Tipping in Egypt, UPDATED: Do I tip in Dollars or Egyptian Pounds? Whom do I tip? How much to tip?

[@cooksmary]

Those bathroom attendants need the money they get for their service. I have heard that often tips are their entire salary. Be generous. She might be struggling to feed her family. Prices of food and housing have risen like crazy and she is stuck in a stinky bathroom all day. Usually, these ppl will fold the bill and kiss it in gratitude. Thank you for this video.

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

My pleasure-thank you for watching!

[@michaelfridgen2812]

I'm glad you spoke about how to give a tip and what to say. I've noticed that, even though tips are necessary compensation, most Egyptians want a tip as a form of gratitude and not as just something that is expected. It seems that giving someone $5 and saying, "here you go," doesn't sit well and is awkward. It works much better to give some sort of expression of thanks as you hand over the money. Thanks for the excellent model of how to give a tip!

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

It’s my pleasure! I’m glad you found it helpful ❤️.

[@ahmednagy6383]

Gotta love your informative videos

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Thanks for watching!

[@marcuscina4239]

Great resource, very well done good Sir! Thank you.

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

My pleasure!

[@mrebollar316]

Wonderful information! ❤

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Thank you! ❤️

[@ameliamathew8636]

Thank you so much, very valuable information

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Glad it was helpful!

[@flutingaround]

Not even the local banks in the U.S. have fresh crisp bills for traveling...I have tried

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Strange--mine always does! I just have to ask them in-person.

[@wildwisdomjourneys7221]

@@EgyptAdventuresTravel perhaps that because tellers at your banks still use bank drawers to provide customers with cash. At my local banks tellers dispense cash to customers from a machine. So they have no control regarding whether the bills they give you are new, marked or wrinkled.

[@danoneall4013]

If you ever want a sidekick to travel with you throughout Egypt, let me know I'm American and live in Egypt. Ive been here since 2014 and love teaveling around Egypt. Take care. Love your video's

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@donnanickerson7156]

I always tip in sterling I always tip cleaners, taxi transfers to and from airport. Person that takes us to our room, usual take £100 in 5.00 notes me and my partner always tip 5.00 per person

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Thanks for sharing! Tipping in £5 notes is a great way to make sure that someone can exchange the money somewhere, and is more convenient for you, not needing to have change.

[@imhoteppsm]

LOVE your informational videos! I go to Egypt every year and this is very helpful for me. I love Egypt so much....Luxor is my favorite city but enjoy the entire country!! Not sure if you believe in psychic mediums, but my Medium Thomas John told me that I lived in Egypt my past lives...which makes sense to me because I feel a strong connection there. :)

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

My pleasure! Have you read the story of Umm Seti? I think you’d find her life interesting 😎

[@imhoteppsm]

@@EgyptAdventuresTravel Awesome, thank you!! 😊

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

@@imhoteppsm her story reminds me of what you talked about-she ended up living in the Abydos Temple area and believed she was the mother of the ancient Pharaoh Seti I. She was even able to direct archaeologists to dig in specific areas and they found ancient artifacts buried in those areas-really an interesting story!

[@imhoteppsm]

@EgyptAdventuresTravel That is really amazing! I believe in past lives and spiritual enlightenment. I just wonder who I was. 😊

[@juanfelipecaicedo7035]

Thanks for the insights. However, you should talk more about travelling solo tipping

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Thanks for this feedback! The recommended amounts are similar, but I’ll note on a future video more about this. I appreciate the suggestion 🙂

[@juanfelipecaicedo7035]

@@EgyptAdventuresTravel thanks for your videos. I’ll be traveling to Egypt late October and have binge watched your videos and blog

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

@@juanfelipecaicedo7035 I’m glad they’re helpful! I hope you have a great trip.

[@AHMEDkhaled-in1uo]

Hello brother, I am Ahmed from Egypt. Thank you very much for your videos. I know of archaeological landmarks and places that you should photograph.

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

My pleasure

[@AndysAwesomeAdventures]

Gus, are your recommendations for tips for guides and drivers the same for private tours? It's going to be just me, a guide, and driver most days and I will be asking the guide to take photos and video of me from time to time. Thanks!

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Hi Andy, yep, same recommendations, whether there’s just one person in the group or more. Great question! Thanks for watching. And a heads up that the amounts I recommend, even the lowest amounts, are still considered a good tip/gratuity 👍🏼.

[@AndysAwesomeAdventures]

@@EgyptAdventuresTravel Also, it seems that if the locals prefer tips in U.S. dollars, that benefits them more, but for U.S. tourists, I would assume that giving tips in Egyptian Pounds and just paying for things in Egyptian Pounds in general, benefits us more, given the exhange rate.

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

@AndysAwesomeAdventures it doesn’t make much of a difference-the exchange rate is government set and the black market rate is currently around neck and neck with the official exchange rate. So if you want to tip a guide $10 for example, you’d tip them 500 Egyptian Pounds, so either way, you’re tipping them $10 equivalent. It’s up to you about what’s more convenient-would you rather pre-plan a range of what you want to do for gratuities and bring the cash so it’s easy, or do you want to get lots and lots of local currency and have trips to the ATM as you go in order to get amounts for tipping? It can also be difficult to get smaller bills than 200 or 100 EGP notes. So it’s really up to you! It’s also a great idea to ask your tour guide; they’ll be able to tell you what they prefer.

[@AndysAwesomeAdventures]

@@EgyptAdventuresTravel O.K., thanks!

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

@@AndysAwesomeAdventures my pleasure! And like lots of topics in travel, with tipping in Egypt, there’s not a “right” or “wrong” way to do it. I give my recommendations, but I encourage folks to continue researching and to find out whatever works for them and what they feel best doing.

[@JAKETHEACCOUNTANT]

Do people use digital platforms for payment like paypal, cashapp, or venmo?

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Some people use digital methods like Flash, InstaPay, and Vodafone cash.

[@livelxy]

Where to find Egyptologist tour guides?

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

I connect travelers with guides who’ve been vetted by me and I trust. Otherwise any tour company will have guides they use, or you can find guides through recommendations if you know of anyone who’s been to Egypt.

[@johncleaver4245]

Hi Gus, thanks for the info…very much appreciated. Mate are ATM’s readily available for withdrawing cash? A group of us (six) from Australia are headed over end of Feb to late March 2025 (Ramadan) and we’ve been told different things about the availability of ATM’s….cheers.

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Hey John, ATMs are everywhere-most hotels (the international brand hotels) have one in house, banks all have one and they’re everywhere, and even in smaller cities they should be easy to find. Hope that helps! Have a great trip.

[@dontlaughtoomuch11]

DO NOT WITHDRAW FROM ATM's!!! If you have Australian currency, go to bank and you get more favorable rates! Seeing as Egypt desperately needs foreign currency, you can bypass the stupid bank fee those ATM charge and the unfavorable conversion rate... Just saying, win win. This way, you win more (and leave more small change for tipping). Sidenote you're heading to Egypt End of February? 😢 Clearly you're not going for the hot weather during those months it gets chilly.

[@johncleaver4245]

@@dontlaughtoomuch11 Mate we’ll be at the tail end of an Australian summer so will forward to the change in heat…as for ATM charges, we use a ING account when travelling which refund any fees involved when doing any card transactions ( have used it all over the world). As for exchange rates…thats the price you pay for travel and in the scheme of things its not that big of a deal…Not to mention you don’t have to carry around large amounts of Australian cash. The most interesting part is we will be there in the month of Ramadan…cheers.

[@dontlaughtoomuch11]

@@johncleaver4245 I am just trying to help you out and get you the most amount of Egyptian pounds. I find it quite bizarre John, that you're looking forward to travelling to Egypt during Ramadan? Can I ask you why, if you're not participating in the ramadan? Don't you know that people fasting get cranky and moody during Ramadan? Btw Egyptians are expecting ANOTHER currency devaluation by next year so it will be interesting to see how much you will get for your Australian dollars

[@johncleaver4245]

@@dontlaughtoomuch11 ???…obviously you’ve never experienced Ramadan in Australia…everything comes alive in the evening. Growing up in a very multicultural part of Sydney we have experienced Ramadan here so looking forward to it…but I get it, some like the generic type travel but not us. The best travel stories/ memories come from the unexpected and “sticky situations…cheers.

[@garyhenderson9303]

Important subject Gus but I cant watch a 40 minute video on tips. Having to bail after 7mins.

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

That’s ok! That’s why I put the blog post in the video description, most importantly with the quick cheat sheet you can skim in 2 minutes and get the gist of what you need to know. Did you find the blog post and cheat sheet?

[@garyhenderson9303]

@@EgyptAdventuresTravel Super thanks Gus, I did not see before but have now seen your cheat sheet which is very helpful. I enjoy your vids and would watch a video of this length on other subjects.

[@EgyptAdventuresTravel]

Glad the cheat sheet and blog post are helpful! Yes, I’d love to do more longer-form content on other topics. Stay tuned!