We are getting ready for our Spring Break trip to Egypt and wondering about currency for tips. We have found in previous trips that having small bills for tipping is very important and in some parts of the world US dollars are almost preferred whereas other places want their own currency. Any advice on Egypt?

You should tip in Egyptian pounds. Do you realize how hard it is in foreign countries for people who don't have access to bank accounts to change small foreign money?
I work for the airlines and have NEVER found that foreigners want our US currency for tips-I am constantly ask to change the small US money that people get for their currency overseas.
Having just got back from Egypt in January-try to get the Egyptian pounds or coins. They will be very grateful!

duty free is right about trying to tip in EGP if possible. What ever you do - DO NOT tip in coins other than Egyptian coins. They are completely non exchangeable for the average Egyptian.

On the same token, for all those touts out at the pyramids saying "one Euro...one Euro" for what ever they are selling - be sure to give them a one Euro coin. If he is selling something for one Euro - he is probably charging 2 or 3 times what it is worth in EGP, and I think he should have to work hard to change that money into something he can spend. HA!

You are so wise to ask this question. And if you can find any solution to the difficulty of getting a lot of small bills, do so. Trying to find small bills in Egyptian currency was a constant headache on our trip, even when using the money exchange services in upscale hotels. There is a shortage of Egyptian currency in the country--my daughter who lived there for a year said it was a daily struggle to maintain enough small bills and change.

Although handing out US dollars would actually have been overpaying many times, I would have been happy to have done so. I slightly disagree with Dutyfree's "never" statement about people in other countries not wanting US dollars. We were certainly encouraged to do so by waitstaff during our travels in Mexico.

However, I, too, was under the impression that one didn't tip in US dollars in Egypt, and I so wish I could have. There were times I was reluctant to tip just because I didn't have anything close to the small bills or coins needed on hand, and that reluctance isn't fair when one realizes how awfully poor most people in the country are.

I agree that tipping in local currency is best. But if you have absolutely no small change and it comes down to using US$ or no tip at all then do go ahead and use US$. I don't like to do this but I will do it as a last resort. As CC says, never tip with US coins, they are worthless outside of our country.

It was no small task but I found a bank that was open so I traded my larger bills for small change. If you happen to come across a bank during working hours be sure to seize the opportunity to get change.

are $5's hard to come by too? or just $1

Another way to get change is to hit the little kiosks or markets and buy a soda or bottle or water or gum or something. I wouldn't try paying with a 50LE note, but if you've got 10LE or 20 LE notes you want to break up - it's generally a good option.

Yep,$5s can be hard to come by, too. And what Grxx3 recommended (buying water or soda just for the change) is what we had to do continually in order to have enough small bills on hand. I never buy candy, but we found ourselves buying candy packets at intervals because the pricing was the best for our needed tipping change near Abu Simbel. As I said, it actually became a mental burden to forecast how much tipping opportunities we would encounter each day.

And P_M was right--as soon as you see an open bank, dash in. ATMs were available all over the place, but they shoot out large bills.

I used the ATM at my hotel in Cairo and then went into the little bank right next to it (still in the hotel) and asked if they would exchange the larger bills into small bills. They were happy to do it and it was a lot easier than trying to use big bills.

Thanks everyone! We will definitely get Egyptian money for tips. We have done the buying water to get small bills in Thailand. And I definitely agree about the coins. It seems to be a no-brainer to me: how many places in the US will let you use foreign coins? I would venture to say none (except sometimes in Maine where the Canadian border is close, but even that is not so much the case anymore).

FYI - there are at least two places we have found where people do not want the local currency and prefer US dollars. One was Zimbabwe where they wouldn't even let us change our money (and we wanted to get some local coins for souvenirs - virtually impossible) and the other was Cambodia where we were able to change our money at the airport but then discovered that they tend to use US dollars by preference and sort of loked at us strangely when we tried to use Cambodian dollars.

I agree it seems like a no-brainer that coins are not changeable, but you would be surprised at how many times I've stopped people from dropping US coins into a tip jar at a public restroom overseas.

Conversely, when I worked as a foreign exchange teller here in the US, people would often come in and try to exchange foreign coins for US$. They were usually shocked and upset we could not exchange those, but the fact is that generally speaking, coins are worthless outside of the home country.

Here is a useful tip for anyone traveling in small groups. I wouldn't attempt to walk into a bathroom with 30 other women and try this as the bathroom gal is going to be busy as it is with a lot of ladies coming in at once, but here it is -
Learn the words - Fi Fak-ha? That means, do you have change? Bathroom ladies are very happy to get rid of all the small bills and coins they collect in a day and trade 10 coins for a 10 pound note, or more. You may end up with some really nasty one pound notes (don't complain - you can give them to the next bathroom lady) but you can often get change this way. Do NOT expect her to understand the English "do you have change" though by any means.

Good luck. I hope it works for you.