# HELP...Moving to Sharm



## whippet (Jan 16, 2011)

We are a family of 4 (British) and we are currently live in Dubai. We are moving out to Sharm on a 2 - 3 year placement and I have lots of questions!! My Husband spends 2 weeks in Egypt every month, but I have never been, we are heading out next month for a recce.

Can anyone give advice on any of the following:
we are shipping out our belongings - any experience of this?
Good rental agents for a villa.
Good doctors/hospitals, especially dr's for the kids

We are very lucky and have the most amazing housemaid here, but not sure how it works if we wanted her to come with us. If not, how does hiring a housemaid work in Sharm?

Are there any mums groups and good British nurseries in Sharm?

Thanks a million.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

whippet said:


> We are a family of 4 (British) and we are currently live in Dubai. We are moving out to Sharm on a 2 - 3 year placement and I have lots of questions!! My Husband spends 2 weeks in Egypt every month, but I have never been, we are heading out next month for a recce.
> 
> Can anyone give advice on any of the following:
> we are shipping out our belongings - any experience of this?
> ...




Hi and welcome.

I would advise that the company who ship your goods give a door to door service, let them deal with customs etc.
For a doctor check the sticky at the top of the page Sharm recommendations.
Dr Maurice is an English G.P who has opened a clinic in Sharm would be my choice.
You will not be able to bring your maid with you.
Yes you can get a maid easily enough however she will be local and sadly you cannot trust them nor do they clean that well so if you find a good one hang on to her but do not leave her in the house on her own.
Sam who comes in may be able to help you with the rental side of things.


Good luck

Maiden


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## whippet (Jan 16, 2011)

Thanks a million for your quick and helpful response. Thats great.

Sorry.....a oouple more questions...... have you got any feedback on Sharm British School....is this the best for a 3 year old, I really want to continue with the British Circ a that is what we are following in Dubai.
Now, when you say local maid, do you mean egyptian? Why can't you leave them in your house, are they really untrustworthy??

Cheers and thanks again
Whippet.


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## Sam (Aug 27, 2009)

whippet said:


> Thanks a million for your quick and helpful response. Thats great.
> 
> Sorry.....a oouple more questions...... have you got any feedback on Sharm British School....is this the best for a 3 year old, I really want to continue with the British Circ a that is what we are following in Dubai.
> Now, when you say local maid, do you mean egyptian? Why can't you leave them in your house, are they really untrustworthy??
> ...


Hi Whippet,

Sharm British School seems to be the most popular school for Brits here. They are expensive but those that I know who have kids there are pleased with it. They also have a pre-school too which would be suitable for your 3 year old. I also have a 3 year old but SBS unfortunately doesn't teach Arabic so it was ruled off my list of schools early on.

If you are looking to rent an apartment/villa then you firstly need an idea of where you want to rent and what you are looking for. For example if you will rent/buy a car then you may not care how close you to schools or other amenities. You also may want to think about if you want to rent furnished or unfurnished and what facilities you expect to have. I no longer work in real estate but still have a few contacts and also still have friends working so if I have an idea about what you want then I could either refer you to someone who can help you out.

MS answered your other questions 

Sam


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## whippet (Jan 16, 2011)

Thanks for all the info Sam - great help. Hope you all don't mind here are a few more....
What is the aveage/rough cost of living per month is sharm, say food bills, household bills etc.... just trying to get a grip on costs.

I am still panicing about the whole maid issue and trying to look into seeing if she can come with us on a 3 month visit visa set up....any experience of this. If not and we need to hire in Sharm, I really would like to hire a filipino, buut nervous about the whole trust issue as mentioned earlier.

we are heading out in a few weeks time to look at villas etc.... any reccommended contacts for a 4 bed villa?

Thanks for all your help.
Whippet x


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

whippet said:


> Thanks for all the info Sam - great help. Hope you all don't mind here are a few more....
> What is the aveage/rough cost of living per month is sharm, say food bills, household bills etc.... just trying to get a grip on costs.
> 
> I am still panicing about the whole maid issue and trying to look into seeing if she can come with us on a 3 month visit visa set up....any experience of this. If not and we need to hire in Sharm, I really would like to hire a filipino, buut nervous about the whole trust issue as mentioned earlier.
> ...




Ahhh average to who?
Electricity/gas/water are cheap here... but of course if you are running aircon all the time your electric will be high.

Food is not cheap in Egypt unless you want to live and eat like a local and that will soon wear off. Meat is fatty and pretty dire however you can get deliveries from Gourmet Egypt who has meat brought in from NZ , but I actually saw beef in Carrefour with either a NZ or an OZ label yesterday.

You will really struggle to bring your maid in, you might be able to do it with a return ticket but to be honest I doubt it as she would need to show that she has a job to go back to in Dubai but of course it is worth trying as nothing is written in stone. Filipina maids are running away in the dozens from Arab employers when they get to Egypt as it is much easier once they get here and this might cause a tightening up of procedure.

I am not sure about the Filipina situation in Sharm but you would be able to find one easily enough in Cairo so the same may apply in the red sea resorts.

Maiden


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## whippet (Jan 16, 2011)

Average to a family of 4 living in a 4 bed villa.

For example I spend an avergae of 600dhs (900EGP) per week on food,, thats all non foods, dry, good, meats, verg ad diary for the weeks meals.
Our household bills of water and electric are about 500dhs (790EGP) per month
then TV, internet, phone etc.... are also about 500dhs (790 EGP) per month.

How does this add to cost of living (roughly) in Egypt?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

whippet said:


> Average to a family of 4 living in a 4 bed villa.
> 
> For example I spend an avergae of 600dhs (900EGP) per week on food,, thats all non foods, dry, good, meats, verg ad diary for the weeks meals.
> Our household bills of water and electric are about 500dhs (790EGP) per month
> ...



I am not too sure about your food bill, there are a few members with family so they will be better placed to answer that but I can tell you that chicken breasts are 37 LE a kilo from the supermarket. Fresh milk is 7 LE per litre. Local bread is pennies but sliced bread known as toast from the supermarket is 7LE for small loaf which is very sweet. Meat is very expensive and not good quality it is fatty, yesterday I paid 49LE for a kilo for neck of veal and it is mainly bones and fat but my staff like it but in all honesty you wouldn't touch it in the U.K but I did read that the government is bringing in more beasts from the Sudan in the hope that will bring meat prices down. 
The price of water from your tap is not worth worrying about and bottled water works out about 22LE for a box of 12 large bottles.

At the moment we have difficulty with satellite tv in that we do not have the right decoders for showtime and orbit... they were switched off on December 12 and goodness knows when the new decoders will come into play.

Clothes here fall into 3 categories...1. dirt cheap and it shows....2 expensive for the quality and style.......3 imported and horrendously expensive.

Shoes here are also poor quality buy and throw shoes.
There are no shops that I am aware of that fit children's shoes and even if there were it would be a hit and miss.
Medicine is cheap as it is heavily subsidised.
Local goods ie mops, brushes etc are cheap but they do not last 5 minutes.
You will be able to live o.k here but it is not nearly as cheap as people try and tell you.

Maiden


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## Sam (Aug 27, 2009)

whippet said:


> Average to a family of 4 living in a 4 bed villa.
> 
> For example I spend an avergae of 600dhs (900EGP) per week on food,, thats all non foods, dry, good, meats, verg ad diary for the weeks meals.
> Our household bills of water and electric are about 500dhs (790EGP) per month
> ...


Unfortunately I have no idea about maids in Sharm so I can't answer this issue.

Bills in Sharm I personally find are getting quite expensive (although incomparable to UK prices admittedly). Electricity can be anything up to 75 piastres per kilowatt and water an average of 15 LE per cubic metre. Some places now have a mains gas line also, otherwise you would pay just to refill the bottle as and when which isn't too expensive. Costs vary depending on the season, how much you are at home and how often you use the air conditioning, but for a one bedroom apartment I can pay up to 300 EGP per month in utilities. A friend who has a large villa has monthly bills of anything up to 7000 EGP, but this is including the upkeep of a heated swimming pool. Looking at your current bill in Dubai I would presume you could be looking at a similar amount here.

You don't need to pay for TV unless you subscribe to satellite, in which case the cost is from the provider and I am unsure. I have an unlimited internet dongle from Etisalat, which is 150 EGP per month, and my phone bills usually come to around 300 EGP per month including the subscription to unlimited blackberry service. I am unsure of the costs for a landline phone or ADSL line if this is what you are looking for.

Food shopping I find myself spending similar amounts to what I would in UK, if not more. I think your estimation of 900 EGP per week for a family of 4 would probably be fairly accurate.

When it comes to villa rentals I will ask around and see if anybody has anything available and I'll send you their contact details on PM to contact with them directly.


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## whippet (Jan 16, 2011)

Sam,

Thank you so much for your comments, that is really great and give me something to work with in trying to figure out if our package will be fair for Sharm. Since my experience of moving to Dubai I have come to relaise that places are never as cheap as you think they will be and you end up having loads of additional costs. 
I am really hoping to do loads of ground work when we come out next month, so if anyone knows of any contacts in Sharm who would be willing to meet and chat that would be much appreciated.

Thanks again to you all, its been so helpful as I am finding I am bogged down in research at the moment and my new mission is trying to find out the type of visas we need to avoid import duties/tax on all our belongings.....thought expat life was meant to be fun and stress free!!!!!
whippet


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

whippet said:


> Sam,
> 
> Thank you so much for your comments, that is really great and give me something to work with in trying to figure out if our package will be fair for Sharm. Since my experience of moving to Dubai I have come to relaise that places are never as cheap as you think they will be and you end up having loads of additional costs.
> I am really hoping to do loads of ground work when we come out next month, so if anyone knows of any contacts in Sharm who would be willing to meet and chat that would be much appreciated.
> ...


Only in your dreams whippet and if you want stress by the day then welcome to Egypt


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## bat (Dec 1, 2010)

hurghadapat said:


> Only in your dreams whippet and if you want stress by the day then welcome to Egypt


Hi no idea what Dubai is like but as long as your getting all inclusive package schools house etc, should be ok. If your here perm, can work out expensive but for couple of years, no problem. Remember sharm is only set up for tourism so like any tourist place can work out expensive.


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