No Daylight Savings Time in Egypt 2011

There will be NO daylight savings time in Egypt in 2011 (and possibly going forward).

Clocks were due to go forward at the end of next week (night of April 28th/29th) but this is NOT HAPPENING.

This means Egypt will continue to be just 1 hour ahead of the UK until late October when British Summer Time ends.

While this means it will be getting dark around 730pm in Egypt through the summer (which holiday makers might want to take notice of), it does mean we won't have the yo-yoing of the clocks which happened last year when they went back for Ramadan and then forward again!

Ahram article

Al Masry Al Youm article

Egypt Public Holidays and Daylight Savings Times 2010 & 2011

STOP PRESS: APRIL 20TH 2011: NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE NO DAYLIGHT SAVINGS IN 2011

Al Masry Al Youm 

Ahram 

This is a list of the Public Holidays - straight copy from: World Travel Guide Please note that last year, there were some errors in their dates, so if you spot any please let me know!

I will add the daylight savings days as soon as I find them out! As Ramadan will be falling in August this year and July next year, there is a slight possibility that there may not be any but I will update as soon as I know anything.

Below are listed Public Holidays for the January 2010-December 2011 period.

Holidays

2011

7 Jan *Coptic Christmas Day.

15 Feb Birth of the Prophet.

25 Apr *Sham el-Nassim (Coptic Easter).

25 Apr Sinai Liberation Day (Sinai only).

2 May Labour Day.

23 Jul National Day.

30 Aug - 31 Aug Bairam Feast (End of Ramadan).

12 Sep *Coptic New Year.

6 Oct Armed Forces Day.

6 Nov - 7 Nov Grand Feast.

26 Nov Islamic New Year.

2010  NOTE SHAM EL NASSIM - it is 5th APRIL (many sites on the net are stating 27th/28th April).

7 Jan *Coptic Christmas Day.

26 Feb Birth of the Prophet.

5 Apr *Sham el-Nassim (Coptic Easter).

25 Apr Sinai Liberation Day (Sinai only).

1 May Labour Day.

23 Jul National Day.

10 Sep - 13 Sep Bairam Feast (End of Ramadan).

11 Sep *Coptic New Year.

6 Oct Armed Forces Day.

16 Nov - 17 Nov Grand Feast.

7 Dec Islamic New Year.

Note

(a) * These holidays are not official, although Coptic Christians may observe them. (b) Muslim festivals are timed according to local sightings of various phases of the moon and the dates given above are approximations. During the lunar month of Ramadan that precedes the Bairam Feast, Muslims fast during the day and feast at night and normal business patterns may be interrupted. Some restaurants are closed during the day but most tourist attractions and hotels are not affected. Some disruption may continue into the three-day Grand Feast itself.

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Medical Tests in Cairo (Al Borg / El Borg Labs)

I needed a blood test so this morning around midday I visited El Borg Lab in 6th October City. I paid for the test in advance (less than 200LE for the one I wanted - the price I was charged was the same as an Egyptian friend who had the same test done recently) and waited around 10 minutes to be seen.

The phlebotomist (person who draws the blood) was exactly as professional as I am used to in the UK - using sterile needles fresh from sterile pack, etc..
You can choose to view results online or you can phone or call in. Well I called in tonight (19911) - just 11 hours later - and my result is ready!

So, I am recommending El Borg Labs to people needing medical tests. They have branches all over Cairo and other parts of Egypt Al Borg (El Borg) Lab branches and you can contact them on a single number 19911 which I believe is freephone (I used my mobile and it didn't deduct any minutes from my package).

Public holidays and daylight savings times Egypt 2009

CLICK HERE FOR 2010 AND 2011 INFORMATION


Please note that the information below relates to 2009. Information for 2010 and 2011 see link at top of this post.


RAMADAN HAS FINISHED IN EGYPT FOR 2009

CLOCKS IN EGYPT HAVE NOW GONE BACK 1 HOUR - END OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS 2009.

SOURCE OF INFO FOR ABOVE STATEMENT

PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME WEBSITES ARE STILL SHOWING DIFFERENT DATES AND ALSO THAT YOUR COMPUTER CLOCK TIME UPDATE SERVER HAS NOT CHANGED EVEN WITH A MANUAL SUBMISSION.

Other dates you may see are 27th August 2009, Thursday September 24th and Thursday October 1st (printed in my Egyptian diary!)

Original Post below:

I haven't posted for a while because I have been ill ('man' flu - ie a bad cold), entertaining a friend over here for a while, and have also been incredibly busy trying to finish off some academic work which I had 18 months to do and of course am trying to get in to the last 2 weeks!

Anway, I thought that I would make a post about public holiday dates, just to keep things going! Generally speaking, big companies, banks etc have holidays on these dates, but with the exception of the end of Ramadan, you will find most of the smaller businesses, malls etc open (possibly with later start times).

Apparently a new public holiday "Taba Day" has also been declared for March 19th. link about new public holiday

source of info on public holiday dates

2009
7 Jan* Coptic Christmas Day.
9 Mar Birth of the Prophet.
(20th Apr - might be coptic easter, see comment by 27th April).
25 Apr Sinai Liberation Day (Sinai only).
27 Apr* Sham el-Nassim (Coptic Easter). {I have been advised that this date given on the link above is possibly wrong and maybe 20th April).
1 May Labour Day.
23 Jul National Day.
11 Sep* Coptic New Year.
20-23 Sep Bairam Feast (End of Ramadan).
6 Oct Armed Forces Day.
27-28 Nov Grand Feast.
18 Dec Islamic New Year.


Source of info on Daylight Savings

Clocks go forward 1 hour for Daylight Saving at midnight on 23rd April 2009. This means that from midnight on 28th March until midnight on 23rd April, Egypt will only be 1 hour ahead of the UK instead of the usual 2.

**NOTE WELL: amended information** Clocks will go back 1 hour at MIDNIGHT on Thursday August 20th 2009. (i.e. as soon as it gets to MIDNIGHT, the clock will go back to 11pm that night) so we will be only 1 hour ahead of the UK again for nearly 2 months until the UK clock goes back at 2am on Sunday 25th October 2009.