Money questions come up constantly when planning a trip to Egypt, and a Nile cruise adds its own layer to the picture: tipping onboard, cash for excursions, and knowing what is already included in your fare. This guide covers currency, card acceptance, ATMs, budgeting, and the tipping customs that catch most first-time visitors off guard.
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Egypt’s Currency: The Egyptian Pound
Egypt’s official currency is the Egyptian pound, abbreviated EGP and often written as LE (from the French Livre Egyptienne) on price tags and menus. The exchange rate against the US dollar and euro has moved significantly in recent years, so rather than quoting a specific rate here that will quickly go stale, check a currency converter shortly before you travel. In practical terms, day-to-day costs in Egypt such as bottled water, snacks, tips, and souvenirs tend to be considerably lower than in Europe or North America, which is one of the reasons Egypt remains an accessible long-haul destination.
Cash, Cards, and ATMs
Cruise ships, larger hotels, and souvenir shops in tourist areas generally accept major credit cards, though a small surcharge is sometimes added. That said, Egypt still runs substantially on cash, particularly for tipping, small purchases at local markets, taxis, and rural stops. ATMs are widely available in Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan, dispensing Egyptian pounds, and most accept international cards, though it is worth carrying a backup card in case one is rejected. Many travelers also bring a modest amount of US dollars or euros in small denominations, since these are widely accepted for tips and are easy to exchange if needed, though your day-to-day spending is usually smoother in local currency.
Avoid exchanging money at airport kiosks if possible, as rates there are typically the least favorable. Banks and official exchange bureaus in the city center generally offer better rates, and your cruise ship’s front desk can sometimes exchange smaller amounts too.
Tipping on a Nile Cruise: The Baksheesh Culture
Tipping, known locally as baksheesh, is a deeply embedded part of Egyptian hospitality and service culture, and it is expected in far more situations than travelers from many other countries are used to. On a Nile cruise, the main tipping categories are the ship’s crew (often collected as a single pooled amount at the end of the cruise, covering cabin stewards, waitstaff, and general crew), your Egyptologist guide, and your driver if private transfers are included. Many cruise operators publish suggested tipping guidelines in your welcome pack or on their website, and following those figures per person per day for crew, plus a separate amount for your guide, is a reasonable approach.
Beyond the main categories, smaller tips are customary for a range of everyday interactions: porters who handle your luggage, staff at temple sites who point out a good photo angle or unlock a normally closed chamber, restroom attendants, and felucca or motorboat operators on short local rides. Keeping a stock of small bills in local currency set aside specifically for these moments makes the whole trip smoother, since fumbling for change or needing to break a large note is a common frustration.
What’s Usually Included in Your Cruise Fare
Most Nile cruise packages include full board accommodation, meals onboard, and a set itinerary of shore excursions with an Egyptologist guide. What is typically NOT included is alcohol and some soft drinks onboard (though this varies by ship and package), entrance fees to certain optional add-on sites such as the Sound and Light Show at Karnak, spa treatments, laundry service, and of course tips. Always check your specific booking’s inclusions carefully, since this varies meaningfully between the standard, deluxe, and luxury categories, and confirming it in advance avoids surprises when the onboard bill arrives on the final evening.
Budgeting for Shopping and Extras
Between temple visits, you will likely pass through markets and shops selling papyrus paintings, alabaster carvings, spices, cotton textiles, and jewelry. Haggling is a normal and expected part of shopping in these settings, and starting at roughly a third to half of the initial asking price is a common approach before meeting somewhere in the middle. Fixed-price government-run shops, sometimes included on excursion itineraries, are the exception, where prices are generally not negotiable but quality and authenticity are more reliably guaranteed.
A Simple Daily Budgeting Approach
Rather than trying to plan an exact figure months in advance, a practical approach is to bring a mix of your main tipping allowance calculated from your cruise operator’s guidelines, a moderate cash buffer in local currency for daily incidentals such as drinks, snacks, and small tips, and a card as backup for larger purchases. Setting aside a specific tipping envelope before you fly, separate from your general spending money, is one of the simplest ways to make sure you are not caught short on the last morning of the cruise when several tips typically come due at once.
Planning the Rest of Your Trip
Once your budget is sorted, the next planning steps are usually choosing your cruise category and itinerary. Our guide to Nile cruise costs in 2026 breaks down pricing by cruise class, and our first-time Nile cruise guide covers the wider logistics of putting a trip together.
How Much Cash to Actually Bring
The most common budgeting mistake is arriving with too few small denomination notes. Egypt runs on small cash transactions in a way that surprises visitors from card-dominant countries, and the problem is rarely having enough money overall, but rather having it in usable denominations. A large note is of limited use when you need to tip a porter or buy a bottle of water from a kiosk.
A practical approach is to withdraw a moderate amount in Egyptian pounds on arrival, then deliberately break larger notes at hotels, restaurants or the ship’s front desk to build a working stock of small bills. Many experienced travellers keep two separate stashes: a tipping fold of small notes in an accessible pocket, and the rest of their cash secured separately. It sounds fussy but it removes a daily friction point.
Using ATMs in Egypt
ATMs are widespread in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, and most accept international Visa and Mastercard. A few practical points worth knowing.
Machines attached to bank branches are generally more reliable than standalone units in shopping areas, and if a card is retained by a machine, being at a branch during opening hours makes recovery far easier. Withdrawal limits per transaction are often lower than travellers expect, so you may need two withdrawals to get a useful amount, each attracting its own fee.
When the machine offers to convert the transaction into your home currency, decline and choose to be charged in Egyptian pounds. Dynamic currency conversion at the ATM almost always uses a worse exchange rate than your own bank would apply. Tell your bank you are travelling before you leave, since a first foreign withdrawal can trigger a fraud block that is tedious to resolve from abroad.
Once your cruise begins, ATM access depends on where the ship is moored and how much free time you have ashore. Withdrawing what you need in Cairo or on your first day in Luxor or Aswan is easier than hunting for a machine between temple visits.
Understanding Baksheesh Without Overthinking It
Baksheesh covers a wider range of situations than tipping does in Europe or North America, and this is the single biggest cultural adjustment most visitors make. It is not only a reward for good service in a restaurant. It also functions as a small payment for minor assistance, and as a customary gesture in situations where no formal service has been rendered at all.
Travellers sometimes find this uncomfortable at first, particularly when someone offers unsolicited help such as pointing out a photo angle or opening a gate. The useful reframe is that tourism supports a very large number of livelihoods in Luxor and Aswan, and these small exchanges are a normal part of how that economy works rather than something aimed at you personally.
It is entirely acceptable to decline. A polite but firm refusal while continuing to walk resolves most situations without offence. What causes friction is hesitating, engaging at length, and then declining, which reads as indecision rather than a clear no.
Who to Tip on a Nile Cruise
On a typical cruise, tipping falls into three distinct groups, and treating them separately makes budgeting much clearer.
The ship’s crew is usually handled as a pooled amount collected toward the end of the cruise, distributed among cabin stewards, waiting staff, kitchen crew and deck hands. Most operators publish a suggested per person per day figure in your welcome documentation, and following that guidance is entirely reasonable. Some ships provide an envelope for this purpose on the final evening.
Your Egyptologist guide is tipped separately and directly, usually at the end of your time together rather than daily. Guides in Egypt are highly qualified, often holding degrees in Egyptology or archaeology, and a good guide transforms the experience of a temple visit from looking at old stone into understanding what you are seeing.
Drivers and local assistance covers airport transfer drivers, the felucca operator on an afternoon sail, porters who carry luggage aboard, and site staff. These are smaller individual amounts handled as they arise, which is why keeping small notes accessible matters.
Haggling: How It Actually Works
In markets and tourist bazaars, the first price quoted is an opening position rather than a fixed value, and negotiating is expected rather than rude. The mechanics are simple once you accept that the process is social as much as commercial.
Decide before you start what the item is worth to you, and be willing to walk away at that number. Open somewhere below what you are prepared to pay, expect to meet in the middle, and keep the tone friendly throughout. Walking away is a legitimate move rather than an insult, and being called back with a better offer is a normal part of the exchange.
Fixed price shops, including government-run craft centres sometimes included on excursion itineraries, work differently. Prices there are not negotiable, but quality and authenticity are more reliably assured, which matters for items like alabaster, papyrus and silver where imitations are common.
One practical note on papyrus: genuine papyrus is made from the papyrus reed and is flexible and durable, while cheaper imitations are made from banana leaf and become brittle over time. If you want the real thing, buy from a reputable shop rather than a street seller.
Cards, Contactless and Where They Work
Card acceptance has improved considerably in recent years. Hotels, cruise ships, larger restaurants and established shops in tourist areas generally take Visa and Mastercard, sometimes with a small surcharge. American Express is accepted far less widely.
Where cards do not work reliably is exactly where you will spend day to day: market stalls, taxis, small cafes, site kiosks and anywhere involving a tip. Treat your card as the tool for larger planned purchases and cash as the tool for daily life, and you will not be caught out.
A Sample Daily Cash Plan
Rather than a single total, it helps to think in categories, since this is how the spending actually occurs across a cruise day.
- Daily incidentals: bottled water, coffee ashore, a snack between excursions
- Small tips: porters, site assistance, restroom attendants, felucca crew
- Optional extras: Sound and Light Show tickets, interior tomb tickets, camel or carriage rides
- Shopping: highly variable and entirely discretionary
- End of cruise tipping: crew pool and guide, set aside separately at the start
The single most useful habit is separating the end of cruise tipping money from your general spending on day one. Tips for crew and guide all fall due within the same twenty four hours at the end of the trip, and travellers who have been dipping into that money throughout the week are the ones scrambling for an ATM on the final morning.
Currency at Departure
Egyptian pounds are difficult to exchange outside Egypt and you will get a poor rate if you try. Spend down your remaining cash before departure, whether on last souvenirs, airport purchases, or as an additional tip to someone who has looked after you well. Keeping a small note or two as a souvenir is fine, but there is little value in carrying home a significant sum.
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