BootsnAll Travel Community

Going to Egypt in August, staying in hostels and hotels.

Only doing the usual tourist route: Cairo, Nile Valley, possibly a red sea spot, but not sure yet.

Does anyone know if a mosquito net is necessary/advisable?

Not necessary. Egypt has very little in way of malaria risk. I believe the only spot we were told to avoid was El Fayoum (a almost oasis area not far from Cairo, which is so close to the Nile, it looks basically just like a widening of the green strip).

We encountered very few mosquitos in general, the only spot I remember being an issue was when were sleeping on a felucca, on the Aswan to Luxor run, so just bring some spray if you intend to do that.

Oh, and try to make it out to an oasis. Siwa comes highly recommended, but is far away, and we missed it. Bahariya is much close to Cairo, and offers the chance to check out the white desert, which is stunning. If I were to go back to Egypt (unlikely, since the touts and scam artists really soured me on the country), I'd avoid the Nile completely, do a trip to a less frequented part of the desert, and then head for Dahab.

Thanks for the advice.

I'm actually specifically going to Egypt just for the Nile stuff, as I'm going to be in Africa I feel like it would be wrong to miss that (I also have an archaeology background, so...).

Yeah, really not keen on everything I've heard about the hassles and the touts. It sounds miserable...

That's good about the net, I'd like to donate mine in East Africa if I don't really need it up north...

I know a woman that died from malaria because she didn't get the appropriate shots. She wasn't in Egypt though. I forgot where she was.

I don't know about malaria, but the mosquitos drove me crazy in Sinai. I think taking repellent would be a good idea.

There are no shots for Malaria. Maybe you mean meningitis? There was a woman who was very big on various travel boards who died not so long ago from that? But she was not in Egypt either.

Malaria can only be prevented by taking pills, which I will be, and I've gotten the meningitis vaccine...

I have a mosquito net for East Africa, I'm just wondering how necessary it is for Egypt...

Good to know about Sinai, thanks.