Arrival guide
Your first hours, handled
Visas, SIM cards, cash, tipping and the ride to your hotel — the landing-day answers we send every guest, in one page you can read on the plane.
Before the passport desk
- Most nationalities can buy a visa on arrival (25 USD, cash) at the bank counters BEFORE immigration — or get the e-visa online in advance and skip the queue.
- Have your hotel name and first night's address handy for the landing card.
- Hurghada (HRG) and Marsa Alam (RMF) are small airports — you're usually kerbside 30–45 minutes after landing.
Staying connected
- Airport SIM kiosks (Vodafone, Orange, Etisalat) sell tourist bundles — expect ~15–20 GB for a few dollars. Passport required.
- eSIM travellers: buy an Egypt or regional plan before you fly and land already online.
- Hotel wifi is fine for messages, patchy for video calls — a local data plan is the cheap upgrade that fixes the whole trip.
Cash, cards & tipping
- ATMs at both airports dispense Egyptian pounds — take out EGP 2,000–3,000 to start; old town, park gates and small restaurants are cash-first.
- Cards work at marinas, malls and hotels. Contactless is common in tourist zones.
- Tipping (baksheesh) is the culture, not a scam: EGP 50–100 for drivers and boat crews, 10% at restaurants without service charge, small notes for luggage help. Keep small bills.
Getting to your hotel
- Pre-booked beats haggling at midnight: our transfers meet you inside the terminal with a name board and track your flight if it's late.
- Airport taxi touts quote in euros and hope — if you must taxi, agree the price before the boot opens.
- Hurghada airport → most city hotels: 15–30 min. Marsa Alam airport → resorts: anywhere from 20 to 90 min, so check yours.
Your first evening
- Don't over-plan night one. A marina stroll and a seafood dinner beats jet-lagged ambition.
- Hurghada: the Marina Boulevard loop — arrive 19:00, eat by 20:30, sleep happy.
- Marsa Alam: Port Ghalib's corniche is the south's one true evening — gentle, pretty, done by 22:00.
- Book tomorrow's first trip tonight — morning departures are the Red Sea's best hours.
Land like a regular
Book your transfer before you fly, and keep our WhatsApp handy for anything landing day throws at you.