Bring cash to avoid queues, crying kids at this bureaucratic airport

The airport

Cairo International Airport

Inside Terminal 2 at Cairo International Airport. Credit: Alamy

The flight

Flyadeal F3606 from Cairo (CAI) to Riyadh (RUH).

The arrival

Cairo’s always on a sugar high, but the mood around the airport still takes it up a notch or two. The city’s main airport is about 20 kilometres from Tahrir Square, on the Nile in Downtown, best reached by car (the metro link is still under construction and the buses are a disaster). The drop-off point for private cars in front of Terminal 2 is patrolled vigorously by Egyptian police, who ensure the smooth(-ish) flow of 26 million passengers a year through the country’s busiest airport.

The look

Inbound to Cairo International Airport, with a sculpture surrounded by white doves. Credit: iStock

The palm trees inside the airport are a reminder you’re in the Middle East, although the utilitarian grey building is at odds with Egypt’s love of high colour. It seems the airport has had another update each time I pass through, with the creaky Terminal 1 getting a glow-up and a new Terminal 4 in the offing.

Check-in

There’s no online check-in in this town, so everyone queues. It’s my first time on Flyadeal, a low-cost airline which sounds dodgy, but is completely legit. Owned by the Saudi national carrier, Saudia, it runs innumerable budget flights between Cairo and Saudi destinations daily. The check-in staff are friendly, efficient and always curious about solo, non-Arab women flying to Saudi Arabia.

Indoor palm trees are a reminder you’re in the Middle East.Credit: Cairo International Airport

Security

I count four checks before I’m on the plane. The first is the worst, with all luggage and people screened on entering the airport. It’s never not a shemozzle of crying children; during my last time here, it took more than 30 minutes to clear this hurdle. However, a handful of pounds to a well-placed official porter and I’m slipped in ahead of the huge family about to descend on the scanners. Egypt runs on tips or baksheesh, so this is entirely above board. My passport and visa are checked again at the Flyadeal counter, then there’s the passport control, slow with lots of satisfying thumping of stamps, and the final check before entering the gates, where it’s shoes off, water emptied and a second pat down.

Food + drink

Costa is usually a safe bet for coffee. Eat before you arrive, or take a seat in the cafes offering Oriental Food (which here means Middle Eastern). Otherwise, try the ubiquitous US burger chains.

Retail therapy

You forgot to grab presents, didn’t you? All the Tut tat – Nefertari busts and charming metal serving trays – is available in a handful of stores, at least four times the street price but without the haggle or the dust. Cairo’s duty-free shopping has come a long way in the past few years, with more locally made handcrafts and relaxed attitudes to alcohol (for better or for worse). When spritzing perfumes, explore the oud-heavy fragrances preferred by the Arabian market. One quirky note about duty-free shopping is that you can still buy duty-free goods up to 48 hours after you arrive in Egypt at specially marked shops in the city’s malls.

Passing time

If you didn’t get your fill of Egyptian antiquities, search for Terminal 3’s little hidden museum – it does have an entrance fee. Unless you have a local SIM card, don’t count on the Wi-Fi to work – if you’re inclined to tap into airport Wi-Fi services in the first place. Grab a copy of the English-language Al-Ahram newspaper from the newsstands or simply enjoy the rich people watching that Egypt offers.

The verdict

Allow time (and patience) for Egypt’s bureaucracy and security; after all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Our rating out of five

★★★

The writer travelled at her own expense.