Currency for Egypt

Gaz23

I was just wondering what is the best currency to use for Egypt?

alanrowell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3927537
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lewroll

Egyptian pounds. Exchange in Egypt where you get around 10% more for your money.

CBU2004

Egyptian Pounds are best
Easy to work out also, around 10:1

You have option in all most all places to pay by £ Eur or EGY£
Example: Excursions was £100 or £1000 Egy

I preferred to buy with their currency, never took a single Euro when I went.

Wayne_Laura

Hi folks

Sorry for resurrecting this one, but I'm off to Sharm at the end of the month

Do you really get that much better exchange rate over there? I arrive at 8pm on a Saturday (their weekend) so I guess everywhere to exchange will be shut at that time so would need to get some anyway to tide me over

Just been doing a little googling, and the actual Exchange Rate right now is 10.81/10.82 (it's fluctuating)

The Telegraph/Moneycorp are offering 10.439 with free delivery for orders over £500 (I cant collect as I'm in Scotland)

Everything I've read in numerous threads on numerous forums (fori?) say to buy them over there, but at such a small difference between the offers and the actual XR, is it really worth it?

Thoughts please, and hopefully someone who's just come back from there to say what XR they managed to get!

Thanks in advance

bcl999

They'll all be open at the Arrivals hall at the airport. I've been a number of times and would nevre consider changing in the UK.

benjus

Never been to Egypt, but why not use a fee-free card like Metro Bank or Halifax Clarity in an ATM, as is recommended for most countries in the world?

Wayne_Laura

bcl999: Is this the one wher you walk past all the dodgy ones, and apparently it's at the end? If that's open at 8pm on a Saturday evening that's alright then, thanks

benjus: I never use credit cards, just a personal thing. I know using them wisely does your credit rating good, but I just prefer to pay with money I have

Gloomendoom

Wayne_Laura wrote: »

benjus: I never use credit cards, just a personal thing. I know using them wisely does your credit rating good, but I just prefer to pay with money I have

The Metro Bank card is a debit card. The Norwich & Peterborough BS also do a fee free debit card, or they did.

bcl999

Wayne_Laura wrote: »

bcl999: Is this the one wher you walk past all the dodgy ones, and apparently it's at the end? If that's open at 8pm on a Saturday evening that's alright then, thanks

I just saw your recent post about the exchange offer which seems quite good. The only thing is you may find you get high denomination notes. You then get the problem of them all saying they don't have change. You need to make sure youget plenty of small notes to use for "baksheesh" or it soon becomes quite expensive.

Re the exchange booths at the airport - not sure what you mean. Are you thinking about the scam where some charge over the odds for the stamps for a visa? As far as exchange rates go, I've always found I got the same rate everywhere.

Wayne_Laura

Thanks Gloomendoom. The N&P one is something to think about in the future, handy to know so thanks for the info

bcl999: Yeah that's a fair point - it'd feel a little rude to offer a 5 or 10 EGP tip if the smallest note you have is a 100...

As far as the booths, yes I think you may be right. I'm mixing up Visa booths with the exchange booth(s)? I've not been before so relying on forum posts. Are there multiple booths, ran by different banks/companies - and if so, is the XR they offer likely to vary dramatically - especially late evening on a Saturday?