Updated · 4 min read
Egypt is a year-round destination for Red Sea resorts, Cairo and the Nile. For many foreign phone plans, Egypt is outside the included roaming zone, so a few megabytes can become expensive.
Your three options
- Roaming with your home plan: convenient, often costly or limited to small add-on packs.
- Local SIM after arrival: cheap, but shop visit, passport registration and queues.
- Travel eSIM: bought online, installed by QR code, online as soon as you land.
Coverage
In resort areas on the Red Sea, in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan the mobile networks are well developed. In the desert and on some excursion routes the signal can be weaker, as with any SIM.
Download offline maps before day trips into the desert or out to sea.
How much data?
A one-week resort holiday with messaging, maps and social media usually needs 3–5 GB. Plan more for video calls and streaming.