How baksheesh works

Tipping in Egypt

By the Explora Egipto teamUpdated: October 10, 2026

Tipping in Egypt is not a garnish on good service, it is part of how a lot of people are paid. Egyptians call it baksheesh, and it covers three fairly different things: a genuine tip for service, a small payment for a small favor, and, occasionally, a request for money for nothing at all. Knowing which one you are looking at is most of what a visitor needs.

A street market in Cairo, with fruit stalls and locals doing their shopping

Almost nobody writes this page honestly. It either gets skipped entirely or it gets reduced to a
table of amounts that stopped being accurate the year it was published. What follows is the shape of
the custom, which does not change, rather than a list of numbers, which does.

Why it works this way

In a lot of service roles in Egypt the base wage assumes tips will make up a meaningful part of
the income. That is not a scam and it is not aimed at foreigners. Egyptians tip each other, in
smaller amounts, all day long. Understanding that makes the whole thing easier to navigate, because
it stops feeling like a series of ambushes and starts looking like a normal cost of the trip.

It also means opting out entirely is not a neutral act. If you would rather not think about it at
all, tell us and we will build the tipping into what you pay us instead, so it is handled once and
you never carry it around.

A spice and perfume stall in an Egyptian market, woven baskets of dried herbs, hibiscus and nuts in the foreground and shelves of bottles and painted souvenirs behind

The single most useful piece of advice

Carry small bills, constantly, and more of them than you think. This is the
practical thing that separates a smooth trip from an awkward one. Nearly every tipping situation in
Egypt is a small one, and the usual failure is not stinginess, it is standing in front of someone
helpful holding only a large note.

Egyptian pounds in small denominations are what you want. Break large notes whenever you get the
chance, at a hotel front desk, at a shop, at any point in the day when you are not under pressure.
Keep the small notes somewhere separate from your wallet so you are not visibly sorting through your
money in public.

Restaurants and cafes

Many restaurants add a service charge to the bill, and taxes on top of that. The service charge
does not reliably reach the staff, so a further tip is customary, and something in the range of 10
to 15 percent of the bill is the usual expectation in a sit-down restaurant. In a casual cafe or for
a quick street food stop, rounding up is normal and sufficient.

Check the bill before you decide. If a service charge is already listed, you are topping up
rather than starting from zero.

A brassware stall in a Cairo bazaar, polished gold colored lamps, urns, jugs and engraved trays stacked in the foreground with shoppers passing behind

Your guide and driver

These are the two people who most shape your trip, and they are tipped at the end rather than
daily. It is normally done per group rather than per person, so a family of four does not multiply
it by four.

We deliberately do not print an amount here. Any figure we published would drift with the
currency and we would rather not have you arrive holding a number from a page written a year ago.
Ask us before you travel and we will tell you what is currently normal for the trip you have booked,
which is a question we are asked constantly and are happy to answer plainly.

Everyone else

Hotel housekeeping: left daily rather than in a lump at the end, because it is
often a different person each day.
Porters and bellhops: per bag, at the point of service.
Nile cruise crew: most boats run a shared tip box at the end of the voyage,
divided among crew you never meet as well as the ones you do. If a boat does this, use it rather
than tipping individually.
Restroom attendants: a small coin or note, and this is a real and normal
transaction, not an imposition.
Boatmen, felucca crews, stable hands: tipped directly, separately from whatever
was agreed for the ride itself.

Inside the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in Cairo, a lantern and metalware stall under a stone arch with hundreds of hanging lamps, shoppers browsing and the lit alley beyond

The other kind of baksheesh, and how to handle it

At busy monuments you will sometimes be offered something you did not ask for. Someone gestures
you past a rope, offers to take your photo, points at a detail, or opens a door that was not
obviously closed. There is an expectation of payment attached to all of it.

None of it is dangerous and very little of it is aggressive. Two things make it easy:

Decide before you accept. Once you have taken the photo or stepped past the
rope, you are paying. If you do not want the transaction, decline before it starts.
La, shukran. No, thank you. Said pleasantly, without breaking stride, it works
almost every time, and it works far better than English does.

Be wary specifically of anyone who offers to take you somewhere restricted. Climbing on or
entering parts of a monument that are closed is closed for a reason, and the person encouraging you
is not the one who carries the consequence.

Common questions

Can I tip in US dollars?

Dollars are widely accepted but Egyptian pounds are more useful to the person receiving them,
because a small foreign note can be awkward to exchange. If you do use dollars, the same rule as the
visa counter applies: crisp, recent, unmarked bills, since worn or old notes are often refused.

How much should I budget for tipping overall?

Ask us for the current guidance rather than working from a published figure. It depends on the
length of the trip, whether it includes a cruise, and how many of you are traveling, and any number
we printed here would age badly.

Is a service charge on the bill the same as a tip?

Treat them as separate. The service charge is a line on the bill and often does not reach the
staff who served you.

What if I genuinely do not want to deal with tipping?

Tell us in advance and we will fold it into your arrangements so it is settled before you arrive.
Some travelers strongly prefer this and it is a normal request.

Should I tip if the service was poor?

Reduce it rather than eliminating it, and say why if you can do so kindly. Withholding entirely
reads as a much stronger statement in Egypt than it does in the United States.

Your trip starts with a message

Ask before you go

Tipping is the question we get most often and the one competitors are quietest about. Ask us what is currently normal for your specific trip and we will give you a straight answer rather than a range copied from somewhere else. Message us on WhatsApp.

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