The Egypt visa from Pakistan
Egypt
The short answer. A Pakistani passport needs a visa for Egypt, and the route it takes should be confirmed for your passport rather than taken from an article: Egypt treats different nationalities differently and the arrangements have changed. If you are arriving by cruise rather than by air, that is a separate question again and the answer depends on the ports.
Egypt is the trip people mean when they say they want to see something old. It is also the country on this page where the arrival route changes the answer most.
By air, and by sea
By air, into Cairo, this is an ordinary visitor application: the passport, photographs, confirmed return flights, accommodation for the stay, bank statements and your employment or business papers.
By sea is different. The Jeddah to Sharm El Sheikh sailing this office books calls at Egyptian ports, and a cruise passenger's position is not the same as an air arrival's. It can depend on whether you go ashore, how long for, and which port. We work the full list out from the sailing before any deposit is paid, because this is exactly the kind of thing that is discovered too late.
What a trip actually looks like
Cairo and Giza for the pyramids and the museum, which is the core of it and takes three days to do without rushing.
Luxor and Aswan for the temples and the valley, usually reached by an internal flight or a Nile sailing. This is where the trip stops being a city break and starts being the thing people remember.
Sharm El Sheikh or Hurghada on the Red Sea, which is a beach holiday attached to the front or back of the history.
The heat decides the dates
This is not a small point. Upper Egypt in July is genuinely dangerous heat for anybody who is not used to it, and the temples are not air conditioned.
October to April is the season. December and January are busy and pleasant. May is the edge. June to September is for the Red Sea coast and not for standing in the Valley of the Kings at midday, whatever the price difference suggests.
If you are travelling with elderly parents or with young children, we will decline to book you into Luxor in August and tell you why.
Is there a visa on arrival for Egypt?
Arrangements exist for some nationalities and change, and a Pakistani passport should not be boarding a flight on an assumption about them. Confirm it before you fly. We confirm it for your specific passport rather than in general.
I am taking the cruise from Jeddah. Does that change things?
Yes, and that is why it is worth asking early. A cruise calling at Egyptian ports raises its own questions, and whether you need Egyptian permission can depend on whether you leave the ship. Send us the sailing and we will work the whole list out before you pay a deposit.
Is halal food an issue?
No. Egypt is a Muslim-majority country and it is not something you will need to arrange.
Is it safe?
The tourist regions are heavily managed and have their own security arrangements, and the practical answer for a family on an organised itinerary is that it is a well-trodden trip. We book established operators on the ground rather than the cheapest, and we will tell you plainly if anything about your dates or route gives us pause.
Before you pay anything
Egyptian entry arrangements change and differ by nationality and by route. We confirm the current position for your passport and your arrival route before anything is booked rather than trusting any list, including this one.
Send us the passports and say whether you are arriving by air or by sea. That one answer changes the rest of it.