Egypt
Cairo on a budget: how much to plan?
Plan €891 for 7 nights in Cairo, return flight from London included, or €379 travelling cheap. On the ground that works out at €113 per person per day in comfort, €42 travelling cheap.
- From
- €42/day
- vs. London
- 46%
- Best month
- Apr
Your trip to Cairo
Set the length, the number of travellers and the comfort level: the figures recompute here.
€891
per person, flight included
- on the ground
- €791
- flight from London
- €100
- per person per day, on the ground
- €113
In short, where the money goes
- The heaviest line
- Food48 % of the trip
- The strongest lever
- Food€210 less travelling cheap
- Seven nights on the ground
- €791excluding flights
Food
€378
Accommodation
€133
Transport
€126
Activities
€98
Extras
€56
Over seven nights, food accounts for 48 % of what you spend. The line where travelling cheap changes the bill most is food, a €210 gap. The others are worth discussing, that one decides.
Basis: 24 hotel addresses surveyed for a 15 October 2026 arrival, 8 of twelve months of airfares, surveyed on 23 September 2026. The total excludes flights, insurance, personal shopping and any lodging split between several people.
InstantTripCost estimate
Full 7-night budget breakdown
Per-person estimate including flights from London, split across the six expense categories.
per person · Comfort
| Category | Budget | Comfort | Luxury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights | €85 | €100 | €150 |
| Hotel | €35 | €133 | €420 |
| Food | €168 | €378 | €945 |
| Transport | €56 | €126 | €315 |
| Activities | €21 | €98 | €378 |
| Misc | €14 | €56 | €245 |
| 7-night total | €379 | €891 | €2453 |
Flight from London (annual median).
Unit prices
comfort
Enough to check the total yourself, line by line, at the comfort level you picked.
- €8
- Breakfast
- €15
- Lunch
- €31
- Dinner
- €6
- City ride
- €14
- Site admission
- €113
- A full day
Orders of magnitude derived from our measured ranges, not surveyed venue by venue. Prices vary by neighbourhood and season.
The three tiers
What a budget traveller, a comfort traveller and a premium traveller typically spend.
Budget
€42
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €5
- Food / day
- €24
- Transit / day
- €8
- Sights / day
- €3
- Extras / day
- €2
Comfort
€113
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €19
- Food / day
- €54
- Transit / day
- €18
- Sights / day
- €14
- Extras / day
- €8
Luxury
€329
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €60
- Food / day
- €135
- Transit / day
- €45
- Sights / day
- €54
- Extras / day
- €35
When to go, and what the month changes
Average temperatures and conditions by month in Cairo.
Mildest monthApril
Cheapest flightDecember€77
Where to sleep in Cairo
Choosing a district
Cairo's supply is oddly shaped: in the October probe, 2,059 properties came out at the upper tier, 1,490 at the budget end, and only 610 in the middle. The gap is in the middle, not at the bottom. Another quirk: in Giza, the view is the product. Most addresses recorded between €7 and €55 carry "Pyramids View" in their name, and price tracks the sightline more than the amenities. So the real choice is between sleeping facing the plateau, some thirty minutes from the museums, or sleeping on a central metro station.
Downtown - Midan Tahrir
Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum five minutes away on foot and Sadat station, one of the metro's three big interchanges. This is where the cheapest hotels in the probe sit, including one at €2 a night rated by over 450 travelers, and the best koshary counters.
Gizeh - Al-Haram
The foot of the plateau, where several properties look straight onto the site entrance. This is the densest zone for rooms with a view: a well-rated guesthouse at €7, a five-star at €16, a smart hotel at €55. The metro does not climb to the plateau, so you finish by bus or taxi from Giza station.
Gezira - Zamalek
The island in the Nile, green and quiet, home to the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art. It is the district the city reserves for good restaurants, with prices to match, but also the one central spot where you escape the permanent roar of the avenues.
Vieux Caire - Fustat
The historic south, served by metro line 1. Six Coptic sanctuaries and the Coptic Museum fit within two hundred metres, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is a kilometre away, and the Fustat archaeological site marks where the first city stood.
The hotels we measured
Accommodation picks by price range.
Imperial Pyramids View Inn
Hotel, rated excellent (9.4/10) from 100 reviews.
Pyramids New Locanda Hotel
Hotel, well rated (8.4/10) from 100 reviews.
Locanda Pyramids Hotel
Hotel, well rated (8.3/10) from 1,243 reviews.
Gaia Pyramids Hotel
guesthouse, very well rated (8.6/10) from 2,924 reviews.
Kemet Pyramids View Hotel
Hotel, very well rated (8.6/10) from 633 reviews.
Cairo Crystal Hotel
5-star, well rated (8.4/10) from 322 reviews.
No surveyed address in the budget tier reaches 7/10 on at least 100 reviews in this city. We would rather put nothing forward than push an address we would not book ourselves. The full survey is below.
All observed hotels in Cairo
24 of 24 surveyed properties shown, the cheapest in each tier. Nightly rate for a 2-night stay arriving 15 October 2026.
| Hotel | Category | Rating | From / night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safary Hotel | Budget | ★ 6.2 | €2 |
| New Safari Hostel | Budget | ★ 5.5 | €2 |
| Grand Safari Hostel | Budget | ★ 4.6 | €2 |
| kings palace | Budget | ★ 5.5 | €4 |
| Saif Pyramids Hostel | Budget | ★ 6.6 | €4 |
| Giza City Hotel-الجيزة سيتى اوتيل | Budget | ★ 6.7 | €4 |
| Bisan hostel | Budget | ★ 9.4 | €4 |
| oasis Hotel | Budget | ★ 5.5 | €4 |
| Imperial Pyramids View Inn | Mid-range | ★ 9.4 | €7 |
| Pyramids Way Inn | Mid-range | ★ 8.2 | €8 |
| Pyramids New Locanda Hotel | Mid-range | ★ 8.4 | €11 |
| Venus Pyramids-Guest House | Mid-range | ★ 8.1 | €11 |
| great moments pyramids view | Mid-range | ★ 9.3 | €12 |
| Locanda Pyramids Hotel | Mid-range | ★ 8.3 | €13 |
| Hur palace pyramids view | Mid-range | ★ 9.7 | €13 |
| Pyramids West View | Luxury | ★ 9.3 | €13 |
| La Mira Pyramids View | Mid-range | ★ 9.3 | €16 |
| Dima Plaza Pyramids View | Luxury | ★ 9.5 | €16 |
| Cairo Crystal Hotel | Luxury | ★ 8.4 | €20 |
| Withaq Pyramids Inn | Luxury | ★ 9.4 | €25 |
| Cacillion Pyramids View | Luxury | ★ 9.1 | €37 |
| Regal View Residences & Suites | Luxury | ★ 9.4 | €38 |
| Gaia Pyramids Hotel | Luxury | ★ 8.6 | €45 |
| Kemet Pyramids View Hotel | Luxury | ★ 8.6 | €55 |
What food costs in Cairo
Concrete benchmarks to set your meal budget, from the morning coffee to dinner.
Koshary is the dish that defines Cairo's food budget: macaroni, rice, lentils, chickpeas and tomato sauce in one bowl, served everywhere downtown, notably at the Koshari Tahrir counters. Along with foul, taameya and fetir, it keeps a street meal at a few dozen cents, a fraction of a €5 hostel night. The Gad chain, spread across the city, holds the same price level for hot sandwiches. One local rule is worth knowing: restaurants listed in guidebooks tend to produce an English menu at sharply inflated prices, so being recommended costs more than being stumbled upon. The real move is to aim for busy places and never an empty room. Downtown concentrates good cheap cooking, Zamalek and Mohandiseen the upper end, where a minimum charge is often added. Cafés serve tea, coffee or shisha interchangeably, and nothing obliges you to order a meal.
What getting around costs in Cairo
Transit, distances and the smart moves so you don't pay the tourist tax.
Cairo runs Africa's first and largest metro, and the fare depends not on distance but on how many stations you cross: 8 Egyptian pounds up to 9 stations, 10 for 10 to 16, 15 for 17 to 22, 20 beyond 23. Even the priciest ticket stays comfortably under 50 euro cents, about one hundredth of a €19 mid-range night. The three lines meet at Shohadaa under Ramses Square, at Sadat under Tahrir and at Attaba, which covers the centre, Dokki, Maadi and, via line 3, Heliopolis. The network is crowded and pickpocket awareness is required, but it is the only way to sidestep the traffic. Two limits to know: line 3 still does not reach the airport, and the Giza plateau is not served, so you get off at Giza station and take a bus or taxi to Al-Haram. Trains link the city to Alexandria with about thirty daily departures, but foreigners are billed in dollars, which makes it the priciest line item of an otherwise very cheap trip.
What sightseeing costs in Cairo
Recommended activities and tours.
Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (Egyptian Arabic: المتحف المصرى, romanized: al-Matḥaf al-Miṣrī, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [elˈmætħæf elˈmɑsˤɾi]) and also called the Cairo Museum or the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (EMC), is a national history museum in Cairo, Egypt. An Egyptological museum, it houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world, including over 170,000 items.
National museum
Tahrir Square
Tahrir Square (Arabic: ميدان التحرير, romanized: Maydān at-Taḥrīr, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [meˈdæːn ettæħˈɾiːɾ]; English: "Liberation Square"), also known as Martyr Square, is a public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. It was established in 1867.
Square
El-Fustat
Fusṭāṭ (Egyptian Arabic: الفسطاط, romanized: al-Fusṭāṭ) was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, nowadays part of Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general ʿAmr ibn ul-ʿĀṣ immediately after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641, and featured the Mosque of ʿAmr, the first mosque built in Egypt.
Archaeological site
Hanging Church
Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church (Coptic: ϯⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ̀ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲑⲉⲟⲇⲟⲕⲟⲥ ϯⲁ̀ⲅⲓⲁ̀ ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ̀ ϧⲉⲛⲃⲁⲃⲩⲗⲟⲛ ⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ Church of Mother of God Saint Mary in Egyptian Babylon), also known as the Hanging Church (Arabic: الكنيسة المعلقة, romanized: al-Kanīsa al-Muʿallaqa, Coptic: ⲁ̀ⲛⲁⲃⲁϯ ϧⲉⲛⲡⲓⲥⲡⲉⲗⲉⲟⲛ ϧⲉⲛⲃⲁⲃⲩⲗⲱⲛ ⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ), is one of the oldest churches in Egypt which dates to the third century. It belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
Church
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) is a large museum located in Old Cairo, a district of Cairo, Egypt. Partially opened in 2017, the museum was officially inaugurated on 3 April 2021, with the moving of 22 mummies, including 18 kings and four queens, from the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo, in an event termed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.
Museum
Coptic Museum
The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt, which contains the largest collection of Coptic Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities.
History museum
Church of St. George
The Church of St. George (Greek: Εκκλησία Αγίου Γεωργίου; Arabic: كنيسة القديس جورج, romanized: Kanīsat al-Qiddīs Jūrj) is a Greek Orthodox church within the Babylon Fortress in Coptic Cairo.
Church
Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church
Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Coptic: ϯⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ⲛⲓ⳥ ⲥⲉⲣⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲛⲉⲙ ⲃⲁⲭⲟⲥ ϧⲉⲛ ⲡⲓⲥⲡⲉⲗⲉⲱⲛ, The Church of Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus in The Cave) (Arabic: كنيسة القديسين سرجيوس و باخوس (أبو سرجة)), also known as the Abu Serga Church, is one of the oldest Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, dating back to the 7th century. Located in Old Cairo, this church is significant to Christians for its connection to the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt.
Church
Al-Azhar Park
Al-Azhar Park (Arabic: حديقة الأزهر, romanized: Ḥadīqat al-Azhar) is a public park located in qism al-Darb al-Ahmar, in Historic Cairo, Egypt. Among several honors, this park is listed as one of the world's sixty great public spaces by the Project for Public Spaces.
Park
Bab al-Futuh
Bab al-Futuh (Arabic: باب الفتوح, lit. 'Conquest Gate') is one of three remaining gates in the city wall of the old city of Cairo, Egypt. It is located at the northern end of al-Mu'izz Street.
Architectural landmark
Places referenced on Wikidata. Admission prices vary by season - check each venue's official site.
Paying less in Cairo
What moves the needle
What each decision takes off the €895 total, strongest lever first.
- − €497
Travel cheap rather than mid-range
Hostel or entry-level hotel, local canteens, public transport. Accommodation is where the gap opens up.
- − €226
Stay five nights instead of seven
Two fewer nights also removes two days of meals, transport and sightseeing.
- − €66
Travel as a pair
The room is shared, nothing else is. Travellers themselves name this as the strongest lever.
Differences computed from our own measurements, for a 7-night mid-range stay, excluding flights.
6 tips on the ground
- The mid-range room is recorded at €19, the lowest level in the whole comparator: that is what opens the gap with other capitals, not the food.
- Mid-range is the scarcest tier, with 610 properties recorded against 2,059 upper-tier: comparing the two is worth it, a five-star rated 9.5 came out at €16 in the October probe.
- A metro ticket costs 8 to 20 Egyptian pounds depending on station count: always taking the metro over a taxi saves more than any trade-off on meals.
- Avoid restaurants named in guidebooks, which bring out an English menu at inflated prices, and favour the downtown koshary counters, where a bowl stays at a few dozen cents.
- Workshops billed as "papyrus museums" sell low-value pieces for hundreds of pounds: the free demonstration is the opening move of the sales pitch.
- November to March is the only stretch where heat does not dictate the pace of sightseeing, but not every hotel is heated: pack a jumper for 8°C January evenings.
FAQ
FAQ - Cairo
- How much does a week in Cairo cost?
- For seven nights, plan roughly €294 per person on a budget (a €5 hostel bed, koshary and foul, the metro at 8 pounds a ride), and around €791 at mid-range comfort with a room near €19 a night, excluding flights. Site admissions, billed separately and far pricier than meals, are the line to budget on top.
- Is Cairo an expensive destination?
- No, it is one of the cheapest in the comparator: the cost-of-living index is 0.36 and only Bali, at 0.33, goes lower. On mid-range lodging Cairo actually leads outright at €19, ahead of every other destination tracked. As a regional benchmark, Marrakech records €47 for the same tier, two and a half times more.
- What's the best month to visit Cairo?
- November to March. July and August peak at average highs of 36.7°C and 36.5°C, which makes daytime visits to the plateau hard going, while January stays at 19°C. Rain barely enters the equation: the annual total reaches 17.9 mm spread over about four days, and from June to September almost nothing falls. The trade-off is that January gives only 10.5 hours of daylight against 14 in June, and nights drop to 8°C in buildings that are rarely heated.
- Is it better to sleep in Giza or central Cairo?
- It depends on what you came to see, and the price gap is small. In Giza, properties with a plateau view run from €7 for a well-rated guesthouse to €55 for a smart hotel, but the metro does not serve the site: you finish by bus or taxi from Giza station, and every museum day means the trip back. Downtown, around Tahrir Square, rooms start at €2 and Sadat station puts Coptic Cairo and Fustat within direct reach. The simple rule: one or two nights for the pyramids, the rest on a metro station.
At a glance
Wikidata, Wikipedia and Open-Meteo data
- Population
- 9.8M
- Area
- 528 km²
- Elevation
- 23 m
- Language
- Arabic
- Currency
- £E
- Time zone
- UTC+02:00
- Founded
- 969
- Avg. July temp.
- 29°
- Avg. Jan. temp.
- 13°
- Rainy days / year
- 4
inhabitants
Egyptian Pound
21° - 37°
8° - 19°
About
Cairo in brief
Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate. It is home to more than 9.8 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is one of the largest in the world by population with over 22 million people. Areas of what would become Cairo were inhabited from pre-dynastic and early-dynastic ancient Egypt c. 6000 years ago, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are today within the city.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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