The honest short answer is that Egypt's best weather runs from October to April, and the best of that is roughly November and March. Cool, dry days; cold-ish nights; light that flatters everything. If you remember only one sentence, remember that one.
But Egypt is a large country with several climates, and when to go really depends on where you are going and what you are willing to put up with. So here is the longer answer, which is the one worth having.
Winter
December to February
The peak, and deservedly so. The Nile Valley is at its finest — warm, clear days in the low twenties, perfect for long mornings among the temples. It is also the busiest and most expensive stretch of the year, and the week around Christmas and New Year is a genuine crush at the major sites. Two honest caveats: the nights and early mornings can be properly cold, especially in the desert — the dawn at Abu Simbel and the climb of Mount Sinai both want a warm layer you may not have packed — and the Mediterranean coast turns wet and grey, so this is not the season for Alexandria.
Spring
March to early May
Often the sweet spot. The days are warm but not yet punishing, the winter crowds have thinned, and prices ease. The one thing to know is the khamsin — a hot, dust-laden wind that blows up out of the desert on occasional days in spring, hazing the sky and putting grit in the air. It passes in a day or two, and is more nuisance than danger, but it is the season's small price.
Summer
June to August
Hot, and in the south severely so — Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel routinely pass forty degrees, and the middle of the day becomes something to hide from. We won't pretend otherwise. But summer is not the write-off people assume. The antiquities are quiet and cheaper, the light is enormous, and a trip built around dawn starts and shaded afternoons works perfectly well for anyone who doesn't mind the discipline. The Red Sea, sea-cooled and breezy, is at its best; and Alexandria and the coast are in their own high season, warm and full of life. If summer is your only window, go — just go early each day, and let us set the pace.
Autumn
September to November
The other sweet spot, and our quiet favourite. The heat lets go through September and October, the sea stays warm, and the worst of the crowds are still a month or two away. October in particular is hard to better. It also brings the Abu Simbel sun alignment around the 22nd, when the dawn light reaches the inner sanctuary — remarkable, and mobbed, which is exactly why we plan around it on purpose.
There is no bad time to see Egypt. There is only the unplanned time.
Egypt is not one climate
The calendar shifts with the map, so the same month means different things in different places:
- The Nile Valley and the south — Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel — keep to October to April, or come in summer on a dawn schedule.
- Cairo follows much the same: hot and hazy in high summer, dusty on a khamsin day in spring, lovely the rest of the cooler half-year.
- The Mediterranean — Alexandria — inverts it: at its best in late spring and autumn, warm and busy in summer, wet and wind-blown in winter.
- The Red Sea — Hurghada and Sharm — is the year-round exception, ideal in spring and autumn and swimmable even in the cooler months.
Dates worth checking
Two things can fall across a trip without your noticing. Ramadan moves about eleven days earlier each year, and through the late 2020s it falls in late winter, around February and March. Travelling then is entirely possible — the sites stay open, and the city after dark has a warmth and life all its own — but daytime rhythms slow, some hours change, and a little patience and planning help. We take care of that for you.
And the country's two peaks — the week around Christmas and New Year, and the Abu Simbel sun mornings of roughly 22 February and 22 October — are worth either seeking out on purpose or sidestepping on purpose, but never meeting by accident.
The verdict
If you want the simplest good advice: aim for late October into November, or March into April. You get warm days, bearable nights, thinner crowds and fairer prices, very nearly everywhere at once. Choose deep winter if flawless sightseeing weather matters to you more than quiet and cost. Choose summer if the Red Sea is your aim, or if you'll trade heat for low season and an early alarm.
And the honest truth beneath all of it: there is no bad time to see Egypt, only an unplanned one. Tell us when you are able to travel, and we will build the trip around the season — the hours, the order, the pace — so that whenever you come, it feels like exactly the right time.
Sillage Égypte