Anyone been to Egypt?

Looking for some feedback on Egypt. Thinking of going there next May for our funnymoon....

I know it's a big country but I personally would be inclined to give it a miss at the moment.

Never been to the Beach Resorty areas of Sharm el Sheikh/ Hurghada etc. and no desire to do so either personally - they sound to me a bit sterile and uninteresting - 10-20 years ago there was nothing and now they're concrete jungly type places ... but the upside is you do get the weather pretty much guaranteed and I believe the diving is good in some of the resorts anyway

I have been to Cairo and Alexandria and did enjoy both - Cairo especially is a very interesting and historic city with an awful lot of things to see and do beyond the obvious Pyramids / Egyptian musem.

As I recall it was dirt cheap apart from Alcohol which isn't that freely available in most places - big hotels would be an exception but you pay handsomely.

Security situation for sure isn't ideal .. but personally that wouldn't put me off - though I wouldnt' be staying in a hotel full of Israeli tourists either I guess.... in Cairo I felt a far greater danger would have been the traffic/pollution but that's another story

If you're worried about the security and are planning on going to the resorts for sunshine mainly then perhaps Dubai would be worth considering ? (never been there so can't advise)

Thanks guys.

Planning on a "deluxe" backpacking holiday.... travelling around but staying in nice hotels...seen as its our honeymoon there will be no crummy hostels...

Lounging around in the sun for 2 weeks is not my idea of a holiday so wouldn't be interested in Dubai...

I'm not really worried about security...I do believe when your number is up its up, regardless of where you are in the world. Obviously I won't be booking 3 weeks in Iraq or Afghanistan anytime soon...

Yes, I was there a few years ago, near Sharm-el-Sheik, Red Sea.
It was possibly one of the worst places I have ever been to in the whole world. The food, the flies, the people, the country, the heat, no drink, the atmosphere, the barren scenry...if you paid me I would not go on holidays there again.

If you go to Luxor, I recommend the Sheraton, ask for a room with balcony, overlooking the Nile. You will see the most astonishing, romantic sunset - ideal for honeymooners.

You can see nice sunsets from most other countries in the world as well.

Egypt

I went to Egypt a few years ago on a tour while on holiday in cyprus and frankly I felt a day was enough to spend there. We went around Cairo on a bus (with air conditioning!) and then down to the pyramids/sphinx area. The scenery on route was beautiful and there were extreme contrasts between rich and poor areas.
We were in a convoy of about 10 buses with policemen on board but on the way back to the port the buses got pulled over on the side of the road and scary looking fellas with big guns made the drivers and policemen get off the bus for about a half an hour. Naturally, being Irish we feared the worst and thought we'd be brown bread but then they got back on the bus and kept going

Re: Egypt

My wife & I just got back from a 10 day trip to Egypt with another couple. I would highly recommend it - great weather, friendly people and some amazing monuments and antiquities. We arranged the trip through an Egyptian agency Milano Travel (www.infohub.com/TRAVEL/SI...2307.html) who arranged all transport, some meals, guides and admission to sites. It was very reasonable ($425 pp) and included 3 days in Cairo, train to Aswan, 3 day cruise on the Nile with all meals and return from Luxor. This worked out cheaper than organising it ourselves - hotels in the cities charge close to Western prices.

Cairo is an experience in itself, taxis are cheap and provide more thrills than a Disney ride! Where we ate out the food was very cheap and good quality.
Security - there are tourist police everywhere and we never felt in danger. Walking around Cairo at midnight certainly felt safer than any Irish city - no drunks or fighting, and theft is generally less than in Western cities. Just take the usual precautions when in crowded places like the metro or the bazaar.
The only hassle we had was the usual one of everyone trying to sell you something or act as your guide, this got a bit tiring after a while. But this only happens in the more touristy areas and you soon learn to say 'La, shokran!'. Also you need to haggle for practically everything - in the bazaars you start out at about 1/3 their asking price and plan to pay around 1/2. This can be very entertaining also but not to be rushed!

great spot

Great country if you follow certain rules.

We flew to Cairo .. bit of a disaster with the hotel.. Don't book less than a 4 star there or you will end up in a kip. Don't stay too long in Cairo. Even though fascinating .. the traffic, noise and dirt will wear you down.

We travelled by over night train to Luxor. A local had to buy our ticket as tourists must take the very expensive tourist train. Luxor is quite dirty but again amazing things to see .. it just blew us away really.

On to Sharm-El-Sheik by flight.
Stay away from the tourist hotels in Sharm. We saw some fairly isolated 4/5 star hotels in the desert which for all there luxury looked miserable. We stayed in a bedioun hut which was just perfect and clean. Then we spent the rest of the time living a board a boat. This is the only way to do it in the red sea. We did some of the best diving of our lives.

We went the week the U.S entered Afganistan which possibly could have been the worst time to go there. We had been advised to cancel our trip .
We didn't .. and guess what we were fine. They still love tourists .. just be sure to tell them you are not american.
Also there were hardly any tourist which was great for us but a bit sad for the locals who rely on us.

Re: great spot

The previous poster wrote " just be sure to tell them you are not american." It reminds me of the time I was in the back of this "taxi" in Egypt, and this song came on the radio or tape by
a well know American group, the Taxi driver mumbled something, and I thought he was asking about the song and I said "American". The dirty sleazeball turned around and looked as if he was going to behead us ! After we explained we were from Ireland, he said his wife was from Belfast, and he lived there for two years, yet he could not remember any placenames there except when pressed he said he lived in Belfast "Downtown".
This was the best part of the worst holiday I ever had. I should have known better than to go back to another arab country.