Is Cairo expensive for tourists?

No. Food, transport and hotels are cheap by international standards. Entry tickets and five-star hotels are the costs closest to Western prices.

Should I bring dollars or Egyptian pounds?

Bring some US dollars or euros for the visa and emergencies, and use pounds for everything else. Many shops and taxis refuse foreign currency, and paying in dollars almost always means a worse rate.

How much cash should I carry each day?

About EGP 1,000 to 2,000 covers tips, snacks, taxis and small purchases for one person. Pay for tickets, hotels and larger restaurant bills by card.

Are there hidden costs at the pyramids?

The main ones are camel and horse rides, which have no fixed price, and photographs with people in costume who expect a tip. Agree on any price before you start.

How Much Does a Trip to Cairo Cost, Daily Budget & Prices

How Much Does a Trip to Cairo Cost, Budget & Travel Prices

9 min read | Published: Oct 24, 2026 | Updated: Oct 24, 2026 | TRIPS IN EGYPT

A trip to Cairo can cost as little as $40 a day or as much as you are willing to spend, and both travelers will see the same pyramids. The Egyptian capital is one of the best-value big cities in the world: a full meal of street food costs less than a coffee in Paris, and a ride across town costs less than a bus ticket in London. The costs that really shape a budget are entry tickets, your choice of hotel and whether you hire a guide.

Few cities let you stand before a 4,500-year-old wonder in the morning and eat dinner on the Nile for a few dollars that same night. This guide breaks down daily budgets for three travel styles, current ticket prices, hotels, food, transport, guided tours and packages, and the small extras that add up. All prices are per person and use a rate of about EGP 52 to the US dollar. Here are all things you need to know about how much a trip to Cairo costs:

Cairo Trip Cost Per Day: The Short Answer

Cairo Trip Cost Per Day - Trips in Egypt.webp

Not counting international flights, these are realistic daily budgets for one person sharing a double room.

Travel style	Per day	What it covers
Backpacker	$40 to $60	Hostel or guesthouse, street food, metro and apps, one main site a day
Mid-range	$100 to $180	3- or 4-star hotel, sit-down restaurants, Uber, two sites a day, some guided days
Luxury	$350 and up	5-star Nile or pyramid-view hotel, private guide and driver, fine dining

A Mid-Range Day in Cairo, Priced Out

Here is what a typical Giza day costs for one mid-range traveler sharing a room:

Item	Cost
Half a double room in a 4-star hotel, with breakfast	$45
Uber from Zamalek to the pyramids and back	$12
Giza Plateau and Grand Egyptian Museum tickets	$43
Lunch near the plateau	$10
Dinner in a good Zamalek restaurant	$18
Coffee, water and snacks	$5
Tips	$7
Total	about $140

A backpacker doing the same day from a hostel, with the metro to Giza station and a short Uber, koshari for lunch and street food for dinner, spends about $55, almost all of it on tickets.

For a four-day visit, that works out to about $160 to $240 for a backpacker, $400 to $720 mid-range and $1,400 or more in luxury. Return flights add about €200 to €500 from Europe and $500 to $1,200 from North America. For a country-wide picture that includes Luxor, Aswan and a Nile cruise, read our guide to how much it costs to travel to Egypt.

Ticket Prices for Cairo's Main Sights

Tickets are the one cost that is the same for every traveler, and they are higher than many visitors expect. These are the current prices for foreign adults. Students with a valid international student card pay about half.

Site	Price	In US dollars
Giza Pyramids Complex	EGP 700	about $13
Inside the Great Pyramid	EGP 1,500	about $29
Grand Egyptian Museum	EGP 1,570, then EGP 1,830 from 1 November	about $30, then $35
The Egyptian Museum, Tahrir	about EGP 550	about $11
Salah El-Din Citadel	about EGP 550	about $11
Saqqara	about EGP 450	about $9
Dahshur	about EGP 200	about $4
Sultan Hassan Mosque	about EGP 220	about $4
Coptic Cairo churches and Khan el-Khalili	free	free

A first-time visitor who sees Giza, the GEM, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel and Saqqara will spend about $75 on tickets, or about $105 with the Great Pyramid's interior. Most ticket offices take cards only, and the GEM sells timed entry online.

Discover the Hotel Prices in Cairo

Hotel Prices in Cairo - Trips in Egypt.webp

Your hotel is the biggest variable in any Cairo budget, and where you stay also affects how much you spend getting around.

Type	Price per night	Where to look
Hostel dorm bed	$8 to $15	Downtown, Zamalek
Budget guesthouse, private room	$20 to $40	Downtown, Giza near the pyramids
3- or 4-star hotel	$60 to $120	Zamalek, Dokki, Giza, Garden City
5-star Nile or pyramid-view hotel	$180 to $500	Garden City, Zamalek, Giza

Small guesthouses in Giza, a few minutes' walk from the plateau, often offer rooftop views of the pyramids for under $60 and save you a long drive on the day you visit. Zamalek and Downtown are better for restaurants, nightlife and the metro. At the top end, historic hotels such as the Marriott Mena House, right beside the Great Pyramid, start at around $200 a night, and rates rise sharply over Christmas, New Year and Easter.

The Prices of Food and Drinks

Prices of Food and Drinks - Trips in Egypt.webp

Eating well in Cairo is cheap, as long as you eat where Egyptians eat. These are typical prices in local restaurants and cafés.

Item	Typical price
Ful or ta'ameya (falafel) sandwich	EGP 10 to 25
A bowl of koshari	EGP 30 to 60
Shawarma sandwich	EGP 50 to 120
Meal in a local sit-down restaurant	EGP 150 to 400 ($3 to $8)
Dinner in a mid-range restaurant	EGP 500 to 1,000 ($10 to $20)
Dinner in an upscale or hotel restaurant	$40 to $80
Tea or Turkish coffee in a local café	EGP 20 to 40
Latte in a Western-style coffee shop	EGP 120 to 200
1.5-liter bottle of water	EGP 10 to 20

A backpacker can eat three good meals a day for about $8 to $12. Alcohol is the exception: it is sold only in licensed bars, hotels and some restaurants, and a local beer costs several times more than a meal of koshari. Our guide to Egyptian food explains what to order.

Transport Costs Around Cairo

Getting around Cairo is one of the cheapest parts of a trip, as long as you avoid the airport touts.

Metro. EGP 10 to 20 a ride, depending on how many stations you travel. It reaches Tahrir, Coptic Cairo and Zamalek, but not the pyramids.
Uber and Careem. Usually EGP 60 to 200 ($1 to $4) across the center, and about $4 to $8 from Downtown to the pyramids. Prices rise at rush hour.
White taxis. Slightly cheaper than the apps if the driver runs the meter.
Airport to the center. About EGP 150 to 300 by Uber or official taxi.
Private car with driver. Roughly $35 to $70 for a full day, which is the best value for Saqqara and Dahshur or for a family.

A mid-range traveler using Uber for everything will spend about $10 to $15 a day on transport. A backpacker who walks and uses the metro can spend under $3.

What Guided Tours and Cairo Packages Cost

Guided Tours and Cairo Packages Cost - Trips in Egypt.webp

Hiring a guide adds to the daily cost, but it also removes the time and money spent arranging transport, queuing for tickets and dealing with touts. These are the starting prices per person for some of our most popular Cairo day tours. They are based on larger groups, and solo travelers or couples pay more.

Tour	From
Half-Day Pyramids Tour	$45
Pyramids, Saqqara and Dahshur Day Tour	$70
Half-Day Tour to the Grand Egyptian Museum	$75
Egyptian Museum, Citadel and Old Cairo Tour	$50
Al-Muizz and Khan el-Khalili Tour	$45
Cairo Dinner Nile Cruise	$30
Tanoura Dance Show	$35
Day Trip to Alexandria	$70
Overnight White Desert Safari	$195

For a full stay, a package is often cheaper than paying for each piece separately. Our 4 Days in Cairo Egypt tour starts at $385, the 4 Days Affordable Tour Around Cairo Wonders at $410 and the 4 Days Cairo Luxury Tour Package at $445. Each includes three nights in a hotel, airport transfers, an Egyptologist guide, transport and entry tickets, which works out to about $95 to $110 a day, close to a mid-range budget but with the planning done for you. All our Cairo tour packages show prices by season and group size.

Extra Costs and Money-Saving Tips

A few smaller costs are easy to forget when you plan a Cairo budget.

Visa. Most nationalities pay $30 for a visa on arrival or a single-entry e-Visa. Our guide to the Egypt entry visa explains the options.

SIM card. A local SIM with 10 to 15 GB of data costs about EGP 300 to 500 at the airport.

Tips. Tipping is part of daily life in Egypt, from the restaurant waiter to the bathroom attendant. Budget about $5 to $10 a day, more if you have a guide and driver. Our guide to tipping in Egypt lists the usual amounts.

Souvenirs. Prices in Khan el-Khalili start high. Offer about half the first price and settle somewhere in the middle.

To make your money go further:

Travel in the shoulder season. Hotel rates are lowest in summer, but October, November, March and April balance price and weather. See our guide to the best time to visit Cairo.
Use ATMs, not airport exchange desks. Bank ATMs give better rates. Keep small notes for tips and taxis.
Eat locally at lunch. A koshari lunch saves the budget for a special dinner.
Group your sights by area. Giza and the GEM on one day, Islamic Cairo on another, to cut transport costs.
Skip the extras you do not need. Entering the Great Pyramid doubles the cost of a Giza visit, and the chamber inside is bare.

Plan a Cairo Trip That Fits Your Budget

Cairo rewards every kind of traveler, and a few thousand pounds can buy you days that will stay with you for a lifetime. Whether you want to travel on a shoestring or in five-star comfort, Trips In Egypt can build a trip around your budget,. Browse all our Egypt tour packages or ask for a tailor-made tour priced to your plans.