]Hi - Can anyone give us an idea of the general cost of living in Maadi? We may well be coming in a couple of months time for up to 3 years.

Other general question re Cairo - what are the normal working days? Is alcohol freely available? Is Maadi the best place for a South African expat to live? How safe is it? Anything for the wife to do whilst husband is at work? What about at weekends? Is there an expat club etc. How about dealing with banks transfer of money etc?

PRetty basic stuff but would appreciate any reply.

Brian

Hi Brian,
I have been living in Maadi for over 2 years. The normal working days are Sunday to Thursday. Alcohol is available when you arrive in Egypt at the duty free shops. You are allowed to claim this 4 times per year per passport over 21 years of age and your allowance (if claimed at the airport) is 4 bottles of spirits/wine, 600 cigarettes and up to 250 US dollars worth of other goods. Don't know what the perfume allowance is. You are allowed up to 48 hours after landing within which you can claim your allowance but if you do it in local duty free shops (there is one in Maadi) you can only claim 3 bottles of spirits or 3 or 4 bottles of wine. A case of beer counts as one bottle of spirits. You can buy local wine and beer at special shops and one supermarket in Maadi.


Maadi is safe as we have road blocks at the entrances to the area. They do not stop everyone all the time but I think they act as a deterrent. There is a large expat community here with a Rugby Club (licensed) and another expat club (also licensed). International style restaurants usually sell alcohol except during Ramadan when no alcohol is sold at all. We have a Community Services Association based in Maadi which is the hub of most things and your wife would find everything to do there. They have a website but I can't give it to you until I have made 4 posts on the forum. Weekends you can join a golf and leisure club in Katamaya, you can go desert camping, horse riding at Giza, mountain biking in Wadi Digla (Maadi), play rugby, tennis, in fact whatever you want to do you can find it here.
Banking I am not so sure about as we don't have any bank accounts here. We just use cash machines and use internet banking and it works well for us.

Do you want to know about the cost of living in Egypt or Cairo or Maadi?

Hope this helps. Anything else I can help you with, just ask.

cheers and good luck,
Margaret