress town, and its own Berber language and customs.
Ride the sleeper train to Aswan
Overnight from Cairo in a cabin, waking up alongside the Nile. Slower than flying, and a completely different view of the country.
Common questions
▾Is Egypt safe to visit?
Yes. Egypt's main tourist areas, Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and the Red Sea resorts, see heavy security and are generally safe for visitors. The Sinai Peninsula outside the main resort zones and areas near the Libyan border carry travel advisories worth checking before you go.
▾How much does it cost to see the pyramids and take a hot air balloon in Luxor?
Giza pyramid entry runs around $10-15 for the general site, with extra tickets for going inside individual pyramids. A hot air balloon ride over Luxor's temples typically costs $60-120 per person for a 45-60 minute sunrise flight, well below what similar rides cost in Turkey or Myanmar. Prices at both shift with fuel costs and season, so treat these as a starting range rather than a fixed number.
▾How many days do you need in Egypt?
7-10 days covers the essentials well: two or three days around Cairo and Giza, a Nile cruise or overland trip between Luxor and Aswan, and time to add the Red Sea coast if you want a beach stop.
▾Do I need a visa for Egypt?
Most nationalities need a visa, available as a single-entry e-Visa for about $30 or a multiple-entry e-Visa for about $65, or on arrival at the airport for a similar fee. Apply for the e-Visa in advance where possible, since queues for visa-on-arrival can be long.
▾What's the best time to visit Egypt?
November through February is the most comfortable window, with daytime temperatures that don't punish a day of sightseeing at Giza or Luxor. June through August is genuinely hot, often above 40°C (104°F) in Upper Egypt, and best avoided unless you're mostly at a Red Sea resort.
▾Is Egypt expensive?
Egypt is one of the more affordable major destinations in the region: food, local transport and budget accommodation are cheap, and even a Nile cruise is reasonable compared to similar trips elsewhere. Entry fees at major sites add up if you're visiting several in one trip, but they're small relative to the overall cost of getting there.
