travel advice

Foreign Office travel advice for Egypt has been updated after the US and UK strikes on Houthi bases in Yemen. Here’s what you need to kno

Monday January 15 2024

The UK government has updated the list of areas in Egypt that it advises against all or all but essential travel to since fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas. The main tourist resorts — Cairo, Nile cruise stops including Luxor and Aswan, and the Red Sea resorts of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh — are still considered safe. This has not changed in the wake of the joint strikes on Houthi bases in Yemen by UK and US forces on January 11, 2024, but there is updated advice. Here’s what you need to know.

*What’s the latest government advice about travelling to Egypt?

There are no travel advisories in place for popular tourist spots in Egypt such as Cairo, the cities along the Nile including Luxor and Aswan, and resorts by the Red Sea such as Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada.

However, the Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to the Governorate of North Sinai, and within 20km of the Egyptian/Libyan border (excluding El Salloum, where it advises against all but essential travel).

It also advises against all but essential travel to the following areas:

The northern part of the Governorate of South Sinai beyond the St Catherine-Nuweiba road, except for the coastal areas along the west and east of the peninsula
The eastern part of Ismailiyah Governorate east of the Suez canal
The area west of the Nile Valley and Nile Delta regions, excluding Luxor, Qina, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings, the Governorate of Faiyum, the coastal areas between the Nile Delta and Marsa Matruh, the Marsa Matruh-Siwa Road, the oasis town of Siwa, the Giza Governorate north-east of the Bahariya Oasis, the road between Giza and Farafra (except the road between Bahariya and Siwa where all but essential travel applies), Bahariya Oasis, Farafra, and the White Desert and Black Desert