Short answer: of the four Egyptian mobile operators, only e& Egypt (formerly Etisalat) publishes its tourist bundles with prices on its own website. On 23 October 2026 its "Traveling to Egypt" page listed Travel 200 at 200 EGP with 7 GB, Travel 300 at 300 EGP with 12 GB, and Travel 450 at 450 EGP with 25 GB, all with local minutes, and states that all prices include tax. Vodafone Egypt's site refused our requests, so we could not read its tourist line. Orange Egypt and WE show no tourist offer on their sites. A local SIM is cheaper per gigabyte than any travel eSIM, ours included. What it costs you is time on arrival, a fixed amount of data, and a rule about your phone that tourists rarely hear about.
What each operator publishes
| Operator | Tourist offer on its own site? | Where we looked |
|---|---|---|
| e& Egypt (Etisalat) | Yes: four Travel bundles with prices | e& page Traveling to Egypt |
| Vodafone Egypt | Could not be read: the site refused our requests | web.vodafone.com.eg |
| Orange Egypt | No tourist offer on its English site | orange.eg, International and roaming only |
| WE (Telecom Egypt) | No tourist page found | te.eg, international roaming only |
We read each site on 23 October 2026. Prices you find on travel blogs for Vodafone's Tourist Line or Orange's "Holiday" line come from shop visits, often years old, and they disagree with each other. We do not repeat them. If you want one of those lines, the price is the one the shop or airport counter tells you on the day.
e& Egypt Travel bundles, as listed on its site
| Bundle | Price | Mobile internet | Local minutes | Global calls | Renewal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel 200 | 200 EGP | 7 GB | 100 | 5 | Not renewable |
| Travel 300 | 300 EGP | 12 GB | 250 | 10 | Not renewable |
| Travel 450 | 450 EGP | 25 GB | 250 | 20 | Renewable 3 times only |
| A fourth card, also named Travel 450 | 450 EGP | 40 GB | 400 | 30 | Renewable 3 times only |
Three things the page does not say. It gives no validity period, so we cannot tell you how many days each bundle lasts. It does not say whether the SIM card itself costs extra, or where the bundles are sold. And its fourth card shows 40 GB, 400 local minutes and 30 global calls under the same name and price as the 25 GB card, which looks like an error on the page; ask at the counter which one you are buying. The page also says, in its terms, that e& may change tariffs and prices after approval by the regulator.
What the bundles do well: they come with an Egyptian number and local minutes, which a data-only eSIM does not give you. If you need to call Egyptian numbers often, a driver, a guide, a restaurant, that is a real advantage. Most travellers do this on WhatsApp instead; we explain what works in WhatsApp calls in Egypt.
The phone rule: Egyptian SIM, foreign SIM
Egypt charges a fee on mobile phones brought from abroad, paid through the Telephony app. The official FAQ on telephony.gov.eg, read on 23 October 2026, answers the tourist case in two sentences. A foreign tourist can use their phone normally with a foreign SIM, with no fee. A tourist who uses an Egyptian SIM made for tourists may get a 90-day exemption, with each visit.
So with a local tourist SIM, your phone falls under the exemption system, and a stay longer than 90 days needs the phone registered and the fee paid. With a foreign SIM, the question does not arise. Our eSIM is not an Egyptian line: it is a foreign profile that uses data roaming on the Egyptian networks, which is the case the FAQ calls a foreign SIM. The same is true of the other travel eSIMs we compare on this site and of your home SIM in roaming.
We are not lawyers and the FAQ is short. If you plan to stay close to 90 days with a local SIM, read the FAQ yourself and check the Telephony app for your phone's IMEI before you go.
Local SIM or eSIM: the honest comparison
- Price per gigabyte: the local SIM wins clearly. 7 GB for 200 EGP is far below any travel eSIM sold in euros or dollars. If price per gigabyte is all that matters and you have time on arrival, buy the local SIM.
- When it works: an eSIM is installed at home and connects when the plane lands. A local SIM works once you have found the counter or the shop, queued, and had the line registered.
- Your number: a physical SIM takes the place of your home SIM, unless your phone has two slots. With an eSIM your home SIM stays in, for calls and bank text messages.
- Amount of data: the e& bundles are a fixed number of gigabytes. Our plans have no gigabyte counter: about 1 GB a day at full 4G speed, then 512 Kbps until the next day, for as many days as you bought.
- Network: a local SIM uses one operator. Our eSIM can use Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt or e& Egypt, which helps where one of them is weak.
Our prices, read on our plans page on 23 October 2026: €18.00 for 3 days, €33.00 for 7 days, €46.00 for 15 days, €86.00 for 30 days. Other eSIM sellers are compared in our comparison of Egypt eSIMs; some are cheaper than us at some lengths.
Buying a SIM at the airport
Counters in the arrivals halls are the usual place tourists buy a local SIM. We described what to expect in Cairo airport SIM kiosks or eSIM and Hurghada and Sharm airports: SIM card or eSIM. Test the data before you leave the counter. The Wi-Fi situation at each airport, if you want to buy an eSIM on the spot instead, is in free Wi-Fi at Egypt's airports.
Which one to choose
Choose a local tourist SIM if you stay a long time, use many gigabytes, need an Egyptian number for calls, and do not mind sorting it out after landing. Choose an eSIM if you want data from the runway, want to keep your own SIM in the phone, or do not want to count gigabytes. Check first that your phone takes an eSIM and is unlocked: check your model. Our plans run from 1 to 30 days and are listed here.
Sources
e& Egypt, Traveling to Egypt (bundles and terms). Telephony, official FAQ on phones brought from abroad (in Arabic). Vodafone Egypt's visitor page refused our requests; Orange Egypt's and WE's sites show no tourist offer. All read on 23 October 2026. Our own prices and terms: our plans page and FAQ, and our supplier's catalogue for the networks and the daily full-speed amount.