Egypt travel advice: Is it safe to visit and what are your rights if you have a trip booked?

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Tourists with trips booked to Egypt may be wondering whether it’s safe to travel to the country’s popular cities and resorts amid ongoing conflict in neighbouring Israel and Gaza, as well as recent airstrikes from US and UK forces against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The nearest major tourist site to the Israeli border is Sharm el Sheikh, over two and a half hours away Though Israel directly borders Egypt, most of the country’s major cities and tourists sites are a substantial distance away, and so Egypt has avoided much of the Israel-Gaza conflict. The FCDO does not warn against travel to any of the main tourist destinations in Egypt, including Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria and the two Red Sea resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada. It advises against all but essential travel to: The northern part of the Governorate of South Sinai, beyond the St Catherine-Nuweibaa road, except for the coastal areas along the west and east of the peninsula The Ismailiyah Governorate east of the Suez Canal The Hala’ib Triangle and the Bir Tawil Trapezoid The area west of the Nile Valley and Nile Delta regions, except for: Luxor, Qina, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings The Governorate of Faiyum The coastal areas between the Nile Delta and Marsa Matruh The Marsa Matruh-Siwa Road The oasis town of Siwa The Giza Governorate north-east of the Bahariya Oasis The road between Giza and Farafra Bahariya Oasis, Farafra, the White Desert and Black Desert It adds that “terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Egypt”, and there is a particular risk in North Sinai.