Visa on arrival at Marsa Alam?

[Jeanne]

Has anyone been to Marsa Alam flying direct to Marsa Airport?
If so, are there visa purchase facilities on site? I have been unable to find out from the Consulate in London who seem keen to sell you a visa pre-arrival. I am probably going to do this to be on the safe side, but if anyone has information to confirm whether or not the facility is available (as in Hurghada and Sharm) I think it would be useful for other travellers too.

Thanks!

Jeanne

[Steve Walker]

Has anyone been to Marsa Alam flying direct to Marsa Airport?
If so, are there visa purchase facilities on site? I have been unable to find out from the Consulate in London who seem keen to sell you a visa pre-arrival. I am probably going to do this to be on the safe side, but if anyone has information to confirm whether or not the facility is available (as in Hurghada and Sharm) I think it would be useful for other travellers too.

Thanks!

Jeanne

I'm interested to know too. AS for the Egyptian Consulate, I've heard it's difficult to get through on the phone, can you get your visa in advance on-line from them ?

[Iain Paul]

Flew there last July and no problems getting the visa on site.
Although the airport is very small, with a smaller plane the queues/waiting was shorter than at Hurghada. Overall my impression was very favourable with the airport immaculate (Ok it had only been open for a couple of months)and staff being positively helpful and friendly rather than chasing tips.

[Jeanne]

Thanks for the messages, at least, we have established that visa on arrival was possible at Marsa Alam airport in July, which is good to know, but not really recent info.

I was in london on business recently and got my visa anyway, so I am all set!

I forgot how I managed to download an application form which did not cost me anything (took a while I can tell you) and was good for the visa being granted, but as it is a PDF file, I hope you won't mind I will email this to you. If you don't live in London, it's a treck to the Consulate in Knightsbridge, where you dump your passport, application and ?15 in the morning (between 9.30 and 12.00) and retrieve your passport with visa the same day (between 2.30 and 4 pm). Postal applications are also possible, but I don't know how successful those are. There are companies of course who will charge a premium and take care of it for you, I have never used them, so I can't recommend any.

But, at the end of the day, if you can get your visa in Marsa, everything is ok. I would just check though, things have a happy knack of changing quickly.

Jeanne

[just mike]

Just back from M A agree a very well run airport,we had no problems with the visa (?15) and were on the bus in under 30 minutes.

Thanks for the messages, at least, we have established that visa on arrival was possible at Marsa Alam airport in July, which is good to know, but not really recent info.

I was in london on business recently and got my visa anyway, so I am all set!

I forgot how I managed to download an application form which did not cost me anything (took a while I can tell you) and was good for the visa being granted, but as it is a PDF file, I hope you won't mind I will email this to you. If you don't live in London, it's a treck to the Consulate in Knightsbridge, where you dump your passport, application and ?15 in the morning (between 9.30 and 12.00) and retrieve your passport with visa the same day (between 2.30 and 4 pm). Postal applications are also possible, but I don't know how successful those are. There are companies of course who will charge a premium and take care of it for you, I have never used them, so I can't recommend any.

But, at the end of the day, if you can get your visa in Marsa, everything is ok. I would just check though, things have a happy knack of changing quickly.

Jeanne