What to do and where to go upon arrival at the airport in Egypt?

The arrival system at Egyptian airports is quite simple. Now we will tell you step by step what to do and where to go if you are arriving on a package tour:

1. After landing and disembarking from the plane, follow the Arrival signs or simply go where everyone else is going. It's impossible to get lost here; you will end up where you need to be, and you won't be allowed to go the wrong way.

2. At Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada airports, the first thing you will encounter are the tour operator counters with meet-and-greet guides. These counters usually have a queue forming immediately, so you need to find your queue by the name of your operator and join it.

3. When it's your turn, you need to show your tour documents at the counter (this is the voucher provided by the travel agent or printed by yourself when purchasing the tour online). Here, the meet-and-greet guides from the tour operator should theoretically check your documents and provide instructions regarding the transfer to the hotel (where the bus or private transfer is waiting, the bus number), as well as advise you on what to do and where to go next if necessary. In practice, however, they often try to "scam" you by offering to fill out the migration card for a couple of dollars and sell you a visa for a few dollars more than it costs. You can refuse this!!!

4. If you refuse the paid services of the meet-and-greet guides, after receiving the transfer instructions, proceed further and look for bank and/or exchange office windows. There you can buy a visa at the official price of $25. If they ask for more, it means you've ended up in the wrong place again; look for another window or counter. There, you hand over $25 and your passport, and they will immediately issue and affix a visa sticker into your passport.

   By the way! If you are arriving in Sharm El-Sheikh for up to 15 days, you don't need to buy a visa; you can get a Sinai stamp!!! What is the Sinai stamp and who is eligible for it, we explain here

5. Also, if you refused to pay the guide for filling out the migration card, you need to find the forms and fill it out yourself. You need a pen; there are none here! If you can't find the forms (sometimes guides collect them all so that tourists cannot find and fill them out themselves), then feel free to approach the passport control window without queuing and ask for a form; they have them there. The migration card takes a couple of minutes to fill out; it's very simple and there are samples, including in Russian. It requires your passport details, flight number, etc. Everyone must fill out a migration card regardless of whether they obtain a visa; it is not directly related to the visa.

6. Once you have your passport with the visa sticker affixed and the completed migration card, proceed to passport control for border guards; there is usually a queue there as well. You need to hand over your passport, completed migration card, boarding pass, and they may also ask to see your tour or hotel voucher. Make sure the border guard stamps your passport with the arrival stamps; otherwise, you may have problems later. There are rare cases where they forget to do this, and then you have to resolve the issue on the spot with guides or pay a fine upon departure.

7. After passing passport control, you will enter the baggage claim area with the baggage carousels. Here, look for the carousel for your flight and wait for your suitcases, or check if they have already been taken off and placed on the floor nearby.

8. With your luggage, proceed to customs. Usually, all tourists pass through customs without inspection, but occasionally they may randomly inspect your luggage and carry-on if you seem suspicious.

9. After passing customs, you enter the arrivals hall. If you complete the previous steps quickly, you can stop in the arrivals hall to buy a local SIM card.

10. Then head straight to the parking lot and look for your bus by number; there will also be a guide or driver waiting for you, who will check your documents and confirm the bus.

11. After that, the bus will take you to your hotel, but sometimes you may have to wait for other tourists.

12. When you arrive at the hotel, simply go to the reception desk with your documents and check into your room.

Addition! Sometimes at step #2, the meet-and-greet guides only give general instructions about the transfer and actually just try to sell you visas at inflated prices and fill out the migration card for money. If they didn't tell you the bus number here, then after passing customs and entering the arrivals hall at step #9, look for another meet-and-greet guide with a sign bearing the name of your tour operator; they will direct you to the correct bus.

And just in case, read about what else you need to know about visas and entry to Egypt here.

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