Everyday practical information for Egypt

Photography rules that carry real consequences

• Do not photograph military or police installations, bridges, canals or government buildings. This is taken seriously and people have been detained for it.
• Drones are effectively banned without a permit that tourists do not get. Bringing one in risks confiscation at the airport.
• Ask before photographing people, and expect to be asked for baksheesh afterwards.
• Photography permits are charged separately at some sites, notably inside certain tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Buy the ticket rather than risk a confiscated phone.
• Tripods usually need a permit anywhere official.

The week and the calendar

• The weekend is Friday and Saturday. Government offices and banks close, and Friday midday prayers quieten everything for an hour or two.
• Sites and museums open normally at weekends and are busier.
• Ramadan falls across February and March in 2027. Do not eat, drink or smoke in public during daylight; restaurants in tourist areas stay open. Iftar at sunset is worth being invited to, and you will be.
• Egyptian time is elastic. Confirm pickups the evening before.

Dress and conduct

• Cover shoulders and knees away from resorts. Women will find this reduces attention markedly.
• Mosques welcome visitors outside prayer times, shoes off, women covering their hair.
• Coptic churches and monasteries have similar expectations.
• Public displays of affection are frowned on.
• Same-sex relationships are not illegal as such but are prosecuted under other laws, and dating apps have been used to entrap people. This is a real risk rather than a theoretical one.
• Alcohol is legal for non-Muslims, sold in hotels, licensed bars, resort towns and the Drinkies chain. Public drunkenness is not tolerated.
• Use your right hand for eating and passing things.

Everyday

• Electricity is 220 V at 50 Hz with European two-pin plugs.
• Power cuts have been common in recent summers. Keep a power bank charged.
• Toilets often lack paper. Carry tissues, and small notes for attendants.
• Arabic numerals on price tags are sometimes the Eastern Arabic forms, which look nothing like the ones you know. Learn the digits or use your phone's camera translation.
• Site tickets are now largely digital and card-only at the big monuments, which is a recent change and a good one.
• Antiquities cannot be exported. Anything genuinely old that a shop offers you is either fake or is going to be confiscated at the airport.
• Egyptians are extraordinarily hospitable once you are past the commercial layer. Accepting tea and talking to people is the best part of the country.