Cairo vs Istanbul
Which would you pick?
The short answer
They cost about the same day to day — Cairo $50–100, Istanbul $60–110 mid-range per person. Both are at their best in Apr, Oct, so one trip can take in both.
Side by side
Mid-range, per person, in US dollars. Both guides were costed the same way — see how we work these out.
| 🇪🇬 Cairo | 🇹🇷 Istanbul | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily budgetmid-range, per person | $50–100 | $60–110 |
| Cheap meallocal staple | $1–3cheaper | $3–5 |
| Mid-range hotelper night | $45–100cheaper | $100–180 |
| Transit ridesingle trip | $0.20–0.40cheaper | $0.60–0.90 |
| Avg. monthly salarylocal, for context | ≈ $165 | ≈ $850 |
When to go
Filled months are the ones each guide recommends; hollow ones it warns off.
What you'd actually do
A few of each guide's picks, one per category before seconds — the full lists are on the guides themselves.
🇪🇬 Cairo
Twenty-odd million people, the last standing Wonder of the ancient world at the end of a city bus route, and a brand-new museum built to hold Tutankhamun. Loud, hot and exhausting, and nowhere else is quite like it.
- The Giza pyramids and the Sphinx$$Pharaonic Cairo
- Khan el-Khalili and El Fishawy$Islamic & Coptic Cairo
- Abou Tarek$Restaurants
- Tannoura at Wekalet El Ghouri$Evenings
- Grand Egyptian Museum$$Pharaonic Cairo
🇹🇷 Istanbul
The only city that straddles two continents — 2,500 years of empires, a skyline of minarets, ferries gliding across the Bosphorus, and tea appearing whether you ordered it or not.
- Nevizade Sokak$$Nightlife
- Mikla$$$Restaurants
- Zorlu PSM$$$Theater & shows
- Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passage)$$Nightlife
- Karaköy Lokantası$$Restaurants
Practicalities
| Cairo | Istanbul | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Arabic (Egyptian dialect). English is common at hotels, sites and anywhere that sells to tourists, thinner with taxi drivers and at street stalls. | Turkish. English is fine in tourist zones and with younger people; a 'merhaba' and 'teşekkürler' go a long way. |
| Currency | Egyptian pound (EGP, written LE or E£ locally). US$1 ≈ EGP 52. The pound was floated in March 2024 and roughly halved against the dollar, so any guide or forum post older than that has prices that are badly wrong. | Turkish lira (₺) — volatile; US$1 ≈ ₺40 and moving. This guide quotes USD for stability. |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2), moving to UTC+3 for summer daylight saving from late April to late October | TRT (UTC+3), year-round |
| Power | Type C/F plugs, 220V | Type C/F plugs, 230V |
| Tap water | Treated and chlorinated, and fine for brushing teeth, but visitors drink bottled — it's cheap and everywhere | Stick to bottled — locals mostly do |
| Emergency | 122 police · 123 ambulance · 180 fire · 126 tourist police · 112 connects to all of them | 112 (all services) |