Egypt holidays,
designed from Cairo.

Yes. Egypt is a long-established destination for UK travellers, with tourist-site security, police presence and well-regulated tour operations. The UK Foreign Office advises against travel only to specific border regions - none of the usual tourist routes (Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria) are affected.

With our head office in Cairo and regional offices in Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Sharm El Sheikh, we are on the ground every day and follow the FCDO guidance continuously. We do not run itineraries into the North Sinai border zone or the Western Desert near the Libyan frontier. Cairo, the Nile Valley, the Red Sea coast and standard Western Desert oases like Siwa remain open and operating normally.

October to April is the UK traveller's sweet spot - comfortable mid-20s by day in Upper Egypt, cool evenings, and clear skies for photography. May and September are excellent shoulder months with fewer crowds. July and August are hot (40°C+) in Luxor and Aswan but fine for Red Sea beach holidays.

If you have half-term (October, February) or Easter holidays, the weather in Cairo and along the Nile is close to perfect. Christmas and New Year are spectacular but booked 6–9 months ahead. Ramadan (which shifts yearly) doesn't disrupt travel but changes the rhythm of Cairo - your consultant will flag it.

Yes. UK passport holders need an Egypt visa. The simplest online route is the Egypt e-Visa at visa2egypt.gov.eg (single entry, $30, takes 3-5 business days). We can also arrange a visa-on-arrival at Cairo or any international arrivals airport in Egypt for $35 - your stamp is ready when you land, no queuing. Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your entry date.

We include a visa-guidance sheet with every confirmed booking. If you'd rather not deal with the online application, our $35 arrival visa service handles it - we have the stamp waiting before you reach immigration. If you are flying into Sharm El Sheikh and staying only in South Sinai (Sharm, Dahab), a separate free entry stamp is available on arrival, but it does not cover Cairo or the Nile Valley.

Eight days (7 nights) is the perfect first Egypt holiday - Cairo (3 nights) plus a 4-night Nile cruise gives you the pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum, Luxor and Aswan without feeling rushed. Add Alexandria and you're at 10 days; add Red Sea beaches and you reach 12; combine both for the full 15-day Egypt-to-Mediterranean arc.

12–15 days is the sweet spot we recommend to British travellers with a fortnight to spare - you fully unwind, add Red Sea downtime after the temples, and finish relaxed rather than exhausted. Every itinerary is modular, so adding days is straightforward. The shortest trip we'd recommend booking is 8 days - anything shorter and you'll feel rushed between Cairo and the cruise.

Discovery Tours Egypt is an Egypt-based tour operator (head office in Cairo, regional offices in Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Sharm El Sheikh) - we are not an ATOL holder ourselves. When you book a flight-inclusive package through us, flights are arranged via ATOL-bonded UK agents and the ATOL certificate is issued in their name. For land-only tours (you fly yourself), no ATOL applies and your booking is protected by our company terms and IATA accreditation #90255546.

We are honest about this because it matters to UK travellers. If full UK financial protection is a must-have, we can structure your booking as two components: a UK ATOL-bonded flight and our land services. Many of our UK guests prefer this - it keeps their Avios/BA Executive Club benefits and lets them fly from their preferred airport.

We arrange flights from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow through our UK partner agents. Direct flights to Cairo run from Heathrow (BA, EgyptAir) and most other UK hubs route via Istanbul, Frankfurt or Paris in 6–8 hours total travel time.

For Red Sea holidays there are seasonal direct charters from Manchester, Gatwick and Birmingham to Hurghada and Marsa Alam. If you already have flights or want to use airline miles, we run your booking as land-only - we'll send arrival-airport instructions and still pick you up at the gate.