The legal drinking age in Egypt is 21, and it applies to everyone regardless of nationality. Beer, wine, and spirits are all covered by the same threshold, and alcohol can only be bought or consumed at licensed venues such as four- and five-star hotels, certain restaurants, nightclubs, and a small number of licensed retail shops. Rules tighten during Ramadan and other Islamic holidays.
The 21 Minimum Applies to Tourists Too
You must be at least 21 to purchase or drink any alcoholic beverage in Egypt. A visitor from a country with an 18-year drinking age still cannot legally buy alcohol here. Hotel bars, restaurants, and licensed retailers verify age at the point of sale, and licensed delivery services check ID on arrival. Vendors who serve someone underage risk losing their license and paying financial penalties.
Bring your original passport whenever you plan to buy or drink. Photocopies and phone photos are routinely rejected. The passport does two jobs at once: it proves your age and confirms your foreign nationality, which matters on days when Egyptian nationals face additional restrictions.
Where Alcohol Is Sold and Served
Alcohol sales are limited to establishments holding specific licenses. Law No. 63 of 1976 prohibits offering or consuming alcohol in public places and unlicensed shops, with exemptions for hotels and tourist facilities. You will not find beer or wine on supermarket shelves or at corner shops. Many neighborhoods have no alcohol vendors at all.
The best-known retail chain, Drinkies, operates licensed beverage shops in Cairo, Alexandria, and other major cities, selling beer, wine, and spirits for off-premises consumption. Outside of licensed retailers like this one, stocking up when you find a shop is common practice.
Duty-Free Alcohol on Arrival
Foreign visitors can buy alcohol at duty-free shops within 48 hours of arriving in Egypt. You will need your passport with a fresh entry stamp, and the limit is up to three liters per person. Staff typically record passport details to prevent repeat purchases beyond the quota.
This window is worth planning around. Imported alcohol sold outside duty-free carries steep markups because Egypt imposes duties of roughly 1,200% on beer and between 1,800% and 3,000% on wine and spirits. A bottle of imported wine bought at a hotel bar costs many times what you would pay at a duty-free counter, so buying your allotment on arrival can save a significant amount of money.
Ramadan and Islamic Holiday Rules
During Ramadan, licensed venues are legally prohibited from serving alcohol to Egyptian nationals. That ban has been in place for over 30 years. Tourists can still buy and drink at licensed hotels and bars during Ramadan, but some establishments suspend service entirely for the month regardless of the customer. If a particular hotel or bar matters to your plans, call ahead.
The same restriction on serving Egyptian nationals applies on several other Islamic observances: Islamic New Year’s Eve, the night of the Prophet’s Israa and Meraaj, the Prophet’s birthday, and the day of Arafa during the Hajj pilgrimage. Foreign tourists are generally still accommodated on those dates.
Public Drinking and Intoxication
Drinking alcohol in any public space is illegal. Law No. 63 of 1976 bans consuming alcohol on streets, in public squares, and inside any shop without an on-premises consumption license. Your drinking has to stay inside a licensed venue or a private residence. Walking out of a bar with an open beer, or drinking on a beach outside a resort’s licensed area, can create real legal trouble.
Under Article 7 of the same law, public intoxication carries imprisonment of not less than two weeks and up to six months, or a fine of 20 to 100 Egyptian pounds. The fines are modest, but the imprisonment range is not, and police have broad discretion to arrest anyone whose public behavior suggests intoxication. Enforcement tends to be stricter in conservative areas and during religious holidays.
Driving After Drinking
Egypt applies a zero-tolerance rule to drunk driving. The law does not recognize blood alcohol concentration thresholds at all. Any detectable presence of alcohol in your blood is enough for a conviction, no matter how little you drank or whether it affected your driving.
A DUI conviction carries imprisonment of three to twelve months and fines between 1,000 and 3,000 Egyptian pounds. Drivers also lose five points under Egypt’s 30-point license system. For a tourist, a DUI arrest can mean passport confiscation and a legal process that derails the rest of the trip. If you have had anything to drink, do not drive.