I’ve been wanting to visit Egypt for years now, and have been endlessly typing “is egypt safe to visit?” into Google for that very reason.
For the past couple of years, Egypt had the reputation of being “unsafe”. Due a series of violent protests that started in 2011 and a number of other disasters in Egypt (ie. the Russian charter jet crash and multiple terrorist attacks), it seemed like a lot of tourists were scared away from the country. And I admit, I may have been one of them. And I don’t think my thoughts were that different from many of you, since my Instagram DM’s flooded with messages asking me about the safety of the country during my visit.
However, I’m here to tell you, that I just visited Egypt, and yes it’s safe it visit.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t there for long. I visited for a day and a half (I had another plane to catch to South Africa), but this was my experience..
I landed in Cairo around 8pm and left the airport to find a cab. The airport median was packed with people catching rides and holding signs to pick others up. It was quite possibly the most people I’ve ever seen waiting outside of an airport. I quickly found a cab to take me into the city to meet my friends. As a 29 year old woman traveling alone, there wasn’t a point during this whole interaction where I felt unsafe. The cab driver was nice, spoke English, and even asked me if I wanted a cigarette. Haha, don’t worry mom and dad, I declined. Smoking kills.
The cab driver did try to charge me more than he quoted at the airport, which I expected to happen. This happens a lot in other countries, and I read about it online prior to my visit. We argued about the price for a little bit when he dropped me off, but once he realized I wouldn’t budge he laughed it off and we were friends again. Egyptians didn’t appear to take bartering personally. And if there’s one thing I noticed about the people of Egypt, it’s that they all have a great sense of humor. Everyone I met during my trip seemed very genuinely happy.
Up until this point, the only other North African city I’d seen was Morocco, so I guess I expected Cairo to look a little like that. It didn’t.
Cairo was a much bigger metropolis…a metropolis of 18 million people. Cairo was different than an American city filled with metal high rise buildings. The buildings here were made of limestone and concrete and everything was the same light gray dusty color. The traffic was next level, and most of the cars had scratches on the sides from playing chicken with eachother while entering different lanes. I can honestly say that driving here would give me a panic attack, but the Egyptian people seemed to handle it pretty well. With cars lined up for miles and tons of locals all over the sidewalk with places to go, Cairo was the definition of a hustling and bustling city.
Staying at a Hostel
My girlfriends and I had booked a hostel, even though the city of Cairo is pretty cheap. Sometimes we prefer staying in hostels to mingle with the locals. I’m going to be honest and say that the bottom of our hostel building sort of looked like an abandoned building, but once you reaching the 5th floor it was pretty damn charming. The room was around 10 bucks and included a free breakfast on the outside balcony.
The owners of the hostel were very welcoming. They helped us to arrange a driver and plan everything for our following day in Cairo. The driver for the entire day was $45 total. This would include taking us to each destination and also waiting for us outside.
Heading Out on the Town
The next morning we got dressed to head out in Cairo. When in Egypt, woman are supposed to keep their knees and shoulders covered. This is actually quite easy since you can just wear a long dress and a scarf. I removed my scarf for a few of the pictures.
We met our driver and started the day. First we stopped at a papyrus museum to learn how they used to make paper out of papyrus and view some of the art there. Afterwards, it was time for the camel ride to the pyramids. Our guide was really nice and offered to take pictures of us throughout the day. Seeing the pyramids come into view over the desert floor is something I will remember for the rest of my life. And, there were hardly any people there!
After the pyramids, we rode the camels over to see the Sphinx which is close by. When our tour was over, we grabbed lunch at a place that our driver recommended. The food was amazing. There were so many courses and it was dirt cheap.
The last thing we decided to see was Ibn Mosque. Our driver recommended it because it’s less crowded than a few other mosques around, and as it turns out, we were the only ones there!
To end our day, we walked through the streets of Cairo to a rooftop bar nearby. We cheersed eachother with white wine while trying to make small talk with the waiter.
When it was our time to leave for the airport, we got a ride with the cutest old man.
He told us that Egypt isn’t dangerous, and we said “we know, that’s why we’re visiting”.
He said their president was an asshole, which we replied that ours was too. We laughed and bonded over that.
He told us to let people know that Egypt isn’t dangerous, and to encourage people to visit again. I said I would.
our ride to the airport
Have any questions about Egypt or still wondering if Egypt is safe to visit? Feel free to comment below!
