EgyptField Guide

🏧 Cash strategy

• Bring USD in clean, new notes — torn or pre-2013 bills get refused
• Change a small amount at the airport, the rest in the city (banks or hotel) for a better rate
• ATMs dispense 200 EGP notes — break them immediately at a shop or the hotel desk
• Target: a fat stack of 5, 10, 20, 50 notes. This is the whole game

💳 Cards

• Fine at hotels, malls, chain restaurants, GEM tickets
• Useless at bazaars, taxis, small cafés, tips, site extras
• Tell your bank you're travelling — Lebanese cards get flagged abroad
• Always choose to be charged in EGP, never "in USD" at the terminal

📉 Rate reality

• Since the 2024 float, the black market is basically gone — banks and ATMs give a fair rate
• Ignore anyone offering a "special rate" on the street. That's a scam, not a bargain
• Airport exchange desks are the worst rate you'll see all trip
• Keep receipts if you want to convert EGP back on the way out

🚕 Ride-hailing Do this

Both work across Cairo, Giza and Alexandria. Install and log in before you fly — verifying a phone number on arrival is a nightmare.

• Uber — best coverage in Cairo/Giza
• Careem — often cheaper, more drivers in the outskirts, also does deliveries
• Pay cash or card; cash means you need small notes again
• Cairo traffic is genuinely severe — budget double the time the app quotes at rush hour

✈️ Airport

Cairo International (CAI) sits ~22 km north-east of downtown. Terminal 2 and 3 handle most international arrivals — confirm your terminal on your boarding pass, they are far apart.

• Airport → Zamalek/downtown: 45–90 min depending on traffic
• Uber has a designated pickup zone — follow the signs, don't accept a lobby offer
• Ignore anyone inside the terminal offering a taxi, a hotel, or "help with your bags"
• If OEA arranged a transfer, get the driver's name and plate in writing beforehand

🚇 Metro

Cheap, fast, and it beats traffic — but crowded and hot in August. Buy a paper ticket at the booth. The first two cars are women-only during posted hours.

🗺️ Maps offline

Download Cairo & Giza offline in Google Maps before you leave. Data works fine, but offline maps save you when you're underground, out of credit, or in a dead zone at Saqqara.

🚶 Crossing roads

Cairo traffic doesn't stop for pedestrians and lanes are decorative. Cross with a group of locals, walk at a steady pace, don't sprint and don't hesitate mid-road — drivers steer around predictable people.

📱 Local SIM Best value

Buy at the airport or any operator shop. Bring your passport — registration is legally required.

• Vodafone Egypt — best network, most expensive
• Orange Egypt — solid, good value
• Etisalat (e&) and WE — cheapest
• A tourist data bundle runs roughly 200–500 EGP for the week

🌐 eSIM

If your phone supports it, an eSIM (Airalo, Holafly, Nomad) is live the moment you land — no queue, no passport copy, and it keeps your Lebanese number active for WhatsApp and OTPs. Slightly pricier per GB, usually worth it for a 6-day trip.

📞 VoIP warning

Egypt has historically blocked or degraded WhatsApp, FaceTime and Messenger voice/video calls on local networks. Text and media work fine. If you need to take a real call, use hotel Wi-Fi, a data eSIM, or plan on a normal phone call.

☀️ Beating the heat

• Do outdoor sites before 10:00 or after 16:00. Midday at the Pyramids in August is genuinely punishing — there is no shade
• Hat, real sunglasses, SPF 50. Light long sleeves beat bare arms: they block sun and read as more respectful
• Drink well past thirst. Aim for 3–4 litres a day
• Watch for heat exhaustion: headache, nausea, goosebumps in the heat, or you stop sweating. Get indoors and cool down immediately

💧 Water & food

• Never drink tap water. Bottled only — check the seal is intact
• Brush your teeth with bottled water too, for the first few days
• Ice in hotels and proper restaurants is fine; street ice is not worth the gamble
• Eat hot, freshly-cooked food. Skip raw salads and pre-cut fruit from stalls
• Street food is superb but pick busy stalls with fast turnover

💊 Pack this

• Imodium + oral rehydration salts — "Pharaoh's revenge" is common and this is the fix
• Any prescription meds in original packaging with the prescription
• Electrolyte sachets, painkillers, antihistamine
• Hand sanitiser and tissues — many public toilets have no paper

🏥 If something goes wrong

• Pharmacies are excellent, everywhere, and pharmacists speak English. Many drugs needing a prescription in Lebanon are over-the-counter here
• Private hospitals in Cairo are good: As-Salam International, Dar Al Fouad, Cleopatra Hospital
• Ambulance is 123, but in traffic a Uber to a private hospital is often faster
• Take travel insurance. Private care is good and it is not free

🐫 The Giza playbook Worst spot

• The camel/horse trick: a cheap ride up, then a much higher price to get down. Agree the total, round-trip, in EGP, out loud, before you mount — and don't hand over money until you're back on the ground
• Fake officials: men in vaguely official clothing "closing" an entrance and steering you to a friend's stable. Real staff are at the ticket gate only
• The "free" gift: a headscarf, a trinket, a "welcome to Egypt" — then a demand for payment. Don't take anything into your hands
• The photo helper: takes your phone, snaps a picture, demands a fee. Don't hand over your phone
• Buy tickets only at the official booth or online, never from someone who approaches you

🛡️ Your script

• A calm, smiling "la, shukran" and keep walking. Don't stop, don't explain, don't argue
• Never break stride to answer "where are you from?" — that's the opener, not a conversation
• Speak Arabic immediately. Your Lebanese accent marks you as an Arab visitor, not a Western tourist, and the hassle drops off a cliff
• Agree every price before the service. Every single time
• Carry a day wallet with small notes; keep the real money elsewhere
• If someone won't leave you alone, walk toward the Tourist Police — that ends it

🛍️ Bargaining

Expected at Khan el-Khalili and any bazaar, never in shops with marked prices. Open at roughly a third of the asking price and settle near half. Walking away is the strongest move you have — and it usually gets called back.

📸 Photography

Fine at tourist sites. Never photograph military, police, bridges, or government buildings — this is taken seriously. Ask before photographing people, and expect a tip to be expected.

🚨 Political awareness

Avoid demonstrations and crowds entirely. Don't discuss Egyptian politics or the military in public or with strangers. As a foreign professional you have no upside there and real downside.

👔 Dress

• Business: a shirt and trousers is right; a jacket for anything formal despite the heat
• Sightseeing: shoulders and knees covered — cooler and less hassle
• Mosques: shoes off, women cover hair. Take socks — stone floors are scorching

🤝 Business rhythm

• Relationship before agenda. Tea and 15 minutes of small talk is the meeting, not a delay to it
• Weekend is Friday–Saturday; the working week is Sunday–Thursday
• Friday midday prayers slow everything down
• Time is elastic. Build slack into every plan
• Bring plenty of business cards

🫱 Etiquette

• Right hand for eating, giving and receiving
• Don't show the sole of your shoe
• Accept the tea. Refusing reads as a rebuff
• Public affection is frowned on
• Alcohol exists in hotels and licensed restaurants, but it's far less public than Beirut

🗣️ The pronunciation tell

Egyptians pronounce ج as a hard G — Gamal, not Jamal; gineih, not jneih, for the pound. And where you'd glottal-stop the ق, they often do too — so 2albi lands the same. Say "bekām?" instead of "addēsh?" and you've already stopped being a tourist.

💬 Two phrases that pay for themselves

• "ya bāsha" — warm, respectful, slightly playful. Use it with drivers, waiters, guards. It works instantly
• "khalāṣ, shukran" — enough, thank you. The polite full stop that ends a hard sell without rudeness