Everything that is not a place but matters before you leave

The tourist corridors (Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, the Red Sea coast) are safe in the everyday sense — petty theft is low compared with most European capitals, and violent crime against tourists is rare. The aggressive touts at the Giza pyramids and the Khan are an annoyance, not a safety issue. The Western Desert oases and the Sinai interior have intermittent travel advisories from various Western foreign ministries; check your own ministry's current advice before planning anything beyond the standard corridor. The Egyptian authorities maintain a heavy tourist-police presence at every major site, and the convoy system to Abu Simbel is part of that.

USD or EUR cash in modest amounts (USD 200–500) is useful as a backup and is accepted by many tourist-facing businesses, but you cannot pay a Cairo taxi or buy a koshary with dollars. Pull EGP from a Banque Misr or NBE ATM on arrival at the airport — the rate is better than any exchange booth and the ATM is open 24/7. Avoid hotel exchange desks (8–12% worse than the bank rate).

Sunday to Thursday. Friday and Saturday are the weekend. Most museums are open on Friday and Saturday but many government offices, banks and embassy services are closed. The Egyptian Museum Tahrir is open every day; the Coptic Museum is open daily; many smaller museums close on Mondays. Mosque visits are best avoided during Friday midday prayers (roughly 12:00–14:00).

For a normal museum day, yes — carry one or two 500 ml bottles and refill at restaurants. For an open-air site day (Giza, Saqqara, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings) in spring or summer, plan three to four litres per person. Dehydration is the most common reason readers cut a Luxor west-bank day short. The vendors at every site sell water at marked-up but acceptable rates (EGP 20 per bottle versus EGP 5 in the city).

Most major Cairo museums now accept Visa and Mastercard at the ticket window (the GEM has chip-and-PIN terminals; the Tahrir museum has them too as of January 2025). Smaller sites, west-bank tomb supplements and the boat fare to Philae remain cash-only. Carry EGP 1,500 in cash per visiting day to be safe.

No vaccinations are required for entry from low-risk countries (yellow fever is required only if you are arriving from a yellow-fever-endemic country, almost never an issue for Western travellers). Most travel-health services recommend being up-to-date on hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid and tetanus. Travel insurance with medical evacuation is recommended; the major Cairo private hospitals (Dar Al Fouad, As-Salam) are good but evacuation insurance is the safer call for serious incidents.

Yes, for the Luxor-Aswan leg and the river-side temples (Edfu, Esna, Kom Ombo). The cruise handles the logistics of three temples that are otherwise tedious to reach independently, and the on-board calm is the part of the trip many readers say they remember best. Book direct with the cruise operator in Luxor or Aswan rather than through an international agent — the rate is consistently lower. Three or four nights is the right length; a week is too long.

For October-March travel (high season), three to four months ahead for flights and hotels. For April-September (shoulder/low), six to eight weeks is fine. The Abu Simbel equinox ticket (22 October and 22 February) sells out three months ahead and is the only timed-entry sell-out in the Egyptian tourist calendar. Domestic flights are best booked three weeks ahead — the sweet spot between availability and price.