Planning Egypt from the United States.

Egypt from the US — the questions we get most

Do US citizens need a visa for Egypt?

Yes. US passport holders need a tourist visa, and the simplest route is the official e-visa at visa2egypt.gov.eg — a single-entry 30-day visa is $25, approved in most cases within a few days. A visa-on-arrival sticker is also sold at Cairo airport for the same $25 in cash, but the e-visa spares you the airport queue. Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date. If your trip is on a private guided itinerary with us, we send you the exact step-by-step before you book flights.

How do you fly to Egypt from the US?

EgyptAir flies nonstop from New York (JFK) to Cairo in about 11 hours, and Washington Dulles (IAD) seasonally. From every other US city you connect once — most commonly through a European hub (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Istanbul) on partners like United, Delta, Lufthansa, Air France or Turkish Airlines. Total door-to-door from the East Coast is roughly 13–15 hours with one stop; from the West Coast, 18–20. We build arrival transfers around your flight number so someone from our Cairo office is waiting regardless of when you land.

How much does an Egypt trip cost from the US?

As a planning anchor, most US travelers spend $3,500–$6,500 per person for a well-run 9–12 day private trip including international airfare. Round-trip flights run roughly $900–$1,500 depending on season and origin; a private guided land-and-Nile-cruise itinerary is typically $2,200–$4,500 per person; the rest is tips, a few meals on your own, and optional add-ons like the Abu Simbel flight. Egypt delivers world-class antiquity at a fraction of comparable Italy or Greece pricing — that value gap is real and it's the main reason the math works.

When is the best time to visit Egypt for US travelers?

October through April is the comfortable window, and it maps neatly onto the US calendar: Thanksgiving week, the December winter break, and spring break all fall inside it, with mild 70–80°F days for the Pyramids and Nile. Those same weeks are peak demand, so the Nile cruise fleet books out months ahead — reserve winter-break and spring-break trips by late summer. Summer (June–August) is hot in Luxor and Aswan but is low season with the best prices and thinnest crowds if your dates are fixed by school.

Is Egypt safe for American tourists?

The parts of Egypt US travelers actually visit — Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, the Nile Valley and the Red Sea resorts — sit at the US State Department's Level 1 and Level 2 advisory, the same tiers as much of Europe. The only areas under a Do-Not-Travel warning are the Sinai interior and the Western Desert border zones, none of which are on a standard tourist itinerary. We recommend enrolling in the State Department's free STEP program before you fly, and every one of our trips runs with a licensed Egyptologist guide and 24/7 support from our Cairo office.

Should I book an Egypt tour or travel independently?

For a first Egypt trip, most US travelers are better served by a private guided itinerary than by going it alone — the sites are vast, the logistics (domestic flights, cruise embarkation, guide licensing, ticketing) are fiddly, and a good Egyptologist transforms what you understand at the Pyramids and in the Valley of the Kings. "Private" here means your own guide and driver, not a coach group. We're an Egypt-based operator with six offices across the country, so you're booking directly with the people who run the trip on the ground, not through a middleman.