Egypt temperature by month, city by city, and what each number means for your day at the temples

Egypt is three climates wearing one passport

A single national forecast is useless here. Cairo, at the top of the Nile valley, gets a faint Mediterranean influence and the humidity of the Delta, so it is the most moderate of the big stops. Luxor and Aswan, four and five hundred miles upriver, sit in open desert far from any large body of water, and that is where you spend the most consecutive hours outdoors.

The Red Sea coast, meaning Hurghada, El Gouna, Sahl Hasheesh, Marsa Alam and with little difference Sharm el Sheikh, has softer extremes: warmer winter nights, a summer sea breeze, and the water itself as a place to hide from the afternoon. Alexandria, on the Mediterranean, is cooler than Cairo all year, has the only real winter rain in the country, and carries enough humidity to make an 86 °F August afternoon feel heavier than the same reading in Aswan.

And remember that every high is measured in the shade. On pale limestone at noon, your body feels considerably more.

Egypt temperature by month: the table

Top line of each cell is the typical daytime high, bottom line the typical night low, Fahrenheit first and Celsius in brackets. They are rounded ranges from many years of readings, not a forecast: one year sits at the bottom, another overshoots for a week, especially in the south. The Luxor and Aswan column also covers Abu Simbel and the cruise. The Hurghada column works for the whole Red Sea coast.

Three things jump out. The Cairo to Luxor gap is 8 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit most of the year and widens in spring, when Cairo can sit at 82 °F while Luxor is already past 97 °F. Winter night lows in the south are far colder than people pack for. And Alexandria and the coast barely move between day and night compared to the desert cities.

What each temperature range means when you are standing in front of a temple

Up to about 82 °F (28 °C): the full day works

Under that mark you can chain the Pyramids in the morning and the museum or the bazaar in the afternoon without heat entering the equation. That is normal in Cairo from November to March, and in Luxor and Aswan from December to February. The problem in these months is not the thermometer, it is the crowd in front of the same stone.

84 to 93 °F (29 to 34 °C): the day splits in two

You can still do everything, but pushing forward without thinking stops working. You leave early, cover the open-air sites before eleven, retreat to the hotel or the boat through the middle of the day, and pick up again around four. The Valley of the Kings is the clearest case: the tombs are hotter inside than out, so they belong in the first two hours, not the last.

Above 95 °F (35 °C): a full outdoor day is no longer realistic

From June to September, Luxor and Aswan run around 104 °F and higher. An open site like the Temple of Hatshepsut, a rock amphitheater aimed at the sun, is punishing after mid-morning. The trip is not impossible. It is done at dawn, wrapped up by ten or eleven, and the rest of the day belongs to shade, the pool or the sea. The whole approach is in our guide to Egypt in summer and whether it is worth it.

One nuance: 104 °F in bone-dry Aswan is easier on the body than 93 °F in Cairo in August, where the Delta adds moisture and sweat stops evaporating. The highest number is not always the most uncomfortable one.

A short note on every month

• January. Coldest month, one of the best for sightseeing. Jacket in Cairo mornings, Aswan dawns near 41 °F, perfect afternoons. See visiting Egypt in January.
• February. January by day, slightly warmer nights, the Abu Simbel sun alignment on the twenty-second. Coolest Red Sea water.
• March. Cairo turns pleasant, Luxor has its first days near 90 °F, the first khamsin can blow. Still high season.
• April. The month that fools people. Cairo feels like a mild May while Luxor and Aswan already pass 97 °F some afternoons. Dawn starts in the south. Details in visiting Egypt in April.
• May. Summer arrives in the south, highs around 100 to 106 °F. Cairo is hot but workable. Crowds thin and the sites feel empty by ten.
• June. Luxor and Aswan cross 104 °F most days. Cruise decks are for the evening. The sea breeze keeps Hurghada tolerable.
• July. Tied with August for hottest month everywhere. Dawn temples, long midday breaks, evenings in the high 70s. How a day is built is in visiting Egypt in July.
• August. July's highs plus the warmest nights and the heaviest humidity in Cairo and Alexandria. Warmest Red Sea water.
• September. Still summer by the numbers, especially in the south, but the edge comes off in the last ten days. Best sea for snorkeling.
• October. The turn. Cairo drops into the low 80s, Luxor into the mid 90s, nights turn pleasant on deck. Many regulars call it the sweet spot: visiting Egypt in October.
• November. Comfortable everywhere, sea still warm from summer, evenings cool enough for a sweater. High season begins.
• December. Cool, dry, bright days and cold desert nights. The busiest weeks of the year fall around Christmas and New Year, so book early.

Best and worst months by region

Because the three climates disagree, the best month depends on which Egypt you are visiting.

Two practical conclusions. Cairo only: the comfortable window runs from October to April. With Luxor, Aswan and the cruise: November through March, with April and October still excellent if you accept dawn departures. For the full reasoning, crowds included, read our guide to the best time to visit Egypt.

How far the desert drops after dark, and why it surprises everyone

This is the number one packing mistake. People read the daytime high, see eighty-something degrees, and pack only summer clothes. Then they stand on a felucca in Aswan in January at 43 °F, nearly 35 degrees Fahrenheit below the lunchtime reading.

The reason is physics. Desert air holds almost no moisture and the sky is rarely cloudy, so the heat the ground soaks up all day escapes upward the moment the sun goes down. The coast and Alexandria do not do this, because the sea keeps the air humid and the swing small.

Where you feel it:

• The hot air balloon over Luxor, which lifts off before sunrise at the coldest moment of the day, in an open basket.
• The sun deck of a Nile cruise boat after dinner from November to February, with the river breeze on top.
• A night in the White Desert or at Bahariya, where a midwinter dawn can sit close to freezing.
• The first hour at Abu Simbel if you drive down for sunrise from Aswan.

The answer is layers: a light jacket, long sleeves, and from November to February a thin beanie for the dawn departures. Our list of what to pack for Egypt goes item by item.

The khamsin, the hot wind almost nobody has on the radar

Between roughly March and May, Egypt gets episodes of khamsin: a dry, hot wind from the south dragging sand and fine dust. The first can arrive in late February and a stray one in early June. When it comes in, the temperature jumps far above the month's normal, sometimes 20 or 25 degrees Fahrenheit in a few hours, the sky turns a flat ochre and everything ends up under a film of dust.

A typical episode lasts one to three days. A spring brings a handful of them spread across the season, and most travelers who visit in March or April never meet one.

The dust is more of a nuisance than the heat. Wraparound sunglasses, a scarf over the mouth, and little joy for anyone in contact lenses. With visibility down, a domestic flight can be delayed and the Luxor balloons stay on the ground. Asthma inhalers go in the day bag.

None of this makes spring a bad time. March and April remain among the best months for the whole country. Just leave one flexible day so a dusty morning costs you a sunrise, not a site.

Rain, humidity and what the coast does differently

Rain is not a variable in Egypt. Cairo sees a few isolated showers between December and February, enough to snarl the streets for an hour and dry out by lunch. Luxor and Aswan can go years without measurable rain. The exception is Alexandria and the Delta coast, where winter brings real Mediterranean fronts with wind and gray skies, so a winter day trip there deserves a rain layer and a flexible schedule.

Humidity is the quieter factor. Aswan is one of the driest inhabited places on earth, which is why 100 °F there is survivable in the shade. Alexandria, and to a lesser degree Hurghada in August, stay sticky into the evening and the felt temperature runs above the reading, the opposite of the desert.

The coast also has wind. A north wind blows along the Red Sea much of the year, which keeps summer afternoons bearable but makes stepping out of the water in February feel far colder than the thermometer says. Bring a windproof layer for the boat.

Red Sea water temperature by season

The sea lags the air by several weeks, so the coldest water misses the coldest air month and warm water lingers into the fall. Alexandria's Mediterranean is colder and only inviting from June to October.

For a Nile and sea combination: in winter, temples first and the coast as warm sunshine with a cool swim. From May to October, temple days at dawn and the sea carrying the afternoons.

Ask us which month works for Nile plus Red Sea

How Explora Egipto shapes the day by month

We are a local agency with our own guides and vehicles, so we do not run the same day sheet in January and July. The table above is our scheduling tool.

1. November to February. Starts around eight, full days on site, the West Bank in one go, sunset on deck with a jacket. Early starts only to beat the crowds at Giza and Abu Simbel.
2. March, April and October. Pickups move to six or seven in Luxor and Aswan. Open sites before eleven, a rest through the middle, museums or a market late afternoon.
3. May to September. Dawn departures in the south, the Valley of the Kings first, everything outdoors closed by eleven. Afternoons go to the boat pool or the Red Sea, Luxor Temple and Karnak move to the evening.
4. Khamsin days. We reorder the itinerary on the spot, enclosed museums and tombs first, balloons and boats on the next clear morning.
5. Every month. Cold water in the vehicle, shade breaks in the guiding, a guide who reads the group rather than the clock.

Tell us your dates and we send back a day-by-day plan already adjusted to that month. Ask us for the quote and it arrives with the plan.

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