Arrival at Luxor airport

Arrival hall

On arrival at the airport, if you already have your visa, go straight to passport control. Passport control is on the right hand side of the arrival hall. If you have not bought your visa in advance, you will need to get it before you go to the passport control desk. Click here to read more about visas and whether to get one before you go.

Getting a visa

Visas are now available from the many banks in the arrival hall, lined up along the left hand side as you enter the airport terminal building. Visas cost 15 US dollars (roughly £7.75 - £8 depending on the exchange rates) or the equivalent in another acceptable currency. British pounds, US dollars and Euros are acceptable but Egyptian pounds are not. Offering a British £10 note should get you a visa and some change in egyptian currency as long as the £ is worth more than $1.5. You should get around LE20 change at current exchange rates.

Visas used to be self-adhesive blue and orange stamps. Now you are more likely to get a large peel-and-stick 'label' with a hologram in the middle and $15 in the bottom right hand corner, but when they run out of the new labels they revert to the stamps. Whichever type you get, they are stuck in your passport. Once you have your visa, queue at one of the passport control desks in the same hall.

Several tour agents also sell visas. However, many charge more than the official fee, sometimes £10 (but without giving change), £12 or even £15 - that is nearly twice the official rate. They often catch you immediately you go into the terminal building and try to divert you away from the official visa bank kiosks. They may give you the visa stamp and tell you they will collect the money in the coach or at the hotel, but without telling you how much they will charge. We have heard of local handling agents for even the big companies, such as Thomas Cook and Budget travel, being involved in this scam. To avoid the risk that you will pay too much, we suggest you buy your visa direct from any one of the bank kiosks. There is no need to buy from a tour agent.

Passport Control & Baggage

At passport control you hand over your passport and the landing card that you should have been given on the plane. It will speed things up if you open you passport at the page with the visa. The landing card is retained, your visa is rubber-stamped and your passport returned. A few yards beyond passport control someone else checks that your visa has been stamped!

When you go through passport control you emerge into the baggage reclaim hall, in an adjoining room. There is a board that tells you which luggage belt to go to, but it may change. The board may also not be working. There are only 3 belts and they are close together so finding the right one is not a problem.

Duty Free

Once you have your luggage, go through customs. There are random luggage checks. The duty free allowance is 200 cigarettes or 25 cigars or 200g tobacco; alcoholic beverages up to 1 litre; perfume for personal use plus 1 litre of eau de cologne and other goods for consumption to the value of ₤100. You have to pay duty on anything over those limits. You are not allowed to take drugs into Egypt. The maximum amount of Egyptian currency you can take into or out of Egypt is LE5000.

When you are through customs there is a duty free shop within the terminal building where you can stock up on tobacco and alcohol if you wish. Once you have left the arrivals area of the terminal building you cannot go back in.

Click here to read about the next stage - your transfer from the airport to your hotel or cruise ship.

Police Registration

Visitors from most countries are required to register with the local police within a week of arrival in Egypt. European, Canadian and USA nationals are not required to register. If you are from another country and do have to register, your hotel may do this for you.