Out of all the countries that require you to have an entry visa, Egypt is one of the more unusual ones. When you come off the aeroplane you walk down a concourse and take a right turn, and there you will be faced by the immigration booths. Before you join the line waiting to officially enter Egypt you need to purchase two visa stamps (pictured here), they are basically decorated postage stamps. You buy these from little stores located before the immigration booths and they also exchange money – when I was there the stamps cost $50.

It is not obvious where you need to go to get the stamps when you arrive at the immigration hall – as it is not sign posted anywhere(maybe it is in Arabic – but mine is a wee bit rusty!). When we went there were several very frustrated tourists who had stood in line to get to the immigration booth only to be sent back to buy the stamps before joining the immigration line… Hopefully this post will save people from making the same mistake.