Cairo - Getting Around - Road

Foreign drivers must be at least 25 years old and have an International Driving Permit. However, driving in Cairo isnt recommended, due to mammoth traffic jams, a complete disregard of traffic laws and lane discipline. The speed limit is 100kph (62mph) on highways but most drivers will exceed this, given the opportunity. Off the main highways, roads are mostly poor quality, with numerous bumps and potholes. Traffic drives on the right but Egyptian drivers overtake on all sides - even driving on the wrong side of the road. In Upper Egypt vehicles must drive in convoy, defeating the purpose of hiring a car. In the Western Desert, police escorts might insist on accompanying you between the southernmost oases. Some car hire firms even insist on providing the driver.

Routes to the city
Main routes into Cairo are Highway 1 (Delta Highway) from Alexandria; Highway 11 (Desert Highway) also from Alexandria and the northwest coast; Highway 2 alongside the Nile from Luxor and the south; Highway 3 from Port Said and the northeast; and Highway 33 east from Suez and the Sinai Peninsula.

Driving times to the city
From Alexandria - 3 hours; Port Said - 3 hours; Luxor - 10 hours; Aswan - 16 hours.

Coach services
Cairo is linked by regular, inexpensive coach services to other major Egyptian cities. Many are air-conditioned but there are also older, less comfortable albeit cheaper coaches. There are five long-distance coach stations, with several different operators serving different regions of Egypt. These include the East Delta Travel Company (tel: (02) 262 3128;
www.eastdeltatravel.com), Superjet (tel: (02) 266 0212), the Upper Egypt Bus Company (tel: (02) 260 9298), and the West & Mid Delta Bus Company (tel: (03) 427 1071). Tickets must be bought at the coach station itself, and can be booked in advance in person. The Abdel Mouneem Riyad Terminal (tel: (02) 762 293) (also called the Ramses Hilton Terminal) offers frequent services to Alexandria, plus Hurghada, Aswan and Luxor (overnight). Nearby is the Ahmed Helmi Terminal, with several overnight coaches to Luxor and Aswan, and others to Hurghada and Middle Egypt. Sinai Bus Terminal (officially the Abbassiyya Station, near Midan Abbassiyya) has several services daily to Sinai towns, such as Sharm el-Sheikh and Nuweiba, with one daily via St Catherine's Monastery. Koulali Bus Terminal (tel: (02) 574 3814) at Midal Ulali near Midan Ramses serves the Canal Zone and towns in the Nile Delta. Al-Azhar Terminal (45 Sharia al-Azhar, tel: (02) 390 8635) operates services into the Western Desert. There are also direct buses between the airport and Alexandria.