Taba to Cairo

Jalz

Hi Guys,

apologies if this isnt the right place to post. I have a question. Im taking my family, 2 kids, Mrs and myself to Taba Egypt in the next couple of weeks. One of the things we want to do is go and see the pyramids, long day journey I know, but you cant go to Egypt and not view them. As I'm all new to this, our first holiday after 5 years I want to know how much it would be to book a trip like that when I am over there?Tried the Thomson website and its £100 per adult and £50 for kids so thats £300 for a coach day trip for an excursion over there, is there anyone been recently that found cheaper deals?

Many Thanks for any info, really excited.

Jalz

martindow

This is from 2008 but gives an idea. Sounds a bit of an adventure!

http://wikitravel.org/en/Taba

alanrowell

It'll be certain that you can book it in the resort.

BUT it will be a LONG day and you'll need to ensure that you have a full Egyptian visa and not the free Sinai only visa

Jalz

Thanks for the info, interesting read, especially the visa and price of a normal bus an eye opener - if I was only with my mates or even alone would have attempted it.

With the wife and kids I was hopefully looking for something thats organised excursion, perhaps in an air con bus with toilet facilities as I have a 3 and a 6 year old who will no doubt want a toilet break.....

I'll keep on searching £300 from Thomson just seems very steep for coach journey.

Alan_Bowen

Be aware that although you may be able to stay in Taba without applying for an Egyptian visa, you will need one to visit Cairo, Taba is a long way from other resorts in Egypyt and is much more popular with Isreali's who live over the border, found just outside Taba

kegg_2

You wont get it much cheaper as tips from Taba are quite expensive as there is not a lot of competition with operators due to the fact it is quite isolated.
We stayed at the movenpick taba this summer and apart from the Hilton next door there is nothing within a 30 minute drive of it. There are a few local shops outside the hilton but again they are just as expensive as those in the shopping mall at the hilton. The border with israel is just at the side of the hilton so security is pretty tight with lots of isreali's coming over at the weekends. We also had quite a few egyptian and Jordanian guest but that could have been the time of year as it was just before the start of ramadan.
Taba is a great place to visit petra from. It is not a cheap trip but it is worth doing but might be a bit much for such young children.

DanielleNic87

I was in Taba in 2007 and i did this trip! i think we paid about £120 each and that included lunch. It is a long day, but personally i think it was worth the money! we even had a little packed lunch given to us by the hotel

poe.tuesday

you can do it via a flight which I think goes from eliat - there were lots of options with this trip so do check out what other tour ops offer as from what I recall it was not more to fly there than to do the trip on the coach

alanrowell

Wouldn't recommend using Eilat - you'd need to cross the border into Israel which means visas & exit taxes plus if you intend to visit any of a dozen or so Islamic countries you'd have to get a new passport

kegg_2

If you go via eliat then you will have to pay the extra border tax when you return to egypt which will be around £25 per person (sorry cant remember the exact about but it is not cheap for a family of 4)
.
Plus on a bad day it can take a couple of hours just to go 200 yards across the border. Security is very tight which can cause long delays

Jalz

Hi Guys,

Thankyou so much for replying and giving me an insight of what to expect. Sounds as though should of booked to go to Sharm?? ... Ah well, need a nice relaxing break after the year I've had. Will probably hold off booking excursions from now and try and get the best price over there - would love to fly but think it will be just too expensive four the four of us! Wonder if you can haggle on excursions - might as well try?