Egypt: main airports

Almost all of Egypt's tourism takes place in areas considered safe and well policed: Cairo (the Giza, Downtown and Zamalek areas), the Nile Valley (Luxor, Aswan) and the Red Sea resort towns (Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Marsa Alam), all with long experience hosting international tourism and the usual precautions against petty theft in crowded areas. North Sinai, where El Arish Airport is located, is instead a separate case: the United States classifies it as Level 4 ('do not travel') due to the persistent terrorist threat linked to groups affiliated with the Islamic State and the instability connected to the Gaza border; South Sinai (Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba), although on the same peninsula, has a markedly different and more favourable security profile, given the strong tourist presence and dedicated checks along the corridors to the resorts. Anyone with a flight to El Arish should organise the trip through their own organisation, an embassy or an operator with specific expertise in the area, not as ordinary tourism.

The currency is the Egyptian pound (EGP), which has undergone sharp devaluation in recent years: to get your bearings on costs it's best to think in USD/EUR and check the day's exchange rate rather than relying on pound figures that quickly become outdated. Credit cards are accepted at hotels and tourist restaurants, less so in markets and local taxis, where cash remains essential. Uber and Careem operate in Cairo and the main cities. For connectivity, the operators Vodafone Egypt, Orange and Etisalat sell prepaid SIM cards, with kiosks at all major airports. For driving, an International Driving Permit (IDP) is generally also required alongside the national one; many visitors nonetheless prefer to rely on local drivers given the often chaotic driving in large cities.