The three tricks at a glance
All three follow the same blueprint: They first create a situation from which it is difficult for you to escape, and then they negotiate.
| Trick | How it works | What reliably helps |
|---|---|---|
| The price switch with camels | Very low price for mounting, followed by a completely different demand for dismounting or the return trip | Book in advance, or fix amount, currency, duration, and number of people beforehand |
| The fake guide | Someone poses as an official guide or supervisor, accompanies you inside, and presents a bill inside | Book a licensed guide in advance, do not let anyone on-site accompany you |
| The ticket tout | Claim that the entrance is closed or relocated, combined with an offer for transport or tickets | Buy tickets online beforehand, use your own destination marker |
- How it works
- Very low price for mounting, followed by a completely different demand for dismounting or the return trip
- What reliably helps
- Book in advance, or fix amount, currency, duration, and number of people beforehand
- How it works
- Someone poses as an official guide or supervisor, accompanies you inside, and presents a bill inside
- What reliably helps
- Book a licensed guide in advance, do not let anyone on-site accompany you
- How it works
- Claim that the entrance is closed or relocated, combined with an offer for transport or tickets
- What reliably helps
- Buy tickets online beforehand, use your own destination marker
None of the three tricks work if the service is booked and paid for in advance. This is the common denominator of the countermeasures.
Let's start with the good news, because it is missing from most texts on this topic: It has improved significantly.
The site was notorious for decades. Anyone reading travel reports from before 2025 will find the same descriptions: harassment even in the parking lot, negotiations at every corner, camel handlers who do not leave you alone. Since the reorganization of the plateau, things have changed measurably. Providers of camel and carriage rides were moved to designated areas, private vehicles are no longer allowed up, a shuttle handles the transport, and there is now a central complaint desk for visitors.
Travelers who visited before and after describe the difference clearly. This does not mean that nothing happens anymore. It means that the probability has decreased and that since 2025 there is a place to turn to.
What remains are essentially three tricks. They have been the same for years, they operate according to the same pattern, and if you know them, you practically cannot fall for them. This page describes how they work, why they work, and what actually helps. By the way, the Federal Foreign Office does not list Cairo and Giza in its regional warnings; this is about money and intrusiveness, not safety.
The Camel Trick
The best-known trick involves camels, and it is more sophisticated than it sounds.
It works by separating two processes that are one for you. A price is offered, and this price is indeed valid, but only for mounting. As soon as you are sitting on top and the animal has walked a short distance, it turns out that dismounting, the return journey, or the animal kneeling down is calculated separately, and at a completely different magnitude. If you are then sitting in the desert, several hundred meters away from the starting point, you are no longer negotiating on equal terms.
This is exacerbated by the fact that a camel is not a bicycle. Dismounting without the handler's assistance is difficult and, without practice, not without risk, because the animal must kneel down to do so. Exactly this dependency is the lever.
The countermeasure is unspectacular and fully effective: Book the ride as part of a service that is paid for in advance. Then there is no second negotiation point because there is nothing left to negotiate. If you settle on-site instead, you should explicitly clarify and get confirmation on four details: amount, currency, duration, and whether the price is per person or for the group. Most disputes arise at exactly these four points.
Private tour of the plateau with camel ride and lunch
- The camel ride is part of the booked service, so there is no second price
- Four hours with your own guide, no on-site negotiation
- Pickup and lunch are included
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance
The Authority Trick
The second trick is the most unpleasant because it relies on authority.
It begins with someone appearing who looks like they belong there: neatly dressed, confident in demeanor, often with an ID card that looks convincing from two meters away. This person approaches you at the entrance or on the site, offers orientation, walks with you for a bit, explains something, perhaps opens a barrier, or leads you past a queue. After twenty minutes, the bill arrives, and it comes out exactly as it does because money was not discussed beforehand.
Important is the distinction we are making here. Licensed tour guides really do exist in Egypt, and they are good. The license requires a completed degree in Egyptology, archaeology, or history and is issued by the Ministry of Tourism. If you want such a guide, you pay well for it. But it is not sold spontaneously at the fence.
This can be checked in advance. Travel companies must be registered, and the Association of Egyptian Travel Agencies maintains a public directory of licensed firms. If you book through a major platform, you have already passed this check.
The simplest rule for the site itself is: Do not let anyone accompany you whom you have not booked. Friendly, but without exception. This sounds rude and it isn't, because the other party knows exactly where this is leading.
Half-day tour to the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx
- A licensed guide makes the fake guide irrelevant
- Hotel pickup so the approach at the entrance does not happen at all
- Plateau entry and German-speaking guide are included
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance
The Entrance Really Moved
The third trick gained new momentum in 2025, and for a reason that would almost be funny if it weren't so effective: It became true.
For years, touts at the metro station and at the access roads claimed the entrance was closed, relocated, or only accessible via a specific route for which they happened to have a vehicle. That was fabricated. Since the redesign, the main entrance has indeed been relocated, from the old gate in the northeast to a new visitor center in the southwest. The story has sounded plausible ever since because it has a kernel of truth.
There is also a second variant involving allegedly discounted tickets. It works based on the fact that there are indeed different tariffs, such as for students, and that the eastern Sphinx gate has no ticket office. Anyone arriving there without a ticket is in exactly the situation where an offer seems tempting.
Both are resolved with a single precaution. Buy your entry beforehand via the official sales page of the ministry or through an established provider, and set your destination marker on your navigation device yourself to the gate you want to use. Then any information on the roadside is irrelevant, regardless of whether it is correct.
Plateau entry as QR code on mobile phone
The code on the phone takes away the basis for the ticket trick. Especially at the eastern gate, which has no counter.
If it happens anyway
- Do not negotiate further
As soon as it is clear that the price is different from what was discussed, the conversation ceases to be a conversation. Further arguments do not improve the situation.
- Pay the small amount if it is small
With small sums, paying and moving on is almost always the better decision than an argument in the heat with an unclear outcome.
- Become visible
Head towards the entrances, shuttle stops, or other visitors. These tricks only work off the beaten path.
- Call the complaint desk
Since the reorganization, there has been a central number for the visitor area, reachable via the short code 19349 during opening hours.
- Report the incident if booked
If a service was booked through a platform, complaining there is usually more effective than on-site, because the provider has something to lose.
Frequently asked questions
Is it dangerous?
No. It is about money and intrusiveness, not safety. Violence is not the pattern of these tricks, but rather a situation from which it is difficult to escape.
Should I avoid camel rides altogether?
No. The problem is not the ride, but the unclear price. As part of a booked service, the point of dispute disappears completely.
How do I recognize a real guide?
By the fact that you booked him. Licensed tour guides are not sold spontaneously at the fence, and an ID card shown on-site cannot be verified.
Has the situation really improved?
Yes, and that is also reported by travelers who visited before and after. Providers are assigned to fixed areas, vehicles are no longer allowed up, and there is a complaint desk.
A Single Rule from Which Everything Follows
Finally, the assessment that is missing from many pages on this topic and that makes the difference.
These tricks are not a special Egyptian feature. They are the usual repertoire at any heavily visited place in the world where many foreigners meet few providers and no one knows the local prices. What distinguished Giza from other places for a long time was not inventiveness, but sheer volume and lack of order.
That is exactly where things have started to move since 2025. An assigned area for providers, a driving ban, a shuttle, and a complaint number are unspectacular measures, but they take away the opportunity from the tricks, and opportunity is the prerequisite for all three.
For your visit, only one rule remains, from which everything else can be derived: Clarify money always beforehand, never on the go. Whether you do this via a booking or a conversation on-site is secondary. What matters is that it is clarified before you sit on an animal, follow someone, or sit in a car.
Those who heed this will spend the rest of the day looking at structures four and a half thousand years old, rather than keeping their guard up.