Egypt
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On the Internet, you can often find the opinion that tourists do not need to know about Egyptian pounds, and that, most likely, you will not even hold this money in your hands during your vacation, since all calculations can be carried out in dollars or euros. This is true, but only partially. In fact, you should not immediately refuse to exchange dollars or euros for Egyptian pounds, and that's why:
To begin with, we'll tell you a "secret" that the writers of some blogs and travel sites probably don't know about: Egyptian pounds will be very useful to you on vacation in Egypt and will be almost mandatory for use during an independent trip around the country. The fact is that not everywhere in Egypt will accept foreign currency as payment, and in some cases the calculation in pounds will simply be more profitable.
Just do not forget that the Egyptian pound is a rather weak currency, which is constantly getting cheaper relative to world currencies. Therefore, it makes no sense to change a large amount and leave it for your subsequent trips. It is better to exchange small amounts as needed, and at the end of the trip spend all the pounds. Learn more about how and where it is profitable to change the currency in Egypt, tell here.
So, even in tourist areas in the popular resorts of Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh and others, many large shops and supermarkets accept only pounds for payment. Of course, the "experts" of Egypt may object here and say that it is always possible to negotiate privately with the seller and pay for the purchase at an acceptable rate. But I would like to see how you will do it at the checkout in the supermarket, when there is a huge queue behind you, and there are queues in supermarkets.
Another case where you can not do without pounds is transport, with the exception of trains. Everywhere in public transport, payment is made in pounds, including on bus routes and in taxis at the resort. Of course, a taxi or minibus driver will be happy to accept currency from you, but are you ready to pay, for example, for a minibus fare instead of 5 pounds 1 dollar, which is almost six times more?
Another place where the calculation in pounds will be beneficial is pharmacies. Egyptian medicines are very popular with tourists from all over the world, as they are considered very high-quality and cheap. At the same time, prices for medicines manufactured inside Egypt are fixed and indicated directly on the package. Of course, the sellers in the pharmacy are ready to sell everything for dollars, but they take advantage of the ignorance of prices and current rates by tourists in their favor. For example, in our personal experience, they tried to sell us a medicine worth 20 pounds for 1 dollar, while the exchange rate at that moment was about 25 pounds per dollar.
If you are a lover of sights, then you can't do without pounds either. All entrance tickets to museums and attractions are paid strictly in pounds, however, with a few exceptions: if you are going on an excursion with a group, the entrance fee is usually already included in its price, all calculations for tickets will be made by the guide accompanying you.
It is possible to pay profitably in pounds both in the markets and in souvenir shops. For example, prices for traditional magnets are rounded up to one dollar, and in local currency they are ready to pay for 15-20, which, of course, is more profitable.
A separate story with the euro currency. Specifically, we know from our own experience that buying an excursion at a travel agency on the street turned out to be significantly more profitable after exchanging euros for pounds than directly for euros. For some reason, in this case, it was not possible to bargain with the seller of the excursion for an acceptable euro conversion rate, he categorically refused to recognize the official one and underestimated it by almost 30%!!!
So, summing up, we repeat once again: our opinion is that it is not necessary to unequivocally and categorically refuse to exchange currency for Egyptian pounds. You can safely change even the minimum amount, let it be at least 5-10 dollars or euros, in order to feel calm and not overpay when making payments at the checkout in supermarkets and large stores, in transport and taxis. And in the end, it's impossible not to leave a few Egyptian coins and bills for your collection as a souvenir.