Cairo Travel Forum

Me and husband (were Australians) would like to spend a Christmas vacation in Egypt (19Dec-27Dec).We opt not to go for travel agency as it's expensive and we would like to have a bit of adventure by travelling and finding place by our own. Got some question here:
1. Is it good to travel at this time of the month?? If not can you suggest a country to travel.
2. Can u give us lists of cheap accomodations? (don't need a fancy ones..)
3. Good food?
4. Best tourist spots?
5. Do u have a contact number of a "dependable " tourist guide? (someone who will not rip you off)
Thank you and cheers!

Egypt is always good to travel. But this time of the year might be more difficult so it would be better to have at least your hotels reserved in advance.

Before I will answer your other questions I would like to give you the adress of our contact in Cairo. He is dependable!!! He is our best friend, but he still needs to earn himself a living...... He never conned us and I am sure he will not do you the same!!

His name is Mohamed Bahaa:
bahaa94@hotmail.com
m.bahaa2@usa.net

My accomodation in Cairo is the Garden City House Hotel. 1 star or less... It is cheap but has good rooms with airco and bathroom for about 20$ a night for a double incl. breakfast. It is nothing fancy but the location is perfect. 5 min. from the Egyptian Museum, on the shore of the Nile, Tahrir Square with all traffic connections just around the corner, shopping area and good restaurants just across Tahrir Square. And you can meet some interesting people here because once it was THE hotel where the foreign archeologists stayed while doing excavations. We met some archeology student groups there as well.

Tourist spots in Cairo??? Do I really need to tell you about that?

You have seven days.. I would go for the last 3 or 4 days doing a cruise from Luxor to Aswan!
But really DO!!!!! contact my friend in Cairo soon (or someone else if you like) to book this one. Cruises around Christmas time will be very overcrowded!!!!!

Hi there,
Here are the answers:

1. Yes it is good to travel during this period, the weather is cold in some parts of the country but excellent in others.
2. List of cheap accommodation in a country of 70+ millions and relatively large like Egypt is a bit difficult, but you can find accommodation for any type of budget. Also depends where you will go, which towns, and cities you will stay in.
3. Depends on your taste, but there are a set of good food spots in each town and region.
4. Best places to go to would be:
- Cairo
- The Desert: White/ black desert and the western oases
- The south: Louxor/ Aswan and Nubia
- Sinai: A mixture between mountains, deserts and red sea
- The eastern part of Egypt where virgin beachs are
- Fayoum: to get a flair of the country side
5. Yes I have contacts to some of the operators I dealt with before and trust and sent my friends to:
Essam Saber: +20101000442 you can tell him you got the number from my side
Or Abdel Aziz: +20107773872 you can also tell him you got the number from my side

If you have issues contacting them let me know, those two operate according to your request without pre set 'mainsteram tours' , also they try to make full interaction with the country and its people. They are definitly cheaper than any other you would find.

They both have blogs/ web sites, but I do not recall them now, better contact them and they will give them to you.

The sooner you arrange things and establish communication with operators the cheaper and better deals you get, especially during Christmas as it is a high season

Good luck
Mongy

At this time of year it would also be adviable to book trains between Cairo & Upper Egypt, especially since you are on a tight schedule.

I'll put in a good word for the Garden City House as well...you can book by email & they'll arrange airport pickup for you as well.