I was there about 12 years ago

I was there about 12 years ago
by DBCooper (2024-04-15 09:12:11)
Edited on 2024-04-15 09:18:30

In reply to: Anyone have recommendations for Egypt? posted by goirish89

Cairo is just crazy. Chaos everywhere. No traffic lights and crossing the street is like the wildebeest crossing the rivers during the Great migration. Just follow the crowd.

Definitely visit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Just amazing. Tahrir square is worth the visit, especially if you are a fan of modern history. Get pizza hut there (they love their pizza hut in Egypt). We ate at a great restaurants on an island of the Nile in the city. I dont remember the name, but it was right on the south edge of the island at a Sofitel restaurant. It had a great nightlife scene and views of the city around the island.

Obviously you want to visit the pyramids and sphinx. Get ready to be hit by alot of people selling shit. We did a camel ride around the pyramids which was nice. We also paid a little extra to go inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. I wouldn't say its this amazing walk and its a game changer, but its not that much money to do it and I guess its something to say that you did. But, if you are pressed for time, you can skip it.

I was there for a wedding, so alot of us went on a cruise of the Nile, down to Luxor with Abercrombie and Kent. I think it was 5 days. It was fantastic. If you are deciding what type of cruise to go on. It was not a big ship, probably held like 30/40 passengers. Luxor is well worth the visit. Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut , and Karnak are all must visits.

If you can check out Abu Simbel, thats one place I wasnt able to visit, but its supposed to be great.

Its a wonderful trip, enjoy

This is pretty much exactly what I came to write.

Getting around Cairo is an adventure in and of itself. Taxis can be downright terrifying - fast speeds, no seatbelts. Oh, and good luck if you don't speak Arabic. Needed someone's help giving the taxi driver instructions every single time. And the trick about grabbing a card with your hotel's address on it? Doesn't work because most of the cabbies are illiterate.

But the stuff you'll see in Egypt are second to none. Absolutely exhausting trip, but still one of my all time favorites. Egyptian Museum is amazing and not to be missed. Giza is amazing, especially with the juxtaposition of the pyramids with the modern city right up against it. If you can, the trip inside one of the pyramids was really fun albeit a little claustrophobic. Really enjoyed the camel ride around the Giza plateau - great fun.

DB Cooper is completely right about getting harassed by merchants at all of the tourist sites. There is a "market" at the entrance of every single historic site that we referred to as "the gauntlet" where you had to dodge increasingly aggressive touts trying to sell you just about everything under the sun.

The river trip from Aswan to Luxor was amazing. Got to visit the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, Aswan High Dam, among other temples/sites.

I strongly recommend tour groups with preplanned transportation just due to how difficult it is to get around the area.

There is Uber now in Cairo. *

Good luck with that.

I hope that the cellular infrastructure in Cairo is good enough to make Uber useful. I had a lot of problems staying connected when I was in Mexico City, such that I consistently had problems meeting up with drivers. And my cell reception in CDMX was pretty good in comparison to some other places I've been (see: most of Canada).

That probably just depends on roaming agreements.

I was just in Rome and Google Fi was spotty at times.

Except maybe for going out to dinner, it would be foolish not to use a private guide and driver in Cairo for two days of sightseeing. The Antiquities Museum at Tahrir Square is overwhelming without a guide.