Almost every visitor to Egypt asks the same two questions before they land: how much am I supposed to tip, and will I offend someone if I get it wrong. The honest answer is that tipping here works differently from anywhere in Europe or North America, and once you understand why, the amounts stop feeling arbitrary.
This guide gives you working numbers, the cash to carry, and the situations where you should not tip at all.
What baksheesh actually is
Baksheesh is the Arabic word you will hear constantly. It covers three different things that get confused with each other:
- A tip for service — the guide, the driver, the waiter, the cabin steward. This is the one this guide is about.
- A small payment for a small favour — someone shows you where the good photo angle is, holds a door, keeps an eye on your shoes at a mosque.
- Charity — a religiously rooted expectation that those with more give to those with less.
The reason it feels relentless is structural rather than cultural: in Egyptian tourism, tips are not a bonus on top of a decent wage. For a lot of the people you will meet, they are a substantial part of the wage. That is why the guide who spent nine hours with you is a different category from the man who points at a temple wall and holds out his hand.
The cash to bring
This is the part most people get wrong, and it causes more awkwardness than the amounts do.
- Small Egyptian pound notes are the real currency of tipping. Ten, twenty and fifty pound notes. You will use these ten to fifteen times a day and nobody will have change for a large note.
- US dollars are widely accepted and often preferred for the bigger end-of-tour tips to guides and drivers, because they hold their value. Euros are accepted too.
- Break your money early. Withdraw EGP at the airport on arrival and ask for mixed denominations, or break a large note at your first hotel. Arriving in Luxor with nothing under 200 EGP is a genuine nuisance.
One caution about small dollar bills: you will read advice both ways. Some guides tell you to bring a stack of one-dollar bills; others say handing a single dollar for real service reads as dismissive. Both are true in different situations. Use pounds for the small everyday tips and dollars only when the amount is meaningful.
Guides and drivers
These are the two tips that matter most, and the two where published advice varies the most — you will see ranges quoted from about 250 EGP a day up to 20 USD per person per day, which are not the same number at all.
The gap exists because operators quote on different bases. Some quote per group, some per person. Before you calculate anything, work out which one you are reading.
- Private guide, full day: think in terms of roughly 10–20 USD per person per day for a small private group, adjusted down for a larger party. A couple on a private tour is at the higher end; a family of six is not paying six times that.
- Group tour guide: less per head, because there are more heads. Around 5–10 USD per person for a full day is normal.
- Driver: roughly half what you give the guide. On a long transfer day — Aswan to Abu Simbel and back, say — go higher, because the day was genuinely long.
- Airport transfer only: a small fixed amount, in pounds, for handling the bags and the wait.
Give the guide and the driver separately, and give it at the end rather than daily on a multi-day tour.
Nile cruise crew
Cruises work on a different system, and it is the one place where a fixed per-night figure is genuinely standard.
Most boats run a collective tip box, contributed to at the end of the cruise and split among crew you never see — kitchen, laundry, engine room — as well as the ones you do. The usual guidance is somewhere around 5–12 USD per person per night, and your boat will normally tell you its own expectation in the cabin information.
Your Nile cruise guide and the shore-excursion drivers are separate from the crew box. So is anyone who does something individually memorable for you — the cabin steward who fixes something, the head waiter who handles a dietary requirement properly.
Hotels
- Housekeeping: leave it daily rather than in one lump at the end, because the person cleaning your room changes. Published figures range from around 20 EGP to 100 EGP a night depending on the class of hotel.
- Porter: a small amount per bag, in pounds, handed over at the room.
- Room service: a small note with the tray.
- Concierge: nothing for directions; something worthwhile if they got you a table or a ticket that was genuinely hard to get.
Restaurants and cafés
Check the bill before you add anything. Many restaurants in tourist areas already add a service charge, and it does not always reach the staff. The convention is:
- Service charge already added: round up, or leave a small note directly with the server.
- No service charge: 10–15% is standard in tourist restaurants.
- Local cafés and street food: round up to the nearest convenient note.
The small ones you will need all day
Keep a pocket of small notes separate from your wallet for these. Reaching into a wallet full of large notes changes the interaction.
- Bathroom attendant — a few pounds. Have it ready before you go in; there is often no paper otherwise.
- Site guardian — the man at a tomb who unlocks a gate, points a torch at a ceiling, or lets you into a chamber that looked closed. A small note is fine.
- Felucca captain — a modest amount for a short sail, more for a few hours.
- Camel or horse handler — small, and agree the ride price separately before you get on.
When not to tip
This matters as much as the amounts, and it is where guides usually go quiet.
- Do not tip for a photograph you did not ask for. Someone takes your camera, takes a picture, and then wants paying. You are entitled to decline.
- Do not tip for unsolicited “help” that is actually a redirection — being told a site is closed and steered towards a shop instead. It is not closed.
- Do not tip officials. Police, ticket staff and museum officials are not tipped, and offering can create a problem rather than solve one.
- Do not feel obliged to pay for being followed. A firm, polite la shukran (“no, thank you”) and continuing to walk is normal and not rude.
Why every guide you read quotes different numbers
Two reasons, and both are worth knowing before you decide we are wrong.
First, the Egyptian pound has moved a great deal in recent years. An article written in 2019 quoting pound amounts is describing a completely different sum in real terms. Always check when a tipping guide was written — and be sceptical of any that does not say.
Second, per-person and per-group figures get quoted interchangeably. A guide saying “300 EGP for the guide” and one saying “15 USD each” can be describing the same tip for a couple, or wildly different ones for a family.
Use the ranges here as a sanity check rather than a rule. Nobody is counting, and a tip given warmly at the right moment lands better than a precisely calculated one handed over at the door.
Frequently asked questions
Is tipping in Egypt compulsory?
No. It is not a legal requirement and no one can insist. In practice it is expected for genuine service, and for many people in tourism it forms a real part of their income.
Should I tip in Egyptian pounds or US dollars?
Both work. Use small Egyptian pound notes for everyday tips — bathroom attendants, porters, cafés — and US dollars or euros for the larger end-of-tour tips to guides and drivers.
How much should I tip a private tour guide in Egypt?
Roughly 10–20 USD per person per day for a small private group, lower per head for a larger party. Tip the driver separately, at about half that.
How does tipping work on a Nile cruise?
Most boats use a collective tip box shared among the whole crew, usually around 5–12 USD per person per night. Your guide and shore-excursion drivers are tipped separately.
Do I tip in restaurants if a service charge is already added?
Check the bill first. If a service charge is included, round up or hand a small note to the server directly. If not, 10–15% is standard in tourist restaurants.
What should I not tip for in Egypt?
Unrequested photographs, “help” that steers you into a shop, and anything involving police, ticket staff or museum officials. Declining politely is normal.