How to get a visa on arrival at Hurghada Airport (Egypt): process and cost

To skip the general queue, a traveler advised in late August 2026 not to be put off by the Priority sign on a tour agency window: the queue there is shorter and ordinary tourists are not turned away. You can get through very quickly, but for an extra 2–3 dollars — the visa comes to 32–33 dollars. It is up to you: you will have to wait for your luggage anyway.

How much the visa costs: participants wrote in August 2026 that the official price is 30 dollars, and that touts charge more, profiting from tourists. One participant said the visa price, with arrows, is posted on the walls practically every metre, yet many people still go to the touts and then insist the visa costs 36 dollars. Another noted that your own travel agent will also tell you it is 30 dollars, and that the markup is a business run by local middlemen, not by the tour operator.

Step by step, according to a traveler in early August 2026: on Egyptian charter flights, arrival cards are usually handed out on board. If you did not get one and there are none in the hall, ask for it at the bank window when paying for the visa and fill it in. In the hall, go to the BANK windows — not to the people loudly calling you to their company. At the window you hand over your passport and dollars; she said the visa cost 32 dollars. They cannot always give change from a 100-dollar bill straight away, so you may have to wait. Then comes passport control: put the arrival card into your passport at the visa page, show the visa again after customs and go to baggage claim.

Paying for an e-visa in advance, a traveler said in July 2026, is convenient if you have a bank card that works for international payments. Those without such a card, in her words, end up paying extra to tour operators for the service.

Many people confuse customs with border control. As a participant explained in July 2026, customs — the check of goods you carry — is selective, and an ordinary tourist usually does not go through it. The sticker confirming payment of the 30-dollar fee is applied at border control. If the tour operator arranges the visa, he said, it adds about 3 dollars per person for sparing you the queue at the bank.