By type of trip
Nile Cruises Luxor to Aswan: Routes, Boats and Prices
Classic Egypt Tours: Cairo, Luxor and Aswan Itineraries
Nile Cruise and Red Sea Holidays: Two-Week Egypt Trips
White Desert Tours from Cairo: Oases and Desert Camping
Short Breaks in Egypt: Three and Four Day Cairo Trips
Tailor-made Egypt Tours: Private Trips Built Around You
Practical
Yes, alcohol is legal in Egypt. Visitors can drink in hotels, licensed restaurants and bars, Nile cruise boats and Red Sea resorts. Outside those places it is hard to find. Drinking anywhere else, such as in the street, is illegal and can lead to arrest, according to UK government travel advice (checked October 2026). This page covers where to drink, what to order and what Egyptians make of it. It also covers cruise bar bills and how much you can bring in.
Visitors can drink in four kinds of place. Hotels serve alcohol in their bars and restaurants. Licensed restaurants and bars in the tourist areas serve it too. Nile cruise boats sell it on board. So do the Red Sea resorts.
Ordinary shops, street cafes and the local coffee houses do not sell it. A small number of licensed shops sell beer and wine. For most visitors, the hotel or the boat is simply the easiest place to have a drink.
Plan your evenings around that. A meal at a local restaurant in Cairo, Luxor or Aswan usually comes with tea, fresh juice or a soft drink. Enjoy it for what it is, and keep the beer for later at the hotel. Our Egyptian food page covers what to drink instead.
El Gouna on the Red Sea is the exception. Alcohol is served openly across the town, in hotels, the marina and Downtown. If an easy drink at the end of the day matters to you, that is the place for it.
Egypt brews its own beer and makes its own wine. Local beer is the cheap default, and over a week the saving on imported drink is substantial.
Imported drink costs much more. Egypt puts heavy duty on it, so imported wine or spirits cost roughly what they would at home.
Be honest with yourself about what matters. If a good bottle of wine with dinner is part of your idea of a holiday, budget for it. Imported wine is where a drinks bill in Egypt grows fastest.
Some do, and many do not. Egypt is a majority Muslim country with a significant Coptic Christian minority. Islam forbids alcohol, and drinking plays no part in public life for most Egyptians.
Egyptians who drink usually do so at home, or in the same licensed places visitors use. The country has its own beer and wine industry, so there is a home market as well as a tourist one.
This shapes a few small courtesies. Your guide and driver may well not drink. Do not press a drink on anyone, and take a refusal at face value.
None of this makes drinking awkward for visitors. People who work in tourism are used to it. A beer with dinner on a boat or at a hotel draws no comment.
UK government travel advice says drinking is legal in licensed restaurants and bars, private homes and certain tourist resorts. Anywhere else it is illegal and can lead to arrest (checked October 2026). Driving after drinking is a serious offence that can bring a fine and imprisonment. For current advice, read the UK FCDO Egypt page at gov.uk and the US State Department Egypt page at travel.state.gov.
Keep drinking to the places built for it: hotels, boats, licensed restaurants and resorts. Do not walk the street with a can or bottle. Do not carry drink into a monument, a mosque or a church.
Public drunkenness is badly received everywhere in Egypt. Egypt is relaxed about drink in the right settings and much less so elsewhere. A loud group spilling out of a hotel bar into a quiet street is the classic mistake.
Dress for the street on the way back. A hotel bar is informal, but the walk through town is a public street. The usual standard of covered shoulders and knees still applies. Our guide on what to wear in Egypt has the detail.
Heat is the practical point people forget. A long day at Karnak or the Valley of the Kings dehydrates you, and alcohol adds to it. Drink bottled water through the day, because tap water is not for drinking.
Meals on a Nile cruise are full board. Drinks are usually extra, and that includes bottled water, soft drinks, beer and wine. On-board prices are well above what you would pay ashore.
Imported wine on board carries the same heavy duty as anywhere else in Egypt.
Every Memphis Tours cruise we sell uses one of three boats: the MS Radamis II, the Movenpick Royal Lily or the Sonesta St. George. We do not hold a drinks policy for any of them. Ask Memphis Tours what is included on your boat before you book, and get the answer in writing.
The shortest cruise is the four-day Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor, from US$840 per person. The five-day Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan starts at US$1,095. Both are land only, with full board on the boat. Memphis Tours lists extra meals and beverages as not included on both.
Still deciding whether the river suits you? Our page on whether a Nile cruise is worth it covers the boats, the food and the bill.
The Red Sea resorts are the easiest places in Egypt to drink. Hotels in Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh and El Gouna serve alcohol. Most hotels in Hurghada and Sharm also sell all-inclusive packages.
All-inclusive covers a wide range. Which drinks it includes, and whether imported brands are part of it, varies by hotel. Check the drinks list before you book, and treat an open bar as something to confirm.
Memphis Tours adds the Red Sea to several trips. The 8-day Cairo, Luxor and the Red Sea, from US$2,040 per person, includes two nights in Hurghada before you fly back to Cairo. The 10-day Nile Cruise and Hurghada, from US$2,310, gives you three.
The operator describes the Hurghada board on these trips as soft all-inclusive, with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Exactly which drinks that covers varies by hotel. Confirm it with Memphis Tours when you book.
Alcohol becomes harder to find during Ramadan, though hotels, cruise boats and licensed restaurants still serve it. Our Ramadan in Egypt page covers what else changes for travellers.
The Egyptian Customs Authority sets the allowance for tourists (customs.gov.eg, checked October 2026). You may bring one litre of spirits into Egypt duty free in your luggage, along with 200 cigarettes.
You can buy more at the duty-free shops within 48 hours of arriving. Those purchases are capped at US$200, with no more than three litres of spirits. You pay 1% of the customs duty on the first two litres and 25% on the third. The minimum charge is US$13 a litre. One litre can be swapped for a carton of beer.
Two conditions apply. The passport holder must be there in person. The duty-free allowance applies to up to four arrivals a year.
Egypt Duty Free Shops states on its own website that it serves tourists within 48 hours of arrival (checked October 2026). Allowances change. If you plan to bring in more than a bottle, check the customs page again before you fly.
Yes, in the right places. Visitors can drink in hotels, licensed restaurants and bars, Nile cruise boats and Red Sea resorts. UK government travel advice says drinking anywhere else, such as in the street, is illegal and can lead to arrest (checked October 2026). It is hard to find outside those places anyway.
Yes, in licensed places. Your hotel or cruise boat is the easiest option. Local beer is the cheap choice. Imported drink carries heavy duty, so it costs roughly what it would at home.
Some do, and many do not. Egypt is majority Muslim, and Islam forbids alcohol, so drinking plays no part in public life for most people. Egyptians who drink tend to do so at home or in licensed places. Do not press a drink on your guide or driver.
Ordinary shops and street kiosks do not sell it. A small number of licensed shops sell beer and wine. On arrival you can also buy spirits at the duty-free shops within 48 hours, within the customs allowance.
No. UK government travel advice says drinking is legal only in licensed restaurants, bars, private homes and certain tourist resorts. Anywhere else it is illegal and can lead to arrest (checked October 2026). Getting drunk in public also goes down badly, tourist towns included.
Usually not. Meals are full board, but bottled water, soft drinks, beer and wine are normally extra, at prices well above what you would pay ashore. Memphis Tours lists extra beverages as not included. Ask what is included on your boat before you book, and get it in writing.
One litre of spirits duty free in your luggage, according to the Egyptian Customs Authority (checked October 2026). Within 48 hours of arrival you can also buy up to three litres of spirits at the duty-free shops, inside a US$200 limit. You pay 1% of the duty on the first two litres and 25% on the third, with a US$13 minimum a litre. This applies to up to four arrivals a year. One litre can be swapped for a carton of beer.
Yes, in hotels, cruise boats and licensed restaurants, though it is harder to find during the month. Avoid drinking where people who are fasting can see you. Our Ramadan in Egypt page has the rest.
Yes, in hotels, licensed restaurants, cruise boats and resorts, which is where the holiday dinners happen anyway. The usual rules still apply on New Year's Eve: drink in those settings and keep it off the street.
Yes, in licensed places. Your hotel, cruise boat or resort bar is the easiest option. UK government travel advice says drinking outside licensed places, private homes and certain tourist resorts is illegal (checked October 2026). Drink plenty of bottled water in the heat, since alcohol dehydrates you and tap water is not for drinking.
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
Written and checked by the Nile Trip Guide editorial team · Last reviewed . Entry rules, prices and opening hours change — check anything critical against the official sources linked on this page.
Plan this trip
A real itinerary with real prices, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged until you say yes.
8 days · Classic Egypt
The route most people take first, at the length it was built for: Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then a flight to Luxor and four nights sailing down to Aswan.
from US$2,135 / per person
8 days · Nile & Red Sea
No boat on this one. Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, a night in Luxor for both banks, two nights on the Red Sea, then back to Cairo for the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Royal Mummies.
from US$2,040 / per person
10 days · Classic Egypt
Five nights in Cairo either side of a four-night sail from Luxor to Aswan. The Cairo days are private, just your party and a guide; the sightseeing off the boat is shared with a small group.
from US$2,635 / per person
