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Travel to Egypt

LisaH

LisaH

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A group of us (8-10) plan to visit Egypt later this year. Due to the political uncertainty, many US tour companies pulled out of this market. We contacted A&K but the price is significantly higher for similar itinerary/hotels than those offered by tour companies in the region. I wonder if some tuggers have been there and could offer tips on traveling to this region: must-vist places, things to be careful about, tour company recommendation, etc.
Thanks!
 
We were in Cairo shortly after the Muslim Brotherhood took over. You need to know in advance that you will be appalled at many things you see: for example, there is a canal that goes through a major part of Cairo (beside the road to the pyramids); it is filled with unimaginable filth. There are garbage bags floating in it, and there is a huge quantity of unbagged garbage floating in green water with "white growths;" people are fishing in the canal for dinner.

At the pyramids, you will be absolutely overwhelmed with vendors and camels. We live in Mexico; I experience venders all the time; the pyramid experience is totally different. One man in our group was, literally, grabbed by 4 "camel men," one on each leg/arm, and placed on a camel which was told to rise. They would not give the order for the camel to lie down until he paid them from atop the animal. There are no police; there is no one to help you. Do not go without a local to intervene. The pyramids are right up against Cairo and hotels; there is truly only one spot (a parking lot) where you can take that photo we've all seen of the 3 pyramids in a row without showing buildings with them.

The sphynix is enclosed in a tall plywood "box." You have to climb up on a very small (holds 20 or 30 people) viewing platform to see him, and you look down on him; he isn't sitting majestically out in the desert; it diminishes the experience considerably. There are vendors there, too, but no camels, and they aren't violent or overly aggressive.

If I were returning, I'd be very certain to stay at 4 or 5 star hotels and I'd have a local guide--and be prepared for the Cairo part of your trip to be considerably different from what you have probably imagined. We didn't do a Nile cruise or get much beyond Cairo, so I can't speak about that experience. However, it would have to be better than Cairo itself.

If you're planning on going to Israel on the same trip, be sure to go to Israel after Egypt; Israel doesn't mind that you have a passport stamp from Egypt; Egypt may mind that you have one from Israel, so much so that Israel issues paper inserts for your passport rather than stamping it. Our experience in Israel was wonderful; I'd go back in a heartbeat.....Egypt, not so much.
 
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Please read the above post two times. The written words are the truth. Do not take any pictures at the pyramid with anyone in a police uniform , or on a camel and "PLEASE" do not sit on a camel because that vendor will want big American dollars from you to get off. The real police at the pyramids are a "Joke" and that is my opinion only.

Please away stay in your group and do not let anyone outside your group touch or use your camera.
 
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Depends on where you are staying but the Ramses Hilton offers full service tours. You do not have to be a guest. Tours to the Pyramids (stop at gift shop included); sunset rides on the Nile; visits to the gold market-we did it via taxi on our own-NOT necessarily a good idea. Ten thousand honking taxi drivers and the market is a maze-you can easily get lost-not a good feeling. We took the train to Valley of the Kings. I used some British company who offered guided tours to the tombs-they picked us up at the train station. We brought lots of candy (tootsie roll minis) for the constant begging kids-bakeesh I think it's called. You can arrange bus tours into Israel (see the great info above). Unfortunately, when we went to the bus; the border was "closed". As a side note; the first tour we went on was the Egyptian Museum (I think it was $20) since we wanted some historical background. Met at the Hilton, walked right out the back door and into the Egyptian Museum courtyard. My husband was a little upset but, it was a guided tour inside in English and we saw what we wanted to see so, it was ok. It is a rich historical and cultural experience but we won't schedule a return trip. BTW, it seemed like everyday was a holiday (yeah-no work...boo-no work) which can upset your travel plans. My advise would be not to dress up-be VERY casual. If you have not been to a third world country be prepared (and DO NOT drink the water!!:eek:) that includes popsicles, too.
 
I forgot to mention that no matter what the temperature is outside, all females should make sure they are well covered. It's their country, and they don't like females' hair being uncovered, let alone anything else.

Pedro is right about the photos--do not surrender your camera to anyone not in your group. Do not, even accidentally, get a man or his camel in your picture. You will pay big money to do so.

As to the police at the pyramids, they may have been a joke from the beginning, Pedro, I don't know, but they have now been removed entirely.

For most people, I think, there has been a life-long desire to see the pyramids and contemplate their age/human history/etc. You can forget that. You'll walk from the parking lot to the pyramid (not far at all, maybe a city block), you'll touch a stone, maybe take a picture of each of you sitting on a stone, and you'll get back into your vehicle absolutely as quickly as you possibly can to escape the "camel men." One vender grabbed my arm so firmly that I actually could not pull it away--my husband had to intervene. It's a horrible experience.

I know a Scottish woman who said to me, "My dear, once you've been, you'll neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrr go back." For me, she said it all.
 
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I did an Egypt tour with Go Ahead Vacations during the elections a few months before the revolt.

http://www.goaheadtours.com/ene/egypt-the-nile

With a big group, you'll have 1 of you going FREE (I think). I can take the recommendation so I get credit too :)

I highly recommend them as I've done multiple tours with them. Our tour director was the best I've ever had in any of the trips I've done.He's an Egyptologist and handled everything for us, teaching us some helpful Arabic words, handled the driver tips, helping us handle the vendors (ignore them!), negotiates with them for us and working with us on the camel rides, etc. I just checked on FB and he's still a Tour Director and still lives in Cairo. He moved to Canada for a bit during the turmoil (his wife was Canadian).

It might be true that Cairo and the pyramids are traffic/dirty etc. But this is only 1 part of the tour (3 days max). I even wondered why we started with the pyramids expecting that that will be the highlight of the trip. But no, it just went grander and grander.

Egypt is one of the countries where I DEFINITELY recommend a tour group. Do NOT DIY this country.

Tour groups will have armed guard (Tourist Police) in their buses for protection on those long stretch drives.

Definitely visit Aswan, Abu Simbel, Alexandria, and cruise along the nile. Philae, Luxor, Karnak, Edfu, etc.

We did Sharm El Sheik, Petra/Jordan by ourselves at the end of our tour. Our guide helped us on who to call there.

Pictures if you're interested: Egypt, Nile, Petra

Others are partially right. It is a Muslim country so you do have to respect their traditions and beliefs. Do not wear shorty shorts and sleeveless shirts.

I will come back. Each country has bad areas and Cairo is their most urban city and could be like our LA/Detroit etc. That's like saying I will never go the the USA because Harlem/Detroit is a mess.
The rest of the country is beautiful. I will definitely come back. The whole country (if you can ignore Cairo) is a step back in time. Everything is beautifully preserved. I firmly believe that my amazing experience is largely in part to the effort of the tour company/director.

Pyramids: We stayed a while here. We went around and visited all 3 pyramids. We went up the stones, went inside the smaller one :) Our tour director did warn us NOT to engage with any vendor/camels by the pyramids themselves. Instead, he brought us a bit farther in a place that has a great view of the pyramids in the background and negotiated our camel rides four our group. We had a great camel ride and photos with the pyramids behind us.

Abu Simbel - aaahmazing
Philae - aaahmazing. The night show is a must see
Edfu - aaaahmazing

Everything is aaaahmazing... enough to overshadow the dirty/smog/traffic of Cairo. And aside from the traffic, Cairo is not even THAT bad, if your tour director navigates you to the right areas. We even survived the market :)
 
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Myxdvz said:
I did an Egypt tour with Go Ahead Vacations during the elections a few months before the revolt.

http://www.goaheadtours.com/ene/egypt-the-nile

With a big group, you'll have 1 of you going FREE (I think). I can take the recommendation so I get credit too :)

I highly recommend them as I've done multiple tours with them. Our tour director was the best I've ever had in any of the trips I've done.He's an Egyptologist and handled everything for us, teaching us some helpful Arabic words, handled the driver tips, helping us handle the vendors (ignore them!), negotiates with them for us and working with us on the camel rides, etc. I just checked on FB and he's still a Tour Director and still lives in Cairo. He moved to Canada for a bit during the turmoil (his wife was Canadian).

It might be true that Cairo and the pyramids are traffic/dirty etc. But this is only 1 part of the tour (3 days max). I even wondered why we started with the pyramids expecting that that will be the highlight of the trip. But no, it just went grander and grander.

Egypt is one of the countries where I DEFINITELY recommend a tour group. Do NOT DIY this country.

Tour groups will have armed guard (Tourist Police) in their buses for protection on those long stretch drives.

Definitely visit Aswan, Abu Simbel, Alexandria, and cruise along the nile. Philae, Luxor, Karnak, Edfu, etc.

We did Sharm El Sheik, Petra/Jordan by ourselves at the end of our tour. Our guide helped us on who to call there.

Pictures if you're interested: Egypt, Nile, Petra

Others are partially right. It is a Muslim country so you do have to respect their traditions and beliefs. Do not wear shorty shorts and sleeveless shirts.

I will come back. Each country has bad areas and Cairo is their most urban city and could be like our LA/Detroit etc. That's like saying I will never go the the USA because Harlem/Detroit is a mess.
The rest of the country is beautiful. I will definitely come back. The whole country (if you can ignore Cairo) is a step back in time. Everything is beautifully preserved. I firmly believe that my amazing experience is largely in part to the effort of the tour company/director.

Pyramids: We stayed a while here. We went around and visited all 3 pyramids. We went up the stones, went inside the smaller one :) Our tour director did warn us NOT to engage with any vendor/camels by the pyramids themselves. Instead, he brought us a bit farther in a place that has a great view of the pyramids in the background and negotiated our camel rides four our group. We had a great camel ride and photos with the pyramids behind us.

Abu Simbel - aaahmazing
Philae - aaahmazing. The night show is a must see
Edfu - aaaahmazing

Everything is aaaahmazing... enough to overshadow the dirty/smog/traffic of Cairo. And aside from the traffic, Cairo is not even THAT bad, if your tour director navigates you to the right areas. We even survived the market :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your photos. They brought back many good memories of our trip to Egypt and Turkey. I am very sorry to be so very hard on the City Cairo & the pyramids. I agree Egypt, Jordan, Luxor, and the boat ride on the river of the Nile were outstanding.

We also had armed security on our bus. But the vendors at the pyramids were far the worst we have every encounter.
 
PStreet1 said:
And I agree that Turkey was wonderful, as was Israel. Cairo and the pyramids, however, were not.
Click to expand...

And I think we just need to agree to disagree here. The rest of Egypt is better than Cairo and the pyramids, but honestly Cairo and the pyramids were not THAT bad. We saw all the camel vendors around too. But we were not "grabbed" nor harassed, etc. And even if we were approached, some small tips on how to handle them from our tour director which is basically (don't engage with them at all) solved any potential issue.

My experience just doesn't mesh with these (and my pictures prove that)...

"You'll walk from the parking lot to the pyramid (not far at all, maybe a city block), you'll touch a stone, maybe take a picture of each of you sitting on a stone, and you'll get back into your vehicle absolutely as quickly as you possibly can to escape the "camel men."
Click to expand...

The sphynix is enclosed in a tall plywood "box." You have to climb up on a very small (holds 20 or 30 people) viewing platform to see him, and you look down on him; he isn't sitting majestically out in the desert; it diminishes the experience considerably. There are vendors there, too, but no camels, and they aren't violent or overly aggressive.
Click to expand...

I can see how people who are not there with any local guide might have problems because they're not armed with proper knowledge and information. But if you visit this country with a local guide (or better yet an experience tour director) to help you deal with the differences between their culture and the American culture, it will be fine.

The problem I see sometimes with some American tourists is that they expect to be treated exactly like they're treated at home with the same expectation of respect for to their private space, honesty, etc. This is just not realistic and not how it is in some countries. (Mostly Asian and African ones). And isn't this part of travelling? Getting exposed to the cultures, traditions, wonders (and warts) of other countries.
 
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Myxdvz said:
And I think we just need to agree to disagree here. The rest of Egypt is better than Cairo and the pyramids, but honestly Cairo and the pyramids were not THAT bad. We saw all the camel vendors around too. But we were not "grabbed" nor harassed, etc. And even if we were approached, some small tips on how to handle them from our tour director which is basically (don't engage with them at all) solved any potential issue.

My experience just doesn't mesh with these (and my pictures prove that)...





I can see how people who are not there with any local guide might have problems because they're not armed with proper knowledge and information. But if you visit this country with a local guide (or better yet an experience tour director) to help you deal with the differences between their culture and the American culture, it will be fine.

The problem I see sometimes with some American tourists is that they expect to be treated exactly like they're treated at home with the same expectation of respect for to their private space, honesty, etc. This is just not realistic and not how it is in some countries. (Mostly Asian and African ones). And isn't this part of travelling? Getting exposed to the cultures, traditions, wonders (and warts) of other countries.
Click to expand...

In my humble opinion American tourists are very "spoil."
 
Thanks everyone for your input!
Pat, wow your description of Cairo is a bit shocking but better to be forewarned than unprepared. Thanks.
Myxdvz, your pictures are beautiful! I will check out the company you listed. We are going later part of Oct and they do not seem to offer tours then. Will email them to find out.
We plan to spend 2-3 days in Cairo, take a river cruise for 3-4 days including Luxor, Abu Simbel etc., then spend 3 days in Hurghada (Red Sea Snorkeling), back to Cairo and visit Alexandria for one day, depart for US the next day. The total trip is 12 days in Egypt. Does it sounds doable?
 
I agree. I remember years ago when a friend was told that for a business trip to India that he could go to New Delhi, but he absolutely could not go to Calcutta--too much of a shock to an American. Knowing before hand keeps it from having the effect on your experience it would have if you weren't prepared. I feel sure your experience will be more like Myxdvd's than ours because you'll be out of Cairo, and we really weren't that far outside the city.
 
We have booked the trip! we will spend a total of 13 days in Egypt visiting Cairo/Giza, Alexandria, then take a Nile cruise all the way down to Aswan passing through Luxor, Edfu and Kom Ombo, tour to Abu Simbel, then to Hurghada for three days before heading back to Cairo. Thank you all for your input. I will report back afterwards in Nov.
 
LisaH said:
We have booked the trip! we will spend a total of 13 days in Egypt visiting Cairo/Giza, Alexandria, then take a Nile cruise all the way down to Aswan passing through Luxor, Edfu and Kom Ombo, tour to Abu Simbel, then to Hurghada for three days before heading back to Cairo. Thank you all for your input. I will report back afterwards in Nov.
Click to expand...

That's great! Sounds very similar to the itinerary we had. Share some photos and your experiences!
 
I have to say, considering the above posts, this does not sound like a vacation to me. Who need the stress!
 
I think it will be a good, and fun trip. Lisa will see things- both expected and unexpected. That's what travel is all about.

We've taken advantage of 'difficult' situations around the world, and traveled on the shirttails of them. When the Berlin Wall came down and the former Eastern Europe opened up. I was there. After the currency devalued in Thailand, we were there, after the SARS 'epidemic' scare in Hong Kong, we enjoyed Chinese New Year there. These are times when security is tight, prices are low, and you can see beneath the polished veneer of 'tourism' and see the country as it truly is. Besides, the dollars you spend help the local people, and they are truly grateful.

Go for it.

Jim
 
To the OP please take your vacation and enjoy your itinerary. Your itinerary is just fine. Just be careful of your surrounding and do not display any religious items on your body. Just Enjoy your vacation.
 
Well, be safe and enjoy your trip. For me, I would be a nervous wreck in a place like that and traveling with an armed guard is not my idea of a vacation.:eek: The fact that a lot of travel companies pulled out of the region and all the terrorism going on is enough to keep me from ever traveling there. Plenty of other beautiful safe countries to visit, including our own. Will certainly be an adventure for you. Good luck!
 
Passepartout said:
We've taken advantage of 'difficult' situations around the world, and traveled on the shirttails of them. When the Berlin Wall came down and the former Eastern Europe opened up. I was there. After the currency devalued in Thailand, we were there, after the SARS 'epidemic' scare in Hong Kong, we enjoyed Chinese New Year there. These are times when security is tight, prices are low, and you can see beneath the polished veneer of 'tourism' and see the country as it truly is. Besides, the dollars you spend help the local people, and they are truly grateful.
Jim
Click to expand...

We actively seek out opportunities provided by difficult situations. In my back-garden there is always a bomb going off, a plane going down or a riot taking place. I'm currently putting together a short trip to the seaside as a treat for DH who desperately needs to get away, sit by the pool with a book and eat good Thai food. They are almost giving accommodation away so a couple of weeks will cost barely anything. Malaysian Airlines to KL and Air Asia to Phuket are unsurprisingly cheap and I'll book in a week or so because there's an uprising on the cards with the former Thai PM impeachment case.

Have fun Lisa, your planned adventure sounds marvellous to me.
 
Cairo Egypt -enjoy

Just found this thread & it is an interesting read

Our son age 26 has gone twice . Trip one was a 23 hr "stop over " ( one of about 5 on the way to Vietnam - all one ticket - so no extra cost ) where he stayed near the pyramids & experienced the pushy guides .
Earlier this year he returned for 4 days & used ( his) Marriott points since the point cost was 7500 or 10,000 per night for a top level Marriott property . ( 7500 gets me TownSuites in Warren Mi. ) He did say that he felt more comfortable & secure staying in a premium location in Cairo . In Istanbul in comparison he stayed in a hostel.
As he said - go to Egypt now - while it is not full of tourists getting in your way.

Hope it is a good vacation & full of new experiences
 
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