We’ve always wanted to visit Egypt but to be honest, I had some reservations about visiting. I didn’t really know much about the people or the culture and how they treat Americans. I just knew that it was very foreign to me despite having visited dozens of countries. Once the war in Gaza broke out, we were more hesitant to consider Egypt even though most of the tourist sites are quite far from all of that. Nevertheless, we decided to book a tour and just go for it. To be fair, this wasn’t just speculation. I did read some things that were not good and perhaps I focused on the negatives too much. No matter where you go, someone is going to have a bad time. I probably just put too much emphasis on the negative aspects of it due to confirmation bias. Needless to say, we were prepared for the worst.
At the outset, I want to say that Egypt is far from perfect. It’s a third world country that is very different from Western society. You cannot go there expecting a luxurious experience or that it will be like visiting popular tourist destinations in Europe. However, none of Egypt’s issues pose a security risk to you (in my opinion). Instead, they are just an annoyance more than anything else. As long as you can deal with them, then you’ll have an amazing time.
I first want to address safety since that seems to be top of mind for everyone. I had a number of people basically say that it was crazy that I would visit Egypt now or they would ask if I felt safe. Americans seem to paint the Middle East with one broad brush and while that’s wrong. I can’t fault them for that. I probably did the same thing. It’s a dangerous place where the people hate us right? I don’t think the media does enough to dispel this notion because unless you actually go there, I’m not sure how you’re really going to get that message.
Egypt has had terrorism issues in the past just like we did. In fact, we walked by a monument dedicated to the soldiers that died fighting terrorism. That was an eye opener since I think a lot of Americans view terrorism as Western society’s problem. For Egypt, their problem is magnified because tourism is such a big part of their economy. If they have any type of issue, tourist numbers will plummet. As a result, security is extremely tight. There are police and army all over the place. There’s all sorts of checkpoints around the roads up and down Egypt.
At the airport, you have to go through security at least twice but once we went through three times! One of these require mandatory pat downs for everyone. Every hotel and cruise boat has a metal detector. At one hotel, a bomb sniffing dog had to check our bus before we were allowed to pull in. While in Cairo, we had a security guy with us at all times. He had some type of automatic gun on him under his suit jacket. He was pretty interesting as he looked like a mafia character out of a movie. Ironically, all that security can make some people feel unsafe as they wonder why a country needs so much security. I’d rather have too much police than not enough. It seems like Egypt is sending the message that it is going to be very difficult for anyone to pull off a bombing, at least in Cairo. The Sinai peninsula does have some issues but for tourists, they won’t be anywhere near there.
I did some research and found out that Egypt has a very low violent crime rate. The law is no joke in that country. The death penalty is used for a number of crimes outside of murder. I asked our tour guide about this and he agreed with the statistics I saw. He added that you can walk down the street at 3am and not have to worry about anything. At least from what I saw, I have to agree. At no point did we feel unsafe whether we were driving or walking around. Although we were in a lot of poor areas, I never felt like it was a bad neighborhood. So from a safety perspective, I don’t think you have much too worry about. While I’m sure there are some property crimes here and there, we never had to worry about someone trying to take our stuff. Although I wore a money belt as I always do overseas, I likely didn’t even need it. Still a good idea though.
Unfortunately, current events have resulted in a lot of people canceling their trips to Egypt. I think this is a huge mistake. Over 10 million tourists visit Egypt every year so the odds of you running into an issue are extremely low. The only issues you really have to worry about are people harassing you to buy things but you’ll run into the same thing in other touristy areas. You’re not going to get hurt, just annoyed. If you want an added level of protection, consider a tour. We felt very safe with our tour guide and the tour company that he worked for. They had everything organized perfectly and it was really great that he could speak the language and understand the customs since he’s a local. Since so many people are canceling trips in 2024, now may be the best time to go to avoid the big crowds.
I should also add that everyone in our tour group was white and at no point did we feel discriminated against due to our race. Everyone was nice to us and many people waved to us. At one place, we ran into a group of young boys playing soccer and they were happy to practice their basic English with us. We even visited a mosque and it was very obvious that we were out of place. There were a ton of people there at not one of them gave us a dirty look. Here’s another way to look at it: the people in Egypt were a lot friendlier to us than the average New Yorker would have been. It was funny to land in IAD and hear the TSA agent yelling at everyone. You didn’t hear that anywhere in Egypt! So if you go to Egypt, expect more security than you’ve ever seen along with a ton of friendly people that seem to appreciate your visit.
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