• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Egypt Travel Blog

  • Cities & Regions
    • Cairo
    • Giza
    • Luxor
    • Aswan
    • Abu Simbel
    • Alexandria
    • The Red Sea
    • Siwa
  • The Sites
    • The Pyramids & Sphinx
    • Downtown Cairo Sites
    • Luxor Sites
    • Aswan Sites
    • Abu Simbel
    • Alexandria Sites
    • Edfu
    • Kom Ombo
    • Abydos
    • Dendera
    • Siwa
  • Museums
    • All Cairo Area Museums
    • Old Egyptian Museum
    • Grand Egyptian Museum
    • National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
    • Abdeen Palace Museum
  • Food & Dining
  • Hotel Reviews
    • Greater Cairo Hotels
    • Luxor Hotels
    • Red Sea Hotels
  • Travel Advice
  • Trips
  • News
  • The Podcast

Getting to Egypt

February 8, 2018 by Egypt Travel Blog

One of the biggest and most common logistical questions that future visitors to Egypt have is how to get there. For nearly all travelers, you’ll almost certainly fly into the country, although very few do cross the land border from Israel into Taba, Egypt. But compared to the total number of international visitors to Egypt, those who come in by land are very far and few between.

The overwhelming majority arrive by air into Cairo, while a small fraction of European visitors may take direct flights to Hurghada or Sharm el Sheikh. But for the sake of this post we’ll focus on the overwhelming majority of first-time visitors to Egypt who fly into the country and arrive at Cairo International Airport.

There’s only one direct flight left from the USA to Egypt, and that’s an EgyptAir flight from New York’s JFK airport direct to Cairo. It takes about 10 or 11 hours, but you don’t have to worry about any connections at foreign airports and you just basically eat dinner, watch some shows, go to sleep, and wake up in Egypt the next morning. Bam!

Ok, so many of you are probably already wondering the same thing I used to wonder and you’re thinking… uhh, EgyptAir? Is it nice? Is it safe? Is it a real airline? In short, those are all yes’s. EgyptAir used to have a reputation for being a little jank, like many other national carriers from developing countries. But I’ve gotta tell ya – EgyptAir has really upped their game over the past few years. Their planes are really nice, and I’ve never personally had an issue with them and I’ve actually flown them a good bit.

On the direct flight between the US and Egypt, to be honest I’ve only flown business class on that flight and found it comparable to all of the American carriers’ business class product. I’ve also known many others who have flown in coach on that direct flight and they say the service and quality are also very similar to US carriers now.

The only difference – and I’ll be the first to admit that this is a big one – is that EgyptAir is still a dry airline. Now I’ve certainly carried a mini bottle or two onto my EgyptAir flights before, knowing in advance they’re dry. If you do that, don’t get caught and put them in an awkward position. But unless you need to get a good buzz going on every flight, the direct JFK-Cairo EgyptAir flight is not a bad option at all.

Many of us love our airline alliance loyalties, whether for points and status accumulation or the benefits from said status. I’d say the majority of Americans who visit Egypt by far DON’T end up flying EgyptAir, but rather fly a European carrier, or a combination of an American carrier to Europe then a European codeshare onward to Cairo. There are a lot of good reasons to do this and deal with the connection and longer trip, but keep in mind that EgyptAir is part of Star Alliance so you can still get mileage credit in that network if Star Alliance is your people.

If you’re coming to Egypt from the United States and you do not live in the greater New York City area, you’re going to have to make a connection anyway. If you live in New York you can take advantage of the direct flight. But if you live in any other part of the country you’ll have to either connect in New York, Europe, or the Gulf. So let’s talk about each of these options real quick.

I can’t possibly talk about every possible routing to get to Egypt, but I can tell you some of the more popular ones and best ones from my experience going there zillions of times. If you want to fly Delta or it’s SkyTeam alliance, you’ll be flying from one of Delta’s international gateway cities – and they have a lot of them around the country – to either Amsterdam, Paris, or Rome. Then you’ll connect from there on to Cairo on KLM, AirFrance, or Alitalia respectively.

If I had to pick one of those for myself or suggest one for you, I’d always pick laying over in Amsterdam. Schipol airport in Amsterdam is a fabulous airport with lots of food options and, perhaps more importantly, lots of comfy seating and rest areas. Even though you’ll be doing an overnight flight across the Atlantic and hopefully sleeping on the flight, you’ll still likely be tired when you arrive at your connection airport and having places to lay back and chillax or lay down and rest is very important. Most major airports will have areas like this in their VIP lounges, but if you don’t have access to one of these you can still enjoy many of the same luxuries in the main public access areas at Schipol airport in Amsterdam.

And if you have a long layover, it’s super easy to hop on the train at Schipol and ride into the center of Amsterdam and get back to the airport in plenty of time. I used to fly KLM to and from Cairo a lot and do day trips into Amsterdam on my layovers every single time. But if Paris or Rome is cheaper to go through or they work out better for your schedule, then by all means go with the best flight option for you.

If you like United and its Star Alliance network, you’ll also likely connect in Europe, most likely Frankfurt or Munich in Germany. EgyptAir is also a part of Star Alliance, so there’s a good chance if you book through United or Lufthansa that your flight between Germany and Egypt will be operated by EgyptAir. While there may be only one flight a day between most cities and Cairo, there are at least 2 a day between Frankfurt and Cairo and Munich and Cairo. So if you ever have an issue with a missed connection or mechanical issues flying Star Alliance, you’ll have more options for getting there on your original planned day.

If you’re flying American Airlines and their OneWorld partners, you’ll likely go to London or Madrid and connect on to Cairo from there.

Now, it wasn’t always this way, but these days there are a lot of really great flight options servicing Egypt that connect in the Middle East too. For starters, Turkish Airlines is a really great global carrier with great service and you’ll connect in Istanbul. Technically Ataturk Airport in Istanbul is on the European side, but since most people associate Turkey with the Middle East I’m lumping Turkish Airlines here into the category of Middle Eastern connection carriers.

Istanbul’s airport is totally safe to connect in, super modern, and it’s one of my favorite airports in the world. If you fly business class on Turkish OR you buy access to their lounge in Istanbul, you’ll be amazed and how beautiful and posh their lounge is. The design and aesthetic are simply incredible.

Turkish Airlines is also a part of Star Alliance, so there are at least 3 or 4 flights per day between Cairo and Istanbul and they also fly direct between Istanbul and several cities in the US. Turkish can sometimes have longer layovers, like KLM, but it’s really easy to arrange a day trip to downtown Istanbul on one if you want to see another country and city on your same trip. On some tickets, even some economy tickets, Turkish airlines will also arrange a complimentary city tour for you on your layover. Sometimes they’ll even throw in a hotel for the night if you have an overnight layover.

Then there are also the Gulf carriers, as we call them, or specifically Qatar Airways, based in Doha; Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi; and Emirates Airlines based in Dubai. All three of those fly direct to a boatload of cities in the US now, and from any other those connection cities in the Gulf it’s only a short hop back over to Cairo. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, these Gulf airlines offer incredible service and their airports and lounges on your layover will be beautiful and posh. So that’s another option for you as well these days that we didn’t really have conveniently available a decade and a half ago when I started going to Egypt.

Nowadays you have tons of options to get there. If you live in the NYC area, you are the only ones that will have a direct flight to Egypt with no stops or connections. But for everyone else, most major metro areas in the US have a one-stop option to get you there on a wide variety of airlines and airline alliances. I didn’t mention Canada yet, but Canadians also have most of the same options for getting there, and many Americans fly through and connect in Canada to take advantage of AirCanada’s low international fares sometimes too.

However you chose to get yourself there, just get used to the fact that it’s a long overnight journey and consider investing in comfort. If you don’t’ want to spend a boatload of cash on a biz class ticket, consider strategies for accumulating enough miles to get you there and back in biz. It’s totally worth it and with some smart planning, you can easily bank enough miles for that in less than a year.

But even if you decide to save miles and cash and fly economy, you’ll be perfectly fine, of course. You’ll get a great meal and be knocked out overnight and you’ll wake up on the other side of the world about to step out into the land of the Pharaohs and embark on the trip of a lifetime.

Thousands of years ago, not even the great god-king Pharaohs had access to the ability to fly across the globe and visit another nation. Today, all of us are lucky enough to have countless options for getting to Egypt and exploring the incredible surviving remnants of this remarkable ancient civilization.

Filed Under: Evergreen Egypt Travel Advice

Other Neat Stuff

New archaeological finds in Egypt continue to astonish

Important discoveries out of Egypt have again been flooding the global news as archaeologists continue to explore beneath the sands of the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo, which is home to temples, burial grounds, and pyramids of the once-mighty ancient empire. Over the last year, researchers have unearthed at least 210 sarcophagi not touched since their burial two millennia ago, including the coffin of Queen Neit, […]

More Unsealed Mummies Discovered at Saqqara

If you’ve ever wandered around the rocky grounds of the Saqqara royal necropolis, the site of the Pharaoh Djoser’s famous Step Pyramid just south of the most famous pyramids at Giza, you’ve likely walked above hundreds of undiscovered treasures, mummies, and noble tombs still hidden in the ground beneath your feet. Frequent readers of the […]

Step Pyramid Interior Reopens to the Public

The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Sakkara is one of the most unique pyramids in Egypt and the oldest pyramid still standing anywhere in the world. While most of the other famous pyramids nearby at Giza and Dashur have been generally open for the public to go inside of them to explore the narrow passageways […]

Mummies on the Move

There have been quite a few recent developments about mummies in Egypt lately, including the largest discovery of mummies in over a century near Luxor, which was followed by the eruption of a minor a controversy over where those mummies will now be housed (national officials prefer the new Grand Egyptian Museum while local Luxor […]

Pet Mummies

We all know that the ancient Egyptians mummified the dead bodies of their loved ones with elaborate rituals and scientific rigor, whether they were a revered pharaoh or, if non-royal Egyptians could afford it, a beloved family member. But even in modern times, we can understand that human love and affection extend beyond just our […]

New Major Mummy Discovery Unveiled in Luxor

The largest new discovery of ancient Egyptian mummies in over a century has been revealed to the public by Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities at a ceremony in the southern city of Luxor, resting place to hundreds of ancient pharaohs, other royalty, high court officials, and evidently more middle class folks as well. The discovery, which […]

Fun Facts about the new Grand Egyptian Museum

When it is completed, the Grand Egyptian Museum just outside of Cairo on the Giza Plateau (and next door to the Pyramids) will not only be the new crown jewel of Egypt, but it will also be one of the largest, most modern, and most renowned museums in the entire world. For those interested in […]

New Discovery Makes Pharaohs Look Modern, Sort Of

A team of archaeologists work in northern Egypt have discovered the site of an ancient settlement that makes even the Pharaohs and the Pyramids look young, relatively speaking. The discovery was made in the town of Tel el-Samara, which is located north of Cairo in the fertile Nile Delta region. Egypt’s most famous pyramids at […]

Tracing the Physical Legacy of Cleopatra

On this year’s International Women’s Day today, Egypt Travel Blog would like to pay homage to one of ancient Egypt’s most famous figures and a woman whose life and legacy are worthy of remembrance. Cleopatra is one of the most famous women in all of human history. She was a beloved queen of an ancient […]

New Discoveries

One of the amazing things about Egypt is that the entire country is still an active archaeological site. With over five thousand years of history under its sands, the slice that we know about and have uncovered so far is by no means all there is to be discovered. When you visit the Pyramids couples, […]

Ancient Knowledge and Modern Remembrance

It’s National Library Week in the United States, so it’s as good of a time as any to talk about one of the world’s most famous libraries – the ancient Library of Alexandria. After the death of Alexander the Great and the founding of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt, the Library of Alexandria was created […]

Visiting the Pyramids of Giza

Egypt’s most popular historical site, and one of the most well known the world over, is of course the Pyramids, the most famous of which are located just outside of Cairo. The greater Cairo area is a sprawling metropolis of nearly 20 million people spread out over dozens of suburbs on both sides of the […]

Luxor Temple

Despite its prominent name, Luxor Temple is actually the second most famous temple in Luxor behind the much larger and greater Temple of Karnak just down the road. However, Luxor Temple has several unique features of its own that merit a visit and some independent attention. The first and most obvious aspect of Luxor Temple […]

The Valley of the Queens

The Valley of the Queens in the area of Luxor is a lesser visited royal necropolis in which various family members of several dynasties of pharaohs were laid to rest. As the name suggests, many queens were buried here in elaborate tombs befitting their status and wealth, but many princesses and even princes had dedicated […]

World’s Oldest Haute Couture

Anyone a fan of vintage fashion? How about 5000 year old couture? One of the neat things about Egypt is that its advanced civilization was good at both recording and preserving its own history. Unlike most other of the world’s great ancient civilizations whose moist climates caused the disintegration of its remnants thousands of years […]

Primary Sidebar

Check out our hit podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Join our “Egypt Insider” email list!

Loading

Beware – Scams, Taboos, Faux Pas, & Other Crazy Stuff

“Dr.” Sherif and the Great Papyrus “Institute” Scam

All About Camels… and the Pyramids Camel Scam

What NOT to Wear in Egypt

Cairo’s Chaotic Traffic

Taking the Right Type of Taxi in Cairo & Giza

The Super Aggressive “Taxi Jumpers” at the Giza Pyramids

Egypt Travel Blog and the Egypt Travel Blog Podcast are produced in partnership with Jetset.Ninja and Egypt Elite.
. .