Originally Posted by as219

It's easy to exchange money, but I wouldn't say it's easy to get small bills. As many people are aware, there's a serious small-change shortage in Egypt. we often found it difficult/impossible to get 1 LE notes and coins...most tried to give us gum or candy as change, or simply rounded up to the nearest 5. You want small change because many tipping situations call for 1-2 LE, and if you're doling out 5 /10 LE notes all the time, it adds up. Our strategy was to break up the 200/100 LE notes we got from ATMs at our hotel, then make frequent purchases of very cheap items on the street -- small water bottles, tissues, etc. -- using 5 or 10 LE notes. After a while we had a collection of 1 LE coins/notes.