Do you need a visa for a Cairo layover?

If you stay airside

Changing planes at Cairo International Airport (CAI) on one ticket, you normally stay in the transit area, never meet Egyptian passport control and need no visa.

• Changing terminals. Cairo has three terminals, and a free driverless train, the Automated People Mover, links them in 5 minutes at most. It has an airside side for connecting passengers, so moving between terminals doesn’t take you through the border. It runs 18 hours a day, so if it’s shut when you need it, ask your airline’s transfer staff.
• Check your connection. Before you fly, ask your airline to confirm that your connection keeps you airside and that your bags go through. If it can’t, plan as though you’ll pass the border, which means a visa.
• A domestic connection, such as on to Luxor or Aswan, means entering Egypt in Cairo, so you need a visa.
• Rest. There are no rooms past passport control, only lounges: see at the airport.

If you want to leave the airport

Leaving the airport means entering Egypt, so you need a visa, even for a few hours. Most Western passports can buy one at the airport.

Passport	What you need to leave Cairo airport
US, Canada, Australia	Visa on arrival, about US$30 to US$36, or the US$30 e-Visa before you fly
UK	Visa on arrival, about US$30 to US$36, or the US$30 e-Visa before you fly
EU and Schengen countries	Most: visa on arrival or the e-Visa. If you’re unsure about yours, get the e-Visa
India	The e-Visa, applied for before you fly; check with your airline. Don’t count on a visa on arrival

Whichever you choose, your passport must be valid for at least 6 months from the day you arrive, with at least one blank page.

Visa on arrival

The kiosks selling visas are in the arrivals hall, before the passport desks, so you buy the visa first and then join the passport queue.

• The price. About US$30 to US$36. Egypt has been changing how it sells these visas: some travellers are offered a printed visa paid in US dollars cash, others a digital visa paid by card at a self-service machine. Carry at least US$30 in clean US dollar notes and a card that works abroad, and you’re covered either way.
• What you get. A single entry, valid for up to 30 days, far longer than any layover.
• Before you board. Your airline may check that you can enter Egypt before it lets you on the plane, so have your onward booking to hand.

The e-Visa

Egypt’s official e-Visa portal, visa2egypt.gov.eg, sells the visa online before you travel, paid by card.

• The price. US$30 for a single entry, US$65 for multiple entries. Apply only on the official portal, whose address ends in gov.eg.
• When. Apply at least 7 days before you fly. No processing time is published, so apply earlier if you can.
• Why bother. With the e-Visa printed or on your phone, you skip the kiosk and go straight to the passport queue, which can save a good part of the 75 minutes this guide allows from landing to sitting in a car.

Indian passports

India is on the e-Visa portal’s list of nationalities. Apply for the e-Visa at least 7 days before you fly, and check with your airline that it will carry you on it. Don’t plan on buying a visa on arrival instead.

If you’re on separate tickets

Booked two separate flights? Then you aren’t a connecting passenger at Cairo. You pass the border, collect your bags and check in again, so you need a visa even if you never leave the terminal. Allow time for the visa kiosk, the passport queue, bag reclaim and check-in on top of the connection, and if your second flight leaves from another terminal, take the people mover on the public side.

EgyptAir: a free hotel, and maybe a free visa

EgyptAir is the one airline at Cairo with its own layover schemes. Neither is guaranteed, so treat both as a bonus, not a plan.

• A free hotel. On one EgyptAir ticket between two international flights, with a connection of 8 hours or more in economy, or 6 in business or in economy booking class Y or B (your airline can tell you yours), EgyptAir may give you a hotel room, meals and transport, for up to 24 hours. It applies only when no earlier connection was available, not to separate tickets or fares discounted by half or more, and only if the transfer desk has rooms. Ask at the EgyptAir transfer desk when you land. The room doesn’t get you into Egypt: you still need a visa.
• A free transit visa. In 2023 EgyptAir announced a free transit visa for its passengers staying 8 to 96 hours, from its Transit Office at Cairo airport, for nationalities that can get a visa on arrival. No current EgyptAir page repeats the offer, so ask at the Transit Office, but carry the money for a visa on arrival in case.

At the border

The arrivals hall has two queues for a visitor without an e-Visa: the visa kiosk, then the passport desk. The airport publishes no queue times, so this guide allows about 75 minutes from landing to sitting in a car, with your bags if you have any.

• Fast Track. The airport’s Ahlan service sells a fast track through the border, booked at least 48 hours ahead: meet and assist for non-Egyptians costs US$110 and the VIP service US$220. It’s worth it only if the border is your worry on a tight layover.
• Money. The arrivals halls have banks, cash machines and exchange desks, before and after passport control, so you can change money for the visa there if you need to.
• If it’s slow. A long queue shortens your time in town; the time you must head back to the airport stays the same.

Before you go landside

• Check with your airline that your bags are checked through to your final destination, so you leave with your cabin bag only.
• Read your departure terminal off your ticket or the airport’s flight board: it may not be the one you land at.
• Carry US dollars for the visa and some Egyptian pounds for the ride and tickets.
• Plan to be back at the airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass. See getting into the city.