Sharm El Sheikh Travel Answers

The cheapest you will be able to buy the visa at the airport is £15,usually more,it depends on who you buy it from.The travel reps,who always seem local on the air side,will charge their passengers different amounts,hand over what they need to and pocket the rest.The full visa,bought from the egyptian consulate(why would you buy one from anywhere else?) is £15 for a 6 mth single visit or £18 for a 6 mth multiple visit.To pay someone else to do it is madness as it really is so easy.All the forms are downloadable from their web site that I will put a link to at the bottom of this answer.It cost a couple of £ to send and recieve it recorder delivery and is very quick(2-3 days).And yes,the ques can be that bad.

Hi, If you decided to purchase your visa in the UK your passport is a valuable document and I would send it by special delivery. You can buy special delivery envelopes from the post office but take your passports with you as they can weigh them for the correct postage. Recorded Delivery is just treated like a normal letter plus it as to be signed for on delivery. The level off compensation was £28 max for a lost or damaged item. Special delivery the compensation starts around £500 and is the only service guaranteed next day delivery. Michael

I applied for my visa last week, you can download the visa from the Egyptian consulate web site, costs £15 or £18 for a multi entry visa, you must enclose a prepaid recorded envelope, I opted for special delivery for piece of mind, cost about £4.40, they will not accept a first class or second class. Whole process only took 3 days and will save a queue at sharm. As mr Small says "do it yourself" its very easy.

A bit concerned about posting my passports as they could disapear... I think I will join the queues at Sharm.thanks for the advice

You can of course visit them in london and get it done the same day(drop off AM,pick up early PM.Depends on where you live.

I just received an email from the Egyptian Consulate today and they advised to buy the visa at the airport in Sharm, it will cost18US or the equivalent in pounds or Euro. I am going to get36 US Dollars from the bank here prior to leaving and hopefully the queues won't be that bad. Happy Travels!

Why all this fuss????? (or fuzz) She can easily get the visa in Sharm Airport on arrival for 10 GBP a person! No need to download forms or send valuable passports by mail or special delivery. Any bank desk in Sharm Airport before passport control will sell you the visa for 15$ or the equivalent in foreign currency. That will be around 10 GBP. Don't be afraid in front that you will not have the right papers. You can buy them in Sharm upon arrival. Mr. Small!! You should know that! (And if I am wrong would you kindly make me aware of the opposite) ;-) Dora.

In Cairo there are several bank desks. I assume in Sharm there will be as well. Any bank desk will sell the visa. If you are in company, let one of you go to the best available bankdesk, while the others que for passport control. He or she can buy the visa's for all of you! When he or she got them he/she can join you in the picket line. When the picket line before passport control goes faster, just step out and que at the end of the line again. It is easy, cheap and hardly will cost you time. Dora.

Just arrived back from Sharm. We bought visas from the Airport with no trouble at all with no serious queuing. Cost was £12.00 each. We flew to Cairo on a one day trip organised by a local company called Tour Tours. Cost was £110.00 each (our travel company wanted £175.00) This included being picked up at our hotelflights, museum entry, lunch and acess to the sphynx at the pyramid site. The guide was a qualified egyptologist who was excellent. It was very well organised.

Thats great Dora if you are sure that you will not be going back to Sharm in a hurry and do not need a multiple entry visa.The very first time I went to Sharm I got ripped off for a visa(£18,did not know any better) and had to que for 45 mins for the priviledge.Yes,sometimes the ques are not that bad,but sometimes,when 4 or 5 planes land at once,as seems to be the way in Sharm,they can be horrendous,as can the ques to passport control.

Hi Tony, I've noticed you've had many replies to your question but I thought I'd drop you 1 anyway. Me and my boyfriend are travelling to Sharm for the first time in September and have already obtained our visas. Its a very fast and simple proceedure to print off the forms and send them to the embassasy in London. It costs £15 & the post office fee of about £1.50 to get a postal order and a small charge for two special delivery envelopes. We sent ours off and had them returned within 2 days - its a very good service and if you wish to go ahead with it then I advise you to mention your trip to Cario - if you just put Sharm as your port of entry they will send it back without the visa entry stamp. I take on board what Dora has said about obtaining this at the airport and appreciate that the service is probally very good, but having never been to the country and taking on board what Mr Small has said about the ques, the heat and any delays that may occur with other flight arrivals I personally think that getting it before hand is a good idea - the last thing you would want is stressed children in a busy airport in that heat. All the best and enjoy your holiday.. Jenna

Thankyou one and all for the excellent advice...I think its me thats paranoid about my passport going missing after i paid £2500 for a holiday its a risk i cannot take, If they had a embassy in Manchester that would be great and I would do as you suggest Mr Small ( excellent advice as always) and of course Dora . Cant wait to be in Egypt..regards peace&love Tony

hi tony, we just got back from sharm 2 days ago. it clearly states at the desk where you purchase the visa that the visa costs15 us dollars. so whatever the rate is at the moment, that is what you should be paying. dont pay £15, you wont get change. we stood in the line for about 20 minutes, and it was not too bad at all, seeing as there were 3 planes arrived at once from the UK, and as we had left on the 10 august, we were amongst the first flights to be hit wit the delays from the bomb threats at the UK airports. my family got the visa on arrival and we went back a few days later after we changed our minds about staying in sharm, and again the experiance was really not bad, about 15 minutes wait. i would say wait and get it at sharm if you are really worried about it.

Mr. Small, I do not have the luxury to be in need of a long term visa! I wished!!!!!! When I am going to Egypt it will be for 3 weeks at most. They ripped me of one time!! Never again! If it would benefit the people og Egypt, it would be kind of OK with me. But I dont think that is the case. When you are going to Egypt from the UK just get your visa on arrival!!!! As I told you when you aqre with more people, just let one of you take the picketline in front of the bank desk and let him or her buy the visa's. NO PROBLEM!!!! What so ever!!! We have done it many times (3). Love, Dora.

Well i just got back and the que was massive,just as well I did not need to stand in it.