Cairo - Post And Phones Egypt travel discount package and complete tourist information

The central post office on Midan Ataba (daily except Fri 8am-6pm; during Ramadan daily 9am-4pm) and other main branches (daily except Fri 8.30am-3pm; during Ramadan daily 9am-3pm) are often extremely crowded. Mail can be sent to Ataba's poste restante (daily except Fri 8am-6pm, Fri 8am-noon; Ramadan 9am-4pm; Poste Restante, Post Office Ataba, 11511 Cairo). Go to counter #10 (signposted "Private boxes"), where they hold mail for a month, with no charge to collect - just be sure to bring your passport. They are prone to file letters under the wrong name, but it helps if your surname is underlined and highlighted on anything sent to you. Problems are less likely to occur if you have mail sent c/o American Express on Sharia Qasr el-Nil however, this service is only for holders of Amex cards or Amex travellers' cheques.

Although letters posted in the lobby of the Nile Hilton are said to arrive faster than those dropped in ordinary mailboxes (painted blue for overseas mail), airmail letters can still take two weeks to reach Europe, and three weeks to the US. However, Ataba's express mail service - opposite the Poste Restante - (daily except Fri 8am-7pm) promises delivery to Europe and the US in two days; items under 100 grammes cost £E38-50, plus a dubious £E5 charge for "customs-clearing". Any post office can send registered letters . It's quicker to buy stamps from hotel shops or cigarette kiosks, which charge about 5pt above normal rates (£E1.25 for a postcard/letter to anywhere in the world).

Parcels can only be sent abroad from the Ramses Square post office, where unsealed packages must be inspected by customs before weighing and sealing. The overseas rate is about £E4 a kilo. Anyone receiving parcels in Egypt should beware of import duty (for example, £E40 on a pair of contact lenses). If you really want to be sure of receiving a pakage, DHL couriers have an office in Garden City at 21 Gamal el-Abu el-Maasen (tel 355-7301).

Phones
Cairo's telephone system has undergone major restructuring in recent years, with new exchange numbers and/or extra digits being introduced. A few older places may still have six-digit numbers, but most are now seven digits.

International calls can now be made using phonecards at Menatel and Nile kiosks, or the orange direct-dial phones installed at Cairo's main telephone and telegraph offices (open 24hr) and other locations. There are four main offices: at 8 Sharia Adly; alongside the Windsor Hotel on Alfi Bey; on Sharia Ramses, opposite Sharia Tawfiqia; and 13 Midan Tahrir (the smallest). There are others further afield, sometimes worth trying if you want to avoid queuing; for example, the one on Sharia Maglis al-Shad, by the National Assembly (ten minutes south of Midan Tahrir). However, it remains slightly cheaper to make calls at a telephone office in the old way rather than the phonecard kiosks or hotel. Calls are booked and paid for in advance, and can either be taken in a booth or directed to an outside number such as a hotel.

Select locations in Cairo also boast special phones for direct dialling to a specific country: USA Direct phones at American Express on Sharia Qasr el-Nil, and in the Marriott, Ramses Hilton, Nile Hilton and Semiramis hotels; and BT Direct phones in the British Airways office on Midan Tahrir. These are the only phones in Egypt that allow credit card and collect calls . You can also make calls over the Internet using the net2phone and MediaRing systems - so far only available at the Berlin Hotel, which charges £E3 a minute to anywhere in the world.

Telegrams, telexes and faxes
Telephone offices can also send telegrams , which you pay for by the word (including the address) - 60pt a word to the US, for example. Like the 24-hour telegraph and telex office on Midan Ataba (opposite the post office), they also handle telexes .

Faxes can be sent and received at the four downtown telephone offices (open 24hr); the EMS office by Ataba post office (daily except Fri 8am-7pm); the Grand Hotel (daily except Thurs 8am-4pm) on 26th July; or the Berlin Hotel (daily 8pm-11pm) on Sharia Qasr el-Nil. The EMS office offers the lowest sending rates per page (UK & US £E13.20; Australasia £E19.80), but it is cheaper to receive one-page faxes at the Grand Hotel (£E3 per page) or American Express (free for Amex clients). Phone offices charge £E8.25 a minute to send or receive a fax and, along with EMS, will inform you of its arrival if your name and phone number are at the top of the page. Fax numbers: Amex (tel 574-7997); EMS (tel 393-4807); Grand Hotel (tel 575-7593); Berlin Hotel (tel 395-7502); downtown telephone offices at Sharia Adly (tel 393-3909), Sharia Ramses (tel 578-0977), Alfi Bey (tel 589-7662) and Midan Tahrir (tel 578-0979).