Will I be allowed to cycle from Port Said to Hurgada, in Egypt?

score:3

Accepted answer

No.

End of December 2018 I cycled from Port Said, to Ismailia, to Suez city, to Porto Sokhna, to Zaafarana (on the red sea 254 km north west of Hurghada) without any issues and no police escort.

Then, at 11am on 30 December 2018 at the check point south out of Zaafarana, the police said I was not allowed to cycle further south, down to Hurghada. I was also told that I was not allowed to cycle from Hurghada to Qena. Nor was I allowed to cycle from Zaafarana to Beni Suef ( so as to continue south down the Nile). All these routes are in the Red Sea province (protectorate?) of Egypt.

The police at the check point told me this and at my insistence they let me speak telephonically to the "security manager" in Hurghada who confirmed that cyclists are not allowed to cycle that route.

The options the police gave me

  1. cycle back the way I came, i.e. north along the Red Sea to Suez
  2. Take a bus from the check point at Zaafarana back to Cairo.
  3. Take a bus from the check point to Hurghada.

The police were very polite and patient with me (they offered tea, coffee, food, a chair in the shade). I used google translate ( english - arabic) a lot.

(The police also told me that the only way to get permission to cycle the route was to get my consulate to get me security clearance. But because of my lack of Arabic I am not sure I understood this security clearance.)

(I was not stopped at the toll near Port Said.)

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