Cairo (CAI) Airport Guide 2026 — Terminals, Visa on Arrival & Getting into the City

Cairo (CAI) — The Complete 2026 Airport Guide

Cairo is the busiest airport in Africa, and it throws two decisions at you before you’ve even reached passport control. Buy your visa as a sticker at the bank kiosk before you join the immigration line — not after — and get an Uber or Careem instead of trusting the first man who calls you “my friend” at arrivals. Do those two things and Cairo is easy. Miss them and you’ll queue twice and overpay for the taxi.

Last verified: July 2026. Egypt’s visa fees, exchange rate and terminal assignments move often — confirm the specifics on your ticket and at the airport before you rely on any single number here.

Quick reference

The arrivals move nobody tells you: buy the visa sticker first

Here is the single tip that saves the most grief at Cairo. If you’re getting your visa on arrival, you do not pay the immigration officer. You buy a physical visa sticker at one of the bank kiosks in the arrivals hall — they’re clearly marked, run by Egyptian banks, and sit before the passport-control desks. You hand over the fee in cash, they give you the sticker, you press it into your passport, and only then do you join the immigration queue.

Travellers who walk straight to passport control get turned around and sent back to the kiosk, losing their place in line. So the order is: bank kiosk → sticker → immigration. Bring the fee in US dollars cash — the kiosks want hard currency and don’t reliably take cards, and you don’t want to be hunting for an ATM with your bags at 2am.

Terminals: T3 is the one you want, and it’s not always where you think

Cairo has three passenger terminals, and the cleanest rule is the one about Terminal 3: it’s the modern flagship, roughly the size of the other two combined, and it’s the hub for EgyptAir and its Star Alliance partners — Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Turkish, United and the rest. If you’re on EgyptAir or a Star Alliance long-haul, you’re almost certainly in T3.

The other two are where guides — and the airport’s own signage — get muddier, so treat this as a guide, not gospel:

• Terminal 1 is the original, oldest building. It handles a broad mix of international carriers, including many Gulf and African airlines and charter operators. It’s functional but dated.
• Terminal 2 was gutted and rebuilt, reopening in 2016. It handles a shifting mix of international carriers and some EgyptAir domestic flights. Different sources place different airlines here, which is exactly why you should check.

Getting between terminals — and the transfer trap

A free, air-conditioned Automated People Mover (APM) — a small driverless train — links Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 (plus the car park and Air Mall). It runs 24/7, every 7–10 minutes, and end-to-end takes only about five minutes. For arriving passengers and anyone moving landside between terminals, it’s genuinely quick and costs nothing.

The trap is airside transit. If you’re connecting airside without entering Egypt, do not assume you can simply hop the public APM between terminals — that train runs through the public (landside) area. Airside terminal-to-terminal transfers are handled separately, through a transfer desk and, historically, a bus, at the discretion of immigration staff, and travellers have reported it being slow and disorganised. An airside connecting corridor between T2 and T3 has more recently been built, which helps, but the picture still varies. The honest advice: find the transfer desk, show both boarding passes, and budget extra time if your itinerary changes terminals.

Getting into Cairo

Cairo Airport is only about 15–20 km from the city centre — closer than most big hubs — but Cairo’s traffic is the great equaliser, so plan by conditions, not distance. Prices below are approximate and the Egyptian pound is volatile; at the July 2026 rate of roughly 49–50 EGP to the US dollar, the conversions work out as follows.

Use Uber or Careem — and ignore the “my friend” at arrivals

The best-value, least-stressful way into town is a ride-hailing app. Uber and Careem both work very well in Cairo, quote a fixed price in the app before you accept, and remove the negotiation entirely. Careem (the local favourite, owned by Uber) is worth having installed as a backup. Follow the app’s pickup instructions — at busy times the designated ride-hail pickup point may be a short walk from the terminal door, and drivers will message you.

What about the train?

There is no useful direct rail link into the airport yet. Cairo has been building fast — the Metro, the new Monorail lines and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) all expanded through 2026 — but the shiny LRT and Monorail serve the New Administrative Capital and 6th of October City, not Cairo Airport’s terminals. The nearest heavy rail is Metro Line 3, which terminates at Adly Mansour a few kilometres from the airport, where a bus-rapid-transit shuttle links to the terminals. It’s cheap and workable for light travellers, but with luggage the Uber is simply easier. Don’t plan on stepping off a plane and onto an airport train — that day hasn’t arrived at CAI.

Entry: visa, e-Visa and passport rules

Most travellers from Europe, North America and Australasia need a visa for Egypt. You have two clean routes, and no EES or ETIAS to worry about — those are EU systems and Egypt is not in the EU.

• e-Visa (recommended for a smooth arrival). Apply in advance on the official government portal, visa2egypt.gov.eg. You create an account, upload a passport photo, pay by card, and approval typically lands in about 1–3 days. Print it or save it and you reach immigration already cleared. Use only the official .gov.eg site — there are many lookalike sites that charge a markup.
• Visa on arrival. Available to most Western nationalities at Cairo. Buy the sticker at a bank kiosk in the arrivals hall before the immigration desks (see the top of this guide), in US dollars cash. It was long US$25 and was reportedly raised to around US$30 in 2026 — carry a little extra and confirm at the kiosk. A standard tourist visa is a single entry valid for 30 days.
• Passport validity: at least six months beyond your arrival date, with a blank page for the sticker.

One more nuance worth knowing: if you’re only visiting the Sinai coast (Sharm El-Sheikh, Dahab) you may qualify for a free “Sinai-only” entry stamp — but that does not apply if you’re landing at Cairo to see the pyramids and the Nile. For a Cairo trip, get a full visa.

Lounges

Terminal 3 is where the good lounges live. EgyptAir operates three Star Alliance business lounges in T3 — commonly listed as the Gienah, Alioth and Almeisan lounges, most open around the clock. They’re open to EgyptAir and Star Alliance business-class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members flying a Star Alliance flight that day. They are not a walk-in or a straightforward Priority Pass product.

For everyone else — economy passengers, or those with a lounge membership — Cairo has Priority Pass options across the terminals, including a Plaza Premium-operated lounge and select EgyptAir-operated lounges that participate in the scheme, plus pay-at-the-door access at some. Access rules and which specific lounges accept Priority Pass change, so check the current listing in your Priority Pass app on the day rather than trusting an old screenshot.

Connections and minimum times

For an international-to-international transfer that stays within Terminal 3 on EgyptAir or a Star Alliance partner, the published minimum connecting time is around 90 minutes, and in practice it’s smooth: you clear a transfer desk with your passport and onward boarding pass — often 5–20 minutes — and go straight to the departure area without re-entering the country or clearing full security.

Treat 90 minutes as a floor, not a target. Cairo’s transfer desks can back up, and if your itinerary changes terminals, add serious padding — the airside cross-terminal transfer is the slow, variable part of this airport (see the terminals section). For a self-connection on separate tickets, or any change between T1/T2 and T3, give yourself at least two hours and preferably more, and collect and re-check your bags landside.

Food, money and Wi-Fi

Food: Terminal 3 has the widest choice — a mix of international chains and Egyptian quick-service outlets airside, with cafés and casual restaurants through the concourses. T1 and T2 are more basic. Nothing here is a destination meal; eat before you fly if you can, and expect airport mark-ups on everything.

Money: use a bank ATM in the terminal rather than the exchange booths for the better rate, and if an ATM or card machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline it and choose Egyptian pounds — “dynamic currency conversion” quietly costs you a few percent. Keep some US dollars in cash for the visa and small tips; keep small EGP notes for taxis and porters.

SIM & Wi-Fi: free airport Wi-Fi is available but can be patchy and time-limited. If you want reliable data on landing, buy a local prepaid SIM (Vodafone, Orange, Etisalat/e& and WE have kiosks in arrivals; bring your passport) or arrange an eSIM before you fly — the least-hassle option, and it means Uber and maps work the moment you land.

The bigger picture: Sphinx and the new airports

Cairo’s air traffic is spreading out. West of the city, near the Giza pyramids, Sphinx International Airport (SPX) has grown into a real secondary gateway — smaller, faster through immigration, and handy if you’re heading straight for the pyramids rather than into central Cairo. A handful of international carriers have added SPX service. Separately, a large new airport serves the New Administrative Capital east of the city. None of this changes CAI’s role as Egypt’s main hub, but if you’re booking, it’s worth a glance at whether your flight actually lands at CAI or at SPX — they’re on opposite sides of a very large, very congested city.

Frequently asked questions

At a glance

Before you fly

• 📊 Check what a good fare to Cairo looks like — our price-check tool shows the typical deal range so you know a bargain when you see one.
• 🧳 Baggage checker — confirm your airline’s carry-on and checked allowance before you pack.
• 🏙️ Cairo city guide — where to stay, what to see and how to handle the city once you’re through the airport.
• 🌍 Egypt travel guide — best time to go, the visa in more depth, and how to get around the country.