Egypt

[Georgyporky]

Anyone been recently?
We're having difficulty getting Egyptian pounds here - UK.
Even LHR don't seem to be able to supply them.

Any ideas, please ?

We were in Sharm el Sheikh at half term.

We had a small amount of British pounds when we went, no Egyptian pounds. There was an ATM in the hotel lobby so just got cash from there when we needed it.

They don't seem to be available in the UK at present. Possibly because the currency has devalued so much that no-one wants to hold them in case they continue to lose value.

Just get some out when you arrive at the airport in Egypt.

I live in Cairo. ATMs work fine here!

But it's helpful to have £25 each for your tourist visas in sterling on arrival, unless your travel company is sorting that.

Generally though, absolutely no reason to worry about EGP before you arrive. Just take it out from the ATMs which are on every corner & in every hotel lobby. You can also pay by card in most places, anyway, so will only need EGP for souq shopping or meals out in very local restaurants.

Thanks everyone. Didn't realise I had any replies.

@CorvusPurpureus Thanks, we've bought our visas online.

We're cruising The Nile & Lake Nasser. I'm still trying to find out if the boats accept cards - and if so debit and/or credit.

Most places are normally happy to take euro or US dollar too

Hi OP, just checking you're confident you've bought your visas from the official site! Lots of scam sites out there, sadly.

Have a fabulous trip to beautiful Egypt. I've lived here for several years & absolutely love it. Good to welcome more tourism, it's been a really tough few years for the Egyptians x

We’ve always found US dollars gratefully received. Have a fabulous trip! I love Egypt too!
CorvusPurpureus, any recommendations for Cairo, nice places to eat, etc, for someone who has done all the tourist things before?

@CorvusPurpureus Thanks, we're as sure as we can be re the visas.

We've been before, I think it was 2014, & there was a dearth of tourists then. There was a burnt out building in Cairo, can't recall the details.
We were in a tour group of just the 2 of us in Cairo, & on the Nile cruise there were only 6 people for the guide. Doubt we'll be so lucky this time!