Explore Egypt in Africa - Egypt Tourism Info

Description and Basic Information

Egypt with its capital Cairo is located in Africa (Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea). It covers some 1,001,451 square kilometres (slightly more than three times the size of New Mexico) with 81,713,000 citizens. Arabic, English and French are the official languages spoken in Egypt (consider regional differences). Libya, Sudan and Israel are bordering countries.

Egypt is in north-eastern Africa. Egypt is perhaps best known as the home of the ancient Egyptian civilization, with its temples, hieroglyphs, mummies, and pyramids. It is probably one of the most popular tourist destinations world-wide. Tourist attractions include Roman and Greek monuments, Bibliotheca Alexandria, Qa'edbay's Castle, and Qasr El Montaza (El Montaza Palace). Egypt can be a fantastic place to sample a unique range of food: not too spicy and well-flavoured with herbs. There is a full range of accommodation options, from basic backpacker hostels to five-star resorts. Egypt is a predominanty Muslim nation and alcoholic drinks are religiously forbidden (haram) - though not legally. Egypt is generally a safe and friendly country to travel. Egyptians on the whole are very friendly - if you are in need of assistance they will generally try to help you as much as they are able. Pickpocketing is a problem in Egypt's bigger cities, particularly Cairo. Many locals opt not to carry wallets at all, instead keeping their money in a clip in their pocket. Egypt is largely a desert, an extension of the great Sahara that bands North Africa. Save for the thin strip of watered land along the Nile River, very little could survive here.

Pictures from Cairo (Capital)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Egypt

The topography features vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley and delta. The average density of population is about 81 per km². The climate in can be described as desert with hot, dry summers with moderate winters. Potential natural disasters are periodic droughts or frequent earthquakes, flash floods, landslides, hot, driving windstorm called khamsin occurs in spring, dust storms or sandstorms.

To reach someone in Egypt dial +20 prior to a number. There are 10,313,000 installed telephones. And there are 55,352,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".eg". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 220V - 50Hz.

The country consists of 30 regions/states which are listed below.

Regions/States of Egypt

Egypt Tourism Information

Unesco World Heritage Properties

Egypt has 2 more world heritage locations. To see all of them, visit the Egypt Unesco Heritage location overview.

Abu Mena

The church, baptistry, basilicas, public buildings, streets, monasteries, houses and workshops in this early Christian holy city were built over the tomb of the martyr Menas of Alexandria, who died...

Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis

Thebes, the city of the god Amon, was the capital of Egypt during the period of the Middle and New Kingdoms. With the temples and palaces at Karnak and Luxor, and the necropolises of the Valley of...

Historic Cairo

Tucked away amid the modern urban area of Cairo lies one of the world's oldest Islamic cities, with its famous mosques, madrasas, hammams and fountains. Founded in the 10th century, it became the...

Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur

The capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt has some extraordinary funerary monuments, including rock tombs, ornate mastabas, temples and pyramids. In ancient times, the site was considered one of the...

Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae

This outstanding archaeological area contains such magnificent monuments as the Temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel and the Sanctuary of Isis at Philae, which were saved from the rising waters of...

Demographic Information

Age Distribution in Egypt

Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Natural Population Growth

Population, Migration and Growth: The population in Egypt is growing at an rate of 2% (or by 1,606,219 citizens). Each year 16,899 people leave this country (or 0.20 per thousand citizens) - making it an emmigration country. This leads to an absolute natural increase rate of the population of 2.02%. Or an total increase of 1,623,118 citizens.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.