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Money
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Though rates of exchange vary slightly,
banks
are chiefly distinguished by their opening hours and relative (in) efficiency. The main high street banks are the National Bank of Egypt (Mon-Thurs & Sun 8.30am-2pm), Banque Misr (Mon-Thurs & Sun 8.30am-2pm) and the Bank of Alexandria (Mon-Thurs & Sun 8.30am-2pm). Most downtown banks are also open between 3 and 5pm.
Aside from Thomas Cook or American Express, it's usually quickest to exchange money or travellers' cheques at the 24hr Banque Misr exchange bureaux in the Nile Hilton and the Ramses Hilton, and outside the Helnan Shepheard; or at branches in other major hotels and off Midan Ramses, which are open daily till 8pm. However, none of the banks will change NZ dollars, Irish pounds, or Scottish and Northern Irish sterling banknotes. Visa or MasterCard holders can obtain cash advances in ?E from the Bank of America at 106 Sharia Qasr al-Aini (tel 354-7788, fax 355-5023; Mon-Thurs & Sun 8.30am-2pm), a couple of blocks south of Midan Tahrir; it takes about an hour to get confirmation by telex. Payouts for Visa and MasterCard are usually in Egyptian currency only.
Two sets of
ATMs
now accept cashcards and credit cards (but are frequently out of order). The Egyptian British Bank (Visa, Cirrus, Electron, Plus, MasterCard, Express Net, Global Access, Electro Bank and Marine Machine) has them at their hotel branches (
Nile Hilton,
Ramses Hilton,
Marriott,
Cairo Sheraton
and
Semiramis Intercontinental),
as well as at the Abu el-Feda Tower in Zamalek; behind the Grand Mall in New Maadi; at 1 Midan Roxy in Heliopolis; and the World Trade Centre on the Corniche at Bulaq. They can also be found at Alfa Market in Dalla Towers, Ma'adi and ABC Supermarkets in Zamalek, Heliopolis and El-Manial. Other ATM machines which accept Visa, Plus, MasterCard and Cirrus are outside Banque Misr branches in Sharia el-Bustan (at the corner of Sharia Talaat Harb); Midan Orabi; at 151 Sharia Mohammed Farid; in Midan Roxi in Heliopolis; and in Dokki, Ma'adi, Helwan and Pyramids Road. The National Bank of Egypt has also begun to install ATMs, the first being at the Sharia Talaat Harb branch. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Egypt,
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