Packing

What To Wear in Egypt: Our Full Egypt Packing List for Families

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We visited Egypt in early April with our 6 kids and had an absolutely amazing time. It had been on our bucket list for years, and felt absolutely magical finally being there and seeing sites we’d read about in books and seen. in movies since Dan and I were kids. One of the biggest forms of prep, though, was figuring out our Egypt packing list, especially with kids. We weren’t totally sure on exactly what would be appropriate when considering what to wear in Egypt, how much we’d be outside and walking, and what extras we would need.

Overall, Egypt felt less conservative than I anticipated. It was absolutely fine even for women to wear short sleeves and shorts/dresses in tourist areas. Head and arm coverings are only needed for mosques. Unless you’re planning to go to more conservative areas, you likely won’t need to pack anything in particular, though I think it’s a good idea to have either a scarf or a jacket with a hood for convenience.

I hope this Egypt family packing list is helpful to make your pre-trip planning a little smoother and more straightforward. First, I’m sharing our full packing list of what we actually took and recommend. Then, I have some more detail for several categories with specific links, so keep scrolling down if you’d like to see. And if you’re looking for an easy way to help your kids be more independent with packing, check out our free visual packing list!

CLOTHING & LUGGAGE TO PACK FOR EGYPT

  • 5 outfits
  • Undergarments / socks
  • 1-2 pairs lightweight pajamas
  • 1 swimsuit
  • 1 layering item (lightweight jacket or sweater)
  • 1-2 pairs shoes
  • Hats for everyone
  • Backpack or suitcase
  • Day bag (I absolutely adore this minimal diaper belt bag, but a backpack would also work great)

TOILETRIES TO PACK FOR EGYPT

First Aid Items to Pack for Egypt

You can find my full list of first aid travel items with kids right HERE.

Baby / Kid Packing Items

  • Diapers & wipes if needed (they were also easy to purchase there)
  • Bottles & formula if needed
  • Baby carrier – we absolutely love this one for travel because it’s so lightweight, folds up into its own pocket, and dries in a flash
  • Lightweight sleep sack
  • Travel bed (if needed – THIS ONE is our very favorite because it’s so portable and lightweight, and even fits in a carry on suitcase if you don’t want to carry it separately)
  • Stuffed animal
  • Kid activities (we packed all ours in this case and put the whole thing in 4 year old M’s backpack – she loved being responsible for them! Here are a ton of other travel activity ideas)
  • Kids Kindles
  • Stroller – we debated whether to bring ours but ended up glad we did for airports, museums, and city walking. We have a lightweight travel stroller (old but almost exactly like THIS) that folds easily (including in the overhead bin of an airplane) so it was very easy to bring.

Electronics for Egypt

Other Egypt Packing Items

  • Passports
  • Driver’s license
  • 2 credit cards
  • 1 debit card
  • Copies of passports stored digitally and in a separate bag
  • Copies of birth certificates stored digitally or in a separate bag (airports occasionally ask for proof of baby’s birthdate even when flying domestically so this is good to have on your baby travel checklist)
  • Confirmation numbers for airlines, hotels, rental cars, etc.
  • Photography equipment if needed

Clothing Packing Details: The Best Clothing to Pack for Egypt

We packed 5 outfits for each family member, including the ones we wore on the plane. We wanted items that would be lightweight and cool, that would also dry fairly quickly (we knew electric clothes dryers would be rare), and could also handle the inevitable dirt and dust. We did also pack a few extra items for the baby, knowing that she was likely to get dirty.

Here’s what we took:

  • One pair of trousers and & long sleeve top. We prefer this for wearing on the plane in case it gets chilly, and we also knew mosques would require at least the adults and older kids to be covered to enter.
  • 4 other outfits: the boys packed basic shorts and short-sleeved tees for this, while the girls had a mix of simple shorts/tees, skirts, and dresses. The exact links for all of my clothing is linked below.
  • A lightweight jacket or sweatshirt (we carried this with us in case it got chilly on board airplanes and did end up using them on a couple days at the end of our trip when the weather got cooler) – a few kids took our favorite lightweight and packable rain jackets, while others took a sweatshirt and I took a lightweight utility jacket (mine is old but you can see similar ones HERE and HERE). Mine conveniently had a hood that I could use to cover my hair when entering mosques (the kids didn’t need anything).
  • 1 pair of pajamas – we took lightweight ones that dried quickly so we could wash them easily
  • 1 swimsuit
  • 6 pairs of undergarments
  • 2-3 pairs socks – since we were almost always in sandals, we didn’t need many pairs (I love putting everyone in wool socks for travel because they resist odor and moisture – we especially love these and these. I also love these no-show socks to wear with my sneakers because they don’t slip down.)
  • Hat – a couple of my kids packed baseball hats and I forgot one for myself! (I like this one for travel.) Dan loves this hat for great sun protection even though it’s hideous, lol. I love this hat and this hat for babies.

Women’s Egypt Travel Outfits

I won’t bother to link all my kids’ and Dan’s clothing as they’re mostly basic t-shirts, shorts, & pants from Target & H&M, ha. But here’s the clothing I packed for myself!

Women’s Tops for Egypt Packing List

Women’s Bottoms for Egypt Packing List

Great Travel Dress for Women

I also packed along this button down tie waist navy dress – it’s one of my favorite travel dresses for women because it’s so comfy, soft, long enough for religious places, is great for hot weather, has pockets, and is nursing-friendly with functional buttons. Plus, the tie waist makes it very adjustable. It’s also really nice packing along a one-piece outfit!

Women’s Travel Pajamas

Since we were only packing one pair of jammies, we wanted ones that would wash and dry quickly. I took this pair (in a different print) and they were super comfy and dried in a flash.

Women’s Travel Swimsuit

I usually prefer traveling with a modest two-piece swimsuit since they tend to dry much faster for packing. Mine is old, but this suit is by the same brand and also has a lovely floral print. I also brought the matching suit for baby S!

Best Shoes for an Egypt Packing List

We always try to minimize shoes if at all possible because they’re bulky and heavy! We didn’t do any fancy dinners as a family or anything, so we were just fine with casual shoes. Most everyone took one pair of shoes, but K (my 11 year old daughter) and I each took two pairs (one being a very lightweight pair of sandals). We each wore our sandals 95% of the time in Egypt, but wanted the sneakers for our longer travel days.

The ones who packed just hiking sandals (Dan + 3 kids) just wore socks with those on longer travel days and it worked great. The hiking sandals worked great for being super comfy to walk a ton, while also being sturdy and durable and easy to wash off if they got dirty or sandy. And helpful since we played in pools a number of times!

What Luggage to Pack for Egypt

While we had plenty of vans picking us up and dropping us off, it definitely made it easier to pack light and to be prepared to carry our own stuff quickly when needed. We also loved not needing to check any luggage on our smaller flights between cities.

Dan, 2 of our kids, and I each packed one of the 4 40L kids backapacking packs we own, and they worked great. Plenty of room for all our stuff and more, and worked within the personal item limit of airlines. (It’s technically a touch big for several, but we haven’t ever had an issue.) I love that the top part easily unbuckles if I need items in there to keep at my seat while the main part of the pack is in the overhead compartment. It also has a sleeve perfect for a laptop.

Then we had one child take their old school backpack (since we don’t own 5 of the 40L ones above, and this school backpack is super sturdy), our 6 year old took the 18L version of the backpacking backpack, and our 4 year old took the 12L version of the backpacking backpack. We obviously absolutely love those backpacks and love how durable, comfortable, and functional they are, and that there are sizes to work for every family member.

Since Dan packed our photography equipment + other electronics in his suitcase, it was tricky to fit all his clothing in his bag, as well, and we needed space for baby S’s packing cube as well as 4yo M’s packing cube (since we put the activities case in her backpack). So we decided to take one carry on suitcase with those 3 packing cubes, plus the lightweight travel bed for baby S.

Day Bag for Egypt

We found we didn’t need much when out and about, especially since our tour guide company always had water available for us. Each day, we usually took our big camera, water/a few small snacks, our baby carrier, our stroller (if in an area where it made sense – mostly helpful for carrying our water and snacks!), and my beloved minimal diaper belt bag. I loved that it had room for diapers, a zipper pocket for wet wipes, a fold out changing pad, money slots, space for sunblock, and some small candies (for listening to our guide ;)). It was perfect! K also brought along her little belt bag to carry her Kids Kindle and some snacks (a couple of my boys just carried their Kindles in their pockets – they rarely leave their sides!).

IF YOU LIKED THIS EGYPT PACKING LIST, YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE POSTS, TOO:

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