Post office hours are generally daily except Fri 8am-2pm (Ramadan 9am-3pm), though 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 ten days, two to three weeks to North America or Australasia. It speeds up the delivery if you get someone to write the name of the country in Arabic.

Airmail ( bariid gawwi) stamps can be purchased at post offices, hotel shops and postcard stands, which may charge a little bit more above the normal rate. Express Mail Service (48hr to Europe or the US, which costs £E37-48 for letters under 100 grammes). Private courier firms such as Federal Express or DHL are available, and a lot more expensive. 

A 24-hour telephone and telegraph office ( maktab el-telephonat, or centraal) for calling long-distance and abroad is located at Al Hadaba infront of the police station. 

You can also make local calls on semi-public phones owned by shopkeepers or hoteliers. Phonecard booths (Menatel or Nile Phone) are becoming increasingly common - shops which sell the cards usually display both companies' signs. Menatel (£E5, £E10, £E20 & £E40 cards) and Nile (£E5, £E10, £E15 & £E30 cards) both charge 25pt for a 3-minute local call and 20-60pt a minute for national, mobile and pager calls; international rates vary according to distance.

There is currently an Internet boom in Egypt, both in terms of access and in the number of Egyptian Web sites. Internet access is available in almost all the main tourist destinations, with Internet cafés sprouting everywhere and hotels providing computers for guests to use. The charge for access is roughly £E10-15 an hour, although five-star hotels may charge up to £E60 an hour.

As for other means of staying in touch, various British, US, French and German newspapers are available in book shops in major hotels