Tipping in Egypt: The Baksheesh Culture Every Traveler Should Understand

Carry small bills — modest tips are woven into daily service culture.

Quick answer: Egypt runs on baksheesh, a custom of small, frequent cash tips that extends well past restaurants into taxis, cafes, hotels, and pretty much anyone who helps you along the way at a temple or museum. Carry a steady supply of small EGP notes, since you'll be handing them out more often, in smaller amounts, than in almost any other country on this list.

Restaurants

The word baksheesh comes up constantly in Egypt, and it basically covers the whole spectrum of small tips woven into daily life, restaurants included. At a sit-down meal, a modest tip on top of the bill is expected even if a service charge already appears on the check, since that charge frequently doesn't make it to the actual waiter. It's less about hitting a percentage and more about the general expectation that a few extra EGP notes are simply part of how the transaction works.

Cafes and bars

Ahwas, the traditional coffeehouses where men play backgammon over shisha and tiny cups of Turkish coffee, and the more Western-style cafes in Cairo and Luxor both run on the same small-cash-tip logic — leaving a bit extra when you pay is customary and genuinely expected, even if the amount itself is modest. It's one of those places where the gesture matters more than the sum.

Taxis

Taxis in Egypt are a slightly different game than most countries, because meters are unreliable or simply ignored, so agreeing on a fare before you get in is the real priority — a small rounding tip on top of that agreed price is customary once you arrive. Ride-hailing apps like Uber and Careem have made this a lot less stressful in Cairo, since the fare's locked in before the ride even starts.

Hotels

Hotel tipping in Egypt happens constantly and in small denominations — a few EGP left for housekeeping each night, and a similar few EGP per bag for a porter, adds up over a multi-day stay but each individual tip is genuinely minor. Given how many hands touch your experience at a hotel here, from the person who brings extra towels to the one who guards the elevator, keeping a stash of low-denomination notes in your room makes the whole thing painless.

Tour guides

This is where baksheesh culture is most visible: guides, drivers, and the site staff who unlock a particular tomb chamber or point out a hidden hieroglyph at Karnak or the Valley of the Kings will often expect a small tip throughout the day, not just at the end. It can feel like a lot at first if you're not used to it, but budgeting a stack of small notes specifically for this purpose before you head out for the day makes temple-hopping far less awkward.

The bottom line

Egypt's tipping culture is dense but small — baksheesh means near-constant, low-value cash tips rather than the occasional big one, so the real skill is keeping a steady supply of small EGP notes on you at all times. Once you accept that as part of the rhythm of the day, it stops feeling transactional and just becomes how things work.

Places worth visiting

Egypt's headline sights genuinely live up to the hype, and a few are worth building an entire day around.

The Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx

The last surviving wonder of the ancient world is startlingly close to Cairo's urban edge — the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure on Earth for nearly 3,800 years, and standing at its base makes the scale genuinely hard to process.

Karnak Temple, Luxor

The largest religious complex ever built, expanded on by pharaohs over roughly 2,000 years, with a hall of 134 towering columns that still leaves visitors craning their necks the same way it did 3,000 years ago.

The Valley of the Kings

Tucked into the desert hills across the Nile from Luxor, this is where Tutankhamun's tomb was found nearly intact in 1922 — dozens of tombs here still have vividly colored wall paintings that have survived thousands of years underground.

Abu Simbel

Ramses II's two colossal rock-cut temples near the Sudanese border were relocated block by block in the 1960s to save them from flooding by the Aswan Dam, and the sheer scale of the four 20-meter seated statues out front is worth the long trip south.

Planning ahead

October through April is the far more comfortable window for Egypt, since summer temperatures in Luxor and Aswan can climb well past 40°C and make midday sightseeing miserable. ATMs are common in Cairo, Luxor and major tourist areas, but pull out extra cash before heading anywhere more remote, and make a habit of breaking large notes whenever you can, since small bills are the currency of daily life here for tipping. One non-obvious thing to know: expect a fairly constant stream of offers, requests, and unofficial "guides" around major sites, and a polite, firm "la, shukran" (no, thank you) goes a long way without being rude.

FAQ

How much should I tip in Egypt?

Egypt runs on baksheesh, a culture of small, frequent cash tips, so expect to hand out modest amounts of EGP at restaurants, cafes, hotels and tourist sites throughout the day rather than one larger tip at the end.

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