Peak banks: plan ~3 hours curb-to-gate. HRG needs a real tourist visa ($30 e-Visa or $30 cash VOA). The Sinai stamp and CAI QR machines do not apply here.

HRG is a leisure airport: morning European arrivals and late-evening returns stack immigration, baggage, and outbound passport control harder than the 2014 floor plan suggests. EgyptAir’s published international advice is arrive **three hours** before departure; international desks close **60 minutes** out (policy dated 1 June 2009, still the live check-in page). Web check-in, where offered, runs 48 hours to 90 minutes before departure; boarding gates close 30 minutes out. Build about 3 hours for busy international departures in peak winter-sun and summer weeks; 2–2.5 hours can work on quieter midweek shoulder days if you are cabin-bag only. Separately, decide visa strategy before you join the arrivals snake: GOV.UK lists a **$30 cash** visa-on-arrival at approved airport kiosks (valid up to 30 days) and the official e-Visa at visa2egypt.gov.eg (tourist single entry **$30** / multiple **$65**). The free 15-day Sinai stamp is **Sharm El Sheikh / Taba only** — it does not apply at HRG. Cairo International’s card-only digital visa-on-arrival (**$36** including a $6 service fee from 1 August 2026) is **CAI-only**. Do not buy from a tout; GOV.UK warns agents overcharge.

Most international flights use Terminal 1 (2014). Terminal 2 still operates. Pearl Lounge is terminal-locked; Gate 30 is Russian-charter restricted on the live PP page.

Terminal 1 is the 2014 hall most scheduled international guests meet first. Terminal 2 is the refurbished original building, still active for charter / LCC / some domestic turns after international traffic moved to T1 in November 2017. Live Priority Pass and Mastercard list Pearl Lounge toward T1 Gate 30, opposite T1 Gate 36, and T2 landside next to check-in. Live DragonPass at airport **A20224** lists only Gate 30 and the T2 landside CIP room — do not assume DragonPass opens Gate 36. A T2 boarding pass will not open a T1 airside room. Follow FIDS and your carrier’s check-in island; do not assume “international = Terminal 1” for every charter.

Airside QSR covers the basics at a markup. Buy sealed water landside; lounge drinks only help in the matching Pearl room.

Traveler reports (Cestee, Dec 2024) put airside QSR in the sterile hall — Burger King, Café Ritazza, and a pizza counter — with one restaurant and two smaller cafés landside. Hours flex with the charter bank, not a shopping-mall timetable. Do not treat leftover SEO lists of McDonald’s / Costa as a live F&B map. If you have Pearl Lounge access in the matching room, use it for soft drinks and light snacks (Gate 36 lists a hot/cold buffet on Priority Pass; DragonPass lists non-alcoholic drinks in both of its rooms). Otherwise grab food soon after screening before a wave sits down on every chair near your gate. Buy water landside before a long passport queue — there is no published public fountain programme.

Three PP/LoungeKey Pearl rooms, 24-hour listings, 3-hour cap. DragonPass is Gate 30 + T2 landside only. Gate 30 is Russian-charter locked on the live PP page.

Priority Pass and Mastercard LoungeKey currently list all three Pearl products at 00:00–23:59 with a 3-hour max stay and free entry for children under 2. Digital cards are accepted. Gate 30 (hrg1 / HRG1 / DragonPass N02738) is airside after passport control and final X-ray, lift/stairs to floor 2 toward Gate 30 — live PP/Mastercard location text says **terminal access is restricted to Russian charter flights**. Sleep pods are extra. Gate 36 (hrg3 / HRG3) is airside after last security, 2nd floor opposite Gate 36, with a listed hot/cold buffet — **not** on live DragonPass. T2 landside (hrg2 / HRG2 / DragonPass CIP N02739) is after the first X-ray next to check-in, **before** passport control. Published PP traveler scores: Gate 30 about **3.6 / 1,000+**; T2 about **3.1 / 380+**. Treat the rooms as AC and drinks, not a destination restaurant. Open the live app the same day — capacity rules and the Russian-charter filter are enforced.