The country code for Egypt is 20. The city code for Cairo is 02. When dialing an Egyptian number from abroad, drop the initial 0 from the local area code.

Egypt's telecommunications system is improving. Direct international lines are still a rarity, but call-back services are widespread. You can now rent mobile phones upon arrival from most five-star hotels, although roaming is not yet on par with the United States. European-made cellular phones work in Egypt, but U.S. models do not. Landlines are government-run and therefore very affordable.

Directory & Operator Information

There's no toll-free directory information service. If you dial 140, you can reach a very effective directory assistant if you speak fluent Arabic. With a little bit of creativity and some luck you might still be able to get the number you need in English, but English-language operators aren't available.

International Calls

International calls are most cost effective when made from the Telephone Central, the neighborhood phone offices. After 8 PM, calls are cheapest. Give the number and name of your party to the operator along with the number of minutes you would like to speak.

Another option for making international calls are the business centers around Egypt, but their fees can be 20%-30% higher that those of Telephone Central. Calls from your hotel room can cost anywhere from double to triple the fees of Telephone Central. Using international calling cards is a good idea.

The country code for the United States and Canada is 1; for Australia, 61; for New Zealand, 64; and for the United Kingdom, 44.

Long-Distance Calls

Domestic long-distance, direct calls can be made from any phone that has a working 0-line. That is, it must be equipped to dial an initial zero (the same kind of line is necessary to make calls to cellular phones). This is fairly widespread, but do not assume that it's always available. Phone cards can also be used.

Public Phones

You can make local calls from just about anywhere: kiosks, grocery stores, craft stores, coffee shops, et cetera. Most of these places charge 25p-50p per call.