Practical Guide

Can You Drink the Water in Egypt?

August 24, 2026
Practical Guide
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Egyptian Gods and How to Recognize Them

Every temple wall in Egypt is covered in figures, and almost none of them are decoration. They are specific gods, drawn to a fixed convention, doing specific things. Learn to recognize eight or so and a wall you would otherwise walk past becomes something you can actually read. This is the single piece of preparation that changes a temple visit most, and it takes about ten minutes. How Egyptian gods are drawn The convention is consistent for thousands of years, which is what makes it learnable. A god is identified by a combination of three things: the head, the crown, and what they hold. An animal-headed figure is not a person wearing a mask; the head tells you who it is. Once you know that, you stop seeing a crowd and start seeing names. The ones you will actually see Ra, the sun. Falcon-headed with a sun disk above him. If a figure has a disk on its head, the sun is involved somewhere. Amun, and later Amun-Ra. A man in a flat-topped crown with two tall plumes. Karnak is his temple, and the scale of it tells you what he was worth. Osiris, ruler of the afterlife. Wrapped like a mummy, holding a crook and flail, often with green or black skin standing for regeneration and the fertile silt. Isis, his wife. A woman with a throne shape on her head, which is literally her name written as a hieroglyph. At Philae she is everywhere. Horus, their son. Falcon-headed, usually wearing the double crown of a unified Egypt. The temple at Edfu is his and it is the best preserved in the country. Anubis, embalming and the care of the dead. Jackal-headed, black. The jackals that scavenged desert cemeteries were made the guardian of them instead. Hathor, love, music, motherhood. Cow horns with a sun disk between them, or a human face with cow ears on a column capital. Once you spot a Hathor capital you will see them everywhere. Thoth, writing and knowledge. Ibis-headed, often shown recording something, because that is his job. Sobek, crocodile-headed, the Nile's danger given a shape you can bargain with. Kom Ombo is half his. Sekhmet, lioness-headed, war and plague and also healing. Karnak holds many statues of her. The story that holds it together Most of what you will see on a tomb wall assumes one story, so it is worth having. In the myth, Osiris rules Egypt and is killed by his brother Set, who wants the throne. Isis recovers her husband's body and, through her own skill, conceives their son Horus. She raises him in hiding in the marshes of the Delta. Grown, Horus contests the throne against Set and wins it, and Osiris rules the dead instead of the living. That single story does an enormous amount of work. It explains why the dead were mummified in imitation of Osiris, why the living king was identified with Horus and the dead king with Osiris, and why so much funerary art is about a body being made whole again. When you stand in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, this is the story the walls assume you already know. Why there seem to be so many Visitors often find the number overwhelming, and there is a reason beyond simple quantity. Egyptian religion was comfortable with a god being several things at once and with two gods merging into one. Amun and Ra become Amun-Ra without either being cancelled. Local gods rose and fell with the fortunes of their cities. So the answer to "how many are there" is that the question does not quite fit. What matters for looking at a wall is the ten above, plus Maat, who is less a character than a principle: truth and cosmic order, drawn as a woman with a feather, and the feather your heart is weighed against. Where to see them Karnak, for Amun-Ra at maximum scale, and for Sekhmet. Edfu, for Horus, and for the best sense of what a complete temple felt like. Philae, for Isis, on an island, which suits her. Kom Ombo, for Sobek, in a temple built symmetrically for two gods at once. The Valley of the Kings, for the funerary material, where the Osiris story is doing the work. Entry to each of these is covered in Egypt monument entrance fees. Common questions Did Egyptians worship animals Not the animals themselves. An animal was understood as an aspect a god could take, chosen for a quality the animal had. The falcon's sight and reach for Horus, the jackal's presence at cemeteries for Anubis. Who is the most important Egyptian god It depends entirely on when and where. Ra dominates early, Amun-Ra dominates at Thebes in the New Kingdom, and Osiris matters most for the afterlife throughout. There is no single answer and any page that gives you one is simplifying. Is Set a villain Less than the retelling suggests. He is chaos and the desert, and he was also worshipped, and in some texts he defends the sun barque at night. Egyptian gods are rarely purely one thing. What is the ankh The looped sign gods are shown holding, meaning life. When a god holds one to a king's face, they are giving him life. Do I need to know all this before I go No. A good guide will do it for you at the wall, which is where it makes sense. Knowing the ten above just means you spend that explanation recognizing rather than memorizing. Seeing it with someone who reads the walls Our guides are licensed Egyptologists and this is exactly what they are for. Tell us if the mythology is the part you care about and we will pace the temple days around it rather than marching you through. Message us on WhatsApp. Related reading: Luxor excursions, visiting Abu Simbel, Egypt monument entrance fees, and Egypt tour packages.

Hot Air Balloon Over Luxor

A dawn balloon flight over the Luxor west bank is the one optional extra most travelers say they would do again. You lift off before sunrise, drift over the Valley of the Kings, the Hatshepsut temple and the Colossi of Memnon, and watch the sun come up over the Nile with the whole valley laid out underneath. It is also weather dependent, frequently cancelled, and worth understanding before you book. What the morning actually looks like It starts uncomfortably early. Pickup is usually well before dawn, because the flight has to happen in the calm air around sunrise. You cross to the west bank, often by a short boat transfer, and wait at the launch field while the envelopes are inflated, which is worth watching in itself. Time in the air is normally around forty five minutes to an hour. The whole morning, from pickup to being back at your hotel, runs closer to three or four hours. You will be back in time for breakfast and a normal day of sightseeing, which is the point: it costs you a lie-in rather than a day. Baskets are shared and carry a group. If you were picturing something private, that is a different and much more expensive arrangement, and it is worth saying so before you are standing at the field. What you see The west bank from the air makes sense of something that is hard to grasp from the ground: the hard line between the green floodplain and the desert. The cultivated strip simply stops, and the tombs begin. Every temple you have walked through sits on that boundary for a reason, and you can see the reason from a balloon in a way you cannot from a road. On a clear morning you will pick out the Hatshepsut temple in its natural amphitheatre, the Ramesseum, the Colossi of Memnon, the entrance road into the Valley of the Kings, and the Nile with Luxor and Karnak on the far bank. Cancellations, and why they are a good sign Balloon flights in Luxor are cancelled regularly, almost always for wind. Sometimes the call is made the night before, sometimes at the launch field after you have already got up at four in the morning. Treat a cancellation as the system working. An operator who flies in conditions they should not is not one you want. What this means practically: Book it early in your stay, not on your final morning. If it is cancelled on day two you may get another attempt on day three. Booked for your last morning, a cancellation is simply the end of it. Ask what happens on a cancellation before you pay. Refund, or reschedule, or credit, and who decides. Do not build the rest of the day around it. Plan the day as though the flight will not happen, and treat it as a bonus when it does. Check your insurance, by name This is the practical warning almost nobody gives you. Hot air ballooning is one of the most commonly excluded activities on a standard travel insurance policy, usually classed as aviation or as a hazardous activity. Do not assume your policy covers it because it covers your trip. Check the activity by name, before you travel, and if it is excluded, find out whether your insurer will add it. We go through what else policies tend to exclude on an Egypt itinerary in travel insurance for Egypt. Who might want to think twice A balloon basket is entered by climbing over its side, the landing can be firm, and you are standing for the whole flight. If you have mobility limits, back or joint problems, are pregnant, or have a condition that makes an unpredictable landing a poor idea, ask your doctor rather than working it out from a travel page. Fear of heights is a more interesting case. Many people who dislike ladders and glass elevators are fine in a balloon, because there is no vibration, no engine noise, and nothing connecting you visually to the ground. It is closer to floating than to being up high. That said, if the idea makes you genuinely miserable, the west bank at sunrise from the ground is also excellent. Practical notes Dress for cold, then warm. Pre-dawn in the valley is genuinely chilly, especially in winter, and it warms quickly once the sun is up. Layers. Closed shoes. The launch field is rough ground and the landing field is a plowed one. Hats off on landing, or at least held. They are the most commonly lost item. Keep your camera strapped to you. There is no retrieving anything you drop. Bring small notes for the ground crew, who chase the balloon across fields and pack it away. Tipping norms are covered in tipping in Egypt. Common questions How long is the flight Typically forty five minutes to an hour in the air, and three to four hours for the whole morning including transfers and inflation. What is the best time of year Winter mornings give the clearest air and the most reliable conditions, and they are cold before sunrise. Summer flights go earlier still to stay ahead of the heat. Seasons are covered on the best time to visit Egypt. Can I fly if I am afraid of heights Many people who expect to hate it do not, for the reasons above. Nobody can promise you that, so it is your call. Is it suitable for children Operators set their own minimum age and height rules, so ask before booking rather than assuming. Should I book in advance or at the hotel Booking through your operator means someone is accountable if the morning goes wrong, and it gets the transfer timing right against the rest of your itinerary. A desk in a hotel lobby is selling you someone else's flight and steps out of the picture once you have paid. Adding it to your trip If a balloon morning matters to you,

Abu Simbel: Tickets, Timing and Getting There

Abu Simbel is the site travelers most often say they would have regretted skipping. Two temples cut into a cliff by Ramses II in the thirteenth century BC, four seated colossi of the pharaoh about twenty meters high across the facade, and a smaller temple beside it for his queen, Nefertari. It sits far south of Aswan, close to the Sudanese border, and getting there is the whole question. The part that sounds invented The temples are not where they were built. In the 1960s the Aswan High Dam was going to put this entire site under the reservoir now called Lake Nasser. So between 1964 and 1968, an international effort cut both temples into more than a thousand blocks, some weighing over twenty tons, lifted them roughly sixty meters higher and around two hundred meters back, and reassembled them inside an artificial mountain built to look like the original cliff. You can find the joins if you look for them. Most people walk past without noticing, which is the measure of how well it was done. It remains one of the largest archaeological rescues ever attempted, and knowing it happened changes how the place feels when you are standing in front of it. The sun festival, on two fixed dates Twice a year, on February 22 and October 22, sunlight travels the full length of the main temple and lights the statues in the inner sanctuary. Three of the four figures there are illuminated; the fourth is Ptah, associated with the underworld, who stays in shadow. These two dates do not move, and they draw a crowd that is large by Abu Simbel standards. If you want to be there for it, say so early, because it is the one thing on the Egyptian calendar that genuinely cannot flex. If you do not, those two mornings are the busiest of the year at the site. Abu Simbel tickets As of August 2026, the adult foreign visitor ticket is 822 EGP, roughly 16 USD. Source: egymonuments.com, the official ticketing platform of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The pound figure is the real one; the dollar approximation is at about 50.88EGP to the dollar, and the rate has been moving. We print this because almost nobody else does. Search what Abu Simbel costs and you get round numbers with nothing behind them, usually out of date. Our full sourced table for every site on a normal itinerary is on Egypt monument entrance fees. On our itineraries this entry is prepaid and included, so it is a number you can check rather than one you pay at the gate. Getting there, which is the real decision By road from Aswan About three hours each way across open desert. Vehicles have historically travelled this route in organized groups, and departures are early, often before dawn. That sounds punishing and it is actually the good option: you arrive in the soft early light, before the heat and before the buses from the later departure. It makes for a long day. Out very early, a couple of hours at the site, three hours back, and you are in Aswan by mid afternoon. By air There is an airport at Abu Simbel and a short flight from Aswan is the fast option. It turns the day into a few hours instead of most of one, at more cost. Our Abu Simbel itineraries do not include flights, domestic or international, so if you would rather fly than drive, that sector is arranged separately and we will tell you honestly which we would choose. Staying the night The option almost nobody considers, and the one we would pick. There are hotels at Abu Simbel. Staying means you see the temples in the late afternoon after the day trippers have left, and again early the next morning before the convoy arrives. The site is quiet twice instead of crowded once, and the light at both ends of the day is far better than at midday. See the day trip from Aswan and the two-day version with a hotel night. Weather, and why it decides your timing Abu Simbel is the hottest part of a normal Egypt itinerary. It sits deep in the south, there is no shade on the approach, and summer highs regularly clear 105 F (40 C). Between October and April it is comfortable. In summer it is manageable only very early. Whatever the month, go in the morning. This is not a site to visit at noon. How long you need there Two hours is enough to see both temples properly, including the interiors, without rushing. People who allow four find it a long wait in the heat. The time cost of Abu Simbel is the travel, not the visit. Is it worth it Honestly, yes, with one condition: give it the time it needs. Squeezed into a schedule that cannot hold it, the drive turns the best day of the trip into the worst one. That is the most common planning mistake we see on Egypt itineraries, and it is why we would rather add a day than compress it. The reasoning is in how many days you need in Egypt. Common questions Can you go inside the temples at Abu Simbel Yes, and the interior is the point. The great hall has eight standing figures of Ramses, and the carved battle scenes on the walls are among the best preserved anywhere in Egypt. Can you take photos Photography rules vary by site and change, and some interiors restrict it or charge separately. Your guide will tell you what applies on the day. How far is Abu Simbel from Aswan Roughly three hours by road each way, or a short flight. Is Abu Simbel included in a Nile cruise Usually not. Cruises run between Luxor and Aswan, and Abu Simbel is well south of Aswan, so it is normally a separate excursion added at the Aswan end. Check any cruise itinerary rather

How to Choose a Nile Cruise

The stretch of Nile between Luxor and Aswan holds the greatest concentration of standing temples anywhere in Egypt, and nearly all of them sit on the bank. A cruise means the temples come to you and you unpack once. Which boat you pick matters less than most people expect. When you go, and what is actually included, matter more. The best month to take a Nile cruise October through April is the comfortable window. Inside it: November, and late February into March, are the sweet spots. Warm days, cool evenings, and the sites are walkable through the middle of the day. Late December and Easter are the crowded peaks. Boats fill, the good ones fill first, and the temples are at their busiest. The first half of December and the second half of January are the quiet weeks with the same weather. If your dates flex, this is where to put them. May through September is genuinely hot in the valley. A cruise handles summer better than an overland trip does, because the boat is air conditioned and there is water and shade between sites, but you will be starting at dawn and resting through the afternoon. Winter nights on an open deck are colder than people expect. Bring a jacket even in a week where the afternoons are in shirtsleeves. Seasons in detail are on the best time to visit Egypt. Which direction should you sail Both directions see the same temples and generally cost the same. What changes is rhythm. Luxor to Aswan, upstream, sails against the current, so it is slower and gives more hours on deck watching the valley pass. Aswan to Luxor, downstream, is quicker and leaves more time ashore. The bigger factor is usually neither: it is which end fits your flights and the rest of your itinerary. We run Luxor to Aswan and Aswan to Luxor, and we will tell you which one your dates actually suit. Read the night count, not the day count A cruise sold as five days is four nights, and the first and last days are partial. You board in the afternoon and disembark after breakfast. That is normal and it is not a trick, but it means a five day cruise gives you three full days on the river. When you compare two itineraries, compare nights and compare the list of temples. Two boats can both say five days and stop at a different number of sites. What actually differs between boats Most Nile cruise boats are more alike than the marketing suggests. The things that genuinely change your week: Cabin window versus balcony. The single biggest comfort difference. A french balcony or a proper one changes how much of the river you actually see. Deck space. You will spend more time on the sun deck than in the cabin. A crowded deck on a full boat is the most common complaint. How many passengers. A standard cruiser carries a hundred or more. A dahabiya, a small traditional sailing boat, carries a handful. Completely different trips. Your guide, which is not the boat. On most cruises the guide is arranged separately from the vessel. The person walking you through Karnak shapes the week far more than the carpet in the corridor does. Which temples are included and which are sold as an extra once you are aboard. Ask for the list before you book. How much does a Nile cruise cost We are not going to print a number here, because any single figure would be wrong for most people reading it. What actually moves the price: Season. The same cabin in late December and in early June are different products commercially. Boat standard and cabin type. Balcony cabins and upper decks cost more. Occupancy. Prices are quoted per person sharing a double. Traveling alone means a single supplement, and it is often substantial. Ask about it before you compare two quotes, because one may include it and one may not. What is bundled. Guide, monument entry and transfers may or may not be inside the number you are shown. That last point is where most comparisons go wrong. A lower headline with entry fees excluded can easily end up costing more than a higher one with everything prepaid. The flight question, stated plainly Our Nile cruise itineraries do not include flights, domestic or international. Getting to Luxor or Aswan from Cairo means a domestic flight or an overnight train, and on the cruise products that sector is arranged separately rather than bundled in. We say this directly because the industry is vague about it. You will see multi-day Egypt trips advertised as including air fare where the airline ticket in question is a domestic hop, not the flight from your home airport. Ask any operator, including us, exactly which flights a price contains. Which company is best Nobody should believe an operator who answers that about itself, so here are the questions that actually separate them. Ask any company, and ask us: Which boat, by name? An operator who will not name the vessel before you pay has a reason. Is the guide private to my party or shared, and in which language do they work? Which temples are included, listed one by one, and which are extra? Is the quote per person sharing a double, and what is the single supplement? Who do I call at two in the morning if something goes wrong? Concrete answers to concrete questions tell you more than any review page. Vague answers are themselves an answer. Common questions Is a Nile cruise worth it For the Luxor to Aswan stretch, yes. The temples are on the bank and the alternative is driving back and forth to a hotel. It is the rare case where the transport is also the accommodation and neither suffers. How many nights do I need Four nights covers the classic run with its main temples. Three is tight. More than five and you are

What to Wear in Egypt

The practical rule for Egypt is shoulders and knees covered in cities, towns and at monuments. That is it. You do not need to cover your hair, there is no color you are forbidden to wear, and nobody expects a visitor to dress as a local does. Egypt is a majority-Muslim country and dress outside the beach resorts is conservative by American standards. That is worth knowing plainly, without it becoming a warning. Following the local norm is a courtesy rather than a requirement, and the practical reward is that you attract less attention and stay cooler, which are the same thing on a hot day at an open site. What women actually wear Loose, light, covering. In practice that means: Tops that cover the shoulders. A t-shirt is fine. Sleeveless is the one thing that draws attention in a city or at a monument. Trousers, long skirts or dresses that reach the knee or below. Linen trousers are the single most useful thing to pack. A light scarf, which does more work than anything else you bring. It covers your head for a mosque, your shoulders when the sun is brutal, and your face when there is dust. Loose is genuinely better than tight, and not only for modesty. Air moving between fabric and skin is what keeps you cool. Tight clothing in dry heat is worse in every way. Do you have to cover your hair in Egypt No. Visitors are not expected to cover their hair anywhere in Egypt except inside a working mosque, where a scarf over the head is required as it would be at many religious sites worldwide. Many Egyptian women cover, many do not, and no one expects a foreign visitor to. Are there any colors to avoid wearing in Egypt No, and the question itself is a myth worth putting down. There is no color that is offensive, unlucky or forbidden. Wear what you like. The only sensible color advice is about physics rather than culture: light colors reflect heat and dark colors absorb it, and fine dust shows less on mid tones than on black or white. Can I wear shorts to the pyramids You can. Nobody will stop you at the gate and you will see visitors in shorts on the Giza plateau every day of the year. Whether you will enjoy it is a different question. Giza is open desert with almost no shade, and bare legs there means more sun on more skin for several hours. You will also draw more looks than someone in loose trousers, particularly away from the main tourist path. Most people who visit twice wear long and light the second time, for comfort as much as anything. Knee length shorts are a reasonable middle ground. Very short shorts in a city street, away from a tourist site, are the version that feels uncomfortable. What men wear Shorts on men are common and unremarkable in tourist areas. In a city street, at a mosque, or in a smaller town, long trousers read as more respectful and are barely warmer if the fabric is light. Shoulders covered applies to men too at religious sites. Visiting a mosque Egypt has some of the most beautiful mosque architecture anywhere and most are welcoming to visitors outside prayer times. What is expected: Shoes off at the entrance. Slip-on shoes make this painless and socks are worth having. Hair covered for women. Your scarf handles it. Shoulders and knees covered, for everyone. Some mosques lend a robe at the door if you arrive without the right clothing. Coptic churches and monasteries expect the same modesty, minus the hair covering. Red Sea resorts are a different country At Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh, Marsa Alam and similar resorts, normal swimwear is entirely normal on the beach and around the pool. Bikinis are unremarkable there. The line is the resort gate. Walking into a local town for a meal or a market, cover up the way you would anywhere else in the country. The two worlds sit a few minutes apart and the switch is easy once you expect it. Shoes, which people underpack Bring closed shoes you can walk several miles in. Temple floors are uneven stone, tomb entrances are ramped and often slippery from dust, and the Giza plateau is sand. Sandals are pleasant in the evening and a poor choice for the Valley of the Kings. Everything you own will get a fine layer of dust. That is normal and it brushes off. Winter is colder than people expect Between December and February the desert loses its heat fast after sunset, and a Nile cruise puts you on an open deck in the evening. A fleece or light jacket is not optional in midwinter even though you spent the afternoon in short sleeves. Timing is covered on the best time to visit Egypt. Traveling solo as a woman Plenty of women travel Egypt alone and have an excellent time. Attention, in the form of comments and persistent shopkeepers, is more common than in the United States and is usually more tiresome than threatening. What helps: dressing to the local norm, sunglasses, walking with purpose, and a flat "la, shukran" without breaking stride. What is not your job is being polite to someone who will not leave you alone. Being with a guide removes almost all of it, because the interaction stops before it starts. A short packing list Linen or cotton trousers, more than one pair T-shirts and long sleeved shirts that cover the shoulders A large light scarf Closed walking shoes, plus sandals for the evening A brimmed hat and real sunglasses A fleece or light jacket, essential in winter, useful any time on a boat at night Swimwear if there is a pool, a boat or the Red Sea on your itinerary Common questions Can I wear a dress in Egypt Yes, if it covers the shoulders and reaches around the knee. Long loose dresses are

Can You Drink the Water in Egypt?

No. Do not drink the tap water in Egypt. Bottled water is cheap, sold everywhere, and what essentially every visitor drinks for the entire trip. That single habit prevents most of the trouble people worry about before they come. The longer answer is more useful than the short one, because the tap is not the only way water reaches you, and the things that actually catch travelers out are ice, salad and a restroom at a temple rather than a glass from a faucet. Why the tap is a problem for you and not for locals Egyptian tap water is treated and chlorinated, and it is not raw sewage coming out of the pipe. Plenty of Egyptians drink it daily without a second thought. The issue is twofold: the distribution network is old in many places and can pick up contamination between the treatment plant and your sink, and the local microbial mix is one residents have been adapted to since childhood and you have not. So this is not a judgement about Egypt. A visitor in the other direction often reacts the same way to unfamiliar tap water. The practical response is the same either way: drink bottled, and stop thinking about it. Brushing your teeth This is one of the most searched versions of the question, so here is a straight answer: most travelers brush with tap water in a decent hotel and are completely fine, because the amount swallowed is tiny. If you have a sensitive stomach, or you would simply rather not spend the trip wondering, use bottled water for brushing. It costs almost nothing and removes the question. Keep your mouth closed in the shower, which people do without thinking at home and forget to do somewhere new. Ice, which is the one people forget You can be careful about bottled water all day and then order a cold drink with ice in it. Ice is frozen water, and if it was made with tap water it carries the same issue. In hotels and established restaurants that cater to visitors, ice is generally made from filtered water and is fine. At a small roadside cafe it is a coin toss. If you want a simple rule that never requires judgement: ask for drinks without ice, and drink them at whatever temperature they arrive. Egyptian tea and coffee are both served hot anyway, and both are safe, because the water was boiled. Can I eat salad in Egypt This is the food version of the same question and it deserves the same honesty. Raw vegetables are washed, and they are washed in tap water. Whatever was in the water is now on the lettuce, and no amount of chewing fixes that. What we would actually do: Cooked and served hot is the safest thing on any menu. Heat handles the problem. Egyptian cooking is full of things that arrive hot and are excellent. Fruit you peel yourself is reliable. Bananas, oranges, mangoes in season. The skin did the protecting and you removed it. Salad in a good hotel or a restaurant used to international guests is usually fine, because they wash produce in filtered or treated water. Salad at a small local place is the gamble. Pre-cut fruit sitting out is the one to skip, whatever the setting. It was cut with a knife, on a board, some time ago, in the heat. None of this means eating badly. The best food in Egypt is hot, cooked and cheap. Should I bring toilet paper to Egypt Yes, carry some, and nobody puts this on a travel page because it is not glamorous. It is also the single most asked practical question about visiting Egypt. Restrooms at the major sites, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings included, are functional but frequently have no paper, and there is often an attendant who provides some in exchange for a small tip. Carry a travel pack of tissues and some small notes and the whole situation becomes a non event. Hand sanitizer is worth having for the same reason, since soap is not guaranteed either. Your hotel is a different world and none of this applies there. It is the middle of a long day at a site, in the heat, that this matters. Water in the heat, which is the real risk Here is the part that gets undersold. The thing most likely to ruin a day in Egypt is not contaminated water, it is not drinking enough of it. The air is dry, you sweat without noticing it because it evaporates immediately, and dehydration arrives as a headache and exhaustion that people blame on the food. Drink far more than feels necessary, especially on temple days where you are walking on open stone with no shade. If you are not needing a restroom, you are behind. On our trips there is cold bottled water in the vehicle throughout the day, and it is included rather than something you buy per bottle. If you do get sick anyway Some travelers get an upset stomach regardless of how careful they are, usually mild and usually short. Rest, keep drinking fluids, and eat plainly for a day. Tell your guide early rather than pushing through quietly. They know where the nearest appropriate care is, and pharmacies in Egypt are widespread and used to helping visitors. If anything is severe, prolonged, or involves a fever, see a doctor rather than working from a travel page. This one included: we can tell you what we carry in the vehicle, but medication is a question for a pharmacist or a doctor. Common questions Is bottled water safe in Egypt Yes. Check that the seal is intact when you open it, which is a sensible habit anywhere. Can I drink tap water in a five star hotel Many have their own filtration and some will tell you the tap is drinkable. Bottled is still the simpler default, and hotels provide it. What about