I undertook this trip to Egypt with my friend Shaun, and the two of us entered Egypt via the Taba border crossing from Israel. For those wishing to cross here, it is relatively easy: the number 30 bus departs from the central bus station in the Israeli town of Eilat, and its terminus is the Taba border crossing. Be aware that Israel charges an “Exit Fee” when leaving via its land borders, and at the time of writing (June 2023), this fee was approximately 110 Israeli Shekels, which is equal to approximately GBP 25. The Israeli side of the border is relatively well-organised; however, once you cross into Egypt, be prepared for chaos! Once you make it through passport control on the Egyptian side, the authorities there will charge you their own “Exit Fee”, which costs approximately 450 Egyptian Pounds, the equivalent of around GBP 12. Immediately upon exiting the Taba border crossing, there is a bus station to your right, with minibuses and taxis departing to various locations along the Egyptian coast. Be prepared to haggle with the drivers, as there is no central ticket desk, and as such the drivers seem to invent the prices as they go along! Having been quoted 100 USD for the two of us to get to Sharm el Sheikh (a drive of around 4-5 hours in a shared minibus or 3 hours in a direct taxi), I was able to barter the fare down to 70 USD. If you opt for a shared minibus, you will have to wait for the minibus to fill up with other passengers until departure, which in our case took approximately 30 minutes.

The drive down from Taba to Sharm el Sheikh is breathtakingly beautiful, with views over the red sea and into Saudi Arabia. However, the standard of driving leaves a lot to be desired! Thankfully the road was relatively quiet during our trip, as our driver inexplicably decided to drive down the wrong side of the motorway for about 20 minutes!

Upon arrival into Sharm el Sheikh, there are lots of security checkpoints, which is very reassuring for foreign tourists, particularly in light of various terrorist attacks that have taken place in the region over previous years. Sharm el Sheikh attracts tourists from across the globe and is home to many resorts. It is a very modern town and has all the amenities that a tourist could possibly need, ranging from bars and supermarkets to beaches and restaurants.

Cairo is the capital of Egypt, and by far the country’s largest city, with the metropolitan area of Cairo home to approximately 23 million people. As such, the city literally never sleeps, and large traffic queues are a daily occurrence along the capital’s central roads!

Shaun & I took an internal flight from Sharm el Sheikh through to Cairo with Nile Air, which took approximately 1 hour. It is possible to take a bus from between these two cities; however, many western governments advise against travelling along this route, due to the potential for kidnapping and terrorist attacks. Fortunately, there are numerous daily flights between Sharm el Sheikh and Cairo at prices which don’t break the bank!

Unfortunately, Cairo’s metro network does not yet reach its international airport; therefore, it is necessary to brave the city’s roads in order to reach the city centre! There are many taxis outside the various terminals; however, being the adventurous travellers that we are, we decided to brave a local bus! There is a free shuttle bus that leaves from outside the terminal buildings that will take you to the airport’s bus station. The number 400 bus takes you from the airport to the Tahrir Square in central Cairo. You can buy the tickets onboard: we were charged 25 Egyptian Pounds per person (approximately 60p), even if on the tickets themselves a price of 10 Egyptian Pounds was stated! In any case, a bargain by western standards! Our driver was a very lively character, who would no doubt give Lewis Hamilton a run for his money, as we seemingly made it into central Cairo in record time.