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Muhammad Ali Mosque, Cairo

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Egypt

Travel to Cairo

Flying to Cairo

Airlines offering flights to Cairo include British Airways, BMI, Egypt Air, United Airways, KLM, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines. Flights to Cairo from the UK take approximately five hours. There is no great different to prices of flights according to the time of year. However during major Islamic holidays, the price goes and up and seats fill up quickly. Christmas holidays are also a busy time, for tourists and for locals alike. Cheap flights to Cairo are more available during the summer when temperatures soar.

Flight times: 

From London - 5 hours; New York - 12 hours; Los Angeles - 16 hours; Toronto - 14 hours; Sydney - 23 hours.

Travel by road

Summary:

Foreign drivers must be at least 25 years old and have an International Driving Permit. However, driving in Cairo isn’t recommended, due to mammoth traffic jams, a complete disregard of traffic laws and lane discipline. The speed limit is 100kph (62mph) on highways but most drivers will exceed this, given the opportunity.

Off the main highways, roads are mostly poor quality, with numerous bumps and potholes. Traffic drives on the right but Egyptian drivers overtake on all sides – even driving on the wrong side of the road.

In Upper Egypt vehicles must drive in convoy, defeating the purpose of hiring a car. In the Western Desert, police escorts might insist on accompanying you between the southernmost oases. Some car hire firms even insist on providing the driver.

Routes:

Main routes into Cairo are Highway 1 (Delta Highway) from Alexandria; Highway 11 (Desert Highway) also from Alexandria and the northwest coast; Highway 2 alongside the Nile from Luxor and the south; Highway 3 from Port Said and the northeast; and Highway 33 east from Suez and the Sinai Peninsula.

Driving times:

From Alexandria - 3 hours; Port Said - 3 hours; Luxor - 10 hours; Aswan - 16 hours.

Coaches:

Cairo is linked by regular, inexpensive coach services to other major Egyptian cities. Many are air-conditioned but there are also older, less comfortable albeit cheaper coaches.

There are five long-distance coach stations, with several different operators serving different regions of Egypt. These include the East Delta Travel Company (tel: (02) 262 3128;
www.eastdeltatravel.com), Superjet (tel: (02) 266 0212), the Upper Egypt Bus Company (tel: (02) 260 9298), and the West & Mid Delta Bus Company (tel: (03) 427 1071). Tickets must be bought at the coach station itself, and can be booked in advance in person.

The Abdel Mouneem Riyad Terminal (tel: (02) 762 293) (also called the Ramses Hilton Terminal) offers frequent services to Alexandria, plus Hurghada, Aswan and Luxor (overnight). Nearby is the Ahmed Helmi Terminal, with several overnight coaches to Luxor and Aswan, and others to Hurghada and Middle Egypt.

Sinai Bus Terminal (officially the Abbassiyya Station, near Midan Abbassiyya) has several services daily to Sinai towns, such as Sharm el-Sheikh and Nuweiba, with one daily via St Catherine's Monastery.

Koulali Bus Terminal (tel: (02) 574 3814) at Midal Ulali near Midan Ramses serves the Canal Zone and towns in the Nile Delta.

Al-Azhar Terminal (45 Sharia al-Azhar, tel: (02) 390 8635) operates services into the Western Desert.

There are also direct buses between the airport and Alexandria.

Travel by rail

Services:

All trains stop at Cairo's main station, Ramses Station, Midan Ramses (metro: Mubarak Station) in Downtown Cairo. There is a tourist office, post office, cafe and left-luggage facilities at the station. Trains heading south also stop at Giza Station; however it is advisable to board at Ramses because of better facilities and communications.

The rail network is limited but efficient and reasonably comfortable in first class or second class superior. The type of train varies widely. Fast trains (known as French, Spanish or Turbine) are more expensive than slower ones (Ordinary).

Operators:

Egypt's railway provider is Egyptian State Railway (tel: (02) 575 3555. www.egyptrail.gov.eg).

Reservations can only be made at the station. For short journeys ie from Cairo to Alexandria, try the business or travel desks at major hotels which can arrange to buy your ticket, for a small extra fee.

If travelling along the Nile Valley, foreign tourists must use the guarded trains for security reasons, the most convenient of which is the 980 fast train which departs daily from Cairo at 0800. You can reserve tickets up to seven days in advance at Ramses Station.

Abela Egypt (tel: (02) 2574 9274; www.sleepingtrains.com) runs first-class sleeping trains, with private cabins, primarily to Luxor and Aswan. This is the only overnight train that foreigners are permitted to travel on, and substantially more expensive than the daytime trains. It is possible to book tickets online, at Ramses Station, hotel travel desks, or local travel agencies for a small commission. Foreign students with a valid ISIC student card qualify for a discount.

Journey times:

From Alexandria - 3 to 4 hours; Luxor - 10 hours; Aswan - 14 hours.

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