Anyone been to Egypt ?

[sshazam]

Hello all

I'm planning a trip to Egypt in January. This will be my first time Solo travelling and I wanted to use a tour group for the added convenience but also for the safety reasons. I'm currently tossing up between Contiki and Topdeck, I like the top deck tour a lot as the itinerary seems more interesting but it doesn't list the added costs involved and i'd hate to get stung with paying an extra $200 every day or so ( exaggeration). So i'm leaning more towards the Contiki tour as i've had friends who've done both and said Contiki is a lot better. Staying in 5 star hotels and all doesn't faze me but as long as I have a decent clean bed and accommodation i'm happy, i'm going for the sites.

Top deck
Ultimate Egypt 19 Day Tour | Tours to Egypt visitsing Cairo | Topdeck Travel

Contiki
Egypt & The Nile Tour — Europe — Contiki Tours

So I was just wondering if anyone has done either of the tours and can comment on them?
For those of you who have been to Egypt are there any other sites to visit which are a must? any tips for someone travelling there?
I've read that small change is hard to come by in Egypt so make sure you carry some always and for Taxi's agree on a fair before you get in.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[sergeyvzn]

both tours sound good, all the important cultural sites seem to be on the itineraries

I wouldn't go to Hurghada though, there's absolutely nothing to do there, it's just a long strip of hotels along the Red Sea - lie on the beach (not a pretty one, lots of hotels will have something like a wooden pier instead) and eat lots of sugary pastries for breakfast and dinner

small change is not a problem at all, you will have your liras changed anywhere, you will need some small notes for tips (bakshish) that you will be asked for everywhere you go, including for providing you with toilet paper in a public toilet (most of them are oriental style with a little water hose or even a lovely bronze carafe-like vessel instead of toilet paper).

Agree on the taxi fare before you get inside or you'll be ripped off

avoid scammers on the street - if someone comes up to you and asks where you from and on hearing you are from Australian says "oh, my sister (brother, auntie, maternal greatgrandfather) lives in Sydney, would you like to come with me to this lovely perfume shop next door to check out perfume oils" tell them to FO straight away

Egypt is a great country full of cultural treasures, enjoy!

 

[RooFlyer]

Been to long since I was there for anything I might remember to be current.

However, a phrase to remember: "La, shokran" . Means "No, thank-you" to the abundance of street sellers & the like who will descend on you like, well, they'll descend on you in all the touristy places.

Unless, of course you'd like to buy something off one of them .... then you are on your own

 

[The Rok]

We did it in 3 days, a push to see everything we wanted to see but the mist important part to me was the British Museum in Cairo and we were definitely not disappointed with it.

Security was a big issue, and still is.

 

[Flying Fox]

Did an insight tour many years ago. Egypt was great.

If you can get down to Abu Simbel I would recommend it highly. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Its costly though.

My tip is always keep your valuables with you at all times. I travel with a fair bit of camera gear and I stashed some cash in a secret place in one of my bags. They found it and were smart enough to only remove 1x $100 AUD note vs the whole lot. Anyway, my error and hence I have always suspected that when we went to b'fast they called a friend to go clean & search our rooms. Shame as it made our trip a little sour.

Also try and eat the local food (cooked not salads) as its so cheap (we paid $1AUD for a whole container of what I'm calling Egyptian Briyani which two of us couldn't finish). Try the local ice-cream and oranges (super sweet) and I adored their local confectionery - turkish delight, sugary nuts baked on biscuits etc. Everything local was super cheap and tasty.

I agree about local vendors who can get a bit aggressive at times but simply be polite and walk away. If you are going to buy anything, haggle like mad!

 

[casanovawa]

Not sure best way to put it, but from the time you leave the airport prepeared to be scammed or have people asking for money for something... By the end of the trip anytime someone approached to ask anything i shied away as they were usually wanting money for something, nothing was offered free of charge...

I went and did Egypt myself, but that was 2010, so before all the recent troubles... Stayed in Cairo for a couple of days and went and saw the pyramids, got taken for a ride with the tour operator, ended up payign about 450 egyptians pounds or something when with a student card i could have gotten in to see them myself for about 45 pounds, so maybe do a bit of reading up first, but if on a tour i guess these things can be taken care off... Saw the British Museum (or whatever the main museum is with Tutenkhamen's mask...) i then took an over night sleeper train down to Aswan for about $80 and same back up later from Luxor, several temples in between those two cities as well as valley of the Queens tour... Didn't make it to Abu Simbal...

The tours can probably be good if you don't feel that safe or want it all laid out for you... Just maybe emailt hem and ask for total price you will be charged including all fees and kitties and what not...

 

[RooFlyer]

Egyptian Museum

 

[Edge]

Went in Oct 2009 with on the go tours. Amazing trip. 8 or 9 nights all up. 2 in Cairo, 4 on a Nile cruise, a couple on a sleeper train. The guides are exceptional. Ours ran ahead of the group to tip the right people, meaning no queuing anywhere. You MUST do Abu Simbel, will stay with you forever.

 

[coyote25]

I visited Egypt mid 2009 so long before the changing of the former regime and the assoicated problems. The tours you have linked seem good and Egypt is one place that a tour is probably a good idea, at least if you go during the hotest months at which point you want someone else taking care of problems

I went with a company called G Adventures but the trip I did is no longer around but I still recommend them as a company. You can check out my blog reports on the locations to get a feel for what I thought was good and what wasn't great:
Egypt | nathanburgessinsights

Totally agreed with others that you will be hassled at every point including at Cairo Airport before you pass border control. Usual travel rules apply, don't accept anything from someone else you are absolutely sure you want it, don't hand over your camera to anyone it will cost a fee to get it back from locals. You can pay (or you could pay) officials at historic locations to go places and touches things you definitely should not be allowed to do, it's a way to increase low wages. Personnally I didn't feel the need to climb all over historic objectives which is likely to cause long term damage.

Also make sure you have a back up credit/debit card. A lot of the machines will only accept one of the major brands and a few people found ATMs that didn't like to play nice.

Still very much a place worth visiting.

 

[Flying Fox]

Just remembered to confess about something stupid that I did in Cairo.

A gentleman offered to show us his work shop for some amazing momentos (it was either papyrus or cartouche (gold ingot with our names written in hieroglyphics). So like a stupid young man I followed him down a back street and another and another but kept my eye on the Sheraton Hotel. Got to his small workshop (probably 2m wide) and we stepped in. Then he said go upstairs (only shoulder width staircase) an he would give us some coke-cola before looking at what he had to offer.

Now my alarm bells went off with thoughts of seeing 15 men upstairs and drugged drinks. So I said, we were late to meet up with our tour group at the Sheraton hotel, said a quick thank-you and bolted towards the hotel. Got there without incident and relaxed at the pool. Had plenty of time to consider how foolish I was and how badly it could have all turned.

I don't recommend going off down back streets with vendors!

But Egypt is an amazing place. Take lots of memory cards or a way to store lots of pics!

 

[coyote25]

Flying Fox I did something similar! A lot of the shops are also called 'museums'

 

[The Rok]

When we arrived at the airport we didn't go through passport control. Our tour guide took all our passports on the plane and we got them back while on the bus in Cairo with the stamp already in them.