Traveling to Egypt is an adventure packed with history, breathtaking landscapes, and vibrant culture, but ensuring you have the best travel insurance for Egypt is just as important as packing your passport. As a seasoned traveler and researcher, I’ve explored the policies that offer the best medical coverage, trip protection, and emergency assistance for your journey to this bucket-list destination.
Egypt’s stunning sites—from the Pyramids of Giza to the Red Sea resorts—come with unique travel risks, including unexpected flight cancellations, lost luggage, and medical emergencies. A solid Egypt travel insurance policy should include high medical coverage limits, evacuation for desert or diving accidents, and trip interruption protection in case of political unrest or natural disasters.
Many travelers don’t realize that standard health insurance often doesn’t cover medical expenses abroad. Without proper emergency medical coverage, a hospital visit in Egypt could cost thousands of dollars out of pocket. Plus, if you plan on scuba diving in the Red Sea or taking a Nile River cruise, you’ll want a policy that includes adventure sports coverage.
I’ve compared top travel insurance providers for their affordability, coverage, and claim reliability to help you make the best choice. Whether you need single-trip insurance or an annual travel policy, I’ll guide you to the best plan for a stress-free trip to Egypt.
Best Travel Insurance for Egypt
How to choose travel insurance for Egypt? What factors should we look at? Which company is the best? There are so many types of insurance that sometimes we don't know how to compare them and which one to choose.
But before that, you must first analyze the type of trip you have in mind, the activities you are going to book and the places you are going to visit. Because a fundamental factor in choosing one insurance or another is precisely the travel style . We will talk about all of this in this article.
We have travelled to Egypt twice and luckily we never had to use the insurance (but we have in other places, see ). The truth is that it is an extraordinary country, one of those destinations that travel lovers should visit (at least) once. And yes, it can be overwhelming at times, but it all falls short when you think of its temples , the pyramids , the Nile cruise and all its treasures . It is also one of the few places where being a mummy is a good thing.
So no one wants a setback to ruin one of the best travel experiences of their life. Are you still considering taking out insurance? Keep reading…
Why buy travel insurance for Egypt?
The short answer is yes. But if you want the middle ground, here it goes: where the body is, there is danger, and *knock on wood* in the hypothetical case that something happens, it will be a relief (moral and economic) to have good travel insurance.
The health facilities in Egypt do not have the infrastructure of European countries, but they are prepared to deal with emergencies, minor ailments and simple treatments. For more serious cases (we now caress the tree more than just touch wood), the solution is probably to return to Spain. Both for these cases and for treatments there, the costs are usually high , so in this case it is advisable to take out insurance. Here you have some more information .
It's always a good idea to have your back covered in case of accidents, lost luggage, poisoning or any other emergency. And although there are ways to make a trip cheaper , it's better to do it elsewhere than to do without travel insurance, for example by eating in street restaurants, choosing a cheaper travel package, opting for cheap hostels, etc.
Is travel insurance mandatory for Egypt?
It is NOT mandatory , although it should be noted that since the arrival of Covid-19, many destinations require travel insurance with Covid-19 coverage in order to enter. But going one step further, and imagining that soon *hopefully* Covid will only be a bad memory, you should never travel without insurance… Both for Egypt and for the North Pole. We think it is something as basic as taking your suitcase on a trip.
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Best travel insurance for Egypt: IATI Backpacker
The company we have always recommended since we started travelling is IATI. In case you still don't know them (you're weird) it is a brokerage with more than 100 years of history that today offers the most complete and most valued travel insurance on the market.
So we can say loudly that the best travel insurance for Egypt is IATI, specifically IATI Backpacker. Why? Basically because it covers accidents during hot air ballooning, snorkelling or diving activities , among many others.
These are the most important coverages of this insurance:
IATI Backpacker travel insurance coverage
In addition to the other classic coverages that all IATI insurance policies have, these that we detail are especially interesting to be well insured on a trip to Egypt:
- Health care with a limit of €500,000 .
- Adventure sports coverage : including diving up to 40 metres (other companies cover up to 20 metres at most) and a host of adventure sports and risky experiences (trekking and hiking routes, hot air ballooning, snorkelling, surfing, etc.).
- You will be covered in case of search and rescue with a limit of €15,000.
- Covid-19 coverage : PCR, assistance, hospitalization, quarantine expenses, repatriation, etc.
- Repatriation in case of emergency and early return.
- Includes loss of luggage and theft, as well as delays in transportation and luggage.
- Medical and hospital expenses following a hypothetical road accident .
- It is an insurance without deductible and you will not have to pay money in advance.
- Free assistance in your language (24 hours a day).
- Option to purchase travel cancellation insurance .
Considering that two of the best things to do in Egypt will be hot air ballooning in Luxor and snorkelling or diving in the Red Sea, the choice is clear. These coverages are not usually included in other companies or in IATI's more basic insurances. However, if you do not consider these plans, the IATI Standard insurance could be enough.
So just stumble down the street, sprain your ankle, land on a rooftop with a half-popped balloon, eat a dish of dubious origin... No problem, you're insured. No, don't do it, I'M JOKING!!
Is special insurance required for Nile cruise?
For a cruise trip, it is usually necessary to take out a supplement or special insurance, but in this case, since it is a river cruise , it is enough to have coverage for the boat trips.
In the case of IATI, you would be covered by all insurances. If something happens, the procedure to deal with the emergency will be to disembark at the nearest port and be attended to by the emergency service provided by the insurance.
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Covid-19 Coverage
As we told you before, nowadays it is essential that your travel insurance for Egypt (and many other destinations) has Covid-19 coverage. All IATI insurances include these guarantees:
- Medical assistance for Covid-19 (without special limits)
- Expenses for carrying out the different tests to detect the virus (PCR, serological, etc.).
- Expenses related to extending the stay in case of quarantine.
- Repatriation in case you need to return home or miss your return flight.
- Flight costs if borders are closed in your country of residence.
- Early return in case of border closure or state of alarm at origin or destination
Cancellation guarantee
When taking out the insurance, you have the option of adding cancellation guarantees with which you are guaranteed compensation of €1,500, €2,000 or up to €5,000 (depending on the insurance) in the event that, due to various circumstances (including testing positive for Covid-19), you have to cancel the trip before it begins. It is important that no more than a week has passed since you bought your plane tickets or booked the trip and took out the insurance.
The price of the supplement depends on the type of insurance, for example for a 2-week IATI Backpacker to Egypt that costs about €37, the supplement will be about €7 extra . In short, it's worth it.
Comparison with other insurances
Although IATI Mochilero is the one we recommend as the best travel insurance for Egypt, there are other very complete ones that may be better suited to your situation. Below is a summary table with a comparison of their coverages:
IATI Backpacker | IATI Standard | IATI Star | |
---|---|---|---|
Medical Assistance | 500.000€ | €500,000 (€300,000 in Europe) | Up to €4,800,000 |
Adventure sport | YES (balloon, snorkel and diving) | NO | YES (balloon, snorkel and diving) |
Theft and damage to luggage | €1,500 (+€100 theft) | 1.000€ | €2,500 (+€100 theft) |
Delays | Luggage (300€) and transportation (270€) | Luggage (120€) and transportation (180€) | Luggage (300€) and transportation (300€) + unused vacation |
Repatriation | Traveler and companion, + early return | Traveler and companion | Traveler and companion, + early return |
Search and rescue | 15.000€ | NO | NO |
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Price of travel insurance for Egypt
You're dreading the moment of truth. It's here. How much does travel insurance for Egypt cost? You can relax because the investment won't be significant, especially if we consider the expenses you can save in case of emergency.
We show you the price of the 4 insurances compared above (with the 5% discount applied), for trips of 1, 2 and 3 weeks, without the cancellation fee:
IATI Backpacker | IATI Standard | IATI Star | |
---|---|---|---|
1 week | 27€ | 19€ | 37€ |
2 weeks | 43€ | 31€ | 55€ |
3 weeks | 60€ | 43€ | 73€ |
If you travel as a couple or in a group, you can add other people to the same policy and the final price will increase accordingly. Obviously, each person will have the same coverage, limits, etc.
IATI Annual Multitrip
If you are looking for travel insurance that covers you for several months, the IATI Annual Multi-Trip is the one we always recommend for travel enthusiasts (like us), who don't stay at home for too long and are constantly planning a new adventure. The insurance covers all trips of a maximum duration of 90 days for a whole year .
Overall, it is a very comprehensive insurance, with a limit of €300,000 for medical assistance, 100% repatriation, damage to luggage, transport delays, and even coverage for the most common adventure sports (with search and rescue up to a limit of €3,000). Although if you go diving, you will have to add an extension of coverage for a small fee.
That said, we can only wish you a happy journey! Egypt is a destination that you will never forget and we are sure that you will love it. Do you already have a better idea of the best travel insurance for Egypt ? If you still have doubts, feel free to reach out.
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