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What is the best time to visit Egypt?
October to April is the best time to visit Egypt. Everything else is a heat question, because rain is not a factor anywhere: Cairo gets a handful of showers in a whole year, and Luxor sometimes gets none at all.
Egypt is two different climates. Cairo and the Delta are mild in winter, about 19°C by day in January with cold nights. Upper Egypt stays warm all winter and becomes brutal in summer.
Luxor and Aswan average about 41°C in July and August. That is why Nile cruises are a winter product and why October to April is the answer rather than a preference.
March to May brings the khamsin, a dust-laden desert wind. Cairo's all-time high of 47.8°C was set in May, not July.
Egypt Travel Packages
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Best Of Egypt Tour - 7 Nights 8 Days
Cairo(2N) → Hurghada(2N) → Aswan(3N)
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Flying Feet Adven...(4.8
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10-Day Egypt Explorer: Pyramids, Nile Cruise, Luxor & Red Sea
Cairo(3N) → Hurghada(2N) → Nile Valley(3N) → Cairo(1N)
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Probesten Tours(4.8
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Egypt Tour Package - 8 Days 7 Nights
Cairo(2N) → Hurghada(2N) → Aswan(3N)
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Cairo Package: 4 nights 5 Days
Cairo(4N)
7 Nights Egypt: Cairo Nile Cruise Hurghada Tour
Cairo(2N) → Nile River Cruise(3N) → Hurghada(2N)
Jewels of Egypt Tour Package with Flights Included
Cairo(2N) → Nile Valley(3N) → Hurghada(2N)
More about Best Time to Travel to Egypt
Peak Season in Egypt: October to April
October to April is when Egypt works. Cairo runs about 19°C to 26°C by day and Luxor sits comfortably in the twenties, which is the only window in which a full day at the temples is pleasant.
Christmas, New Year and Easter are the busiest and most expensive weeks, and Red Sea resort rates peak with them. Book Nile cruises two to three months out for December and January.
Winter in Egypt: December to February
December to February is the coolest and the busiest. Cairo averages about 19°C by day and 10°C at night, cold enough for a jacket after dark, and it takes almost all of its meagre annual rain now.
Upper Egypt stays warm by day and drops sharply at night. 22 February is one of the two Abu Simbel sun alignments, when sunrise reaches the inner sanctuary. 7 January is Coptic Christmas.
Spring and the Khamsin: March to May
March to May brings the khamsin, a hot sand-laden wind off the southern deserts. It pushes daytime temperatures over 40°C, cuts visibility with dust and drops humidity to 5% or less.
It does not blow every day, but when it does the pyramids and the Nile disappear into haze. Cairo's all-time high of 47.8°C was set in May, which tells you spring here is not a mild season. Sham el-Nessim, the spring picnic festival, follows Coptic Easter.
Summer in Egypt: June to August
June to August is the off season, and it is a heat problem rather than a rain one. Cairo averages about 35°C by day; Luxor and Aswan average about 41°C with nights that stay near 26°C.
The air is bone dry, not humid: Cairo records essentially no rain at all from May to September. Prices fall sharply. The Red Sea coast is hotter than Cairo, not cooler, so it is not the escape it sounds like.
Luxor and Aswan Are a Different Climate
Luxor gets almost no rain at all, and none in some years, making it drier than most of the Sahara. Its record high is 50°C.
In July and August it averages 41°C. If your dates are fixed in summer, the pattern operators use is temples from about six to eleven in the morning, indoors and air-conditioned through the middle of the day, and out again from four until sunset. In January it is about 7°C at night, so pack a layer even here.
Ramadan and Eid in Egypt
Both move about eleven days earlier every year, so check them against your dates. In 2026 Ramadan runs roughly 18 February to 19 March, with Eid al-Fitr around 20 to 22 March and Eid al-Adha around 27 to 30 May. In 2027 Ramadan starts on 8 February.
Sites and tourist restaurants keep running through Ramadan and many local places close or shorten hours during daylight. The evenings are the reason to come rather than avoid it. The Eid holidays themselves fill domestic transport.
Best Time to Visit Egypt by Interest
- Pyramids, Cairo and the Egyptian Museum: October to April
- Nile cruise, Luxor to Aswan: October to April
- Abu Simbel sun alignment: 22 February and 22 October
- Red Sea diving at Sharm and Hurghada: October to May, best in October
- Mediterranean coast and Alexandria: May to October
- Cairo International Film Festival: mid-November
- Cheapest, if you can take the heat: June to August
- Months to plan around: March to May, for the khamsin dust
