Egypt

Understand

Egypt is a large, transcontinental country spanning North Africa and the Middle East. It is the world's 29th largest country, with a land area of 1,010,408 square kilometres (390,121 sq mi). It is one of Africa's largest countries, one of the most populated countries in the Arab world. The country is bounded by the Mediterranean and Red Seas (to the north and east respectively) and geographically dominated both by the Nile River and its fertile well-watered valley, and by the Eastern and Western deserts.

History

The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations. A unified kingdom arose around 3200 BC and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The last native dynasty fell to the Persians in 341 BC, who in turn were replaced by the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. The Arabs introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the 7th century and who ruled for the next six centuries. A local military caste, the Mamluks, took control about 1250 and continued to govern after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517. Following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an important world transportation hub, but also fell heavily into debt. Ostensibly to protect its investments, Britain seized control of Egypt's government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Empire continued until 1914. Egypt gained partial independence from the UK in 1922, but the British continued to use Egypt as a base for influence in the region. Egypt saw fighting during World War II, such as the famous battle at El Alamein. In the constitution of 1923, Egypt was a constitutional monarchy with a parli

See

Highlights of any visit to Egypt include famous archaeological sites from both Lower (North) and Upper (South) Egypt. The most famous are: Greater Cairo:

Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx Egyptian Museum Red, Bent and Black Pyramids of Dahshur, neglected but a great alternative to Giza with the oldest known pyramid Citadel of Salah El Din and Mosque of Mohamed Ali Khan al Khalili bazaar and al Hussein Mosque Pyramids and temples of Saqqara, just north of Dahshur Memphis, with some relics of ancient Egypt - including a huge statue of Ramesses II, evoking the image which inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Ozymandias Alexandria is the country's main summer attraction for Egyptians escapi

Getting there

Egypt's economy depends a great deal on tourism; therefore, most people can enter the country without a visa. Unlike neighbouring Libya and Sudan, Egypt allows Israeli citizens to visit Egypt.

Visa

As a major tourist destination whose economy is dependent upon tourist money, Egypt is relatively easy to enter and obtain visas for. There are three types of Egyptian visa:

Tourist Visa — usually valid for 3 months or less and granted on either a single or multiple entry basis Entry Visa — required for any foreigner arriving in Egypt for purposes other than tourism, e.g. work or study. The possession of a valid Entry Visa is needed to complete the residence procedure in Egypt. Transit Visa — rarely needed and only for certain nationalities e-Visa (or online visa) is available for many countries; check with your government website for clarification. Entry visas may be obtained from Egyptian diplomatic and consular missions abroad or from the Entry Visa Department at the Travel Documents, Immigration and Nationality Administration (TDINA). Non-Egyptians are required to have a valid passport. Visa on arrival is available for many western countries; see below. However, citizens of the following countries are required to have a visa before arriving, which must be applied for through an Egyptian consulate or embassy outside of Egypt:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China PR, Comoros, R Congo, DR Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kenya, DPR Korea, R Kosovo,

Getting around

By plane Overland journeys between cities in Egypt are often long, hot, bumpy, dusty, and not altogether safe. There is a good domestic air network, and advance fares are not expensive, so flying internally is often a good option. Cairo has direct flights to every other major city except Alexandria, including Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Marsa Matruh, Marsa Alam and Kharga oasis. These run at least daily, and the main cities have several flights a day. There are also daily flights directly between Alexandria, Aswan, Luxor, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. Most flights are operated by the national carrier, EgyptAir. This is the first place to go looking. Some internet booking sites (e.g. Expedia) don't offer their flights – it'll appear as if you need to fly via Istanbul or similar nonsense. Egyptair doesn't do phone sales, but they have lots of booking offices in the centres (your hotel can point these out), which saves you if you don't have internet access. There are rival airlines such as Nile Air and Al Masria. Nile Air has flights from Cairo and Alexandria. Al Masria flies to Cairo from Hurghada, and Sharm El Sheikh. Foreign package airlines (e.g. TUI) sometimes fly an internal route, but that's to move their clients around on multi-centre holidays, and they're not available to book as point-to-point domestic flights.

By train

Egypt's mainline railway follows the Nile: from Aswan north through Luxor to Cairo and Alexandria. Branch lines fan out across the Nile delta, as far east as Suez and Port Said, and west along the coast through El Alamein as far as Mersa Matruh. Train is an excellent, although relatively expensive, way to travel between Cairo and Alexandria, and between Luxor and Aswan, with frequent daytime services taking 2–3 hrs.