hi there,
Am off to Egypt soon and hoping someone had some advice about currency? Should I organise US dollars or get Egyptian Pound at Cairo airport?

Not Sure....

Bec

Hi Bec. I'm going to be bringing the equivalent of $100 in Egyptian Pounds with me to start, and I'll grab some more at the ATM's when I need some more.

What are the dates of your tour?

Hi David, if you'd like to mail me my address is beckster6young@hotmail.com I'm quite crap at this contiki message board stuff so it's prob easier to email me directly. My tour starts 28 Oct. Have you been before? would love to get some tips off you if that's the case. hope to hear from you.
Bec

I have also read that American dollars or Euros are great to have when it comes to haggling at the bazaars, etc. Let's say one US dollar is worth 5 EGP. If someone is trying to sell anything, a lot of times you can haggle to a lower price if you pay in American dollars or Euros.
If the seller won't go below 40 EGP for an item then finds out you have American money, he might only want $5 or $6 (which would be only 25 or 30EGP).
I'm leaving for my trip soon, so I'll let you know if that is true or not. Also when haggling for goods, start out offering 1/4 or 1/3 of the asking price, and work your way up from there.

Update to my reply (above): The whole "bring American money to save money when haggling" idea doesn't really work, since American money is somewhat common. All vendors have a calculator and just punch the numbers. And if you use a Visa for any big purchases (such as in the Papyrus shop), they will pass Visa's 3% fee onto you, the customer. I would recommend bringing a small calculator, so you can make sure they are punching the right numbers.
Egypt was awesome! Sherif was great. Everyone that goes is going to have a fantastic time!

Kamala,

Would you suggest still bringing US dollars or coverting it to Egyptian pounds before leaving? Did you use Visa, dollars, pounds or cashiers checks? Which is most useful? Thanks for the help, I'll be leaving to Egyt Dec 29 solo so any input helps.

Hi Lorena,
I brought $100US in $1 bills as a backup, in addition to a Visa TravelMoney card (it is a prepaid debit card, so I can swipe it like a Visa or use it at an ATM machine to get Egyptian pounds). For some reason my Visa didn't work at standalone ATMs (like in the airport or hotel), but always worked at ATMs that were attached to a bank. (No one else had a problem with their ATM cards though, so I think I just had bad luck.) The credit card circuit doesn't always work over there, so make sure you have some cash on you (either US dollars or Egyptian pounds as a backup). For example, when we are at the museum in Cairo, the credit card system was down, so we had to pay for our postcards in cash.
Traveler's checks are a pain in the butt, but it might not be a bad idea to have one or two as a backup in a country who is behind the times financially. (A lot of places still use that credit card plate thing with carbon paper which hasn't been around in the US in at least 10 years that I've seen.) There is a bank next to the hotel in Giza, so you can exchange any traveler's checks there (for a fee).
So in short, bring an ATM card which you can use to withdraw (large sums of) money (to minimize the ATM fees) in local currency every few days, have some backup funds for the times your card won't work.
Have a great time! And whatever you do, don't skip (the optional) Abu Simbel, it's the highlight of the entire tour.
Kamala

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kamala,