Egypt - luxor + red sea

hi no mention of Egypt in previous threads, im thinking of going
sept 20th, what would the weather be like.
Luxor one week and El gouna one week.
what hotels would anyone recommend.
the threee conrners Rihana resorts seems alot
cheaper than the others any reason?
how do i get from the red sea to cairo + the pyramids.
Is luxor/red sea expensive, are budget travel the cheapest?

Red sea , which resort is best El gouna or hurghada?

Hi,

doing that exact holiday in april. flying dublin/cairo - then immediately to luxor for three nights. Business class flight to sharm-el-sheik (only a few bob more than economy) sharm-el sheik to cairo. cairo three nights and then dublin. Cairo is apparently extremely noisey all the time, so you may want to request a quiet room. Even in april the pyramids, tombs etc must be viewed early in morning due to heat. make sure your hotels have a pool. Four/three star accomodation seems very reasonable. booked it all through ebookers.

sorry - forgot to say that internal flights from/to cairo/luxor/red sea seem very frequent. We customised our trip, which worked out very reasonably compared to the package tour operators.

enjoy!

You will have a lovely time. I lived in Egypt for a year and can't fault it - apart from the car horns and some pollution. The people are lovely and I never felt in danger there. It is a bit of a culture shock (or at least it was for me), but I adapted quickly enough, My husband and son went this time last year to Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh and had a very good holiday. So relaxing, and still enough to keep them busy. My son climbed Mount Sinai to watch the sunrise and it was pretty spectacular by all accounts. Snorkeling on the Red Sea is incredible, watch out for sharp coral .
It will be pretty hot in September, so bring a good sunhat, high sun protection cream and lots of light clothes. Its not a good idea to eat salads etc in Egypt, unless you can sterilise them yourself. But the fruit is beautiful, just give it a wash first. Sorry for going on - hope you have a great time

The German foreign minister , Mr. Steinmeier, headed to Egypt today, making sure that all the valuable documents concerning tortured foreigners are in safe hands.You can count on that ....

Finbar,

Buy a Lonely Planet, it is very good, especially if you are planning to go travelling about. Much cheaper doing it yourself than with packages. But there are risks when travelling on own (small risks in my opinion).

Stayed in Hurghada for 2 weeks a couple of years ago, went to Cairo and Luxor in the middle. Flew up to Cairo, stayed in the Hilton for 2 nights(40 dollars pps per night!!!), then overnight sleeper train to Luxor, stayed there 2/3 nights, then bus back to Hurghada. Hectic but worth it. Lonely planet had all the info we needed, but we nearly got stranded for a day as there was only 1 bus per day back to Hurghada.

We went in September, but found Luxor too hot to enjoy, the tours leave before 8am to get some tour time in before the midday heat.

Beware the "all-inclusive" hotels, very handy as you don't have to worry about food, but budget to eat out every second night, as we found that the food was all very much the same each night. Also, drinks can be all inclusive, but tend to be local beers / spirits. The local spirits are best avoided.

We did a package through Amsterdam (Neckermann), worked out much cheaper than Irish agents. Plus you get to go to Amsterdam on the way. Downside, you have to book in Dutch, plus we ended up in a hotel full of Germans and Russians, with only 2 other english-speakers in the place... the bar manager (egyptian) was just back from 2 years in Dublin though!

Don't eat the salad, this includes salad in a burger or the likes ... you can learn the hard way... or else wash it yourself.

Diving is brilliant in the Red Sea, and its a great place to learn. It takes 5 days to do an introductory course, and costs about 300 euro I think. Most places will do a try-a-dive for about 10 euro. Can't recommend it enough. Snorkelling is also very good, 90% of the fun, without the cost or effort required (there is some study required, and it can be physically demanding).

holidaysuncovered.co.uk has some reviews of Egypt.

Thanks everyone for the replies.I have booked it all now with Budget travel.2 weeks the first staying the the movenpick hotel in luxor then transfering to Elgouna in the red sea to the movenpick for another week.The price Direct flights from dublin on a B and B basis including all transfers from airport to hotel , from luxor to Elgouna and return bus to Hurgada flying home from hurgada was 884 per person which i think is good value saving the hassle of flying via london independantly.We will book our own trip to Cairo/pyramids from Elgouna.Going Sept 20 till Oct 4th

hey all,

Just wondered had anyone been on the Nile Boat Cruise (with Budget Travel)??? Thinking of doing Luxor for 4 Nights and 3 Nights Cruise but want to make sure its worth it!!! Trip seems to include visits to 3 Sites over the Days and a Passing view of Another.
Budget say the Boat is 5* but I have my doubts (unproven though). Any help appreciated.

breener said:

hey all,

Just wondered had anyone been on the Nile Boat Cruise (with Budget Travel)??? Thinking of doing Luxor for 4 Nights and 3 Nights Cruise but want to make sure its worth it!!! Trip seems to include visits to 3 Sites over the Days and a Passing view of Another.
Budget say the Boat is 5* but I have my doubts (unproven though). Any help appreciated.

Click to expand...

We did a Nile cruise last year but not with Budget...we booked it independantly. We did the cruise from Aswan to Luxor. If you have the option to stay in the Old Winter Palace hotel in Luxor...take it. Its a fab hotel, real old world. Get a room in the old part of the hotel, preferably with a Nile View. Also one thing we didn't do and now regret is a ballon ride at sunrise.

I assume the cruise is from Luxor to Aswan? If so a lot of the sights are in Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple & Luxor Temple. We stopped at a couple of other temples but nothing of any great interest. The cruises usually offer an optional trip to Abu Simbel which is well worth the visit. Just to be warned that the excursions usually depart the boat at approx 7am (the Abu Simbal one leaves at 4.30am) so that you are back on the boat by mid-day.

I can't remember the name of the boat offhand but afaik it was a 4*. It was nice enough and the food was good. Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner.