Travelling around Egypt by car is not a very popular option. The bulk of tourists fly to well-known resorts such as Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh and stay there for the whole holiday. Well, perhaps someone will go to the pyramids in Cairo or go scuba diving. But we are experienced travellers, quite desperate and adventurous. “And in general, there is no country that we can’t conquer by car! We managed Jordan, so we can manage Egypt,” we thought, and rented a brand new Nissan.

  1. The first thing you should know about traffic in Egypt is that there are no rules. None at all. Not at all. None at all. On the roads, cars, animals, people, motorbikes, bicycles and carts mingle in a single ecstasy. No one gives way to anyone, no one cares about anyone. Everybody just goes about their business. You want to survive, act like it.
  2. There are no pedestrian crossings in Egypt either. We travelled almost the whole country and met only three crossings. Even if it’s a very busy motorway or federal highway – just close your eyes and run. You might get lucky. This leads to another rule – you can’t be distracted while driving. Put your phone away and concentrate only on the road – a pedestrian may appear at any moment, anywhere.
  3. Don’t rely on the police. Firstly, they are few and far between, and secondly, there is no feeling that the police want to help you. Several times we found ourselves in a situation where we couldn’t cross the road – there were policemen standing next to us, but there was no reaction from them.
  4.  But, it must be admitted that it is almost impossible to get a fine in Egypt. There are no cameras, no police. Speed ​​as much as you want. But when speeding more than the speed limit on the highway, always keep in mind that at any moment a local resident, or a camel, may run out onto the road.
  5. There are also no traffic lights in Egypt. And those that are installed and working are completely ignored by the locals. So even when driving through an intersection on a permitted green traffic signal, be careful – not all road users are as conscientious as you are.
  6. The taxis on the streets are not doing well. Most of them are very old cars that do not look favourable. In some regions of Egypt, all taxis are our native Zhiguli, which, admittedly, does not inspire confidence either. Taxi drivers drive like kamikazes, regardless of whether there is a passenger in the cabin or not. If you decide to go on an excursion by taxi, it’s better to book a transfer with a company – it’s not worth catching a car on the street.
  7. Car hire in Egypt is strange, to put it mildly. Even the most well-established companies here have, sorry to say, fallen to the bottom. We rented a car from Sixt, and it would seem that everything should have been fine, but alas. Instead of the new Nissan model we had booked, we received a very old Peugeot with a mileage of almost 70,000. Life had not spared it – it creaked and rattled, but it did drive. However, we had to wait for the car for a very long time: first the transfer didn’t come for us, then the driver took a long time to figure out what was going on. But that’s not all: it turned out that the car hire here has a mileage limit (have you ever seen such a thing?). If memory serves, we could drive no more than 175 kilometres per day. You had to pay for all the extra kilometres. We ended up paying another $180 on top because, of course, we were out of the limit.
  8. There are no car parks in Egypt either. There are signs signalling that stopping is forbidden, of course. But they, like all other rules, are ignored here. We haven’t seen any tow trucks either. Cars are dumped wherever and however they want, regardless of the region. You only have to pay for parking at tourist sites, attractions and if you enter a covered parking area of a hotel or shopping centre.
  9. This doesn’t apply to the car, but we can’t help but warn you: in Egypt, everyone and everywhere is cheated. Waiters, petrol attendants, guides, shop assistants. It feels like their only goal in life is to fool the naive traveller. Guides sell lunches at triple the price, shopkeepers overcharge, taxi drivers don’t give change, and so on. Unfortunately, the list is endless. Just be on your guard and try to keep all your belongings in plain sight.
Travelling around Egypt by rented car on your own. Traffic rules in Egypt.