Egypt in June - safe destination (political)

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Plek Trum

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Hi,

we are thinking of booking two weeks in Egypt in June for our holiday.
Either in (a) Luxor - on the Nile,steeped in history, easy to tavel to Cairo, do Nile cruise etc
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(b) Sharm el Sheikh - stunning beaches, Red Sea Coral, great value hotels.

Does anybody have any preference or experience on these two areas and most importantly is it currently a safe destination to consider given its proximity to Israel?

All help much appreciated, thanks.
 
Would have no hesitation in going to Egypt.

Haven't been to Luxor but I've heard it's nice. We went to Dahab, not Sharm, but we were there for diving, not beaching (there are no beaches near Dahab unfort). Sharm looks extremely touristy from what we saw of it so I'd pick Luxor on that basis. It'd be pretty easy to do a two-centre holiday and take in both if you want.

One recommendation we got was to see the pyramids first - once you get settled in a nice seaside/relaxing town, it's a big shock to the system to go to the pyramids and all the mayhem that entails.
 
Spent Christmas at the Hilton in Sharm. Lots of pools, staff good, great for snorkelling or water skiing (though not at the same time) and the food was good. We went B&B but you can jiggle lunch/dinner if you take the HB option. As safe as anywhere these days. Five minutes walk from the private beach. I would recommend it.
 
Plek Trum said:
is it currently a safe destination to consider
Click to expand...

There have been many attacks on western tourists over the years - bombs + gun attacks. eg Luxor, Dahab ( just down the roard from Sharm etc ). There is ( + always was ) unease among a sizeable proportion of the muslim population but security is good so you should be safe enough.
 
Have been to Egypt twice - felt very safe both times - the first time, we did the Luxor, Nile trip - the trip back from Aswan to Luxor was a bit unsettling with armed escorts before and behind the coach - but still felt very safe.
Second trip was to Sharm - was like any other holiday resort - we stayed in the Coral Sea which is a Falcon resort - if you have kids, this is perfect.
Only thing is, it might be a bit hot in June!
 
I was in Egypt in Nov 2007, and as bunnyadden said, the armed escorts are a bit disconcerting at first, but they're there for a reason!

I did a 2 week tour, starting in Cairo, and included Luxor and Aswan (spent a week on the Nile). Was "templed out" by the end of it all, but loved it!

Be prepared for plenty of heat! It was 40 degrees when we went to Abu Simbel - in November!!

I know someone who went to Sharm el Sheik and did a tour to Cairo from there - by bus, though, and it was a very very long trip. If you're doing history & beach/sun locations, fly between the cities if you can.
 
Yes- the balance between history locations and the beach ares is hard. This may seem daft question (!) but are there any beach areas in Luxor? Im checking through hotels and they all seem to have pools but no 'beach' areas (I know its on the Nile..!)

I'm thinking that for a 2 week holiday the option of a beach location may be better (Sharm) but this would make visiting Giza / Cairio and Luxor MUCH harder. Hhhmm.. what to do....
 
You can do a trip to Cairo from Sharm no problem - you can fly if you like as the bus trip is arduous (I've heard). There's a tour operator here - I'd start by doing searches for similar to see what trips you can organise from each place. The snorkelling/diving in Sharm is stunning, but I'd still go for Luxor!
 
Watersprite - would you think this is an achievable intinery for our trip?

Cork - Sharm el Sheikh (2 nights)
Sharm - Luxor (Internal flight) 2 nights
Luxor - Cairo (Internal flight) 2 nights
Ciaro to Sharm (internal flight) 8 nights then home.

Seems to be the only way we can balance the beach and history between us ha!
Is this enough time in Luxor and Cairo to see the majority of sites, without putting ourselves under too much pressure? We have changed to end July / 1st week August. Appreciate your help!
 
It's going to be hotter than Hades in July - that's when I went a couple of years ago. It is a dry heat, which makes it more tolerable, but it's factor 50 all the way!

We only went to Dahab and then to Jordan (with a few dive trips to Sharm) so I can't comment with 100% reliability on Cairo or Luxor but I deffo think that 2 nights in Cairo is enough and sounds good as you won't be rushing like a mad thing. What I don't know is if 2 nights is enough in Luxor - sorry! Someone else may be able to give some input on that one.

One other thing to remember is that I think you have to get a special tourist stamp for Sinai (Sharm) and elsewhere and going in and out of Sinai will require you to buy two of them. I'm not 100% on how it works and it's perfectly fine to do, but you'd want to just check out the details on it before you go. Also, when you get to Sharm, there are two queues - one for normal immigration and one for the tourist stamp - make sure you get the stamp first or you'll be sent back from one queue to the other, which can be (is!) a real pain if you've queued at immigration for 20 mins to find that out

I hope ye are sun loving sallow-skinned types!
 
Many thnaks Watersprite - I appreciate your help a lot! Its great to have a 'heads up' before we leave, especially if we have to accomodate a lot of travel plans internally. Will research the immigration issue to and from Sharm for certain.

As for being sallow skinned .. I wish!. Factor 50 and sun hat I think...
 
Did Egypt a few years back with Budget travel, first week in Luxor then up to El gouna for the second week , did a day trip to Cairo from there 5 hours by road, Elgouna is lovely.
 
thanks for the info on sharm planning to go in march
can you give me any prices in euro or egypt pounds
on trips to cairo with sharm club, thanks
 
 
thanks for info on sharm going in march can you give any prices
on trips to cairo in euro or egypt pounds
thanks jockdrop
 
Sorry - I don't have any prices! There are prices on that website I linked to and, if you do a search for "Sharm Tourist Agencies" or something like that, you'll probably hit some more sites that may have prices. High street travel agencies would probably have details on trips in their brochures too. Also check tripadvisor for links to recommended travel agents.
 

thanks watersprite
will try a few sites
jockdrop
 
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