1

You should read news reports carefully. The situation changes on a daily basis. You should also check with your embassy. Every embassy has a website and you can find information and travel warnings easily.

For example, the Canadian embassy in Egypt is telling Canadians to avoid all but essential travel in Egypt and is telling them to avoid all travel in the Sinai.

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=79000

You need to do your own research and please read this before my fellow Thorn Tree-ers complain to the mods that I am bigoted or anti-Islamic and have this post deleted.

2

"...however I am afraid..."
Stay home, then.

3

Several contributors here, including myself, are currently in Egypt. There are also one or two people posting here who have recently visited the country. Maybe you could give a clearer idea of what you want to do?

As Molsons says, you can check the travel advice provided by various foreignministries on the internet. As he has provided you with a link to the official travel advice of his country of origin, I will do the same:
http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=8542
Irish Department of Affairs recommends that you exercise caution. This is the second-lowest category of warning, and the same level of advice as applies to Morocco, Jordan, Turkey, China and Japan. It is therefore categorised as safer than, say, Mexico, where the advice is to "exercise extreme caution".

You could also easily check the travel advice for France:
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/conseils-aux-voyageurs/conseils-par-pays/egypte-12239/
This says that "Les séjours dans les grands centres touristiques (Le Caire, Alexandrie, Assouan, Louxor, la Mer Rouge, Charm el Cheikh, Dahab, Taba) ne posent pas de problème. Les déplacements par avion doivent être systématiquement privilégiés, en particulier dans le Sinaï où l’insécurité est devenue endémique. Des cas d’enlèvements crapuleux y ont été signalés à plusieurs reprises récemment. Il convient donc d’éviter tout déplacement routier à l’intérieur de la péninsule du Sinaï, y compris vers le monastère Sainte-Catherine. De manière générale, les déplacements routiers sur des longues distances sont déconseillés. Les déplacements non-professionnels sont formellement déconseillés dans le Nord-Sinaï et le long de la frontière libyenne."

4

Sigh. Egypt is still very safe. There are so many people afraid of travelling when they shouldn't be. The travel advice from the foriegn office is worth taking note of, as long as CAUTION doesn't become FEAR. The travel advice is often over the top, even the UK had the highest level of alert until relatively recently.

Remember as well that Egypt is well known for being very heavy security orientated toward travellers and tourists, because it knows it's economy is dependent on tourism, so they want to be seen to be doing a lot.

The best advice is to stay up to date with info, stay away from political rallys/demos/etc, and still travel and see the places you want to go to.

5

their are so many threads on this topic of safety, why do we have to open another thread, unless you start throwing bricks at the security forces, you will be perfectly safe. I am now 600 metres (as the crow flies/1 KM walk) from Tahrir Squ, so believe me. I have never seen a country with so many police. And if you stick to the main tourist places, even safer. In the past 2 weeks I have walked 100 KM around the back streets of this city, even their I get "Welcome to Egypt".

6

Exactly roskruge, well said.

7

#8 - yes, it turns out not to mean "crapulous" after all!

8

No, "crooked," seemingly.

9

"Villainous" or "dissolute" according to my dictionary, which is kind enough to add a warning that "crapuleux ne se traduit pas par crapulous, qui a le sens de 'ivre'".

It also notes: "crime crapuleux" as "foul crime".

Anyone for aubergines?

10

Also a summary of the UK foreign office advice is -
"no travel restrictions"

And they explain what they mean by this category -
"When we say this we mean that we are not advising against all, or all but essential travel to the whole, or to part(s) of the country. It does not mean that there are no risks associated with travel, but that the threshold at which we would advise against all or all but essential travel has not been reached."

They have five categories, the lowest being no restrictions, then, avoid all but essential travel to certain parts of the country, then avoid all but essential travel, then avoid all travel to certain parts and the highest is avoid all travel to the country.
Hence the UK feels there is a minimal risk excepting certain circumstances.
I presume the Canadian advice is geared towards covering their own arses.

11

The Torygraph even sent a journo out to do a holiday piece...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/9089094/Egypt-cruise-Alone-on-the-Nile.html

12

Egypt is quiet. no news about political situation, but at many sites talk about Egypt, all people were happy in their trips, so go through your dream to visit Egypt its a very wonderful country

13

Thank you to everyone who answered this post. I realize some people are tired of the "Is Egypt safe?" threads but remember the Western media is strong and monopolizing. Some people need the reassurance of others who have been to Egypt recently that it is in fact safe. Happy (and safe) travels!!

14

Yes, mainland Egypt is safe for travellers, and there are tourists visiting the main towns and sites as we speak.

The only part of Egypt which you should monitor carefully is Sinai. There were a few tourists retained by Bedouin tribes in the past few weeks, as a way of pressuring the central governenment to provide the services or jobs that Mubarak never provided to the Bedouins despite the flow of revenues in tourism coming from Sinai. Tourists were all released quickly but check with your embassy what they say.

In the rest of Egypt, as long as you don't mix with huge crowds of protesters, you'll be perfectly fine. The only problem encountered by foreigners are linked to NGO activity - the military regime harasses foreigners working for human rights NGOs or foreigners who're seen attending protests. As long as you stay away from NGOs and protests, you'll be fine.

The only real difference with the Mubarak era is an increase in pettu crime such as handbag snatching or pickpocketing. Make sure you take a backpack with you, not a bag hanging on only one arm, and keep an eye on your stuff as you would in Western Europe.