Last Updated on March 14, 2023 by PowersToTravel
We traveled to Egypt for two weeks in November 2022, primarily using the services of the tour company Emo Tours. Our itinerary consisted of
- 1 night in Giza at the Best View Pyramids Hotel
- 3 nights in Zamalek in Cairo at the Hotel Longchamps
- a flight to Luxor on Egypt Air
- 2 nights on the West Bank of Luxor at the Villa Nile House
- 1 night on the East Bank of Luxor (originally reserved for the Winter Pavilion but due to an error on their part, transferred to the Winter Palace!)
- 4 nights on the Dahabiya boat Minya south to Aswan
- a flight to Abu Simbel on Egypt Air,
- 1 night in Abu Simbel at the Seti Abu Simbel Resort
- another flight back to Aswan on Egypt Air,
- 1 night in Aswan at the CityMax Hotel and
- a final flight and night at the Novotel airport hotel in Cairo.
I planned the itinerary and selected the accommodation and sights to see based on my Internet research. Emo Tours was contracted for all transfers and tour guiding.
Great Decisions for a trip to Egypt
The best time of year to travel to Egypt
November is an awesome month to visit Egypt.
The weather was not terribly hot. In Cairo I generally wore long tropicwear pants.
The temperature during our time in the Valley of the Kings was exceptional – still I wandered around quite comfortably in tropicwear pants. The crowds were minimal – I was able to get great pictures of the temples and the tombs without dodging many other tourists.
I did wear shorts, and it did get a bit warm as we approached Aswan during our Nile Cruise, but only very pleasantly.
There were no crowds. Was it because the world is coming out of COVID? I think it was more due to the time of the year, since Europe in 2022 had had a booming tourist season (remember, people were renting trucks at times because they couldn’t get cars?)
How did I settle on November as our travel month? Weatherspark is the most awesome travel planning site imaginable. Key in your city and you will see climate data month by month with easy-to-compare graphics. I use it in all my travel planning, even planning different areas of the same country. What’s important to you? Temperature, cloud cover, rain, humidity? Weatherspark has it all.
Welllllllll, Weatherspark doesn’t quite have it all. Once I have the data, I have to Google the words. What are real people saying? I learned that March/April is a high-risk season for the khamsin winds bringing 150 km winds and dust from the Sahara into Egypt.
Of the two shoulder seasons, I chose the fall. Check out the climate text in this Holiday Planner.
Spending One Night in Giza
Giza or downtown Cairo, where should we stay? Back and forth I waffled. Whichever decision I would make I would miss out on something special. If we stayed in Giza we would be right next to the pyramids, but then we were also visiting many sights in Cairo, and one event in the evening in Cairo which would have made for a long drive home.
If we stayed only in Cairo, we would miss out on a dawn view of the pyramids, and might get trapped in the morning crowds. (See my post “Best Time to Visit and Photograph the Pyramids“.)
Finally I decided on one night in Giza, and the remaining three in Cairo. Giza, while it is contiguous with Cairo, does have its own more rural character. It’s also very dirty near the pyramids, and definitely you don’t want to be walking the streets there. You are likely to get run over by an escaped carriage horse or quickly driven horse or camel. It’s also physically filthy as it is the stable area for the animals used at the Giza plateau. But it is an experience! And definitely worth a single night!
Spending the other nights in Zamalek, at the Hotel Longchamps
In researching dahabiya boats for our Nile cruise, one tour company had recommended we stay at the Longchamps Hotel in Zamalek. It is a family run boutique hotel in a fairly quiet neighborhood. I kept poking around at the hotels in downtown Cairo – they seemed very expensive and I had heard much about the noise downtown. I also had read about the Zamalek neighborhood as a great place to stay – quieter tree-line streets, plenty of restaurants, and not far from downtown. I found the Longchamps Hotel had a room with a king-sized bed available for our dates, and was close to several laundromats. I reserved it!
The hotel itself is a jewel. It was a quiet oasis in a very noisy world. The streets were busy (but not noisy!) with students – the Fine Arts school was nearby – and we enjoyed a lot of low-cost, local restaurants. We felt safe strolling the tree-lined streets both day and evening. Our rooms in the hotel overlooked a quiet inner courtyard, away from the bustle of the city. The breakfast was superb. Our “superior” room was quite large, and included a kitchen with a washing machine! Oh, what heaven! I was able to do laundry almost every night.
However, hmmm, it wasn’t until the last night when I wanted to heat up some pizza on a pan on the the stove-top that I found the stove wouldn’t work. I went to the concierge to find that the stove was not to be used! The kitchen was only for the use of long-term stays, not for us 3-nighters. I gracefully withdrew and certainly didn’t tell her that I had plugged in the washer, turned on the tap and had been doing laundry all week! When I look at their website as I write this post, it appears to me that we scored an Executive Room and paid the price of a Superior room! I don’t think that would have happened during a busy season.
Unfortunately, Emo Tours had never heard of the hotel and their drivers had a very difficult time navigating the tiny streets in the neighborhood. The second problem was that while on the map Zamalek appears to be close to downtown, nothing can prepare you for the gridlock of Cairo traffic. Many a day we would drive by one of the expensive downtown hotels and I would sigh, “Oh, we could be home by now.” Instead we would still have a twenty to thirty minute longer drive. That time, on top of the time already spent trying to navigate Cairo, was excruciating. We weren’t even the drivers – we were just the passengers!
My bottom line is that I would have still stayed at the Hotel Longchamps, but I would have overall spent fewer days in Cairo so as not to have let the intensity of the city overwhelm me.
Great decision to choose the Minya Dahabiya to cruise the Nile
Almost every packaged tour of Egypt includes a cruise on the Nile. The Nile is, after all, the centerpiece of Egypt. I learned in my investigations that there are several ways to cruise – a river cruise ship (which seen on the Nile appears to actually be rather huge with 50 rooms), a dahabiya which is an Egyptian traditional sailboat hosting about 8 to 12 cabins, and smaller privately rented felucca’s.
I threw out the felucca as being too small and amentity-less. No air-conditioning, no dining choices, no double beds and no guide.
I was immediately drawn to the dahabiya as it was small enough to be personal but large enough to be comfortable and interesting for a several day trip. I studied all the dahabiyas searching for double/king sized beds. I bumped into this extremely helpful article listing many choices as well as this helpful booking site with more boats and pictures (which I didn’t actually book with).
After studying the approximately 20 dahabiya boats available, filtering the list to two with Suites with King beds at the price point I wanted, and writing to the two, I made my decision to travel on the Minya. I learned in the process that it is EXTREMELY difficult to reserve a suite on a dahabiya. There are only one or two suites per boat. Of course the suite is the most popular and first cabin to be reserved. But most boat companies won’t guarantee departure for just one cabin. So if you book the suite, you are the first people booking and you risk the boat being cancelled if not enough other guests book in. You risk being shifted to another boat, and that could be a regular cruise ship. Or, the boat company may require that you commit to the potential of a higher cost than the expensive suite itself, in order to guarantee your sailing. You generally need to be booking far in advance to snag the suite.
Luckily for us, tourism was just picking up after COVID, in July 2022. I was searching for a suite in November, which is a slow season prior to December’s high season. My dialog with Johanna of the Minya was exciting and satisfactory. Yes! the suite is available heading south during November (I had left my timeframe wide open.) You may book it and we will guarantee sailing at no extra cost (than the high cost of the suite.) We signed immediately.
Take a look at the pictures of me and our suite.
Not So Good Decisions
Shouldn’t have booked with Emo Tours (brief review)
I had searched for a tour company which would work with me to put together MY tour, adding in their logistics and guiding. I had already decided on my hotels, the amount of time to spend at each location and my dahabiya boat. I don’t know what would have happened if I had contacted one of the companies that advertise private tours in which they organize everything, as I had already done a large part of their job and would be denying them their booking commission with hotels and the cruise.
I searched for companies that would provide the services I needed, and found Tailor-made Tours and Emo Tours. I was dissatisfied with the dialog with Tailor-made Tours, as they seemed to be asking me how to get back and forth between the East and West Bank of the Nile in Luxor, for example. These were the logistics which I was hoping to obtain from the tour company.
Emo Tours responded with brief descriptions of the services that they would provide, which were exactly as I had requested, along with prices. They had good reviews. I had great confidence in my choice and saw no red flags.
However, at every opportunity they were late in picking us up. Late at the airports, late at the hotels. I got to know their hotline (which did work!) quite well. The situation was very stressful: making connections in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, have already arranged and paid for a service which appears to not be happening. We so easily and less stressfully could have taken a taxi to and from the airport.
The pickups for the tour events, well, they actually were less stressful as we weren’t dealing with an immovable schedule. The delays were still extremely annoying.
Their guides were knowledgeable, but driven by greed. We engaged multiple guides in Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan, and only one guide, Mustafa in Luxor, listened to our needs, took us for a good lunch that matched our desires and did not try to up-sell us in the disguise of trying to please us.
We expected to be accosted by the men in the markets, the carriage-drivers on the streets, the boat captains, anyone who could flag down or direct or “help” an unsuspecting tourist. We didn’t expect it of our own privately hired tour guides, and that left a sour taste in our mouths.
Spend fewer days in Cairo
I have spent four days in Bangkok and loved every minute of it. The same can be said for New York City, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Cairo isn’t one of these cities. It is unique, and it is home to the Great Pyramids and is worth two more days of sightseeing. But that’s it. Fewer days in Cairo traffic can only be good for you. Words can hardly express the chaotic noise and gridlock in Cairo. One good thing that can be said is that as each car (or vehicle!) tries to jockey into position to gain one more inch of advantage, the others seem to respect the initiative of the first car and stop just short of scraping it. I saw no signs of road rage. I heard what could be interpreted as road rage, as our driver on the first day lived on his horn, along with the rest of Cairo, blasting it at every intersection, at every opportunity, joining the cacophony of millions of other drivers. But with no rage.
At least the traffic respected the lights and the traffic cops.
I had reviewed all the possible day trips and found three and a half days worth of very interesting activities, which coincided well with our afternoon flight out to Luxor. If we had known that the afternoon flight would be rescheduled to an evening flight, and then delayed to a midnight flight, I certainly would have trimmed a day off our Cairo experience. Luxor is so worthy of more time.
Skip the balloon ride in Luxor
We have been on a balloon ride in the past, in Bagan, Myanmar. On that trip we floated above a plain of temples, the sun reflecting off gold domes catching the dawn’s light. That trip was truly magical.
This balloon ride was anything but magical. We were transported with the rest of the tourists to a nearby launching field. The field itself was interesting. Positioned on the perimeter, approximately 50 feet apart, private armed guards faced the outside. We had been told that we were actually on a part of a military airfield, and that the military permitted no pictures to be taken. That seemed very strange to us, as we watched the armed soldiers protecting us from invaders instead of protecting the military installation from stray tourists. People all around were taking selfies and pictures of their balloons, with no apparent retribution by military guards in the area. We believe we were told picture taking was illegal in order that we get no pictures of our event and be forced to buy the balloon company’s expensive photo package. We took pictures.
Once in the balloon, and in the air, we looked below to see the wonders of the Valley of the Kings or Queens. But there were no wonders to behold. We idled over a few fields and houses and saw only the Temple of Hatshepsut. Think about it: the wonders of the Valley of the Kings or Queens are mostly tombs underground.
Then we landed. On a train track, sliding into a ditch. It took a great deal of effort to level our basket and get us out. Meanwhile, the staff bullied us to fill out their survey form so they could get 5 stars. I refused because I felt the entire experience was inadequate, and the staff intimidating. They were extremely displeased that I would not sign. Ultimately my husband filled out the form; I don’t know what he chose for answers. The company was called “Sinbad.”
If you dream of a balloon ride, learn about what you will see from the balloon. Clearly Cappadocia in Turkey is a better choice. I can’t recommend Bagan anymore because the country is now cut-off, under military control and in terrible shape.
Not paying attention to where the mosques are, in relation to our hotel
Mosques are beautiful buildings. So are churches and cathedrals. We learned in Romania that staying in a hotel next to the cathedral in Sibui was an unfortunate decision, as the bells seemed to gong incessantly and loudly, disturbing our sleep all night long.
Here in Egypt, in Luxor, we stayed two nights on the West Bank in the Villa Nile House. The West Bank town area is said to be country, laid back, non-touristy. It was all that. The Villa Nile House appeared to be a peaceful oasis with beautiful gardens and rooms with terraces. But we looked out our side window (double room with balcony) and looked directly into the local mosque’s speaker. “How loud can it be?” we thought, “It’s just a local mosque, not a huge mosque.”
I am here to tell you that it can be VERY, VERY LOUD. It started at 4:45am, even before we needed to get up for our balloon ride, and only about 3.5 hours after we had finally arrived on our delayed flight from Cairo. To make matters worse, we learned that there are days of the week (Saturdays) when the call to prayer is not just a short call to prayer, but an extended lesson which goes on, seemingly to the poor traveler in his bed, for infinity (at least 20 minutes!)
Note: this website gives you Islamic prayer times based on a selected location and month. This will let you assess how disruptive the call to prayer may be to your sleep and plans, considering the loudspeaker may be right outside your window. The size of the mosque is no indication of how loud its loudspeaker is!
No beautiful garden, or quaint countryside can make up for that experience. I had read in a couple of reviews that the Villa was close to a mosque and that you could hear the call to prayer, but I incorrectly thought first, that it was in the neighborhood and after all, what area is without a mosque in Egypt, and second, the first call of the day occurred after 5:30am. Was I wrong! I wish I had a picture just of that speaker, and how close it was to our window!
Not seeing Abu Simbel in the morning
“I met a traveler from an antique land, who said, ‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone…”” Ozymandias has been one of my favorite poems since junior high school. To go to Egypt without seeing Ozymandias / Abu Simbel was inconceivable.
Most people participate in the early morning caravan drive across the desert between Aswan and Abu Simbel. I get carsick. The thought of driving for hours to see Abu Simbel in a crowd to immediately turn around for the return drive appalled me.
How else could we get there? I learned we could fly. So what if it cost a lot. This was my dream!
Did I say earlier that if Egypt Air can reschedule a flight, it will? Our trip to Abu Simbel was scheduled for mid-day, because after all, we needed to arrive in Aswan in our dahabiya and get to the airport for the flight. But the flight back the following day was also supposed to occur mid-day, so that I could see Ozymandias both in the afternoon and the morning. But no, they rescheduled our flight to go back early morning. (And of course they delayed both flights!)
As we flew past the great statues on our arrival I could see that there was only a few minutes left of direct sunlight.
By the time we arrived at the statues, after having transferred from the airport and checked into our hotel, the entire façade was in shadow. Granted there were no crowds, but there was also no sunshine.
Sadly the next morning we headed to the airport, about $1000 lighter in our wallets for all my logistics and fancy hotel (Seti Abu Simbel Lake Resort, very nice), with no morning sun on Ozymandias to offset it.
Lesson learned. Cope with the drive. Wear my motion-sickness preventing Sea-Band bracelets and hope for the best.
Conclusion: What is most important decision in traveling to Egypt?
Of all of the items in this list, the most important turned out to be the season. November is truly a lovely quiet time to visit. I shudder to think of having visited Egypt in the heat or with huge crowds. All of the rest of these items either made the trip more special, or could have made the trip more special. But the bottom line is that the trip was extraordinary!
