Destination Guides & Maps - Egypt

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Capital City: Cairo, the largest city in Africa (pop. 16 million) and a frenetic mix of Arab and African, European and American influences.

Area: 1,001,450 sq km (386,660 sq mls).

Population: 66.5 million, concentrated in the cities, particularly Cairo and Alexandria: 96 per cent of the population lives by the Nile and its Delta.

Currency: Though you do occasionally come across them, Egyptian coins are worth nothing - even as baksheesh. You will therefore be dealing the vast majority of the time with Egyptian paper money, which gets very tatty and greasy - especially the £1 notes, which change hands a lot as tips. Tt's a good idea to put them in a separate purse, rather than your usual one. Also watch what you're given in change, as Egyptians may refuse to accept the most moth-eaten notes.

The currency in Egypt is the Egyptian pound, with 100 piastres making one Egyptian pound (£E). Notes range from the 25 piastre note, up to a 1,000 pound note. You will most commonly be handling 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 Egyptian pound notes.

Tip: Hold on to one and five pound notes for tipping (see Handy Hints section), paying for drinks and for buying cheap souvenirs from street hawkers - Egyptian shopkeepers never seem to have any change!

You will find cash machines in Cairo and Alexandria, and there are several in Luxor, (there's one in the lobby of the Mercure Coralia (formerly the Etap) on the Corniche in Luxor) and places to exchange money - there's a Thomas Cook near the Old Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor.

Tip: Please note that many shops at Luxor airport do not accept Egyptian currency (they prefer US dollars). And the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advises that Scottish and Northern Irish bank notes will not be accepted in banks either.

Language: Arabic is the official language of Egypt, though Egyptian Arabic has some different words not found in other Middle Eastern countries. English and French are widely understood by educated Egyptians, and in tourist areas such as Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, you will find people speak an astonishing range of other languages, too, from Spanish and Italian to Russian and Japanese.

Visa: You will need a visa to enter Egypt, but most tourists with a full, valid British passport can easily obtain one at their point of entry, usually one of the major airports - Cairo, Luxor, Sharm el Sheikh or Hurghada. They cost $US15 (you can pay in sterling, too) and you'll get any change in Egyptian pounds. Airlines hand out the small visa application forms on the plane.

If you are arriving on a charter flight or busy scheduled flight, it's a total bore having to queue for a long time, firstly to buy your visa (a couple of tokens will be stuck into your passport then stamped), then again in the massive and slow-moving immigration queue. But there's little you can do about it.

Check with your tour operator - some UK operators will have Egyptian ground handling staff at the airport who'll sort out the whole group's visas, or consider getting your visa in this country so you can be first in the immigration queue. Unfortunately you'll still have to wait for your luggage, though the Egyptians are pretty efficient at sorting this.

If you're travelling on an individual, tailor-made trip, it's easier for your tour operator's representative to help you queue-jump - but don't expect to win any popularity contests if you do!

Geography

Take a hot air balloon trip over Luxor, or just look out from the top of your hotel and you can see the dramatic difference between where the Nile's waters reach and where they don't. Each side of the river is a lush green and fertile strip full of palm trees and sugar cane, then, suddenly, nothing but bleak desert.

The vast majority of the country is desert or semi-desert, and so 96 per cent of the population lives in the fertile Nile Valley or Delta. To the north is the Nile Delta where the river fans out in tributaries and where you'll find Cairo, the capital, and Alexandria on the Mediterranean.

As the country slopes downhill towards the Med, the river flows from the south to the north, and so the north is called Lower Egypt. Luxor, Aswan and the Nile Valley are Upper Egypt, where life is run on traditional lines away from the tourist centres.

To the west of Cairo is the Western Desert, which includes three-quarters of Egypt. This is where the great tank battles of World War II were fought, including El Alamein. A tour of the area's oases at Siwa, Kharga, Farafra, is becoming a popular adventure holiday. Land reclamation projects are hoping to expand the amount of habitable land away from the Nile Valley.

To the east is the Sinai Peninsula, a rocky, multi-coloured desert that's the site of Mount Sinai, of course, St Katherine's Monastery where Moses encountered the burning bush and the Coloured Canyon. Camel, jeep and Bedouin camping trips into the Sinai are popular excursions for the adventurous. Special permits are needed to enter some of these areas, but your tour operator should be able to arrange these for you.

Along the peninsula's coast are many of Egypt's most popular Red Sea resorts, including Sharm el Sheikh, right at the tip, Taba up near the border with Israel, Dahab and Nuweiba. A twice-daily ferry connects Sharm with Hurghada, on the mainland shore.

Hurghada is the other great Red Sea Resort, but the southern resorts of Marsa Alam and Quseir are developing fast, too, with their own airport. To the north of Hurghada is the Suez Canal and the great port of Port Said, not usually tourist destinations unless you're on a cruise liner.

While flights connect the major towns and cities - sometimes direct from European cities, often flying via Cairo - there will be times when a long desert journey is necessary, for example, from Sharm el Sheikh to Taba; Hurghada to Luxor; Aswan to Abu Simbel (though you can fly too).

Religion:

Egypt is an Islamic country, with 94 per cent of the population Sunni Moslems. Coptic Christians are a significant minority, with small numbers of Jews, too.

Time: Two hours ahead of the UK.

Electricity: 220 volts, 50 cycles. An adaptor is necessary (usually two-pronged).

Emergencies: Most tourists who go to Egypt travel with a tour operator who has either their own staff or local ground handlers equipped to handle any emergency. All hotels have English-speaking staff, even some expats on staff, who can help, too. In addition, you must take out adequate travel insurance before you leave the UK.

Telephone: It is expensive to telephone home from hotels. Phonecards cost £E20 or £E30 for a 3-4 minute call to the UK. International dialling code: 00 20.

Post: Hotels will be happy to post postcards for you. Post offices and most souvenir shops have stamps for the UK. Postcards and letters take around a week to reach home.

Shops: Shops are open 10am to 9pm in winter and 9am to 10pm in summer, often with a long break during the afternoon. Many shops are closed on Friday or Sunday and hours may change during Ramadan.

In tourist areas, however, you will find shops open outside these hours. You may be offered tea or a soft drink in larger shops, which is customary, and doesn't oblige you to buy anything.

Banks: Bank opening times are 8.30am to 2pm daily, closed Fridays, Saturdays and most holidays. However, you'll be able to change money easily at bigger hotels, cruise boats arrange for a banker to come on board regularly, and in Luxor, the tourism capital, there's a Thomas Cook exchange bureau. You'll also find hole-in-the-wall bank machines where you can withdraw cash. An official receipt will be given when exchanging money, which should be kept for inspection.

Museums: Museums have different opening times, sometimes close at lunchtimes but stay open late into the evening, or close on certain days. If you're with a group, your guide will know this, otherwise check individual opening times before you leave your hotel. Note that some attractions, the Pyramids for example, close at dusk.

Tourist Offices: The Egyptian government has tourist information offices throughout Egypt. The main ones are in: Cairo - at the airport, railway station and 5 Sharia Adly; Alexandria - airport, railway station, Midan Saad Zaghloul; Aswan - railway station, Corniche el-Nil; Luxor - Tourist Bazaar, near Luxor Temple; Hurghada - beside the Ritz hotel, Sharia an-Nasr.

Chemists: Chemists usually open from 10am to 10pm, and are staffed by competent professionals. Both locally made and imported medication is subsidised by the government and is inexpensive. Some medication requiring prescriptions abroad is sold over the counter in Egypt.

There is no problem with bringing prescription medication into Egypt - while they are likely to be available at Egyptian chemists, they may be called a different name.

Internet and email: Many of the modern hotels offer Internet access, either in a special room or even in your own room, these days. In addition, Internet cafes are sprouting up all over the place, particularly in the cities. Connection can be slow and bit erratic, so be patient!

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