Egypt expense breakdown

We’ve wrapped up our month-long stay in Egypt; May 14 to June 11 to be precise.

Time to tally up what it cost.

We can quickly and easily do that because we keep meticulous track of every penny we spend during our never-ending, slow travel adventure.

Each morning over coffee, we review the previous day’s expenses and enter them into our handy “Spending Tracker” cell phone app. At any point, we can view and sort and export the data in various ways. And at the end of a given stay, it’s easy to see exactly what we spent in total – and by category.

Egypt expense breakdown

$1,220  —  Excursions

$866    —  Housing

$832    —  Travel

$580    —  Tips/Gifts/Charity

$371    —  Restaurants

$126    —  Groceries

$94      —  Beer

$90      —  Supplies

$87      —  Local Transit

$6        —  Health

_________________________

$4,272  total for 2 persons

As you can see, for Egypt, the “excursions” category exploded. In fact, in all our years of travel, ‘excursions’ has never been anywhere near our top monthly expense.

Usually, our slow travel style (where we live for a month or more in each AirBnb rental) allows us to spread our sightseeing and touring over numerous weeks. This time, we jammed five different short stays into the one month time period. Consequently, what might normally be several months of excursions were crammed into our 29-day stay.

That’s understandable because of the plethora of historical sites and museums and tours that exist in Egypt. If you go to Egypt, these are the things you gotta do! It’s what you are there for — especially any ‘first-time’ visitor.

Thus, our ‘excursions’ category includes admission fees, tour costs, transportation/private drivers that enabled visits to less accessible sites, and tips to locals for their assistance.

Excursion admission fees

For the record, the prices to enter and experience Egyptian attractions are not cheap. (We were told prices have risen dramatically since COVID.) And there is always a separate, much lower price for Egyptian citizens.

Here are a few examples:

• The NEW Grand Egyptian Museum:
  • Egyptians  –  200 pounds ($4)
  • Others  –  1,270  pounds  ($25.50)
• Giza pyramids/plateau complex:
  • Egyptians  –  60 pounds ($1.20)
  • Others   –   700 pounds  ($14)
• Luxor Temple:
  • Egyptians  –  40 pounds (.80 cents)
  • Others  –   500 pounds  ($10)

Complete pricing for all the government operated attractions can be found at https://egymonuments.com.

Further, official ‘add-ons’ are also available for many of the sites, ranging from access to additional areas to audio guides to official guided tours. These add-ons can be just a few extra dollars or sometimes even MORE than the general ticket. For example, to enter the inner chamber of the largest Giza pyramid (Khufu) cost an additional $1,000 Egyptian pounds per person ($20).

Unofficial tour guides are always an option, too. We were often approached outside entrances by individuals offering guide services. Sometimes they said “2 Euros” or “5 Euros” — but who knows what the ‘real’ cost is or what their credentials are. There are also guys hanging around inside the ancient ruins; often they offer access inside a ‘roped off’ area or take your photo using your cell phone. Of course, such ‘help’ comes with the expectation of baksheesh (a tip).

We only purchased a guided audio tour at the Grand Egyptian Museum. Thankfully, most sites had some decent signage/explanations in English. And we used our Egyptian cell/SIM to do basic research on attractions we visited as well.

Excursion transportation prices

Also included in our excursion totals is the cost of private cars/drivers. We arranged these through our lodging hosts.

Examples:

• $50 for a day-trip driver to take us to Dahshur, Memphis and Saqqara from Cairo.
• $20 for a driver to take us on a day trip to the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Valley of the Queens in Luxor.
• $40 for a driver to take us to Dandarah (about an hour’s drive north of Luxor) and then the Ramasseum over about 6.5 hours.
• $35 from Elephantine Island for a driver to take us on a day trip to the Aswan High Dam, Philae Temple, Broken Obelisk, and the Nubian Museum.

Nile River cruise – Aswan to Luxor

Finally, a two-night Nile River cruise is also reflected in the excursions category. Our AirBnb host in Aswan arranged the abbreviated trip for us through his local contacts for the amazing price of $67 per person, per night: $270 total. We were apprehensive about handing over that cash simply based on his assurances — but the boat and cabin and food were fantastic — just as he promised. I’ll say more about the cruise and other great deals in another blog post.

In sum, seeing the pyramids and other ancient Egyptian treasures has been on our bucket list for decades. We’ve now lived that dream and can say we generally loved the experience. While the faster pace of travel was not our usual style, it worked well for Egypt. Most every day day was full-sun and over 100°F! After four weeks, we were glad to be leaving.

As for the cost; we can’t complain. We knew going in that the Egypt time would greatly exceed our $2,000 to $2,200 monthly goal for developing countries. Indeed, one could easily spend two or three or four times our $4,300 total for a month in Egypt. Importantly, we had honest, caring, helpful hosts at each of our stays who truly helped minimize our costs and hassles. In the end, we are more than satisfied with our first Egypt adventure and what we spent.

As always, be thankful and generous; happy trails & more beer.

Life is NOW!

Thanks for reading, “Egypt expense breakdown.”

More posts about Egypt: