# Egypt holiday advice



## MEDSTER (13 Jan 2008)

hi everyone, me and my girlfriend are planning on going to egypt in june, start off in cario then luxor and then to sharm el sheikh, can anyone advise me of places to go, stay, avoid or generally things to watch out for, id appreciate any advice. thanks, med


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## Perplexed (14 Jan 2008)

Be careful what you eat & don't drink the water & remember no ice in your drinks.


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## 26cb (14 Jan 2008)

Have you a budget ?  The reason I ask is that it makes a huge difference on the accomodation side.  Also wash all fruit that you eat in Bottled water....


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## gar123 (14 Jan 2008)

we stayed at the marriott golden beach in sharm in august and from talking to people who had stayed elsewhere it seemed one of the best about


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## gipimann (14 Jan 2008)

Before I went to Egypt last year, I read lots of useful info on www.touregypt.com

I was on an organised tour, which made life a lot easier for us - we had a tour guide with us all the time.


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## finbar (14 Jan 2008)

would recomend Budget travel, are you organising the whole trip yourself or going with a package ?
I would recomend flying into Luxor for a week , then up the El gouna for 1 week. You can bus it to Cairo (5hrs) to see the Pyramids/ Cairo museum all in the one day.


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## sulo (14 Jan 2008)

we went budget last year... we did 3 nights / 4 days on a cruise, got to see the valley of the kings, Abu Simble, and a whole array of other stops from the cruise (which is great) as the sites are all over the place - then we stayed in the Movenpick in Luxor... and from there we organised a trip to cairo (flight)... to see the pyramids!  Loved it!

We're 33 / 29 - and found that 3 days on the cruise was enough for us... we met some lovely people on board, most of them were repeat visitors.

Defo a place I'll go back too.


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## finbar (14 Jan 2008)

Also stayed in the movenpick luxor ( under a different name now)
and the movenpick Elgouna.


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## gipimann (14 Jan 2008)

finbar said:


> would recomend Budget travel, are you organising the whole trip yourself or going with a package ?
> I would recomend flying into Luxor for a week , then up the El gouna for 1 week. You can bus it to Cairo (5hrs) to see the Pyramids/ Cairo museum all in the one day.


 
If it takes 5 hrs by bus from Luxor to Cairo, there won't be that much time to see both the pyramids and the museum?   I spent 2 hrs in the museum (guided tour, all the time we were allowed), I could have spent 2 days there!  

Also it's important to try to schedule tours to outdoor sights for early in the day to avoid the worst of the heat.   Was at Abu Simbel in November, 11am and it was 40 degrees with very little shade!


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## MEDSTER (14 Jan 2008)

budgetwise... i was kind of hoping £600 on accomodation for the two weeks, im not sure what type of star hotel this will get me, but if its anything like the hotel prices in thailand my money will go a long way (fingers crossed).  How much do you reccommend i take for accomodation? i hear the flucca's are worth staying in.

i didnt book a package holiday as we were planning on traveling round quite a bit and werent sure how that would fit into our plans.


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## finbar (15 Jan 2008)

Its 5 hours from Elgouna to Cairo , bus leaves at 03:30 in the morning arriving in Cairo at 09:00, straight to Pyramids, then Cairo Museum then dinner on a restaurant on the river back that night about 10.
cost 50 euro , alot cheaper than the flights. Also i wouldnt 'do' Egypt independantly as it can be dangerous.All tour buses dont go in an armed convoy for the craic , it is for the saftey of tourists due to attacks in the past. Go with a package for safetey reasons and also save yourself the hassle.


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## gipimann (15 Jan 2008)

Finbar, you just reminded me of the armed convoys - I'd forgotten!   

Medster, the guide book I read said that independent travel is almost a thing of the past in Egypt.   Travelling in certain areas requires tourists to be part of a convoy, so you have to match your journey (e.g. rental car) to the timing of the police.   

I'd echo finbar's comment and get a package.  Much less hassle, and if organised well, you'll see lots in a short space of time (I think I visited 14+ attractions in a 10 day holiday)


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## 26cb (16 Jan 2008)

Totally agree....get a package....independant travel is actively discouraged by the police.


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## bleary (16 Jan 2008)

I travelled there on my own ,Female 'relatively' young ..It was very safe - It is absolutely possible to do this independently and extremely cheaply 
I met loads of backpackers/flashpackers doing it as well. Felucca trip was fantastic and unforgettable
cost 12 dollars I think for 3 days on the boat and food.
I booked accommodation initially thru hostelworld.com and they picked me up at the airport . After that I just picked up places on the way. If you ask where you are staying they will book packages for you a lot of places in Cairo organise the whole thing accommodation desert trips ,felucca trips etc etc for a couple of hundred euros 
It really wasnt a problem to do it myself because of security you cant really go too far off the beaten track .
My one tip tho is check the package operators flight only deals direct to Sharm or Luxor
I got one of these for half the price of a scheduled flight to Cairo


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## SkippyOD (22 Jan 2008)

26cb said:


> Totally agree....get a package....independant travel is actively discouraged by the police.


 
Don't necessarily agree with you on that one. My girlfriend and I travelled around Egypt on our own in 2005 and had a fantastic time. I had a cousin Cairo for the first night and the last night but otherwise we were on our own, met quiet a few people along thw way as well. My suggestions

Recommendations:
Cairo - Pyrmaids are obv a must but are under-whelming from up close. Don't bother going in unless you feed the need to be able to say so, there is nothing to see and unless you go into one of the smaller ones you cannot take any pictures. The museum is also a must but a bit mad, be wary you don't stumble over some 5000 year old mummy or statue that are just lying about the place.

Khan-el-Khalia (spelling could be off) is a crazy market in the Islamic part of Cairo, absolutley mad stuff, go for a smoke of the sheisha pipe and some tea and don't forget to haggle like crazy with the locals. My best memory was my girlfriend being chased out of a shop for refusing to lift her offer of 50cent for some hundred euro painting 

Lunch at the Hilton and a beer on the roof bar is also a nice thing to do/see. You also get a glimpse of the pyramids over the city which is amazing.

You can get a boat trip for an hour or so on the Nile as well but really we didn't think that you need more than 1-2 days in Cairo.

Aswan - From Cairo you can get the overnight train down to Aswan, buy the tickets a day or two before in the station. We stayed at the hotel on Elephant Island which was class. The Nubian village is right beside it and you can wander around and pick up a tour guide to bring you into the houses etc.

Aswan has a couple of sights, most of which I can't remember the name of, oh yeah the dam, but is most important for its location to Abu Simbel  which is mind-blowing. Abs one of the best sites I ever been too. Because it is 3-4 hours from Aswan on a chartered bus there is a convey with police ever other morning that takes you down, it will be the highlight.

Luxor - get the train back up to Luxor and book into a hotel on the Nile. You have the Valley of the Kings and Queens and loads more. Visit the Old Winter Palace hotel for an expensive beer. Take a few days to do it well. Get the train back up to Cairo for one last run around Khan-el-Khelia for all the pressies.


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## gipimann (22 Jan 2008)

SkippyOD said:


> Recommendations:
> Cairo - Pyrmaids are obv a must but are under-whelming from up close. Don't bother going in unless you feed the need to be able to say so, there is nothing to see and unless you go into one of the smaller ones you cannot take any pictures.


 
Didn't think they were underwhelming when I visited - quite the opposite in fact!   But hey, that's what makes us all different!   As you said, they are a must-see!   While at Giza, have a look at the Pharoah's boat which is thousands of years old.   Amazing sight.


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## bleary (24 Jan 2008)

I got a taxi from our hotel in cairo to the pyramids in dashur 
There were 3 of us in the pyramid by ourselves it was great I think we paid about a tenner each to hire the taxi for the day 
http://touregypt.net/dhashur.htm
Aswan was great too


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## rabbit (25 Jan 2008)

finbar said:


> All tour buses dont go in an armed convoy for the craic , it is for the saftey of tourists due to attacks in the past. Go with a package for safetey reasons and also save yourself the hassle.


 
I agree, when I was in Egypt there was heavy security everywhere - possibly due to repeated attacking on tourists.   Not one of our better or more enjoyable holidays overall -in fact I can think of dozens of countries nicer than North East Africa to visit.

Watch the food and water too - where we stayed all the tourists got sick at some stage, and the lack of hygene everywhere was evident.


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## sarahdarren1 (25 Jan 2008)

Hello, 

Im headin away to Egypt in 2 weeks and I was wondering if anyone can tall me what the value for money is like against the euro?

Also, how expensive is the flight from Sharm el Sheik to Cairo?


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## joanmul (25 Jan 2008)

They use american dollars more than their egyptian pound.


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## redchariot (26 Jan 2008)

Ensure that you visit as a minimum , the Pyramids, Egyptian Museum, Valley of Kings (Luxor) and Abu Simbel (south of Aswan). My overall highlight was Abu Simbel, it was fantastic and well worth a visit.

If you are going to Sharm El Sheikh; you won't go wrong with the Sunrise Island View resort north of central Sharm.

Also, do consider diving if you are in Sharm as it has some of the best dive sites in the world nearby. I did my PADI Open Water course there and it was half the price you would pay in Ireland. Even if you never did diving before, you can do a try dive where you are taken in to the water by an instructor to give it a go to see whether you like it. You will know pretty quickly whether it is for you. And if you don't like it, no harm done; it doesn't cost much and is better than forking out for the full course and discovering you don't like it then


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## jimmyd (28 Jan 2008)

Its a great holiday - we did it last year for 2 weeks
Stayed in Luzor  -did all the sights,flew to Cario and went to the Pyrimids and into one of them and then back to luxor and did a 3 day nile cruise.


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## redchariot (28 Jan 2008)

sarahdarren1 said:


> Hello,
> 
> Im headin away to Egypt in 2 weeks and I was wondering if anyone can tall me what the value for money is like against the euro?
> 
> Also, how expensive is the flight from Sharm el Sheik to Cairo?




You get about 7 LE for the €; well you did last year.

I flew from Cairo to Sharm for €145 return; booked it on www.lastminute.ie


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## sarahdarren1 (6 Feb 2008)

they use american dollars as their currency in Egypt??  Really?  Well Ive ordered egyptian pounds, so im hoping its ok to use that??  Also, does anyone kno the price of the flight from sharm to cairo?

thanks


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## MEDSTER (23 Feb 2008)

ive looked into internal flights for cairo to shalm, i strongly do NOT reccommend lastminute.com (rip-off), try egyptair.com, ive been told theyre real cheap.

OK, question for all those who are into their diving, whats the best dive spot in thr red sea?


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