money in egypt
 

I am going to egypt over xmas and wonder about how easy it is to get local money at bank machines. should I be travelling with american dollars for everything, will I be able to use my credit card most places, and can I rely of getting local currency easily at bank machines? are there lots of bank machines around? we will be in cairo, nile cruise luxor to aswan, and sharm.

thanks!

I've never used bank machines, rather the hotel's exchange desk. The rate is set by the government so no difference whether ATM (bank machines) or hotels.

We used both local currency for small daily expenses and sourvenirs; credit cards for larger purchases and few meals that weren't included and also on the Nile cruise boat. But many small shops didn't accept credit cards.

Wait to see what other responders who visited Egypt experienced.

what did you exchange at the bank? dollars? travellers cheques?

We had no problem getting local currency from ATM machines in Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Sharm El Sheikh.

I used the ATM's in Egypt with no trouble, however sandi is correct that rates are fixed so you can exchange most anywhere for the same rate. I did exchange US cash at the hotel once. I never found a hotel that cashes traveler's checks but that can be done at a bank, ONLY if you have your passport with you.

We used ATMs the whole time we were there. The one "advantage" of using a bank or hotel to exchange is that you can request a portion of your money in smaller denominations. Those 1LE and 5LE notes are very handy for tips.

Those cash exchange windows at major hotels were something to behold. At least when we visited, they were all operated by some Emirates/Dubai company... not sure if it's still that way. And, they had currencies from all over the world... amazing (like the back room at a Vegas casino :) )

USD, GBP, Euro were all accepted. As to Travelers Checks... nowadays only good in case of emergency; most places don't accept or there's too much paperwork/documents to convert.

I read somewhere that you shouldn't accept notes that are ripped as vendors and banks won't accept them.

MissGreen - for a tourist, I would definitely advise against accepting badly torn currency. But keep in mind, MOST of the Egyptian currency you'll see if pretty badly worn! I used to use tape on the torn bills and save any good/new bills to put in my kids' scrapbooks!