When to visit Egypt: the coast against the Nile valley

Egypt is a thousand kilometres from the Mediterranean to the Sudanese border, and the weather changes completely on the way. Alexandria has a winter with rain, wind and a cold sea. The Red Sea coast has no winter worth the name and no rain at all. The Nile valley has a winter that is pleasant by day and cold at night, and a summer that is a genuine obstacle. So the question is never when to visit Egypt, but when to visit the part of Egypt you have booked.

The chart below is the whole argument: three places in the same country, in the same months, sitting twenty degrees apart. Add the wind, which is the variable the numbers do not capture, and you have everything you need to pick a date.

The Red Sea: any month

The coast at Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Hurghada and Marsa Alam is comfortable all year, because the sea moderates everything. Winter days are mild and the water holds its heat; summer is hot above the water rather than in it; spring and autumn give the calmest sea and the clearest visibility. The wind is the deciding factor for any given day, and it is the reason a boat trip should never be the only thing in a holiday.

Late summer is the least expensive window on the coast, and it is genuinely good: the hotels are quiet, the diving is at its warmest, and the hours adjust themselves. Christmas and New Year are the opposite, both busy and expensive, and worth booking in the autumn if those weeks are fixed for you.

The Nile valley: October to April

Luxor and Aswan are the places where the calendar matters most, because the sites are outdoors and have almost no shade. From October to April the days are warm and walkable and the evenings are cool enough for a jacket. From June to August, Aswan averages above 41 degrees, the Valley of the Kings bakes, and an itinerary has to be built around the two cool ends of the day.

The shoulders are the prize. October and November bring the heat down without bringing the crowds; February and March offer the same weather with more wind. If you have one trip and the flexibility to choose, take a shoulder and spend the difference on an extra night.

Cairo and the north: autumn and spring

Cairo is bearable for most of the year and pleasant in autumn and spring, when the mornings are cool and the smog of late summer has thinned. The Mediterranean coast is a summer place for Egyptians, who go to Alexandria in July and August for the sea, and a cooler, wetter destination in winter when it is the greenest part of the country.

Spring in Cairo and the Delta means the khamsin: a hot, dusty southerly wind, most common between March and May, which can last for days and occasionally grounds boats and aircraft. It is worth knowing about rather than fearing, and worth leaving slack for.

How to build the itinerary around the season

A trip that ignores the geography will be uncomfortable in one half and perfect in the other, so the order of the itinerary matters as much as the dates. In summer, go north and to the coast first, do the monuments early in the day and late in the afternoon, and finish on the Red Sea, where the water is at its warmest and the evenings are the reward. In winter, do the opposite: the Mediterranean is cold and wet, and the south is the comfortable half of the country.

The middle seasons are more forgiving, and they are where a single trip can do both halves properly. Build the river section first, when you are fresh and the mornings still feel worth waking up for, and put the coast at the end, because a beach is a poor place to be tired. Keep one day unbooked in the middle for the wind, the dust or an invitation, and if the forecast turns nasty it is the day that absorbs it.

Ramadan, Eid and the other calendars

Egypt has a second calendar that changes how a month feels: Ramadan, which moves earlier by about eleven days each year, changes the rhythm of the whole country. Many restaurants close in daylight, the working day shortens, and the evenings become the busiest and most sociable of the year, with iftar at sunset and the streets full until late. It is a good time to travel if you want to see the country as it lives rather than as it serves visitors, and a poor time if you need lunch at two in the afternoon.

Eid follows Ramadan and, along with the summer holidays, is when Egyptians travel: trains and hotels fill, and the rolling stock runs short. Check the date before booking a domestic journey, and book ahead.

The rule for booking is simple and worth more than any month table: choose the region first, then the dates, and keep one spare day for the wind. October and November are the soundest compromise for a trip that does both the river and the sea; the Red Sea coast will not let you down whenever you arrive.