Egypt Packing List

Updated September 2026 · Vacation Checklists

The counterintuitive part of any Egypt packing list is that shorts and a tank top are the wrong answer to the heat. Loose long sleeves and loose long pants in light fabric are cooler than bare skin in desert sun, they keep you from burning at open sites with no shade, and they solve the modesty question at the same time. Add a scarf for mosque visits, closed shoes that survive sand and steep tomb steps, and real dust protection for anything with a lens, and the list is mostly done.

Turn that into a checklist you can tick off with our free packing list generator, then work through the seasonal and regional notes below.

Updated September 2026. Entry requirements, visa procedures, photography rules at individual sites, and security guidance all change. Check the US State Department's Egypt page and the CDC's Egypt travel health page before you book, and confirm site rules with your operator on the day. This is a packing guide and not medical advice.

Egypt's Heat Is Dry, and That Changes the Clothes

Dry heat behaves differently from tropical heat. Sweat evaporates fast, which cools you effectively but dehydrates you without you noticing. It also means the temperature falls hard after sunset, especially away from the coast, and the difference between a Luxor afternoon and a Luxor morning in January is larger than most visitors expect.

Khamsin season is worth knowing about. Roughly March to May, hot dry winds can carry sand and dust in from the desert, cutting visibility and occasionally disrupting flights. It does not happen every day or every year in the same way, but it is the window where a scarf across your face, sealed bags for electronics, and eye drops stop being optional extras.

Modesty in Practice: What to Wear Where

Egypt has no dress law for foreign visitors, and nobody will stop you on the street. What changes is how your day goes. Covered shoulders, covered knees, and loose rather than tight clothing draw much less attention, make interactions easier, and are simply more comfortable in the sun.

For men, long pants rather than shorts anywhere outside a resort or a beach. Shorts read as beachwear and mark you instantly, and in an open desert site they are a sunburn waiting to happen. A light long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt is the standard working outfit.

For women, the reliable combination is a loose long sleeve tunic or shirt over loose pants, with a large light scarf carried at all times. The scarf goes over the hair at a mosque, over the shoulders in a church, over the face in blowing sand, over the back of the neck at Karnak at noon, and around the shoulders when a boat's air conditioning gets aggressive. Travelers going alone may also want to read our solo female travel safety guide before the trip.

On mosque visits specifically. Many of Cairo's famous mosques welcome visitors outside prayer times. Shoes come off at the door, and there is usually a rack or a bag. Some sites hand out a cover up, and your own scarf is faster and cleaner. Dress the same way for the Citadel mosques, Sultan Hassan, Ibn Tulun, and Al-Azhar, and check locally before visiting during Friday prayers.

The Egypt Packing List: The Core Kit

This set covers a typical ten to fourteen day itinerary of Cairo, a Nile leg, and possibly a few Red Sea days.

Fabric note. In dry desert heat, loose cotton and linen work better than they do in the tropics, because the air is dry enough for evaporation to actually cool you. This is the one climate where the usual advice against cotton flips, at least for outer layers you are not sweating through on a hike.

Small bills in local currency are genuinely useful, because tipping is woven into daily life here in a way that surprises first time visitors. Our tipping around the world guide explains the custom, and common travel scams is worth reading before your first morning at the pyramids.

Shoes for Sand, Tomb Steps, and Ramps

Open toes are the wrong call almost everywhere in Egypt outside a resort, and the reasons are specific.

• Sand gets in and stays in. At Giza, Saqqara, Abu Simbel, and anywhere in the Western Desert, fine sand works into an open sandal and grinds against your foot all day.
• Tomb access is steeper than photos suggest. Many tombs in the Valley of the Kings are entered on a long ramp or a wooden stair down into the rock, and the descent into the Great Pyramid is a low, steep, cramped passage. Grip and a closed toe both matter.
• Temple floors are broken stone. Karnak, Luxor Temple, Philae, and Edfu are uneven, dusty, and sometimes slick where stone has been polished by a century of visitors.
• Camel and horse areas are exactly what you imagine. Closed shoes, and something you can hose down.

Two pairs is the right number for almost every Egypt trip, and two pairs is also what makes the trip fit in a carry-on. Wear the walking shoes on the plane and pack the sandals flat.

Dust, and What It Does to Camera Gear

Egypt is the trip where people bring their best camera, and it is also the trip that damages it. Desert dust is fine enough to pass seals, and it gets into lens barrels, zoom mechanisms, charging ports, and every seam of a bag.

The kit that prevents the problem:

• Zip bags for every body, lens, and charger. They live in the bag sealed, and only come out in use. This single habit does most of the work.
• A rocket blower, not canned air. Canned air can spray propellant onto a lens or a sensor.
• Microfiber cloths, more than one, plus lens wipes. A dusty cloth is sandpaper.
• A protective filter on the front element, which is far easier to clean or replace than a lens.
• Change lenses as rarely as possible, and never in open wind. If you have to, point the camera body down, do it inside a bag or under a jacket, and be fast.
• A brush and a cloth for the bag itself, because dust in the zippers is how it ends up back on the gear.
• Spare batteries, carried warm at night. Desert nights are cold, and cold batteries lose capacity.

Charging and power rules matter here too. Spare camera batteries and power banks fly in the cabin only, with terminals protected, and larger batteries are limited in number. Our travel with electronics guide has the watt hour math, the device by device table, and the adapter versus converter explanation.

Egypt runs 220 volts at 50 hertz with European style round pin sockets, types C and F. A US flat plug will not fit, so an adapter is required rather than optional. Check the input line on each charger: if it reads 100 to 240V, a plain adapter is all you need.

Photography rules vary by site and they change. Some tombs and museums require a separate photography ticket, some prohibit flash, some prohibit tripods, and a few prohibit cameras entirely inside a particular chamber. Ask at the gate rather than assuming. Photographing military sites, some bridges, and airports is restricted, and that restriction is taken seriously.

A firm note on drones. Egypt restricts private drone use heavily, and drones are routinely seized at customs on arrival. Do not pack one without written confirmation of a current permit, and assume the default answer is no.

What Changes on a Nile Cruise Leg

A Nile cruise is a different packing environment from a Cairo hotel, and a few items shift.

What the boat gives you. Most cruise boats provide towels, and many have a laundry service that turns things around in a day, which means you can pack lighter for the Nile leg than for the same number of days on land. Cabins are air conditioned, often aggressively.

What you add for the boat:

• One smart casual outfit. Dinners are relaxed but not beachwear. Some boats have a themed evening, which is entirely optional.
• A swimsuit. Nearly every boat has a small sun deck pool.
• A warm layer for the deck. Sailing after dark, especially between November and February, is cold on an open deck with the boat moving.
• A hat with a chin cord. The wind on a moving sun deck removes hats permanently.
• A small day bag for shore excursions, because you leave the main bag on board.
• Earplugs. Engines, generators, and mooring alongside another boat are all real.

What the excursions demand. Shore visits start very early, often before sunrise, to beat the heat at Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, and Kom Ombo. That means a headlamp or a phone light for a dark corridor, a full water bottle before you step off, sunscreen applied before you leave the cabin, and a layer you can shed as the sun comes up. Sites have very little shade, and the walk between temple sections is longer than it looks on a map.

Motion is rarely an issue on the river itself, which is calm, so this is not a seasickness situation for most people. The bigger physical challenge is the early starts stacked on consecutive days.

Sun, Heat, and Water

Dry heat dehydrates quietly, and the most common way an Egypt trip goes wrong is a visitor who did not drink enough at a site with no shade.

• Carry more water than you think you need, and start the day already hydrated rather than catching up at noon.
• Rehydration salts or electrolyte tablets belong in the day bag, not the suitcase.
• High SPF sunscreen and SPF lip balm, reapplied. Dry air cracks lips within two days.
• A wet scarf or neck cloth is the simplest cooling device there is and works remarkably well in dry air.
• Shift the schedule rather than fighting it. Sites early, a long middle of the day indoors, and the museum or the market in the late afternoon.
• Tap water is not for drinking. Use bottled or filtered water, including for brushing teeth, and a filter bottle cuts the plastic you carry.
• Ask your clinician whether to carry a stomach remedy, and pack hand sanitizer and tissues, since public restrooms are inconsistent and often do not stock paper.
• Know where the line is. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are medical situations, not packing problems. Confusion, a stopped sweat, or vomiting in the sun is a reason to get medical help rather than to drink more water, and your guide or hotel can reach a doctor faster than you can.

Vaccination decisions and any prescription question belong to a clinician, and several relevant vaccines need weeks of lead time before departure. Our travel vaccinations guide explains the timeline and what to bring to the appointment, and the CDC destination page linked above lists the current recommendations for Egypt. Keep prescription medication in original labeled packaging in your hand luggage, and check import rules for anything unusual, since some ordinary over the counter items are controlled here. Our travel first aid kit guide covers the compact kit that earns its space.

Worked Example: Twelve Days in November, Cairo and the Nile

Four nights in Cairo, a flight to Luxor, four nights on a Nile cruise to Aswan, a day trip to Abu Simbel, then three nights on the Red Sea. November means warm bright days, cool evenings, and cold mornings on the river.

Bags: one carry-on suitcase, one small day pack, and a camera bag as the personal item.

Worn on the plane: walking shoes, loose pants, a long sleeve shirt, and the fleece.

Packed: 4 loose long sleeve shirts, 2 t-shirts, 1 second pair of loose pants, 1 long skirt, 1 smart casual outfit, 1 light windproof layer, 2 swimsuits, 1 large scarf, 1 small scarf, sandals, sun hat with a cord, underwear for 6 days, 6 pairs of socks, the dust kit, and the toiletry bag.

The laundry math: six days of underwear covers twelve days because the cruise boat's laundry handles one load mid trip, and a sink wash on the first Red Sea night handles the rest. That is the difference between a carry-on and a checked bag.

In the day pack every morning: water, scarf, sunscreen, lip balm, hat, rehydration tablets, tissues, hand sanitizer, small bills, phone in a zip bag, and the camera with a blower and a cloth.

What earned its space unexpectedly: the fleece, worn on three cold mornings and one cold sun deck evening. The chin cord on the hat, which saved it twice. And the zip bags, after one dusty afternoon at Saqqara.

Left home: shorts, a second camera lens, a hair dryer, dressy shoes, and the tripod that would have been refused at two sites anyway.

What to Leave Home

• Shorts and tank tops, unless the whole trip is a Red Sea resort.
• A hair dryer on US voltage. The socket is different and the voltage will end it.
• Heavy jeans. Hot, slow to dry, and restrictive on a long site day.
• Dressy shoes. Sand and broken stone destroy them, and nowhere on a standard itinerary requires them.
• A drone. Covered above, and it is a customs problem rather than a packing question.
• A large towel. Hotels and cruise boats provide them. A small quick dry one covers the rest.
• Valuables you would hate to lose, which is the standard habit in any busy market.

If your route continues west along North Africa, the modesty and heat logic carries over but the specifics do not, and our guide on what to pack for Morocco covers that country's own version of the problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should women wear in Egypt?

Loose long pants or a long skirt with a loose top that covers the shoulders and upper arms, plus a large light scarf carried everywhere. That combination is cooler than shorts in desert sun, attracts far less attention on the street, and handles mosque visits, where hair is covered and shoes come off. Resorts and cruise sun decks are relaxed and swimwear is normal there.

Do I need to cover my hair in Egypt?

Not in the street. Visitors are not expected to cover their hair for everyday sightseeing, and Egyptian women wear a wide mix of styles. Inside a working mosque, a scarf over the hair is the expected courtesy for women, along with covered arms and knees and shoes removed at the door. One thin scarf in the day bag handles it.

Can men wear shorts in Egypt?

Inside a Red Sea resort or at a beach, yes. Anywhere else, long pants are both more respectful and more practical, since open desert sites have no shade and shorts mark you as a tourist immediately. A light long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt is the standard, and it protects your forearms at Giza and Karnak.

What shoes should I wear in Egypt?

Closed light walking shoes with grip as your main pair, and sandals for the boat, the pool, and the evening. Sand works into open shoes at every desert site, tomb access is steep and often on ramps or wooden stairs, and temple floors are broken uneven stone. Two pairs is the right number for a standard itinerary.

What plug adapter do I need for Egypt?

Egypt uses 220 volt power at 50 hertz with European style round pin sockets, types C and F, so US flat plugs will not fit. A type C adapter covers phone, laptop, and camera chargers marked 100 to 240V on the input line. Single voltage hair tools need a converter, which is heavy enough that leaving them home is the better answer.

How do I protect a camera from desert dust in Egypt?

Keep every body, lens, and charger in a sealed zip bag whenever it is not in your hands, change lenses as rarely as possible and never in open wind, and carry a rocket blower rather than canned air. Add a protective filter on the front element and more than one microfiber cloth, since a dusty cloth scratches rather than cleans.

What is the best time of year to visit Egypt?

Roughly October through April gives you comfortable daytime temperatures for walking at open sites, with cool to cold evenings that need a real layer. Summer in Luxor and Aswan is extreme and pushes sightseeing into the early morning. The Red Sea works most of the year, and the Mediterranean coast is the one place that gets genuinely wet in winter.

Do I need a scarf in Egypt?

Yes, and it is the highest value item on the list after shoes. One large thin scarf covers hair at a mosque, shoulders at a church, the back of your neck at an unshaded temple, and your face in blowing sand, and it works as a shawl in an over cooled cruise cabin or bus. Buy a second one locally, since they are everywhere.

The Short Version

Loose long sleeves and loose long pants in light fabric, which are cooler than bare skin and solve modesty at the same time. One large scarf, carried always. Closed walking shoes for sand and tomb steps, sandals for the boat. A warm layer for cold desert and river nights, even in summer. Zip bags for anything with a lens, a hat with a chin cord, and more water than feels necessary.

Build the full list with our packing list generator, sort the camera and power side with our travel with electronics guide, and book any travel clinic appointment early using the travel vaccinations guide timeline.