Egypt

A country shaped like a river

The traveller's Egypt lies almost entirely along a ribbon of green: the Nile Valley, which crosses the desert from south to north, from Abu Simbel to Cairo. Three of the great sites that UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which keeps the World Heritage List) inscribed as early as 1979 mark its course: Memphis and its Necropolis, with the Giza pyramids, Ancient Thebes, at Luxor, and the Nubian Monuments, from Abu Simbel to Philae. Historic Cairo, founded in 969, was listed the same year.

On either side of the valley, Egypt changes character. To the east, the Red Sea and Sinai offer warm water in winter and reefs often reached straight from the beach. To the north, the Mediterranean at Alexandria and Marsa Matruh is the Egyptians' summer sea. To the west, the Western Desert lines up its oases, from Bahariya to Siwa.

A trip often combines two of these worlds: the Nile and its temples with a week by the sea, or Cairo with the desert. The choice depends on the season, on what you want to do, and on how much time you are willing to spend on the road.

Four Egypts, four trips

The Nile, for a first trip

This is the heart of Pharaonic Egypt, and the natural starting point for a first trip.

• Cairo and Giza bring together the pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum and the medieval city. Three full days are a minimum, four if you also want Saqqara, Dahshur and the museums in the centre.
• Luxor, ancient Thebes, spreads its monuments over two banks: Karnak and Luxor Temple on the east, the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Hatshepsut on the west. Allow three days.
• Aswan and Abu Simbel, further south, move at a slower pace: granite islands, the temple of Philae, Nubian villages, and the excursion to the temples of Ramesses II.
• The Nile cruise links Luxor and Aswan in three to seven nights, calling at the temples of Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo. The guide Choosing a Nile cruise compares cruise ships, dahabiyas (traditional sailing boats with about ten cabins) and cruising on Lake Nasser.

For those who have already seen the essentials, Abydos and Dendera, a day trip from Luxor, show two far less crowded temples.

The Red Sea and Sinai, for the sea in winter

Egypt's Red Sea coast falls into two parts. On the mainland, Hurghada offers the widest choice of hotels and excursions; El Gouna, a town built on lagoons, suits kitesurfers and couples; Soma Bay is an estate of resorts with no town around it, for golf and thalassotherapy; Safaga, closer to Luxor than Hurghada, is a simple base between the sea and the Nile Valley; Marsa Alam, further south, keeps reefs reachable from the shore, dolphins and dugongs, on a less built-up coast.

In Sinai, Sharm el-Sheikh is the great diving resort, between the national parks of Ras Mohammed and Tiran; Dahab is a small town you explore on foot, turned towards the Blue Hole and the wind; Nuweiba and Taba line the Gulf of Aqaba with Bedouin camps. Inland, St Catherine brings together the monastery and Mount Sinai, which you climb at night for the sunrise.

Closer to Cairo, Ain Sokhna is the capital's weekend beach, about 120 km away, for adding two or three days by the sea without a domestic flight.

The guide Diving in the Red Sea sets out Egypt's diving rules; the Diving and Kitesurfing pages bring together the hotels that suit them.

The Mediterranean, for summer

Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, shows Greek, Roman and cosmopolitan Egypt: the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Qaitbay Fort, the catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa. A day from Cairo is enough for the main sites. Further west, Marsa Matruh lines up turquoise bays, mostly visited by Egyptian families, from June to September.

Deserts and oases, to get away

The Western Desert is travelled from oasis to oasis. Bahariya, 370 km from Cairo, opens onto the Black Desert and the White Desert, where you spend a night under canvas among chalk rocks. Farafra approaches it from the south; Dakhla and Kharga continue the road to Luxor, among temples, Christian necropolises and mud-brick villages. Siwa, an Amazigh oasis on the edge of the Great Sand Sea, is reached via the Mediterranean coast.

On Cairo's doorstep, Fayoum and its World Heritage Valley of the Whales, and Wadi Natrun and its Coptic monasteries, are day trips.

Putting your trip together

Egypt's geography dictates how places link up. Four principles help you choose.

Start in Cairo, or finish there. Cairo International Airport and Sphinx Airport, west of Giza, receive direct flights from Europe. Cairo is a few hours' flight from Europe's main cities, direct or with one stop. Luxor is then about an hour's flight away, or a night on the sleeper train. The idea Cairo and Luxor in 7 days splits the week into two equal halves; Cairo, the Grand Museum and Alexandria in 5 days fits into a long weekend.

Choose the direction of the cruise according to what comes next. The Nile flows north: on the Oberoi Zahra, Aswan to Luxor takes 3 nights, Luxor to Aswan 4. Ending in Luxor leaves time to return to the west bank and brings you closer to the Red Sea; ending in Aswan lets you go on to Abu Simbel. The idea Cairo, Aswan and a Nile cruise in 8 days starts in Aswan and ends in Luxor; The Nile by dahabiya, Esna to Aswan and the Lake Nasser cruise to Abu Simbel slow the pace further.

Link the Nile and the sea by road. Luxor is only 282 km from Hurghada, about four hours' daytime drive, and about 3 h 30 from Soma Bay. Temples then beach fit into one trip without a second domestic flight: that is the principle of the idea Nile cruise and Red Sea in 10 days. From Marsa Alam or Safaga, Luxor can also be visited on an excursion.

Keep Sinai and the oases for trips of their own. Sharm el-Sheikh has its own international airport, and Sinai makes a coherent trip: sea, mountain and monastery, as in the idea Sinai, Mount Sinai, St Catherine's Monastery and Dahab. Linking it with the Nile Valley means a flight via Cairo. The Western Desert needs at least a week: the idea From the White Desert to Siwa in 9 days goes back through Cairo and Alexandria, because the direct road between Bahariya and Siwa is closed.

For a honeymoon or a family holiday, the Honeymoon and Family pages point to the hotels and combinations that work.

Egypt's calendar

Egypt has two seasons for travellers, but each region has its own.

• The Nile Valley, October to April. From November to February, average highs in Luxor and Aswan stay between 23 and 30 °C, with cool mornings; from May to September they exceed 39 °C, and sightseeing is limited to early morning. The Nour El Nil dahabiyas do not sail from June to August.
• Cairo, November to April. Winter is mild, with average highs of around 19 to 25 °C; summer reaches 33 to 35 °C.
• The Red Sea, all year round. The water hardly drops below 22 °C in winter; Marsa Alam, further south, has a slightly milder winter than Hurghada. October and November combine a still-warm sea with bearable air temperatures. Summer is very hot on land.
• The Mediterranean, June to September. Alexandria has a mild, rainy winter and a moderate summer, around 30 °C.
• The oases, November to March. Winter nights are cold: a tent in the White Desert calls for warm clothes.

A few dates shape the calendar. On 22 October and 22 February, the rising sun lights up the sanctuary of the great temple of Abu Simbel; the site is then very busy. Autumn 2026 is busy in Cairo, with the Arab Music Festival, the Forever Is Now exhibition on the Giza plateau and the Cairo International Film Festival. Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin around 8 February, according to astronomical calculations: museums then shorten their opening hours, and the guide Religious holidays 2027 explains what that means.

Finally, on 2 August 2027, the total solar eclipse passes almost over Luxor: totality lasts about 6 minutes 20 seconds there, around 13:05 local time. It is a reason for a summer trip, provided you accept an average high of around 41 °C; the idea The eclipse in Luxor and the Nile in 8 days organises it.

What has changed recently

Several changes of recent years affect how you plan a stay.

• The Grand Egyptian Museum, about 2 km from the pyramids, was inaugurated on 1 November 2025 and opened to the public on 4 November. For the first time it shows Tutankhamun's treasure in full, and the Khufu boats. Tickets are booked for a date and a time slot; the guide Visiting the Grand Egyptian Museum explains how.
• Cairo's collections have been redistributed. The royal mummies have been at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, in Fustat, since April 2021; the Tahrir Square museum keeps the treasures of Tanis and of Yuya and Tjuyu. Seeing everything therefore takes three museums.
• In Luxor, the tomb of Amenhotep III reopened in October 2025 after more than twenty years of restoration.
• Tickets for the sites are sold on the official platform of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities or on site; the Cairo Pass and the Luxor Pass, valid for five days, cover the main sites. The guide Egypt site tickets gives prices and conditions.
• Time. In 2026, Egypt observes summer time from 24 April to 30 October. For most of the year it is 2 hours ahead of London; from late March to late April, and for a few days in late October, the difference changes by one hour, because Egypt does not change its clocks on the same dates as Europe.

Before you go

European travellers need a visa: it can be obtained online on the official portal visa2egypt.gov.eg (USD 30 for a single entry), on arrival, or from a consulate. South Sinai has its own arrangement for short stays in the resorts; the guide Egypt visa sets out the three options.

The main sites, the Red Sea and South Sinai are outside the areas foreign ministries strongly advise against, which cover North Sinai and the Libyan and Sudanese borders. Foreign ministries do not all give the same advice. Here is your country's:

Driving at night outside towns should be ruled out; for long journeys, a driver who knows the route and speaks Arabic is recommended. The guides Safety in Egypt, region by region and Getting around Egypt go into detail; the guide Drones, photography and prohibited items says what is best left at home.