Canadian moving to egypt

[sally2009]

Hello,
I am wondering what would be the minimum salary required to have a decent stay in Cairo, for one person?

I have an offer of 3,000$ per month. I would like to rent a furnished apartment with 1 or 2 bedrooms in a good area (heleopolis/maadi), where there will be a gym in the building.
also I would like to know how much a small car would cost? if not, how much i should budget for a taxi per month?
how much for food?
how much for a decent meal at dining out?

how much a cellular(local calls only) and internet (high speed) will cost per month?
are there any other costs that I should be aware of?

thank you for your help in advance.

[Giovannino]

Hi sally
for a flat, prices can vary significantly , Heliopolis and Maadi are generally the more expensice areas as a lot of expats are there. House-hunting is difficult especially as most flats are pretty large and not many 1 or 2 bedroom flats available. Depends also if you are ok to live in a condominium with little or no expats. However the best is to use one of the many real estate agents , I could ask around but probably you wont get less than $1000 or $1500.Maadi where I live is very nice , lots of green areas and close to the Nile.

Whatever you chose try and find it closer to where your work will be so you can minimize the trafffic problems

As to gyms, there is one pretty big one called Gold's gym in Maadi plus 2 or 3 other smaller ones.

What will u be doing in Cairo ?
best regards

[gullwing]

hi sally ... 3000 $ will surely enable u a decent stay ...
1-2 bedroom flat would be somewhere between 500 and 1000 $ ... gyms are usually not in the building, but there are dozens of decent gyms around cairo ... there are also some only for women (curves gym) ...
a smaller cars starts around 50.000-70.000 LE (Fiat Punto, Dacia, Daihatsu, Hyundai, etc) ... u mighht also want to consider getting yourself a driver for the jammed cairo traffic .. that would be 400 LE (half day 9 am - 4 pm) or 1000 LE for a full-day driver (9 am -9 pm) ...

cellular local calls are around 0.15 - 0.30 LE per minutes ... land-line local calls are 0.03 LE ...
high speed internet starts at 95 LE (256 kb) and goes over 512 kb (150 LE) until 2 MB (1000 LE) ...
food will cost u around 1000-2000 LE a month ...
decent meal at dining out between 100 LE and 400 LE (depends where u dine / steak house / sushi place / 5 stars hotel, etc

i would choose the location of your apartment depending on the location of your work ...

good luck ...

[MissSusie]

Originally Posted by sally2009

Hello,
I am wondering what would be the minimum salary required to have a decent stay in Cairo, for one person?

I have an offer of 3,000$ per month. I would like to rent a furnished apartment with 1 or 2 bedrooms in a good area (heleopolis/maadi), where there will be a gym in the building.
also I would like to know how much a small car would cost? if not, how much i should budget for a taxi per month?
how much for food?
how much for a decent meal at dining out?

how much a cellular(local calls only) and internet (high speed) will cost per month?
are there any other costs that I should be aware of?

thank you for your help in advance.

$3000 (US/Canadian) will be decent to live on for sure! Plan on 1000-about 2500LE per month on rent (if you're teaching make sure there is a clause for either a living stipend or accommodations). Gyms aren't usually in the buildings, I don't personally have a membership to one but my roommates have one at Sinesta, I guess it's big, and nice. I think for them (with a special or something) it was 2500LE for a year or something.

For Taxis it depends where you go and what you do as well as where you live. I live in Heliopolis in an area where EVERYTHING is walkable! 5LE taxi ride to the metro (1LE). (Again if you're a teacher make sure you get transportation in your contract!) Taxis are fairly cheap though. Also don't always negotiate you'll be over charged, just pay... be fair, but no need to over pay.

Groceries plan on no more that 400LE a month, (That's shopping at Metro - you can get better deals and local markets.)

Eating out is pretty cheap for Egyptian food. If you eat out or order in a meal could be between 30-150LE (depends what you want, where you go, etc.)

I usually put between 100 and 200LE of credit on my phone and that lasts me at least a month, if I don't call home a lot.

Our internet is 100LE a month and it's decent speed.... I think just basic high speed.

I hope this helps, contact me if you need anything else and if you do end up in Heliopolis hit me up for sure! I can show you what I know. I've only been here since Feb but my Roommates have showed me around a bit!

Susie
Canwedothisafterdinner@hotmail.com

[oversamlove]

supporting Susie's reply
but i prefer Maadi area , its more quiet , & the same rents
but its return to where you going to work ,
good luck

Originally Posted by MissSusie

$3000 (US/Canadian) will be decent to live on for sure! Plan on 1000-about 2500LE per month on rent (if you're teaching make sure there is a clause for either a living stipend or accommodations). Gyms aren't usually in the buildings, I don't personally have a membership to one but my roommates have one at Sinesta, I guess it's big, and nice. I think for them (with a special or something) it was 2500LE for a year or something.

For Taxis it depends where you go and what you do as well as where you live. I live in Heliopolis in an area where EVERYTHING is walkable! 5LE taxi ride to the metro (1LE). (Again if you're a teacher make sure you get transportation in your contract!) Taxis are fairly cheap though. Also don't always negotiate you'll be over charged, just pay... be fair, but no need to over pay.

Groceries plan on no more that 400LE a month, (That's shopping at Metro - you can get better deals and local markets.)

Eating out is pretty cheap for Egyptian food. If you eat out or order in a meal could be between 30-150LE (depends what you want, where you go, etc.)

I usually put between 100 and 200LE of credit on my phone and that lasts me at least a month, if I don't call home a lot.

Our internet is 100LE a month and it's decent speed.... I think just basic high speed.

I hope this helps, contact me if you need anything else and if you do end up in Heliopolis hit me up for sure! I can show you what I know. I've only been here since Feb but my Roommates have showed me around a bit!

Susie

[ibmonir]

if it was written right in dollars it's pretty good but also you will pay arround 500 $ to find in maadi or a good area, but if they paeing you in 3000 egp that's you'll pay all for a good furnished apartment, a good small korean hyundai daewoo etc.. car will coast you about 8000 $ good luck driveing in cairo!!!

[salwa]

Originally Posted by sally2009

Hello,
I am wondering what would be the minimum salary required to have a decent stay in Cairo, for one person?

I have an offer of 3,000$ per month. I would like to rent a furnished apartment with 1 or 2 bedrooms in a good area (heleopolis/maadi), where there will be a gym in the building.
also I would like to know how much a small car would cost? if not, how much i should budget for a taxi per month?
how much for food?
how much for a decent meal at dining out?

how much a cellular(local calls only) and internet (high speed) will cost per month?
are there any other costs that I should be aware of?

thank you for your help in advance.

To stay in Egypt, you can live as you like , poor people live and middle class, too or rich, so 2000 $ will grant you a very good standard of living

for taxi it is better to take Capital Taxi ,the yellow one or normal black taxi you can give him 800 L.E per month about 150 $

[relicdog]

Hi, I am also moving to egypt in a few months, just wondering how your search is going? if you have found any relevant information.......

[kgramdiddy]

Originally Posted by sally2009

Hello,
I am wondering what would be the minimum salary required to have a decent stay in Cairo, for one person?

I have an offer of 3,000$ per month. I would like to rent a furnished apartment with 1 or 2 bedrooms in a good area (heleopolis/maadi), where there will be a gym in the building.
also I would like to know how much a small car would cost? if not, how much i should budget for a taxi per month?
how much for food?
how much for a decent meal at dining out?

how much a cellular(local calls only) and internet (high speed) will cost per month?
are there any other costs that I should be aware of?

thank you for your help in advance.

Hi my name is Debbie and my friends husband is egyptian and speaks very good english and also tour...if interested I will give you his phone number. He takes many english speaking people to their jods.

[sally2009]

thanks all for your replies, it is really helpful!!! appreciate it!