Would you travel to Egypt at the moment?

[thegoldensun]

Looking for some thoughts on this.

Am due to travel to Egypt in a couple of weeks, I know all the advice at the moment is that Egypt is safe. However- I am travelling with two young children and concerns around the airspace, potential delays (more worrying about being out there and not being able to fly home!) are really concerning me.

If I wasn’t travelling with young DCs I might be a bit more relaxed. But I am struggling to feel excited about this trip with all that’s happening.

We have booked through Thomas Cook and it appears we can amend the booking for a fee, plus any other fees associated with travelling elsewhere.

Thoughts?

I won't travel to Egypt at any time full stop. The place is a filthy hovel full of awful men. Once was enough, never again.

No, absolutely not. And I say this as a relatively risk tolerant person.

We are in a rapidly escalating conflict situation, with 17 countries now involved. This is not just Israel, the US, and Iran taking pot shots at one another.

I don't think I'm going to any muslim majority country ever again.

Not for publication - this is anecdotal. There are numbers who had a stop in the middle east because the flights were cheaper, plus some who had planned a few days stopover on the way home. Many people are saying they have not been able to get hold of their airlines. One European couple we were chatting to had to pay £1400 each for flights to a European city not the country in which they live, because it was all they could get.

Direct flights homeward bound to Europe are very booked up and expensive. I suspect people are cancelling their holidays in Asia and staying closer to home, which is very sensible. It's concerning us.

As soon as we heard of the bombing we booked our flights home for next month. We booked BA; between then and now the prices have quadrupled.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt

Gov.uk advice is not to travel, which I think means your insurance would not cover you in an emergency.

Thanks,

That (sadly) makes sense.

The Far East > UK/Europe nonstoppers out of places like Singapore, Bangkok, and KL have continued as normal since they can avoid Iran and the Gulf, so anyone booked with them should be OK.

As you've mentioned demand for seats on those flights from those that were routing via the Gulf and are now stuck will have gone through the roof.

There's often not a lot of free seats on those nonstop flights anyway so it's going to be hard for folks to get back westbound and as you've NB'd prices will rocket.

FWIW I think I'm more optimistic about this than some around here but just in case: Good luck with your flight.

You are misreading this advice. Sharm, Luxor, Cairo are all fine, but I wouldn't go.

That’s not correct. Gov advice is to not travel to some areas (red and orange on map) but the area in green on the map (tourist areas and others) are fine.

I'm an avid traveller with my son and said Egypt is on my 'No' list.

The resorts look great however there's too much uncertainty nearby. I assume you'd lose all your money?

We’re booked to fly on the 1st April to Hurghada - keeping an eye on the situation but at the moment we’re going.

@MagneticSquirrel
@PrincessofWells

Sorry, yes I only read the first lines, not the detail.

FCDO advises against all travel to parts of Egypt.

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of Egypt

No.

I wouldn’t ever be booking a holiday there in the first place tbh

If people want to seriously play the "can't be too careful" card and want to start bringing terror attacks into the mix then you have to start considering how safe some parts of the UK is for holidays..

Despite the UK PMs statements what's left of the Iranian regime will still regard the UK as the little Satan.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/04/uk-arrests-five-men-including-four-iranians-over-suspected-terrorist-plot

A friend of a friend (who i got chatting to at a party) worked in govt intelligence and advised me to avoid the middle East about 10 years ago. He included Turkey, Egypt, Saudi etc and said he'd never holiday there because of risks. It's stayed with me and I'd never go there. He also said North Africa was unstable. I have visited Morocco since but Tbh that whole band of countries is now off my list of holiday destinations. Plenty of other places to go

I've been holiday to both Egypt and turkey multiple times over the last 10 years and If I'd have taken any notice of your friends 'intelligence ' then I would have achieved nothing more than losing out on some lovely holidays ...My neuro surgeon friend would never go on a skiing holiday due to the amount of spinal and brain injuries he sees as a result but it doesnt mean it would be a rational consideration for most of us .

Agreed, but I've got no choice but to be in the UK. I live here so have to take my chances. I would suggest that it's still far more dangerous to put yourself in the middle of a war zone.

Not a chance, purely for the risk of a major terrorist attack at tourist sites.
I’m even a bit concerned about going to London for a few days at Easter because we’re taking our Grandson.

No

Absolutely no way would I, with or without kids.

I'd go if it was just me - I was in Dahab and Sharm a couple of weeks ago, though obvs that was before current problems. But if I had young kids I wouldn't risk it right now, purely because of the potential for long delays/cancellations at the airport, rather than worries about security as such.

Egypt wants to stay out of this whole shitshow, as does Turkey I believe.

I went to Sharm el Sheikh for NYE with my DC and had a lovely time. I would still go but we all have different appetites for risks.

Thanks all for your input.

By way of an update. I have decided we are not going. I visited Egypt many years ago (pre kids) and whilst the resorts were nice (I spent a lot of time scuba diving!) I know that life outside of a hotel is very different and the thought of being stranded without a flight out there, with young children terrifies me.

I’ve spoken to Thomas Cook. At this stage the airline is still flying so there would be a huge financial loss to cancel. I’m waiting to hear back from them on costs to transfer the booking to another destination later in the year.

Nowhere near the same, but years ago I was travelling in Thailand and the flights were closed due to political protests. I recall all too well how stressful and manic the airports were and this was before kids and I was pretty laid back about when I arrived home.

This feels a lot more risky and I couldn’t live with myself if we got out there and something happened.

Nope. I work at a University and they have pulled about a dozen countries including Egypt off their insurance and travel support for any study and business travel since the war started.

Same.
Tunisia, Turkey, Eygpt, Morocco etc just don’t appeal to me