Post office: hours are generally daily except Fri 8am to 2pm (Ramadan 9am to 3pm), however central offices may stay open until 8pm. Almost invariably, offices are closed on Fridays. Airmail letters between Western Europe and Egypt generally take around a week to 10 days, 2 to 3 weeks to Australasia or North America.

Phones: Several cities have at least one 24 hour telephone and telegraph office, for calling long distance and abroad. Several of these feature orange direct-dial phones that take phonecards, the cost between (ŁE15, ŁE20 or ŁE30), enabling you to avoid the old system of booking calls through the exchange.

Mobile Phone Codes:
Click GSM (GSM 900) 010 + 7 digits, MobiNil (GSM 900) 012 + 7 digits

Main City Codes:

• Alexandria 3	• Aswan 97	• Asyut 88	• Zagazig 55
• Benha 13	• Beni Suef 82	• Cairo 2	• Damanhour 45
• El Mahalla 43	• El Mahallah (El Kubra) 40	• El Mansoura 50	• Fayoum 84
• Hurghada 65	• Ismailiya 64	• Luxor 95	• Menia 86
• Port Said 66	• Oena 96	• Shebin El Korn 48	• Sohag 93
• Suez 62	• Tanta 40

The Media: As for other means of staying in touch, various British, US, German and French newspapers are available in Aswan, Luxor Cairo and Alexandria, as are Newsweek and Time magazines. Elsewhere, however, you'll be lucky to find even the Egyptian Gazette. If you have a short-wave radio, you can pick up the BBC World Service , which is broadcast on 639KHz at 8.45am-noon, 3 to 5pm and 7 to 9pm; and on 1320KHz from 9pm to 3am (all local time).

Reception is best in the north. The Voice of America broadcasts 24 hours on numerous frequencies on the AM (medium wave) or short wavebands.

Mail: To have mail sent to you, it should be addressed (usually with your surname underlined and/or highlighted) to Poste Restante at the central post office. To pick up mail, you'll need your passport.