Posted: 2/3/2020 | February 3rd, 2020
One of the countries high up on my “must visit” list is Egypt. As a lover of history, I long to release my inner archaeologist and explore the many ruins of the country. While it might be a long time before I get there, my pal Jeremy Scott Foster from TravelFreak has visited a couple of times. In this guest post, he’ll give you his best tips for saving money on your next check out to Egypt!
I’ve been to Egypt twice. On my first trip four years ago, I solo traveled the Sinai Peninsula along the Gulf of Aqaba, stayed in shared hostels for $5 USD per night and took overnight buses that cost just as little. On my most recent trip last year, I traveled from the very north of Egypt in Alexandria south to Cairo, and then further south along the Nile River to the border with Sudan.
And, throughout it all, I fall deeply in love with this country where foreign perception of violence keeps so many at arm’s length.
The tourism industry in Egypt is still feeling pain as a result of the political upheaval, civil unrest, and terrorism-related activities that have marred its recent history. As tourist numbers have dwindled and competition for the tourist dollar has become fiercer, travel deals have proliferated.
But what most visitors miss is what you can gain — free of crowds and for little money too.
From the chaos of Cairo to the more laid-back vibe of Luxor, Egypt is an optimal destination for budget travelers.
1. how to save money on Accommodation
Generally speaking, accommodation in Egypt is relatively affordable. However, there are a few valuable tricks that can cut down your expenses.
Stay in hostels instead of hotels – Typically, you can expect to find a bed in a shared dorm room (with 4+ beds) for between $5-8 USD per night, or a comfortable private single room for about $15 USD per night. You will likely have to share a bathroom, but at least you have your privacy.
Use Hostelworld to look for the best prices. I recommend Dahab Hostel in Cairo and Al Salam Camp in Luxor.
Use Booking.com to compare prices for hotels – If you’re looking for low-cost hotels or guesthouses in Egypt, I recommend checking Booking.com. A private room in a guesthouse or hotel goes for about $40 USD per night.
Prices are generally listed per room, not per person. So, if you are traveling with a friend, you can save even more money by splitting the cost.
Look for accommodations that add offer a little extra – I also found that, coupled with accommodation, it was pretty common for hosts in guesthouses to offer extras such as breakfast and local tours at very reasonable prices. one of my incredible hosts cooked a traditional hot breakfast with tea and coffee for just $1 USD. best of all, he was more than happy to recommend some economical local places to eat and buy food.
Look beyond the conventional hotel rooms for accommodation options – Airbnb and Vrbo are terrific options for vacation rentals, as they’ve been connecting budget travelers and homeowners since the ’90s. Vrbo is geared towards people wanting a proper vacation rental, so you can expect a fully furnished home to live in which is terrific for longer stays.
On these platforms, you can also find options to stay in a local’s house. You can usually find some pretty glamorous apartments starting from $50 USD per night.
The upside is that you’ll have full access to your own kitchen, which means you can further cut your costs by cooking at home.
2. how to save money on Food
Stick to the local eats and street food – If you want to save money on food while traveling in Egypt, do yourself a favor and steer clear of the Western chain food joints. While a cheeseburger is about half the price of what you pay at home, it’s still more expensive, less tasty, and far less adventurous than experiencing the local cuisine.
Why bother with a burger when you can eat the most delicious falafel in the world for $1 USD?
Navigate the narrow alleyways of any bustling Cairo market (like Khan El Khalili or Mohammed Ali Street) to seek out the best shawarma ($2 USD). Or grab a stuffed falafel sandwich from a street vendor on your way from one ancient relic to another ($2 USD). You can literally find Arabic bread for 5 cents. It’s all low-cost and very filling.
And, the hummus. Det er så. Søren. God.
If you’re staying at a guesthouse, it’s common practice for them to offer full dinners for about $10 USD. The truth is that they’re actually just sourcing the food from restaurants in the neighborhood and taking a cut, so by seeking out your own food options, expect to spend about ¼ of the price.
With that said, don’t be afraid of street food or street vendors, especially if the food is cooked in front of you. and if there is a crowd of locals waiting, then chances are you’re onto a good thing.
Eat at a kosheri – A kosheri is a small, local restaurant that serves up generous portions of pasta, chickpeas, lenTils, etc. typisk for mindre enn $ 1 USD! Det er ingen meny, du velger bare størrelsen på din del, og så serveres du denne mishmash av deliciousness.
Kok dine egne måltider – som nevnt, forbereder dine egne måltider mens du reiser, også en fantastisk pengesparer. Hvis du har tilgang til et kjøkken, bare spør verten din på å peke deg i retning av nærmeste marked. De har også nedgangen på hvor du skal spise for billig, så dra nytte av deres lokale kunnskap!
3. Hvordan spare penger på transport
Bargain med din drosjesjåfør – i de fleste egyptiske byer, er drosjer en økonomisk og praktisk måte å komme seg rundt.
Nå, når jeg sier praktisk, mener jeg at de får deg til hvor du må gå relativt raskt. Men jeg ville være remiss hvis jeg ikke legger til noen ansvarsfraskrivelser.
Drosjesjåførene kan være aggressive på veien, slik at du forlater deg hvite knokket fra å henge på for kjære liv. Jeg har aldri opplevd en mer hjertestopptur enn en Cairo taxitur.
Videre, mens Kairo har målt drosjer, ikke bli lulled i en falsk følelse av sikkerhet. Måler er notorisk upålitelige eller rigged, og drivere ofte “glemmer” for å slå dem på. Det er en av de eldste reiseskjemaene i boken.
Den beste praksisen er å bruke en unmetered taxi og enig i en pris med sjåføren før du kommer inn. (Utenfor Kairo, de fleste drosjer er unmeted, så uansett hva, alltid enig i en pris på forhånd.)
Hvis du ikke er sikker på hvor mye som er en akseptabel pris, spør noen på vandrerhjemmet ditt eller gjestehuset for en prissetting, og start deretter forhandlingene på omtrent ½ den prisen. Ofte vil de gi deg et høyere estimat enn det som er normalt (det er lokalbefolkningen som hjelper lokalbefolkningen), men den virkelige prisen skal være omtrent ¾ av det du har blitt anbefalt.
For lengre avstandsturer, ansette en bil med en driver er det mest kostnadseffektive alternativet. Prisen vil være den samme om du reiser alene eller med en gruppe på fire, så runde opp noen reisekammerater og splittet kostnaden.
Men selvfølgelig, vær forberedt på noen aggressive haggling for å få den beste prisen. Vær klar over hvor du vil gå og hvor lenge du trenger sjåføren. Ikke bekymre deg hvis forhandlinger bryter ned, skjønt. Når det gjelder haggling over pris, vær aldri redd for å gå bort. Det er mange drivere tilgjengelig, så bare gå videre til den neste.
Ta det lokale toget – ta toget mellom Alexandria, Kairo, Luxor og Aswan er den mest populære modusen for bære for denne ruten.
Hvis tid eller budsjett er en bekymring, kan du ta en overnattingstog. Ved å ta sovende toget fra Kairo til Luxor eller Aswan, sparer du en natts verdi for overnatting på et hotell. En deluxe sovende hytte for en er ca $ 110 USD, mens en to-kaj hytte er $ 80 USD per person. Hytter er sikre, og priser inkluderer en flyselskaps middag og frokost. Maten er grunnleggende, men det er spiselig.
Men for en ekte røverkjøp, kan du bestille dagstoget mellom Kairo og Luxor eller Aswan for så lite som $ 10 USD. Det er imidlertid en advarsel: Av sikkerhetsgrunner forbyr den egyptiske regjeringen utlendinger fra å kjøpe dagstogbilletter for denne ruten. Tjenestemenn sier dette er fordi bare nattetogene har væpnede vakter i tilfelle et terrorangrep, men dette er en utrolig sjelden forekomst.
Det er lett å komme seg rundt dette, skjønt. Du må bestille billetter på nettet på enr.gov.eg (du må registrere en konto, men det er enkelt å gjøre) eller spørre din guide, vert eller driver for å bestille billettene for deg. De vil sannsynligvis forplikte seg til en liten avgift.
Det er ingen rapporter om billettoppkjøp sparker noen utlendinger utenfor dagstoget, så det blir bra. Og hvis ikke, er du bare ute $ 10 USD.
Få flypasset – den raskeste måten å reise rundt Egypt er med fly. Egypt Air er National Carrier og Star Alliance-medlemmet som serverer de fleste store innenlandske destinasjoner. Flight Pass er et kostnadseffektivt alternativ som lar deg låse i lave priser for innenlandsflyvninger, selv om du ikke har bestemt dine reisedatoer.
Alt du trenger å gjøre er å kjøpe minst fire fly (eller kreditter) og velge en tid når du vil reise i de neste 12 månedene. Du kan da bestille flyet ditt opptil syv dager før avreise.
På ulemper må du alltid fly tilbake til det opprinnelige avgangspunktet ditt. Det vil si i stedet for å fly fra Kairo til Luxor og Alexandria, må du fly Cairo til Luxor og tilbake til Kairo før du går til Alexandria. Når det er sagt, er flypasset fortsatt ca 30% billigere enn å bestille de samme multi-destinasjonsflyvningene med andre flyselskaper.
Flypportet er super tilpassbart. Du kan velge antall flyreiser (f.eks. Fire, som er to rundtursturer) for en periode (f.eks. Innen en måned), og også hvor tidlig du kan bestille flyene dine (f.eks. En uke før reisen). This means that if you pick Cairo as your origin, you can select two round-trip flights to Aswan, Luxor, Alexandria, Sharm E Sheikh, or Hurghada. Each flight is $73 USD one-way.
But if I were to book a flight from Cairo to Luxor for one week from now, that same leg would cost at least $142 USD!
You can play around with this pass. For example, if you purchase a similar pass to the one above but select “one month” for how early you can book, the flights become $66 USD each per one-way.
If that’s too much of an inconvenience for you, there are plenty of other airlines offering affordable flights. When it comes to finding low-cost flights on other airlines, I use Skyscanner. By being flexible with your dates, you can save up to 50%. keep in mind, though, that you might be traveling at inconvenient times, like the middle of the night.
In the Skyscanner search bar, instead of entering specific dates, select the “Entire Month” option. This will show you a calendar with fare prices for departing and returning flights for each day of the month. This also works for one-way flights. However, it does not work for multicity flights.
4. how to save money on tours and Guides
The best money-saving tip I can offer here is to avoid booking online before you arrive in Egypt.
If you’re a type A traveler who needs a plan in hand before you even arrive, you’re not going to like this. but online agencies charge massively inflated prices, and you will end up paying a lot less if you deal directly with the tour company or guide locally on the ground.
Add in the feel-good factor of your money going directly to your guide, their family, and community (and not to some middle person, agency, or large corporation) and you’ve got yourself a win-win situation.
You may need to be a little more flexible with your dates. but you will have the added advantage of being able to negotiate (haggle, in reality), which translates to overall savings.
Tours, private drivers, and the quintessential cruise down the Nile can all be booked locally at significantly lower prices than booking in advance. So, if you can stomach it, wait until you get your boots on the ground before booking your tours.
Guides, in my experience, are an indispensable source of local knowledge and information. They have the inside scoop on the best vantage points for photos at all the epic landmarks. In addition, they’re terrific at dealing with those persistent and sometimes aggressive street vendors.
The best guides can be found by asking for recommendations from other travelers who have used their services, but I always recommend my Egyptian brother, Rami.
Back in 2015, on my first trip to Egypt, Rami and I connected by way of a mutual friend. We hit it off, and ever since then, I’ve helped him to grow the little tour business he and his family-run. It feels good to be able to help a local family in such a positive way.
He’s honest, affordable, reliable, incredibly communicative, well connected, and did I mention honest? That’s one of the difficult parts about traveling in places like Egypt: when people are selling you things, it’s hard to know who you can trust.
But Rami is my man. send him an email at ramielshaer2@gmail.com and let him know Jeremy sent you (there are no commissions here — this is just a valuable referral to a well-deserving friend). He will sort you out or put you in touch with someone else in your preferred destination.
5. how to save money on entrance and Admission Fees
Get the international student identity Card – entrance and admission prices for almost all monuments and attractions in Egypt are set as advertised. However, you can get discounted tickets with an international student identity Card, including 50% off some of Egypt’s best museums (including the Luxor).
Get a travel pass – You can get a Cairo Pass or a Luxor Pass (multi-entrance discount passes) from the Ministry of Antiquities, the Egyptian Museum, or the Giza Plateau for about $80 USD. You’ll save about 50% off entries to over 30 attractions in Cairo and Giza. You’ll find very little information about these passes online, howe