Egypt Safety?

Go if you know well and trust your former classmate.

I researched Egypt tours for a trip that didn’t pan out a couple years ago. Many of the tours include armed escorts. If the tour companies feel that such expense is needed, I’m guessing it’s for a reason.

I’ve travelled independently all over the world, but I would not do so in Egypt. Having locals guide you will be helpful, but I would still be wary.

To echo travel4fun's comment. My brother and his wife went a year or so ago on a guided tour. Their tour bus had a security person with machine gun in front seat at all times. They enjoyed their trip and never had an incident, but this wouldn't be my idea of care-free travel.

If you don’t “heed” the State Department warning then you take the chance of fending for yourself if something goes wrong. It always ends up being your choice.

This is the one area where I am very reluctant to offer advice. Safety and personal safety is very individual since it is really what you are willing to accept. For me as VN veteran my concept of personal safety and risk may be very different than yours. You have to do what you are comfortable doing. It could be very different two years from now so what is the hurry.

Don’t have a sense of whether need to heed State Dept warning which
cautions not only Sinai and desert areas but also typical tourist
stops, police stations, etc.

What does the warning say? Your choice to decide.

It is a Level 3, so a few things to check:

• Will your US medical insurance pay for medical bills incurred there? Quite possibly not.
• Can you find a travel medical policy that will? Mine doesn't (well, I have an expat policy but others with the same brand travel policy tell me no).
• Will your US policy cover continuted treatment once you return to the US? I have been told by my agent that possibly not. But I am not certain. You would need to check.
• Will you life insurance pay if the bus blows up? Probalby not.
• Will an evacuation policy cover you there? Maybe not.
• Should you expect the US tax payer to come to your rescue? Heck no.

If you get satisfactory answers to all of that and the trip is within your comfort level, go and have a good time.

We travelled to Egypt in May 2024 and felt very safe the whole time. We travelled independently in Cairo (with guided tours to Giza and Saqqara) and did a Nile cruise with guided tours of the popular sites from Aswan to Luxor. There were no armed escorts or anything like that and it did not feel like we needed them. We followed the FCDO travel advice (which comes from the UK government so does not have any bearing on US-based health insurance etc...) which said travel is safe except for Sinai and areas around the Libyan border.

Obviously you need to decide what you're comfortable with but we felt completely safe and I would describe myself as quite risk-averse. This was one of the best trips of my life, and I really recommend going if you feel comfortable.

Egypt is safe if you take a group tour. We did a great Egypt tour with Gate 1 Travel in 2022. It was great, we stayed in five star hotels and had two three day river cruises (some options now are just one longer cruise). Also, we visited Abu Simbel.

Don't eat street food or drink anything unless you open the bottle. Don't wander into areas that you are unfamiliar with, some areas are to be avoided.
All group tours in Egypt have armed guard, usually police, to ported the tourists.

Compare several tour companies, our tour was 60% the cost of a similar Viking tour.

For context my trip to Egypt was one of the best trips of my life. Loved it. Loved the people and being an architect, loved what I saw. “Higher” risk areas in and of themselves are not no-go’s for me either. I was in Kyiv this year (Level 4) and am probably returning to Ukraine before the end of the year (the Level 3 zone). But I did everything I am suggesting you do, and I have friends in Ukraine that can provide a support network.

If you do feel comfortable going, I envy you. It is a truly amazing place. There is nothing in the world that compares, and I will be excited to read your trip report.

I didn’t mean to imply it wasn’t safe. Safety is too subjective and too burdened with the possibility of dire consequences for me to pretend that I know enough to comment on it. I was in Egypt many years ago and I too “felt safe” a week later Sadat was assassinated (yes it was a long time ago). So my uninformed feelings of safety are irrelevant beyond my own personal state of mind at the time.

If it were me, I would take the time to check the travel advisories of the US and the UK and do a little research on how often and how many attacks on civilians and tourist have happened in recent years (Wikipedia) I would also read a lot of news stories to get a sense of how stable things are in the country today, not a year ago; not even 3 months ago. Then at least my judgment would be a little better informed. The only personal anecdote that I will add is that over the years I had the great pleasure to hire 2 Egyptians. Both relocated to the U.S. because Egypt was too dangerous for them, particularly because of their religion. How that relates to tourism? No definitive idea, but it would play into my judgment.

I am not saying this because I am an alarmist or because I am trying to dissuade you. I won’t even tell you if I would make the trip or not. Especially because I am ill informed as to what is going on now, today, in Egypt. Given that, I don’t want the responsibility for influencing you.

Don’t bush off my comments on insurance. I am certain there are policies that will cover you, make sure you have on of those, because I am also certain there are more policies that will not cover you. One accident could set you back tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was also warned that even if I got home from a Level 3 or 4 destination if I returned with a medical condition obtained while there, the US insurance company may deny coverage of treatment in the US for some period of time, much like a pre-existing condition. That makes no sense to me as I thought the new healthcare scheme did away with pre-existing condition situations, but this is a topic i just dont know enough about.

People who traveled to Egypt in 2022 and early 2023--that was before Oct 7, 2023. The situation was probably different then.

I'm in the initial stages of planning a trip to Egypt in early 2026 but decided to take it off the table, at least for now. The information on this thread helped me a lot in making up my mind. There are other places worth seeing.

daisy, you know its a shame that things have changed. I was in Egypt shortly after the Camp David accords. My taxi driver from the airport in Cairo wanted to show me a synagogue because they love Israel. Some years back I picked up a new employee, she ran from Egypt after he chuch was blown up. The people I met were good, kind, inviting. I had a number of really special moments. And i was in my 20's and traveling alone.

Now would a Jewish tourist be safe? If not, why would I go? It is a shame a terrible heart breaking shame.

Another place I want to see is Iran. Over the years, for some inexplicable reason, I ended up with 5 Iranians in my employment. None of them knew each other before they came and they all came at different times. Just sort of strange that I attracted them. Kinda messed up our office party Christmas Ham tradition. The best employees I had. In part because of the quality of their education, in part because of their desire to advance in their profession, and in part because they knew how good the United States was and appreciated it. Now retiered and to this day, each of them remains among my closest and dearest friends. By the way a belated Happy Nowruz Ya'll.

Study the recent political history of Egypt.
The current government should not be compared to the government of Mohammed Morsi from 2012-13 when hundreds of Christian churches were burned and non-Muslims murdered.
The current leadership doesn't support terrorism.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-muslim-brotherhood-in-egypt/

I dont know enough about the current Egyptian government one way or another to have a judgment. Here is a source of informaiton on events since 2013 that might have some relevance in determining if one would feel comfortable visiting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_terrorism_in_Egypt_(2013%E2%80%93present)

The best advice so far is to find out whether insurance will cover travel to a Level 3 area. Balance that against your personal tolerance for risk.

The Wikipedia article that Mr. E pointed to shows that Egypt has been reasonably safe outside the Sinai since Covid. Of course, that could change quickly and with no warning.

I was actually in the process of planning a trip to Egypt for New Years Eve 2022. They do quite a show near the pyramids for NYE and some great resorts to add to the fun. But alas, that relationship fizziled like a bottle rocket in a blizzard.

Thanks, all. Appreciate your feedback - especially from those you had actually been or had specific resources to inform our decision. All set with both travel and health insurance and 100% refund until closer to the date so we have enough information to make our decision for now. Nice to know there are resources like this that we can all benefit from.