Egypt Packing List

The quick answer

Cover up rather than strip down. Loose, light, long clothing beats short clothing in this climate, works at religious sites, and protects you from sun you will be under for hours. Add real shoes, a hat, sunglasses, high-factor sunscreen, a refillable water bottle and one warm layer for the evenings. Everything else is detail.

Clothing

Light cotton and linen in long cuts. Long sleeves and long trousers or skirts are more comfortable in desert sun than bare skin, and they solve the site-access question at the same time. Egypt is a majority-Muslim country with a large Coptic Christian community, and both mosques and churches expect covered shoulders and knees. Women should carry a scarf for covering their hair inside a mosque; it doubles as sun protection and as something to pull over your face in a dust wind.

Resort areas on the Red Sea are the exception, and swimwear is normal on the beach and at the pool there. It is not normal anywhere else, including in the town immediately behind the beach.

Shoes

This is the item people get wrong. The floors you will walk are broken stone, loose sand, ramped rock and long uneven approaches — the Giza plateau, the Valley of the Kings, the courts at Karnak. Closed, broken-in walking shoes with real grip are not overcautious here; sandals and smooth soles are how people turn ankles. Bring a second, lighter pair for evenings and for a boat deck.

Sun and dust

A wide-brimmed hat rather than a cap, because the back of the neck is where the sun gets you. Sunglasses that actually block UV. High-factor sunscreen, applied earlier and more often than feels necessary — the dryness means you will not feel yourself burning. Lip balm with sun protection. A light scarf or buff for dust, which is worth having from March to May in particular. Anyone who wears contact lenses should bring glasses as well; a dusty day makes lenses miserable.

Water and health

Carry a refillable bottle and drink far more than thirst suggests. Dry air hides dehydration until it is well advanced. The CDC advises visitors to Egypt to be careful with food and water; bottled or properly treated water is the norm, and that includes what you brush your teeth with if your stomach is easily upset. Bring your own basic medical kit — rehydration salts, painkillers, plasters, any prescription medication in its original labeled packaging with a copy of the prescription, and whatever you would normally carry for an upset stomach. Check with a travel clinic well before you go about routine and recommended vaccinations, which depend on your history rather than on the destination alone.

The layer you will forget

A fleece or warm jacket. Desert nights are cold in winter, a moving boat deck on the Nile is colder than the shore, and a pre-dawn start at a site in January is genuinely chilly. This is the single most commonly regretted omission on an Egyptian packing list.

Electronics and documents

Egypt uses the European two-pin plug, and mains voltage is the European standard, so travelers from North America need an adapter and should check their devices handle 220V. Bring a power bank: long days out mean a phone that is also your camera runs down. Carry a paper copy of your passport and your travel insurance details separately from the originals, and photograph both to somewhere you can reach online.

Several sites charge separately for photography, and some tombs prohibit it entirely. A camera is worth bringing; an expectation that you can photograph everything is not.

What to leave out

Heavy luggage, if you are doing a river journey — cabins are compact and you will be moving bags on and off. Drones, which require permission that ordinary visitors will not have and which are routinely confiscated at the airport. Anything valuable you would be upset to lose in a crowd.

Common questions

Do women have to cover their hair?

Inside a mosque, yes. In the street, no — but modest dress attracts markedly less attention and is more comfortable in the climate, and most visitors settle into it quickly.

Can I buy things I have forgotten?

In Cairo, almost anything. Outside it, sunscreen and specific medications are the two things genuinely worth bringing rather than sourcing locally.

How much luggage do I really need?

Less than you think. It is a warm-weather trip in which the same few loose, light garments work every day, and laundry is easy and inexpensive.

Seeing it on a LABUSA Travel journey

We send a packing note ahead of departure that is specific to your dates and your itinerary, because what you need in January on the river is not what you need in October in Cairo. The list above is the part that does not change.