Tipping in Egypt: How Much to Tip?

Perhaps the most crucial and very essential manual to read before planning for your trip to Egypt.

Tipping is serious business in Egypt. It is nothing like the American tipping system where you generally tip bell boys in hotels and mark up a 10-20% on your dining bills in local diners and restaurants.

No. Tipping in Egypt is a whole different ball game and I do emphasise, the locals treat it VERY SERIOUSLY. It is their way of life and the essence of living to the Egyptians. Expect the unexpected, if that is even possible. I say this without exaggeration that it is almost a crime to not tip in Egypt. People will chase you down the road for the tips you never knew you owe and expect dagger stares and harsh words when you forget to tip. Understand that most of the time tips mean a lot (low wages are common in Egypt). Tip discreetly (offer a handshake with tip in your hand). Be generous, it will make your trip a lot more enjoyable. But never feel you should be pressured to tip outside of the necessary etiquette. Know your right, stand your ground to hold back your tip if you feel you are treated unjustly, some recipients will comment rudely that your tip is too low, hold back/take back your tip immediately (snatch it from their hands or pretend to offer higher amount in return) and give a firm NO in response to teach them a lesson. Ignore their remarks or insults and just enjoy the rest of your trip in Egypt. Always keep a look out for small change and keep them, it is difficult to come by and most people will say they don't have change when you tip, expecting you to tip with the high currency note you own.

I have to be honest, spending 3 weeks in Egypt, partial on my own, is no easy feat. Coming from a country where tipping is essentially non-existent, the whole tipping system in Egypt is proven very challenging for me. Some places are more relaxed than others, but after a while, you do get used to setting aside a budget for it.

The amounts suggested are pr. couple, you could pay less if you are a single traveller. The only exception is if you travel with a premium tour agency that states all tips/tipping are included in the trip, which in my opinion, will make the trip more enjoyable by ten folds. I HIGHLY recommend it.
Here's the tip menu (taken from a post in TripAdvisor with some of my own adjustments/add-ons):

EGYPT TIP MENU

• Driver taking you to hotel from airport upon arrival: 10 - 30 LE (in Red Sea destinations, Luxor, Aswan or Alexandria you can still be relatively generous with 10-20 LE) 

• Luggage man at hotel: 3-5 LE pr. bag both in and out

• Housekeeping: 5-10 LE pr. night (sometimes you will find towels folded into various animals placed on your bed, the responsible housekeeper will hover outside your room expecting a tip, 3-5 LE will suffice, 10 LE if they make you laugh)

• Waiter/waitress at breakfast restaurant at hotel: 5-10 LE pr. meal

• Waiter at cruise: 50 LE once if on a week long cruise. Less if cruise is shorter. You will most likely have the same waiter for the whole cruise. Of course, if your waiter does not provide a good service, you should reconsider how much you prefer to tip. 

• Driver taking you sightseeing full day: 50 LE (Full days are usually only in Cairo)

• Guide taking you sightseeing full day: 80-100 LE (Full days are usually only in Cairo)

• Driver taking you sightseeing half day: 25 LE

• Guide taking you sightseeing half day: 40-50 LE Waiter at lunch restaurant in connection to sightseeing: 5-10 LE Feluccaman taking you sailing for one hour: 10 LE (if the agreed price for the trip does not include tips)

• Guards around the sites: 1-2 LE

• "Groundskeeper" in mosques (the man handing you shoe-covers, showing you special things etc): 1-5 LE

• Boat staff on Nile cruise/Lake Nasser cruise incl. reception: 10 LE pr. person pr. night, leave in envelope in reception by the end. Write your cabin number on the envelope. Will be divided between all staff. Highest ranking staff gets the most, lowest ranking the least. It is the system, but if you feel like rewarding a member of staff with a little extra, do it very discreet, or he will be forced to share with the others.

• Horsemen in Edfu: MAX. 10 LE for roundtrip to temple and back (if the agreed price does not include tips)

• Men or women at restrooms handing out toiletpaper: 50 PT - 1 LE. And if restroom is unacceptably nasty, don't tip!

• Egyptian staff on day-boats Red Sea destinations: 10-20 LE per person on tour (not per staff on boat). Often there is a box set out at the end for tips. Usually foreign staff like dive-masters, snorkel instructors etc does not expect to be tipped. So check how many Egyptian staff members are on board and tip according to that.

• Kids or young adults helping with camels, horses or donkeys, provided they are "employees" at the stables: 5-10 LE after trip

• People (seller, horse or donkey carer, guards) whose photos you have taken: 3-5 LE pr. person.

• If you take a food sample a food stall/restaurant offer you to try: 50 PT - 1 LE to the cashier (more if you sample more stuff)

• "General tipping in restaurants (if service/food was good): around 10 %. Most customers will find a service charge on their receipt, but please note that this goes to the restaurant and not to the waiter.

Caution!

If someone offers to give you a tour of a temple/place/city that you didn't feel you want, decline and move along. Do not follow and fall in his footstep, he will ask for a tip after showing you around.

Do not simply accept offers by guards or donkey riders to let you wear his hat or take a photo together, unless you want to, this will undoubtedly follow with a tip request regardless of his promise that it was free in the first place.

A general note about whether to tip taxi drivers, caleche men, felucca men etc. You have to decide if the agreed price is so high that tips are included, or when agreeing on the price, emphasise that the amount is inclusive of tip, i.e. 200 LE no tip. Feel free to reward a little extra say if traffic was real bad or service was really good.

Do not be persuaded into paying additional after agreeing on a price with taxi drivers, caleche men or felucca men. Airport ticket fee, village fee, etc are just lies to extort more money out of you. Stand your ground to the agreed price even if you have to be harsh. Exception to taxi drivers who demand a little more if they help you with your luggages.

Egypt: Should you travel there?

I'm sitting in Dubai airport in transit waiting for my flight home typing this out on my Facebook that by the time I was done, I realised it is a blog post on its own. So if you haven't seen my thoughts on my Egypt three weeks trip. Here it is. It's brief and only partial of what I have to say about the country, but this should suffice, for now. 

"So apparently some egyptians friends I've made while travelling in Egypt got so offended about my shedding the dimmer lights on Egypt that one of them unfriended me and the other decided to shoot me a message with a semi confrontation. (The others I have successfully blocked to have access to posts like this simply because they are nice people and what I say do no represent them but I also know what I say will hurt them for a lot of Egyptians share a love hate relationship with their country and can get very defensive when prodded)

Look. Egypt is great because of its history, would I recommend it to people to travel there? Absolutely. It's unlike anywhere else in the world. I was awe struck many times this trip by how old and grand the ancient civilisations were and how much have remained; it took my breath endlessly. The magnitude of greatness when I stood on the Great Pyramid of Giza. The intelligence and wealth when I walked through the Valley of the Kings. The wisdom and knowledge when learning about the measuring instruments of the stars, of architecture and of art. All happening some 4000 years ago, when there were rarely any known civilisation on earth. 

But... I also never visited a country that I have felt more harassed, stressed, frustrated and troubled by the lack of honesty and sincerity in, not all, most of the the people I had the unfortunate event to come across. My three weeks across the entire country has left me a bitter aftertaste that when I received the stamp to leave the country, I let out an audible sigh, partially from a long tiresome trip, but mostly out of relief. 

I wouldn't say I have a lot of travelling experience as compared to some of the friends I have, but 43 countries and 12 years on, spending an average of 3 weeks to 3 months in each of these countries, Egypt took me by surprise to both extremes. 

It made Nepal felt like a walk in the park.
It made India felt like paradise.
It made Japan felt like a parallel universe. 

And I say this without a hint of exaggeration. Will I ever return to Egypt? I don't know. But it will take a lot of persuasion."

Luxor in 2017 - Ghost Town?

I feel sad for Luxor. Said to be the largest open air museum in the world, perhaps the most visited city in Egypt aside from Cairo. Yet on the street I see stationery taxis with groups of drivers sitting idly, hundreds of horse carriages without a passenger. When I walked onto the street, I get swamped by drivers and riders begging for a business, they're like tigers that have been hungry for too long, the moment they spotted a prey, pounced on it at first chance. I had a horse carriage rider abandoned his horse carriage with his child (not more than 4 years old) on it, ran across the street just hoping to strike a RM5 ride. I took the ride, and tipped him three times the price when he offered to receive less than what we agreed on upon reaching our destination. He was so happy, he kissed the money, raised his hand above and thanked Allah. My heart broke a little more.

I had people lie, cheat, and stalked me for an entire street just for a dollar. The amount of available low and high ends hotels (more than any city in Egypt) showed a once thriving town filled with endless tourists, but now feels like a diminishing town with poorly maintained buildings. It was said during its glory, the river Nile once had 300 cruises cruising between Aswan and Luxor has now barely even 30 at any given time, the countless hot air balloons that once filled the sun rise mornings over the Valley of the Kings had but two handfuls this morning we went.

Opening hours of various operations vary, everyone seems to have a say of their thought on the exact time the museum is open. And it changes, from guide books to trip advisor to locals. On the street you see shops with little to no tourists for long period of times. Shop owners would walk out of the shop asking us to purchase a bottle of water, or a bag of chips. It's impossible to walk down the street without someone coming up to you asking for a ride, for a tour, for money, to buy something or to offer you something in exchange for tips when you look as foreign as Asians go on African continent.

Have the 2011 revolution and recent ISIS bombings killed a country that survives largely on its tourism? It reeks of desperation (for a business) everywhere I go, but nothing prepared me for the stank that Luxor exudes. It feels eerily quiet as I'm sitting in my hotel room typing this. I had imagined a bustling city of backpackers and tourists when I first arrived. I did not expect this.

Unemotional Birthday 2017

"This is the first birthday you're not emotional in the last 8 years"

he said.  

I pondered that for a while. Really? Every single year? 

"Yes." 

he assured me. 

 I guess it comes natural being a Pisces. I'm just a being filled with jelly and nonsensical emotional baloney. My mind is programmed to wander, more often to dark looming thoughts. 

It is possible planning for a trip this week helped eliminate excess time for said brain to go on a promenade. The birthday surprise with my close group of friends was definitely a first, I'd assumed the notion of surprise events has expired on me passed a certain age, apparently not. You're never too old for surprise birthday parties, the bar will be set high for next year, and every year after, 

I'm doomed. 

It's also the first time I receive a pretty birthday cake. You're never too old for pretty birthday cakes. Stop setting high expectation, brain. 

It's 24 hours till my flight out for my grand birthday trip, to the most mysterious dream destination of a lifetime for a history freak - Egypt. 

2017 is proving to be spoiling me fast and hard early on. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not a fan of mediterranean food so it's not all paradise and fantasy-like. I heard the traffic's atrocious, and people will try to swindle your money whenever possible. Oh, who am I kidding? King Tut I have been dreaming about your tomb for more than a decade, and diving in the red sea? My dive log is the first to be packed, and my luggage is still pretty empty. It's going to difficult to decide what clothes to pack for Egypt. How do you dress for the dessert? I don't own anything that remotely resembles the assembles in Sex and the City 2. A quick google search shows me head covering scarf is the general choice of fashion there. Along with robes. Do I own a robe? 

This is going to be tough. 

And there's Logan, I really want to watch Logan. It will be taken down by the time I get back, and I'm contemplating to make it to the cinema tomorrow instead of packing my stuff.

Priority, Nicole. Tsk.

And I need to book my domestic flights. Gosh. So much to do. Ok time for bed. One thing at a time, and Logan somewhere in between.