Sharm El Sheikh Travel Forum

Hello fellow tourists. I will be honeymooning in Egypt from July 23-Aug 17. I have a couple of questions that people can hopefully help me out with.

1st, yes I know its gonna be hot, real hot, damn hot, too hot, I seem to see that reply in every summer Egypt trip Ive looked at. We'll be ready for it.

We are landing in Cairo, spending 6 days there, then a night train to Aswan, then get to Abu Simbel. I have heard that there is no driving between the 2 unless you are in a convoy.
Is this true? What is the reason for this?

We would like to see the light show at Abu, we will need to over night there then? What will we need to do that, or are there accomodations there already?

We hopefully will be able to rent a car from Aswan and get to Luxor, stay there a couple nights, then off to the Domina Coral Bay Resort for 2 weeks. Anyone been there? Is this realistic and safe?

Once we're done at the resort we need to get back to Cairo to catch our flight. How long do the bus rides take? Is it better to fly? Any recomendations?

And finally, if you have any other suggestions on transport, activities or touring strategies, please let me know. This is our first big trip together plus our honeymoon and I am doing everything in my power to make this trip extra specail.

Well I would shorten my days in Cairo to 3 days. Have a cruise from Aswan to Abu Simbel (HOT, HOT, HOT!! No use of the sundeck! You will burn alive there!), back from Abu Simbel to Aswan, by train to Luxor.

I have no idea where the Domina Choral resort is situated. Sharm?? Try to get a domestic flight from Luxor to Sharm. They are not going on a daily basis and about each flight will go via Cairo Airport. Check www.egyptair.com.

By road... there seems to be a fast ferry between Hurghada and Sharm, but I hardly ever heard anyone recommend this route. From Luxor to Hurghada: about 5 to 6 hours by car, about 1 hour ferry. I have no idea of the time schedule of the ferry.

By road from Luxor to Cairo??? 9 hours by train, than 6 to 8 hours by car depending on the kind of transportation you choose.

All tourist transportation in Upper Egypt needs to go by convoy, that means under police or military protection. No need to be alarmed. The Egyptian Government just wants to make sure that all their guests are safe.

Good luck, Dora.

Thanks for the tips. We are fairly big enthusiasts of ancient history, so while some maybe able to cruise the museum in a couple hours, we have set aside 2 days to do this. Also we will probably do a lot of shopping in the market as well.

why would I take a cruise if we can't use the sundeck because it is too hot?

well heres our schedule.

We get to cairo on the 23rd of July, we don't check into our resort until the 3rd of august. We leave our resort on the 17th of august, and must fly out of cairo on the afternoon of the 17th. So if we need to fly from Sharm to cairo to catch our flight thats fine, if we need to leave on the 16th to get to cairo for the 17th thats fine also. So we have 11 days to tour egypt and see all the sites before we hit Naama/Coral Bay Resort and the beach. We will do some touring when at the resort, like the colored canyon and maybe St Catherines monastary, but we would like to do all our middle/west egypt touring in the first 11 days. Whats the best things to hit in those 11 days. This is my list as of now.
Cairo: Pyramids and Sphynx, Kan Kali Market, Antiquities museum, Old Cairo, pyramids light show

Aswan: Abu Simbel, Abu Simbel light show,

Luxor: Valley of the kings, Deir El-Medina, Deir El Bahri

Naama/Sharm: Ras Mohamed and other scuba diving sites, St Catherines Monastery, Colored Canyon.

What sites/locations am I missing in each location? Any other suggested things that are a must see?

Well, I do not agree with Populainen. The Museum is huge, I can easily spend days there. It is said that if you take 3 seconds of your attention to each displayed item there it will take you 9 months to cover it all! I have been there 5 times now and still there are sections I haven't seen.

But still 3 days will be enough:
1 day for Giza, Memphis, Sakkarah and Dashour
1 day for the Museum and Islamic Cairo. Khan el Khalili is best at night!
1 day for coptic Cairo, the Citadel and don't miss Ibn Tulun Mosque and the Gayer Anderson Museum, they are next to each other.

Aswan is not only famous as the gateway to Abu Simbel! Philea Tempel is a must! The Nubean Museum is excellent! And you must have felucca sail on the Nile! Visit Kitcheners Island with the Botanical Gardens for a moment of relaxation or Elephantine Island if you like to see some more excavations.
Having tea in the late afternoon on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel with views on the Nile is very romantic. A visit to a Nubean village is one of my favorites, although it is becoming more and more a kind of hazard because of the children begging for sweets. Don't blame the children......

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/560af/#TL

The souk in Aswan is famous for its spices! It used to be a very nice outing at night but by now lots of the charm is lost since the Aswan City Council has decided to refurbish the souk into a shopping centre kind of street (Luxor did as well!)

We did the cruise from Aswan to Abu Simbel late August and at noon it was far to hot to stay outside. We held siesta. But early in the morning and late afternoon it was OK. And at night there were big outside BBQ's on the sun deck, very nice.
This cruise has the advantage that you are able to visit some less known but amazing sites. Amada Tempel has the most vivid and colourfull murals in all Egypt. Qasr Ibrahim is impressive. But what beats all is to see the Tempels of Abu Simbel emerge in the distance over the water of Lake Nasr. We visited the tempels at 2pm. It was hot outside but inside the tempels there is climate control and we had the place practically to our own. When the crowds of the other cruisers were entering we were having a refreshing drink on the terrace cafe.

Between Aswan and Luxor both Kom Ombo and Edfu are worth a visit. Just beware of the coach drivers in Edfu (it is custom to go to the Tempel by coach). They can be very aggresive and a lot of them aren't very good looking after their horses! Refuse to step into a coach with a meager, depressive looking horse, most of those horses will have wounds all over because they are exploited, not looked after with care.

Luxor has also Karnak Tempel and Luxor Tempel and a very nice, small Museum. You can have a balloon flight over the the West Bank. A very nice thing to do is to take a camel ride through New Qurn on the West Bank. Or you can do a day trip to Denderrah and Abydos. There is also a day cruise to Denderrah only.

I hope this will help you in your honeymoon planning, Dora.

If you're going to spend that long in the museum... and it is worthh it... note that your day ticket allows you to leave the museum & return later in the day. Which means that you don't have to use the grossly overpriced restaurant there and also enables you to rest your eyes and brain a bit.

Well, the Nile is near by. Have a felucca sail with some take away diner to split the day. Felucca's are to be hired on the Corniche. Don't look for them, they will find you. A reasonable price would be 25 LE for an hour.

Take away diners are to be found around Midan Tahrir. There is a good Kentucky Fried... 500 meters along Sharia Talaat Harb is a Felfella take away for Egyptian food. Sharia Champolion has Abu Tarek for the best Koshary in Cairo.

Koshary is considered to be the only genuin Egyptian dish. It is without meat but so rich you will not miss it. It is delicious!!

I prefer At-Tahrir in Tahrir street. Closer to Maidan Tahrir....about 100m up on the right. But DONT eat the kushari at 'Hiltol' koshary joint...just along thetop of maidan Tahrir from where Talaat Harb & Tahrir deboucch all those cars & buses into the traffic mayhem of mMidan Tahrir. The only bowl of kushary I didn't want to finish....