# Moving to Cairo in July. Need advice/help



## dickieandrew (Jun 20, 2010)

Hi there, I will be moving to Cairo in July For Work. And am looking for any advice for a single male, 28.
How much does it cost for a nice apartment maybe two bedrooms in Maadi? What are the daily costs of life?
is it cheap to travel the region from Cairo?
is there a good social scene for young people?
any other tips let me know??

thanks.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Hi and welcome,
Apartments vary in prices according to the spec that you require.
Transport is cheap 
You can live very very cheaply but would you want to?
Prices are rising but for an expat it is easy living here.
If you are coming here on an expat package then I would say don't worry about the cost of goods, transport etc as you easily afford it.
Single male... yes you will have a great social scene.


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## elrasho (May 16, 2010)

A 2 bedroom appartment in Maadi will cost around 3500LE a month I would say, I've been looking for places to stay and I think Maadi is the upper end of the spectrum. From what I've read as a single 28 year old you will have a great time, there are plenty of expats knocking around in Mohandiseen and Zamalek.

One question, whats an expat package? Is that something your work people sort out for you?


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## Beatle (Aug 14, 2009)

dickieandrew said:


> Hi there, I will be moving to Cairo in July For Work. And am looking for any advice for a single male, 28.
> How much does it cost for a nice apartment maybe two bedrooms in Maadi? What are the daily costs of life?
> is it cheap to travel the region from Cairo?
> is there a good social scene for young people?
> ...


One bedroom flats can be quite difficult to find so you may need to look for a 2 bedroom flat.

Cost of living is quite cheap - it really depends on what lifestyle you want to live i.e. if you want to eat in Western bars/restaurants/supermarkets it's obviously more expensive. I have a friend who does freelance work in Cairo and he lives in a one bedroom appartment downtown - he thinks he "lives like a king'' in Cairo but when he worked out what his annual earnings were in sterling, it worked out around £9,000 sterling! I have friends who earn around £400 sterling who live a comfortable but not decadent lifestyle. Most Egyptians earn very little, so it's possible to live a lifestyle in between a typical Egyptian or typical Western lifestyle. Rents/electricity/taxis are cheaper than if you live in Europe. The things I found expensive were Western goods such as trainers/clothes/books etc

I have done quite a bit of travelling from Cairo and it can be done relatively cheaply. Again, it depends on how you want to travel e.g. you can get a coach to Sharm/Dahab quite cheaply or you can hire a private car or you can fly. But backpacking costs are much cheaper than they would be in most of Europe (having started to write this answer, I can't recall where you are from so the European comparison may not be that helpful!).

There is a good social scene - there are lots of expats and Western students in Cairo and once you get to know some Egyptians, it's also great to socialise with Egyptian friends.


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## Beatle (Aug 14, 2009)

elrasho;322671.
One question said:


> It's the package (salary plus benefits such as health care, annual flights, accomodation, driver) that expats are offered by employers to move to Egypt (or any country). Generally an expat package should be secured before you travel to Egypt and will usualy be significantly higher than anything you can negotiate once you have arrived in Egypt


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