Tipping In Egypt - A Complete Guide
Quick Guide
🍽️ Restaurant - 10-15% If Satisfied ($ or E£)
🚕 Taxi - 10-20% If Satisfied ($ or E£)
🚗 Private Driver - $10/Day or Equivalent E£
🛎️ Porter/Bellhop - $1 in E£
🛏️ Housekeeping - $1-2/Day or Equivalent E£ on Checkout
📸 Tour Guide - $5-6pp/Day or Equivalent E£ at End
👮♂️ Tomb Guard - $1 ($ or E£)
🚢 Typical Nile Cruise - $10pp/Night ($20pp/Night if Dahabiya) or Equivalent E£ on Checkout
🚢 Dahabiya Nile Cruise - $20pp/Night ($20pp/Night if Dahabiya) or Equivalent E£ on Checkout
Most Egyptian service workers are severely underpaid so rely on tips to supplement their income. That being said, don’t feel obligated to tip for sub-par service. Tips here should still reflect the level of service you receive.
Calculate a culturally appropriate tip for Egypt using the calculator below and read on for more detail on tipping in Restaurants, Taxis, Hotels, Nile Cruises etc.
Egypt Tip Calculator
Good Price For Egypt
Tip
$0.00
Total With Tip
$0.00
Split Bill By
0 Each
Tipping in Restaurants
In more up-market restaurants, tip 10-15% for good service in USD or Egyptian Pounds (EGP, E£). If a service charge has been added to your bill (usually 10-15%), you don’t need to tip extra but you can leave an additional 10% on the table to ensure your server gets a tip.
In more casual restaurants you’ll feel less pressured to tip but it’s still polite to tip around 10% for good service.
Tipping Taxi Drivers & Private Drivers
Tip your taxi, Uber or Careem driver 10-20% in USD or EGP for good service. Always use cash to ensure your driver gets the money right away.
If there’s a meter, keep an eye on it in case they try to charge you more (don’t feel the need to tip if they try that on you). If there isn’t a meter, always agree on the fare before you get in.
Tip private drivers around $10 USD (or the EGP equivalent) at the end of each day.
Tipping The Porter/Bellhop
Tip your porter the Egyptian Pound-equivalent of $1 USD but be prepared to grab the porter’s attention before they leave as they might not expect a tip.
Tipping Housekeeping
Tip your housekeeper the Egyptian Pound-equivalent of $1-2 USD/day but only tip daily in luxury hotels (just leave it on the pillow).
You can make one large tip (using the same daily rate) at the end of your stay in luxury and casual hotels. In that case, you can tip the total amount in EGP or USD avoiding $1 USD bills (useless to Egyptians given their lack of acceptance).
Tipping Tour Guides & Tomb Guards
Tip day or multi-day tour guides around $5-6 USD Per Person/Day (in USD or the equivalent in EGP) at the end of the tour as long as you’re satisfied.
Tour guides make a substantial portion of their income from tips given their low pay so bear this in mind before you try to skip tipping, especially if you’ve got a good price for the tour.
If you’re on a walking tour for a few hours, you can tip around $3-5 USD Per Person (in USD or EGP-equivalent).
Sometimes Egyptian tomb guards may pressure you to leave them a tip. If they’re being persistent, try your best to avoid tipping them as you’re basically rewarding poor behaviour. If at a quiet site and you’re not being heckled, you can tip the guard around $1 USD (in USD or equivalent-EGP).
Given photos are banned in a lot of Egyptian tombs, guards may pressure you for a tip if you attempt to take one. Try to forgo the picture and just enjoy the experience so you don’t get into this situation.
Tipping on a Nile Cruise
On your typical Nile cruise, tip around $10 USD Per Person/Night (in USD or the equivalent-EGP). Raise that to $20 Per Person/Night on a Dahabiya Nile Cruise.
You can usually tip the entire crew at the end of your trip via a tip box or tip envelope (make sure you write your cabin number on the envelope).
It’s not essential but you can tip your porter and housekeeper an additional tip. Tip the same as you would in an Egyptian hotel. $1 USD or equiv. EGP for porters and $1-2 USD/Day or equiv. EGP for cleaners.
Which Currency To Use
You can tip using US Dollars (USD) or Egyptian Pounds (EGP) but if you’re using USD, avoid coins and $1 bills because they’re pretty much unusable in Egypt. They’re rarely accepted so those that get them usually spend a lot of time trying to exchange them.
If you’re struggling to get change for tipping, you can try asking your hotel receptionist or tour guide. Or just use a larger bill to buy something in a shop and keep the change.
ATMs usually offer larger bills so they’re not a great way to obtain small bills for tipping.
"رحلة سعيدة" (“rehla sa'ida”) - Have a great trip! 🇪🇬 🐪 🌴
