Can You Drink Alcohol In Egypt?

Yes — alcohol is legal in Egypt and readily available to tourists, but it is confined to specific places rather than sold everywhere. Licensed hotels, restaurants, bars, Nile cruise boats and Red Sea resorts serve alcohol normally, and Egypt produces its own beer and wine. What differs from Europe is visibility: drinking is a private or venue-based activity, public drinking is not acceptable, and availability narrows during Ramadan.

Key takeaways

• Alcohol is legal for tourists and served openly in licensed venues, resorts and cruise boats.
• It is not sold in ordinary supermarkets or corner shops — you buy it in licensed outlets, hotels and bars.
• Egypt makes its own beer and wine; imported spirits are available but priced far higher.
• During Ramadan, service to tourists usually continues inside hotels while shrinking sharply elsewhere.
• Public drinking and visible drunkenness cause real offence and can bring police attention.

Where can you actually drink?

Alcohol in Egypt is organised by venue rather than by region, and the practical picture is straightforward once you see the pattern.

What can you actually buy?

Egypt has a domestic drinks industry, so local options are the normal choice and imported ones are the expensive exception.

• Egyptian beer. Locally brewed lager is the standard drink in bars and resorts and is widely available.
• Egyptian wine. Egypt produces red, white and rosé from domestic vineyards. Quality varies; it is a genuine local product rather than a novelty.
• Imported spirits and wine. Available in hotels and licensed outlets, but heavy import duties make them markedly more expensive than at home.
• Locally-produced “imported-style” spirits. Egypt produces domestic versions of familiar spirit categories under local brand names. A caution worth taking seriously: buy spirits from hotels and licensed retailers only. Counterfeit spirits have been a documented problem in some tourist areas, and the risk is not worth the saving.

We deliberately give no prices here. Egyptian pricing on alcohol shifts with duty and exchange rates, and a figure printed today would mislead you within months.

How does Ramadan change things?

During Ramadan, alcohol service narrows sharply outside hotels, while most tourist hotels and resorts continue serving guests. The month is observed seriously across Egypt: many Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, and public eating, drinking and smoking during daylight are avoided out of respect.

What that means in practice for a visitor:

• Hotel bars and resorts generally continue to serve tourists, sometimes in a more discreet setting.
• Licensed shops and non-hotel bars may close, restrict hours, or decline sales for the month.
• Drinking visibly in public during Ramadan is a serious discourtesy in a way it is not at other times.

Ramadan moves roughly eleven days earlier each year on the Western calendar, so check the dates for your travel year — and if your trip falls inside it, ask your hotel directly what their arrangements will be. Travelling during Ramadan has real compensations, but alcohol convenience is not one of them.

What are the rules you should not break?

Egypt is relaxed about tourists drinking and unrelaxed about the behaviour that sometimes follows it.

• Do not drink in public spaces. Streets, beaches outside resort grounds, parks and public transport are not acceptable settings.
• Do not be visibly drunk in public. This is where tourists get into genuine difficulty. Public intoxication and the disorder around it can bring police involvement, and being a visitor is not a defence.
• Do not offer alcohol casually to Egyptians you have just met. Many do not drink, and the offer can be awkward or offensive.
• Do not drink and drive. Egyptian roads demand full attention at the best of times, and penalties are serious.
• Respect the setting. A resort bar and a family neighbourhood in Cairo are different social contexts.

The legal drinking age is 21, and licensed venues may ask for identification. Rules on duty-free allowances, licensing and enforcement are set by the Egyptian authorities and can change — if the specifics matter to your plans, confirm with your airline, your hotel, or Egyptian customs rather than relying on an article. Our notes on Egyptian travel etiquette cover the wider social expectations.

When this does not apply

• Some hotels choose not to serve alcohol at all, entirely legitimately. Check before booking if it matters to you.
• Dry venues and events exist — weddings, family restaurants, many local establishments.
• Rules for residents differ from rules for visitors, particularly around purchase and import.
• Enforcement and licensing can change, and can be applied differently in different governorates.

Frequently asked questions

Can you buy alcohol in Egyptian supermarkets?

Generally no. Alcohol is sold through licensed outlets, hotels and bars rather than ordinary grocery shops. Egypt does have dedicated alcohol retailers, including a delivery service operating in the main cities, but you should not expect to add beer to a supermarket shop.

Can you drink alcohol in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada?

Yes, and these are the most relaxed places in Egypt for it. The Red Sea resort towns are built around international tourism, with resort bars, beach clubs and all-inclusive packages where alcohol is served normally. Behaviour outside resort grounds is still expected to be respectful.

Is alcohol served during Ramadan?

In tourist hotels and resorts, usually yes. Outside them, availability narrows considerably — some licensed shops and bars close or restrict service for the month. Public drinking during daylight hours in Ramadan is a significant discourtesy and should be avoided entirely.

Can I bring alcohol into Egypt?

Egypt permits arriving travellers a duty-free allowance, and there are duty-free shops available after arrival as well as before departure. Because allowances and the rules around them are set by customs and can change, confirm the current limits with Egyptian customs or your airline before relying on them — this is exactly the kind of detail that dates quickly.

Is it safe to drink local Egyptian alcohol?

Egyptian beer and wine from hotels and licensed retailers are ordinary commercial products. The genuine caution concerns spirits bought from unlicensed sources: counterfeit spirits have been a documented problem in parts of the tourist trade. Buy from hotels and licensed shops and the risk is not a practical concern.

What is the legal drinking age in Egypt?

21. Licensed venues may ask for identification, so carry a copy of your passport if you look young.

The bottom line

You can drink in Egypt without difficulty, provided you do it in the right places. Hotels, resorts, licensed restaurants, bars and cruise boats serve alcohol normally; streets and public spaces do not. Buy from licensed sources, keep it out of public view, expect a quieter picture during Ramadan, and treat visible drunkenness as the one line that genuinely causes problems.