Cards, ATMs and cash in Egypt: what to expect

Egypt runs on cash far more than most visitors expect. Your card will work at hotel desks, airport shops, malls, chain coffee shops and larger restaurants in Cairo, Alexandria and the resort towns. It will usually fail at a street kiosk, a taxi, a horse cart at the pyramids, a toilet attendant, a souk stall and most small site cafés. Plan for both: a card for the big bills, cash for everything else.

Withdraw from a machine attached to a bank branch, ideally during working hours, so staff are nearby if the machine swallows your card or refuses the transaction. Standalone ATMs in tourist streets and hotel lobbies are convenient but carry higher failure and skimming risk. Take a modest amount each time rather than one large withdrawal, and keep the receipt until you have counted the notes.

At any card terminal you will often be offered a choice: pay in Egyptian pounds or in your home currency. Choose Egyptian pounds. The conversion offered at the terminal is set by the merchant's bank and is almost always worse than your own bank's rate. The same rule applies at ATMs that offer to convert for you.

Contactless and mobile wallets are spreading in cities, and many newer terminals accept a tap. Do not rely on it outside Cairo, Alexandria and the Red Sea resorts. Carry a second card from a different network, stored separately, in case one is blocked for suspected fraud after a first foreign transaction.

Cash is also the practical way to handle the tipping culture described on the money and tipping page. Guides, drivers, cruise crew and toilet attendants expect small notes, and having them ready removes a lot of daily friction. Break large notes at a bank, a supermarket or a chain café rather than at a small shop that may not have change.

Tell your bank you are travelling to Egypt before you fly, and check what your card charges for foreign withdrawals and purchases. A card with no foreign transaction fee saves real money over a two-week trip. If your bank blocks the first ATM attempt, a phone call usually clears it, but that call is easier before you are standing outside a machine at midnight.

Keep your cash split between two places: a day wallet and a deeper stash in your luggage or a money belt. Pickpocketing is not the main risk in Egypt; losing an entire day's cash to a misplaced wallet is. Photograph your card numbers and store the images somewhere you can reach offline.

If an ATM does not dispense cash but your account is debited, keep the receipt and note the machine location and time. Most banks reverse these automatically within days, but the receipt is what makes the claim quick. For anything larger, your embassy or hotel front desk can point you to the bank branch that owns the machine.