In the United States, tipping is practically compulsory. The reason is simple and fairly harsh: the legal minimum wage for serving staff has stood unchanged at a tiny fraction of the normal minimum wage since 1991. Without tips, a large share of workers simply cannot get by. Someone who gives nothing there is not opting out of a politeness rule, they are opting out of another person’s wage.
In Japan, it works the other way round. Leaving a tip is not seen as kind there, it is seen as a social mistake. Good service is a matter of course and a point of honour, not an extra that needs paying for separately. Someone who leaves money on the table sometimes finds staff running after them to give it back.
And in Italy, the question is often already on the menu. A cover charge (“coperto”) and a service charge (“servizio”) are common there, and both have to be shown clearly to be legal. Locals rarely add anything on top of that, at most they round up.
Three countries, three completely different answers to the same question. Which shows that tipping is, everywhere in the world, a subject you can get exactly right and entirely wrong at the same time: too little looks stingy, too much shifts the local balance and quietly blows your own travel budget. There is no single number that fits everywhere. What helps is a feel for where you stand.
And how is it in Egypt?
Here too, a tip is not a bonus for exceptional service, the way it works in Germany or Britain. It is a regular, expected part of income across much of tourism. Which means it is expected in more situations than you may be used to, and it is not a judgement on the quality of the service either. A small amount handed over kindly counts for more than an agonised calculation.
We deliberately give no fixed amounts here. Not because we want to dodge the question, but because fixed numbers date quickly, fit some situations and not others, and suggest a precision the subject does not really have. Below you will find guideline figures to orient yourself by, and further down, how much of it we already take off your hands on our trips.
Egyptian pounds or your own currency?
Both work, Egyptian pounds are simply the easier route. Weighing up both sides helps with the decision. Pounds are accepted directly everywhere, with no detour to a currency exchange and no loss of value for the other person, though you do have to get the notes yourself and keep topping up as you go. Euros or dollars are convenient if you have them on you anyway, but coins cannot be exchanged in Egypt at all, and small notes have to be changed by the other person first, often at a worse rate than you would have had.
One exception that works well in practice: on board a Nile cruise, the crew tip is often collected in a foreign currency into a shared box, which is a routine, familiar arrangement and announced in advance.
One thing worth keeping in mind: amounts in Egyptian pounds can look like a great deal at first, purely because of the exchange rate, when they are modest in your own currency. A quick check of the current rate before you travel clears that up fast.
Guidelines rather than a calculation
The table below does not replace your own judgement on the spot, it simply shows where tipping is customary at all, how often, and roughly what scale you can expect, without us prescribing a number.
| Who | When | Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | At the end of a day, or the whole trip | A noticeable but moderate gesture, a little more for a long or demanding drive |
| Boat crew (Nile cruise or dahabeya) | Usually collected at the end into a shared box | An amount that covers the whole trip and several people at once |
| Hotel housekeeping | Daily, best left directly in the room | A small amount per night is enough, no need to save it for the end |
| Porter | Per bag actually carried | A small, modest amount |
| Restaurant | With the bill, if service is not already included | A moderate addition, much as in many other countries |
| Taxi | When paying | Round up rather than counting exactly, agree the fare beforehand |
| Toilet attendant | On entering or leaving | A few small coins are enough |
| Guide | At the end of a shared tour or trip, carried together by the group | A noticeable gesture for the whole time, not per individual stop |
For the simplest gestures, such as the toilet attendant or the porter, even a small amount is a pleasure. Give a little more, and it often brightens that person’s whole day, not just the moment.
The real problem: small notes
Egypt runs on cash in small denominations, and cash machines mostly dispense large notes. You rarely get what you actually need for tipping.
- Break notes deliberately and early, at supermarkets, at hotel bars, on the first day.
- Keep tip money in a pocket separate from your wallet, so you are not counting out a whole bundle in front of people.
- Your guide usually knows where small notes are easy to come by, which bank or which counter, for instance. A quick word on the first day is enough.
Baksheesh is not quite the same as a tip
The word covers several different things, and separating them helps. There is the tip for a service, which works as you would expect. And there is the small payment for a small favour, someone finds you a chair, holds a door, points out the right queue.
The side effect: sometimes a favour is done that you never asked for. Someone points out a detail in the temple that you would have noticed yourself anyway. That is not a scam, it is an offer. A small coin settles it, a friendly no works just as well.
When you do not need to tip
- For a tour you never asked for. A friendly no is enough.
- At roped-off areas. What is roped off stays roped off. We stick to that, and the photo is not worth it.
- For anything already included in the price. With us, entrance fees, guiding and transfers are paid in advance, nothing more is asked for on the spot.
How we take this off your hands
Because this subject is difficult everywhere, and you rarely know whether you are giving too little, too much or exactly the right amount, we already build a good part of it into our trips. Entrance fees, guiding and transfers are included on our trips, for instance on the Dahabeya Nile Cruise, the Classic Nile Cruise or an afternoon with a farming family, nothing more is asked for there on the spot. Crew tips run through the shared box, which we explain to you beforehand, rather than through your own counting and handing out.
What is left at the end is manageable: a handful of small, spontaneous moments in the course of the trip, where you decide for yourself. A small supply of notes in your pocket is all that takes.
How much of this comes up at all depends on who is travelling with you: on the eight‑day Dahabeya and Abu Simbel journey it is crew and guide together, on the quad safari afternoon it is only the guide.
Two things that connect to this: where the small notes actually come from in the first place is in money in Egypt. And what you need for entry is in Egypt entry requirements.
Auf Deutsch lesen: Trinkgeld in Ägypten
Keep reading: The Grand Egyptian Museum: how long you need, and what to skip