Getting around Egypt

How difficult is getting around Egypt as a tourist? During our family trip around the world, we always wanted to stop in Egypt. We had a 2-day visit without kids during our Mediterranean cruise 10 years prior, and always knew we’d be back. However, we did not have to navigate our way around anything during our first stop. Here you will get our top tips and experiences for getting around Egypt as a family of four on our own.

Cairo Airport: Arriving

We arrived and left Egypt via the Cairo International Airport. A quick tip regarding transportation: if you arrive in the middle of the night, it is tempting to stay at an airport hotel. However, the traffic to get from the airport to Giza (the other side of the Nile, where the pyramids are) can be terrible. If you plan to start a tour the day after arriving, make sure to go ahead and stay in Giza. We arrived in Cairo after midnight and had set up with our Giza hotel to provide a driver. It is really nice to walk out of the airport and have a trusted driver ready with your name, with the assurance that he knows exactly where to take you. There was no traffic at 1 a.m. so we easily arrived at the hotel.

Getting around Egypt by car: UBER vs Taxi vs Private Transfer

Renting a car is possible, but we would never consider it. Between directions, traffic, parking, and logistics, it is very easy and affordable to hire out local trips. We used a combination of the above, here’s the summary:

Taxi:

• There are taxi drivers hounding tourists at the airport, train, and bus stations. Be ready to ignore them unless you plan to hire one.
• Expect a haggle over pricing: some will offer to use a meter, but unless you understand what the meter is supposed to do that may not help.
• There is no gaurantee that your driver is trusted or that he knows where you want to go. You may not even have a regular address for your destination: that’s normal in Egypt.

UBER:

• Confirms that you are getting a trusted driver with reviews. Most license plates do not show english numbers, so plan to match up the Arabic letters.
• No haggling over prices, UBER was as cheap as a negotiated taxi rate anyways.
• You select your destination in-app, so there’s no confusion over where you want to go. Properties do not always have an address, so this feature alone makes it worth using UBER compared to taxi.
• Always set a pin in the app for your pick-up location, because it can be a challenge to connect with a driver.
• For example, our phones were not working well upon arrival to the Cairo train station from Luxor. This caused difficulty and our first driver abandoned the route, even though we were at the pick-up point.

Private transfer:

• This is really nice to have a driver waiting for you upon arrival to the airport. If your phone doesn’t immediately work to connect to UBER, and you don’t want to haggle with a taxi driver, it’s worth a slightly higher cost.
• Compared to UBER, it was approximately $5 more for the 40-minute drive from the airport to Giza. Well worth the ease and peace of mind at 1 a.m.
• If you don’t want to take a bus for longer trips, or have a bigger group, it’s possible to set up private transfers for a very reasonable price. For example, if you don’t want to use the bus from Hurghada to Luxor, you can easily book a driver for a slightly higher cost.

To sum up our recommendations: use a private transfer to your hotel when you land at the airport, then use UBER for all local trips. If your phone does not work internationally, consider switching to Google Fi, you can read about why Jon did that here.

Getting around Egypt by Bus

During our travels across Europe, we learned to love bus routes.  Here is an example of one of our overnight itineraries from Portugal to Spain. In Egypt, GoBus runs many daily trips. We utilized the route from Cairo to Hurghada and again from Hurghada to Luxor. GoBus has 5 tiers of pricing, based on the quality and comfort of the bus. We used the Deluxe Plus (2nd lowest pricing) for both of our trips. This was primarily because that was the best schedule, but the buses themselves were fine. Yes, there’s chewed gum stuck in places, and maybe they aren’t cleaned regularly, but it really is a good deal. The cost for our family of 4: $60 for Cairo to Hurghada and $43 for Hurghada to Luxor. 

Pro-tip summary:

• Bring your own sanitizing wipes to cleanse your seat area. We are definitely not “germaphobes”, but just trust us.
• Buy your tickets ahead of time, because they can and do sell out certain routes and times.
• You cannot book online without an Egyptian credit card. Jon had to physically go to the offices in both Cairo and Hurghada to purchase the tickets. At the office, our American issued Capital One credit card did work fine, or you can pay in cash.
• Plan on the bus arriving an hour late, give or take an additional hour. It’s Egypt.  Our bus from Hurghada to Luxor left at 8:30, was supposed to get in at 12:30, and actually arrived at 1:30.
• Bring your own snacks and drinks. The bus will stop every couple hours, but expect higher prices and/or limited selections at the stops.

Overall, we definitely recommend traveling via GoBus when getting around Egypt.

Egypt by Train: Watania Sleeper Train Review

We chose to book a sleeper train for our return from Luxor to Cairo. It was by far the most expensive part of getting around Egypt. You can book online, but it cost an extra 5%. The total cost for us to book as a family of 4 was $315. To compare, the cheapest option GoBus only costs $12 per person (10-12 hour trip). However, the sleeper train includes dinner, breakfast, and eliminates the need for overnight accommodation. Even factoring all of that, it was still very expensive.

We decided that we wanted the family experience of a sleeper train, so it was worth it, but know what to expect:

• The food will be average airline meal quality.
• The room probably hasn’t been scrubbed clean. Ever. Like since the train was built in 1916.
• The shared toilet for your sleeper car will be disgusting. Ashley and Abigail simply held it the entire journey, so watch what you drink. It’s also BYOTP, like most of Egypt. (Bring your own toilet paper).
• The journey is a bit jerky. We actually slept pretty good, and the mattress is firm but reasonable. However, the braking and accelerating were rough enough to wake us up.
• We booked 2 cabins and our rooms did have a door to open between the two, which was great. I’m not sure if there’s a way to confirm that during booking, but if you are traveling as a family, definitely ask the booking department to assign you a similar room set-up.
• You will probably arrive 2 hours late. In our case, this was wonderful, because arriving in Cairo at 6 a.m. with nowhere to check-in yet wasn’t ideal. However, don’t schedule anything based on projected train schedules.

All things considered, if we return to Egypt we would not use the Watania Sleeper train again. It is a fun one-time experience, but next time we’ll save the money and travel by bus, or fly from Luxor to Cairo for the same price (or cheaper) as the train.

Cairo Airport: Departing

Our flight out of Cairo left at 3 a.m. We booked our accommodations with a great host that allowed for us to stay on the day of check-out until 9 p.m. Definitely consider that ahead of time when booking accommodations if your flight leaves really late or in the middle of the night! 

The Cairo Airport has a slightly different set-up than what we are used to. There is a waiting area in the lobby until your flight appears on the screens outside the initial security checkpoint. Expect this about 3 hours before the flight, give or take an hour. This is Egypt. After going through the first security check, find your check-in desk numbers. The airlines do not have set locations. After check-in, you will pass through exit immigration. Lastly, expect a second, more thorough, security screening at your actual gate before boarding the plane.

All things considered, we felt very safe traveling around Egypt. We do prefer to use known drivers versus taxis, but otherwise found Egypt affordable and safe to get around.  Head here for information on traveling to Hurghada with kids.  We also have loads of great information for transportation and getting around Egypt as a tourist here.

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 getting around Egypt, let us know!  Happy Travels!