From Egypt to Israel and back via Taba: quick report

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jjita
jjita

Hi everybody

This might be of help for people wanting to travel between Israel (Tel Aviv) and Egypt (Cairo) via Taba, based on my experience (end of December 2011).

From Egypt (Cairo):
- 2 bus during the day (70 EG per person) and 1 in the night, at 11.30 pm (90 EG per person). They take usually around 7 hours but it depends on the road and especially on the traffic/checkpoints at Suez. They leave from the Turgoman (Cairo Getaway), but they also stop in two other stations before leaving the city. Buy the ticket in advance to be extra safe.
- At the border you are required to buy a stamp for 2 pounds.
- Rentry visa stamps are available at the border. Usual prices (51,60 EG single entry, 61,60 EG multiple entry). Interestingly enough, at the Mogamma the multi entry stamp was not available.
- Israeli side, no entry taxes. Usual checks, in a very relaxed mood I have to say. Same advice as usual, be truthful in your answers.
- The Egged bus to the Eilat Bus Station leaves at half hour, one per hour (ie 12.30). If I am not mistaken is around 10 NIS.
- Buses to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem tend to be full. I had to wait for the later bus and other travellers did the same. Have to figure out how to buy tickets from abroad. To Tel Aviv is 75 NIS and it takes forever (5 hours more or less).

From Israel (Tel Aviv):
- on the Egged website all the timetables are available. I bought the ticket in advance, but this time the bus was half empty (maybe because of the date?).
- the bus from the Eilat Bus Station to Taba is number 15 and leaves from the last platform inside the station. If you don't want to wait, go outside and flag down a taxi. With the meter, it was around 40 NIS.
- At the Israeli side, the exit tax is 103 NIS.
- At the Egyptian side, there is no tax... but you will need to pay 75 EG when leaving Taba on your bus/shared taxi/whatever.
- Officially at the Egyptian border visas are issued only for the Sinai. However I met some travellers who arrived without visa and bought them on the spot (paying more of course) through a "travel agent".
- At this moment, there are few travellers coming to Egypt. Finding enough people to fill a minibus to Cairo is difficult, a shared taxi is more likely to get 4 people for 100 EG each. Last bus to Cairo is at 4.30 pm.

JJ

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laketraveller
laketraveller

Good information.

As you have reported, officially one is not supposed to be able to secure an all Egypt visa at the Taba border crossing but multiple reports all say you now can get one. Perhaps with the drop in tourists they are issuing them since they don't get too many requests. If things pick up again though they may stop without notice.

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craigt3365
craigt3365

If you can't get an "all" Egypt visa at the Taba crossing, can you get it elsewhere in the Sinai?

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laketraveller
laketraveller

I believe you can get one at the government offices in Sharm.

There may be other places as well, but I'm pretty sure about that one.

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afz
afz

It's always been possible to get a full Egyptian visa at Taba by making prior arrangements with a tour guide to meet you at the crossing. If you haven't done this but a tour guide happens to be there helping someone else when you cross, he can usually help you too, for a price. It's never been possible to get a full visa at the crossing independently without an intermediary, and I don't believe this has changed recently. You can get a visa, however, at the Egyptian consulate in Eilat in about 30 minutes, and I think you can also convert a Sinai pass to a visa in Sharm al-Sheikh as mentioned above.

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laketraveller
laketraveller

afz - your information unfortunately is incorrect.

Last spring I met two people in Eilat, both were heading to Cairo, neither had an Egyptian visa. One had a Brazilian passport the other was from Russia. We all entered immigration hall together. I got right through since I already had my visa. It took two hours, but each of them were issued an all Egypt visa in immigration hall. While I was waiting for them I met a woman from the US who had also been issued an all Egypt visa at the border crossing.

Over the last several months there have multiple reports on this branch of independent travellers being issued an all Egypt visa at the Taba border crossing. I doubt they were all lying.

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craigt3365
craigt3365

Just did the crossing. No tourists. Waited over 1 hour to find a few other travelers for the shared taxi, 100EP PP to Dahab. NO negotiation. 2 gals were Arabs and argued for 30 minutes with no luck to reduce the price.

Not able to get an all Egypt visa. Was told to get one in Sharm. Bummer.

It's dead here. Very few tourists and the road to Cairo via Taba is closed.

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jamiesayswhatt
jamiesayswhatt

I am getting ready to do this trip in a few weeks. I want to go from Tel Aviv to Eilat, Eilat to Egypt (Cairo or Alexandria),then Egypt to Petra, and finally back to Israel. I'm not sure if I should do it in a different order, but I have to leave from Tel Aviv, and return to Tel Aviv. HELP?! please!

Also, does anyone know if I can get the Israel-Egypt visa before I leave the US? like at the consulate?

Edited by: jamieSAYSwhatt

Edited by: jamieSAYSwhatt

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jjita
jjita

Please check the travel advice of your emabssy for the Sinai.
In the past few months there have been some unfortunate cases of tourists kidnapped by Bedouin tribes.
Last time I checked, lots of Western embassies were discouraging all land travel from the Sinai to Cairo and back.

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laketraveller
laketraveller

Yes, you can get an Egyptian visa prior to your trip. I received mine from the consulate in Chicago. If you're starting your trip in Egypt there is no need as you can get one at the airport for the same price. If you're arriving in Egypt by crossing the overland border at Taba then you will want to get one in the US prior to your trip (you can also get one in TA or Eilat, but it's easier just to get it in the US).

While jjita is technically correct, I believe the above post is overly alarmist. As a percentage of tourists traveling through the region, the number of incidents of tourist kidnappings are very, very low. Your odds of being killed in a traffic accident are much higher.

Good luck.

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