Egypt Money Tips

We spent 2 weeks in Egypt as part of our family trip around the world. Because each new country brings with it a difference in how money works best, we want to share our best Egypt money tips with you. As our trip has progressed (Egypt is our 17th country), we continually learn about the use of cards, online bookings, cash, and the tips for each.

So, let’s get to it:

Top Egypt Money Tips

Prices: nothing is fixed

Egypt has a culture of bargaining over price. Price is negotiable on basically everything, and expect ridiculous initial prices as a tourist. A can of Diet Pepsi should be 5-8 pounds, a candy bar 10 pounds, a bag of chips 10 pounds, and a bottle of water 5-10 pounds depending on size. If you don’t know that, you can easily get ripped off. Always make sure to confirm the price of each item you want to purchase. You can read about getting around Egypt here, including money tips and costs for transportation. But, expect to haggle on price if you choose to take a taxi.

When booking our snorkel tour in Hurghada, our final price ended up about 40% of the “initial” price.

As you are haggling over price, it is best to use cash and have the correct change ready.

Credit Cards

We did use our Capital One card for several purchases in Egypt. Jon paid for our GoBus tickets at their office, but could not pay by card online. We did create a virtual card to book our sleeper train online. If you don’t know about using virtual cards, read this. Immediately after the booking, Jon deleted the virtual card, making it impossible for fraudulent charges to post at that point. We also will frequently keep our credit card “locked” to transactions in the Capital One app if we know we won’t be using it soon.

Jon used a card to pay for kiteboarding lessons at our resort, but it didn’t always work. Be aware that this can be an issue in all of Africa: a merchant “accepts” credit cards but it doesn’t work. Regardless of why it doesn’t work, always have a plan for accessible cash. Between the possibilities of credit card fraud and the inconsistency of cards being accepted, we primarily used cash in Egypt. Some of the historical sites we visited “accepted” cards for the entrance fee, others didn’t, so we just planned to always pay in cash. 

ATMs

One of our top Egypt money tips is to be an expert at ATMs. We use a Charles Schwab card for our international ATM withdrawals. Here’s a summary of our tips, make sure to do ALL of them:

• Get a fee-free ATM card (Schwab is great) that is not connected to your primary bank. In case of hacking or fraud, limit your possible loss by moving smaller amounts at a time into your “ATM account”.
• Choose ATMs that are connected to a large bank, preferably one that is at a physical bank branch location. Why? These will tend to have zero fees and be monitored by armed bank security. This makes it both harder for a scammer to mess with the ATM card reader and gives you an added layer of protection when taking out cash.
• Be prepared to smoothly take and quickly place your cash in a large pocket or bag. ATM limits in Egypt are usually 4,000 pounds ($253) but the largest note denomination is 200, so you will have at least 20 bills come out of the machine. It’s not a good (or safe) look to be fumbling the money.
• Use your ATM card app to lock and unlock your card. Jon keeps the ATM card locked via the Schwab app until he is about to use the ATM. The app lets him unlock the card, complete the transaction, and then re-lock the card within seconds. This adds a layer of security and peace of mind.
• ATM withdrawals may give you the option to “Accept transaction with conversion”. Do not do this! Choose to complete the transaction without conversion: it may be a very small button option. What the bank is attempting is to allow your transaction to process in your native currency ($) as opposed to processing in Egyptian pounds. The catch? A 7-12% mark-up! If you are using a Schwab card, there is zero fee or downside to the transaction going through in pounds, and you will get the full conversion rate.
• ATMs are readily available and all over the place, except for the west bank of Luxor (Valley of the Kings side). If you stay in the west bank (as we did), make sure to get any money out that you need while still on the east bank.

Egypt Money Tips: Cash

We used cash for most of our transactions in Egypt. We obtain our cash from ATMs, which usually meant 200 pound notes. One major Egypt money tip: try at all times to get smaller notes. Do not expect to get any help if you need change, especially from street vendors. On multiple occasions, Jon was told “no change, just buy more”. Usually, with some pushback or the threat of leaving without purchasing anything, the change could magically appear. When we were in Kenya, the banks were happy to exchange large bills into small denominations. In Egypt, nobody wants to do that. This is another reason that getting around Egypt is made easier with UBER: you can keep all the transactions cashless.

Egypt also has a strong culture of tipping, so hang onto your smaller notes and have them ready for when needed. Also, expect to pay 1-10 pounds to use the bathroom. Make sure you give the bathroom attendant the correct amount up front: I don’t think you want 195 pounds in “bathroom money” change.

Using American Dollars

Most places and people in Egypt accept American dollars. You may get a slightly worse price, but not always. Some hotels state that it is “required” that you pay in American dollars upon check-in, but we found that to not be true. Our Cairo hostel had no problem with however we paid. The Watania Sleeper Train does require that tourists purchase the tickets in your home currency (so they can charge you a 5% fee) but you can easily do that booking online, so it doesn’t matter.

However, it is always a good idea to have American dollars on hand when traveling in Egypt. We strongly recommend a steady stock of $1 and $5 bills, to use for small purchases and tips. This is especially handy if there is “no change”. Make sure that all of your large bills are new and in excellent condition. Egyptians will not accept older styled bills or anything with a tear, even if it’s small. Expect your bills to be inspected before being accepted.

To see all our travel adventures during a year-long trip around the world, head over to our Instagram page.

If you have questions or tips for traveling to Egypt, let us know!  Happy Travels!