Logistical Information and Important Warnings for Travel to Egypt for the 2027 Eclipse

In good years for tourism, Egypt typically receives about 15-18 million foreign visitors annually, about 5-7 million of which come to Luxor. While this figure averages out to 15-20 thousand visitors per day in Luxor, the highs of the high season and lows of the low season for tourism in Egypt mean that this number of average daily visitors is significantly greater during the slightly cooler winter months of the high season, and noticeably lower during the hot summer months that make up the low season for tourism in Egypt.

During the doldrum months of July and August, Luxor’s tourist sites are lucky if they see 3-4,000 visitors per day. But during the peak of high season in late-December and early-January, these same sites can see up to 30,000 or more visitors in a single day.

Not all visitors to Luxor actually stay in hotels in Luxor, which is fortunate for the city since there are actually very few hotels in Luxor compared to other regions like Cairo, Alexandria, and the Red Sea. Instead, some stay on cruise ships and private “dahabiya” sailing yachts that meander up and down the Nile between Luxor and Aswan, while others are beach-goers based at the seaside resorts of Egypt’s mainland Red Sea coast who make the 4-hour trek across the Eastern Desert for a day trip to Luxor (and another 4-hour trek back).

The main point of the above summary of Luxor’s visitor trends and accommodations capacity is that the sheer number of visitors expected to plan travel to Egypt generally and Luxor specifically for the 2027 eclipse – perhaps as much as 5x the typical peak high season figures – FAR exceeds the number of rooms available to accommodate them, including hotels rooms, boat and yacht cabins, and even AirBnB-style home and apartment rentals.

Thus, BUYER BEWARE!!

The Current State of Hotel Rooms in Luxor and Cairo for July and August of 2027

Virtually all of Luxor’s hotel room capacity is already booked up via pre-paid contracts with each hotel’s most valuable booking partners. In other words, all of Luxor’s hotels were already sold out more than three years in advance for the 2027 eclipse. The same also applies to all of the major hotels in Cairo too.

While hotels normally open up their inventory for sale online through their websites and to tour companies and travel agencies approximately 12-18 months in advance of any given booking date, for this extraordinary period covering late-July and early-August of 2027, the sales offices of all of these hotels have already pre-sold all of their rooms to the travel companies who do the most business with them to be used as part of tour packages that they are offering to their own clients.

This means that if you expect to be able to book online through any hotel’s website or any online booking engine on exactly the one-year mark or 1.5-year mark out from August 2nd or even a few days before, you’re already out of luck. But there are still other options, so keep reading.

Beware of the Scammers – They’re Already Hard at Work

If you see any companies advertising a “waiting list” for hotels in Luxor or Cairo during this period, that should be an automatic red flag that they are NOT in the inner circle of booking partners for any of these hotels and will NOT be able to secure you a room no matter how optimistic you are or how much you’re willing to pay by then.

In reality, many companies are advertising “waiting lists” for accommodations in Luxor for the 2027 eclipse in order to lure you into pre-booking and pre-paying for tours with them and making deposits that they will hold onto for three years. Then, they are naively hoping to be able to scramble and put something together at the last minute for you in Luxor, which absolutely will NOT happen.

As we’ve already said, those of us “in the know” are already fully aware that all of the hotel room capacity in Luxor has already been pre-sold (including with pre-payment) to a very short list of reliable and trustworthy travel company partners, and we are not offering any “waiting lists” to re-sell these rooms to other random companies. They are being offered to our own clients with non-refundable pre-payment, and the chances of anyone canceling on a bucket-list event like this are virtually zero.

A Warning About AirBnBs in Egypt

If you choose to use any sort of home rental, apartment rental, or even local room rental site or service to try to secure accommodations in Luxor or Cairo during the 2027 eclipse period, be very cognizant of the fact that these home and apartment owners are under absolutely no obligation to actually provide that accommodation to you when the time comes.

Sites like AirBnB are plagued with untold numbers of stories and examples of home owners canceling on guests who have booked and even fully paid far in advance when big income-generating events roll around. Bait and switch scams are also common on these platforms, but there will be nowhere to “switch” you to during this time of unprecedented demand. Even for people who are already booked into local AirBnBs or home stays, nothing prevents these owners from claiming that some issue has come up and then re-selling their home, apartment, or room to a higher-paying guest at the last minute, or even just ghosting you completely.

Egypt in particular has had a history of major problems with sites like AirBnB, and you should never consider a booking guaranteed in Egypt on a platform like this. Yes, you’ll be able to get your money back from AirBnB if a local homeowner cancels on you or ghosts you, but you’ll still be left without alternative accommodation if you’ve already planned and invested in your trip to Egypt for this period.

What Constitutes a Reputable Booking Offer

Because the supply of not only accommodations but also of vehicles and drivers for transportation in Luxor and even Cairo during this period is far below the already-demonstrated demand, you should only book travel to and around Egypt during this period with a travel company that 1) has guaranteed pre-paid accommodations contracts with hotels or which owns their own properties, AND 2) also owns their own vehicles for transportation. These two requirements are absolutely critical for any booking during this period to be considered legitimate, secure, and safe.

For example, if I am the owner of company XYZ and I know that I have 15 pre-paid room bookings in Cairo and Luxor for the last week of July and first week of August of 2027 AND if I own 10 vehicles that are specifically licensed for tourism, then I am going to sell tour packages to small groups (individuals, couples, families, groups of friends, etc.) until those 15 pre-paid rooms I have are gone and until my own 10 vehicles are scheduled for use, and then I will stop offering anything further.

There will be no need for “waiting lists” because everything is secured with non-refundable deposits. The transportation is all directly owned by the company itself, so there is no risk of independent local sub-contractors canceling at the last minute for a higher-paying offer. And the accommodations are all contractually guaranteed with pre-payment plus a very long-standing direct relationship with the sales office that they would never betray.

If you plan to come to Luxor for the 2027 eclipse and you are NOT dealing with a company that meets these requirements, you absolutely can NOT trust that you will have accommodation or transportation when you arrive to Egypt during this period. There 100% will be many scams perpetrated in Egypt for the 2027 eclipse, and we have seen countless examples of those scams already initiated and advertised.

As Always, We Are Here to Help

Do NOT get caught up in one of these scams due to lack of information, due diligence, and preparation. You’re already off to a good start by using this site as a resource, so please feel free to let us know if you have any questions or if we can be of further assistance.