Hi Dcoops

Personally I would only take a minimum in LE i.e £50. Take the rest in sterling and change it there . much better exchange rate there . The majority of hotels will have facilities to do that ,many even a bank in reception or a shop outside .

If you need any more I would use an ATM.

The only exception to this is if you intend to do any diving . Prices quoted are often in euros (obviously not good at the moment) . If you dont take euros for this they will convert to LE at a rubbish exchange rate + if you pay on the credit card they again will change back to english.

Actually does anyone know how this would fair at the moment if you had to convert euros to LE whilst there . Obviously our exchange rate is poo but is it there . We normally spend at least a few hundred on diving , sometimes £1000 and would normally take as much as we can in euros with us to avoid this exchange in currencies but with the current state of the euros not sure if that would still be the best option. i need to get my head ready for this.

thanks lynwestie your a star, we arent going to do any diving just snorkelling and takeing the snorkell and flippers with us, no trips intended it is just a complete chill and relax by hte pool adn sea holiday, so if you dont mind me asking as we are going AI how much sterling would you take, as i say, only buying a few nick nacks to take back home as gifts

I think you will only need to take about 100 pounds really. If all of your food and drink is already paid for and you are only going to snorkel and swim there really isn't much to spend your money on. I suppose if you drink international brands of drinks you could spend money on those, but most folk seem to manage for a week on whatever is included in the AI. There are only so many shisha pipes you reasonably can buy as souvenirs. First time we went (family of 4) we only spent 500 pounds and we were Bed and Breakfast, so that was all our food, drink, tips and cabs, we did tend to fill up at breakfast, so only had toasties or salads for lunch, and are not big drinkers was two years ago though.

LOL Sorry didnt realise it was two weeks. You might be better off with 200 pounds then. At the end of the day if you take it mainly in Sterling and dont use it you can just bring it home without losing money on commission keep changing back and forth between currencys.

In one of our hotels they had a machine that you just fed your sterling notes in to and out came LE. No real idea if it was a competative exchange rate, but it was jolly convenient and as we were up at Ras um Sid probably cheaper than getting a cab to Namma Bay to change up at the bank.

We always go A/I dcoops and I usually take £200 for our family of 5 for any extra outside of the diving . That would include buying drinks etc on the plane . As chris says you can always bring it back with you if you take it in sterling .You may have a few extras to pay for at the coral sea resort for things like snooker tables and watersports if you use those sort of things (that is where your going isnt it ?)., ,tips, use of shisha pipes are normally an extra. Just odd and sods really but that have a habit of adding up.

lyn

The best way is to take your cash as others posted, the rate in Egypt much better, if you use your card to withdraw cash, be very careful, some machine charge extortionate fees , the funny things I found the UKcash machines in Egypt charge more than the local ones. Where I was there two weeks ago I exchanged around 8.2. I had to use my card few times and the rate was with fee 7.4 for UK cash machine, and 7.9 for the local machines.

Oh last year I exchanged to 10-11 pounds, those were the good days! When the pound was strong.

I have been reading this thread and people are talking about giving someone at the airport a pound to put the suitcases in the coach . This sounds absurd to me. Can we insist on loading them ourselves or alternatively ignore the request for a tip? (At that rate the man will be a millionaire at a very young age! So I object on principle!)

mehmeh1 wrote:

I have been reading this thread and people are talking about giving someone at the airport a pound to put the suitcases in the coach . This sounds absurd to me. Can we insist on loading them ourselves or alternatively ignore the request for a tip? (At that rate the man will be a millionaire at a very young age! So I object on principle!)

Also the walk from the terminal building is only a matter of yards, so you really dont need someone to take your case for you. Its just a money making excersise on the part of the Egyptians and leaves a bad taste if is your very first experience there.

Be warned you have 3/4 gauntlets to run at sharm airport . starting off with the porter with the roll of loo paper outside the toilet when you are bursting after that long journey (although he may of been at Taba) . This is followed by either another £1 for a trolley that you dont need for the few yards or the egyptian waiting to charge you a £1 to carry them the 10 steps outside the terminal building to your coach . Next comes the coach driver and note is completely seperate from the guy carrying your bags to said coach . Now if you are DIY and need a taxi there is another topic to carefully read . If you have any more coins left after that these will be required for the guy at the hotel that carries your cases.

Lyn - I was wary of this when I went last November but didn't experience any hassle at the airport etc. There was a sign up at the loos which said No Tips, and there was no-one waiting there with loo roll - thank goodness!

We carried our cases to the coach, the driver did not look for a tip for putting them on, and the only person I tipped was the porter at the hotel who took the cases to the room. I never saw anyone tipping at the coach in fact, and I always ignore people at airports looking to carry your case. I also don't bother with a trolley. It's not far to wheel them after all.

You need to look focused and as if you know where you are going I think! I would have felt intimidated I must say if there had been someone at the loos - I hate that!!!!

I will need to be extra careful at the airport this year since we are doing DIY - will need to (hopefully) get a taxi organised to come and pick us up - don't think I could cope with all the drivers at the door trying to get your business!

I am really glad my first experience of Egypt did not have the things some of you have experienced!

Hi memeh1 - I was at HSB in November and as Lyn says there is a bureau de change office in reception and an ATM. Any questinos on HSB just ask - I am going back again in June!

Morning all...

Only two weeks till we are off to The CSI....Its our first trip to Egypt so I hope we have chosen well!
I have to order some Curency...What denominations does the E£ come in? I wanted plenty of smaller notes for tipping! I am still confused as to what is better to take, GBP or E£ or a mix of both!

Thanks in advance
Dx

Hi you are better exchanging out there as you will get a better rate - you will have probs here getting smaller notes here.

Notes

200le
100le
50le
20le
10le
5le
1le

Some 1 le coins about and piastre notes which basically are pennies.

If you want to tip to tide you over get some $1 bills as the locals can change these in the banks where as the banks wont acceot coins.

Thanks Nana,

Would it be ok to tip in Dollars? Would this be exceptable to the locals?

Thanks again
Dx

Hi D - they wont mind $ notes because they can change them at the bank whereas they cant £1 coins. They tend to save the £1 coins up and find a tourist to change them for notes but as you can imagine this can be difficult for them because who wants be be walking about with a pocket full of £1 coins on holiday that they cant spend.

Hi folks,

New to the site but what I've read so far is fab! My question is this, living in Scotland obtaining English currency is very hit and miss, will they accept Scottish notes in Eygpt otherwise it'll need to be the ATM thing.

Happygooner
Your bank should change any notes for you. We are with the bank of scotland and they always change them no problem.
They won't accept scottish notes in Egypt.

Garry

Hello.

I have been to Sharm 8 times and speaking to the Egyptians they certainly do not like coins eg, UK sterling as they cannot change them at all, that is unless a kind British person can change a wad. This happened to us, i had a load of change about £30 to change for them.

As for $ i have only used them if i had a few left over from the USA and took them. There is no need to bring $ at all, Egyptian money is fine, exceptable as it is their own currency.

I would advise though to take little money with you, and just bring Sterling as the banks in my particular hotel had the best rate, even compared to thomas cook. We took £50 sterling with us and changed it here in the UK, we got 8LE to the £ a couple of weeks ago. In resort we got 9.35LE which is nearly £10 to the pound sterling.

There are an array of ATMs everywhere, but i tend to like to go to banks myself. If you have a credit card and need cash off it, Thomas cook can do this as long as you have your passport. Travellers checks they are not too fond of but TC will change them, but hotel banks tend to send you elsewhere to exchange them.

A word of caution, if you take UK Sterling, get them from a bank and make sure they are the new £20 notes, they put them under a screen in the shop. If they are torn, or the old style £20 note although they say they are legal, they wont change them unless they are the newer ones. This has happened to us a few times in resort. Thomas cook do tend though to take everything and anything, just a lower rate in exchange by a few pence.
If you tip waiters, bell boys etc in your hotel, please do it decreetly, if the managers see them get it, they can get instant dismissal, same with the people that 'save' sun-beds etc. We have noticed this a few times.

They do take mastercard/visa where the sign is displayed.

HTH

Michelle x

Thanks Michelle, very helpful.