whereabouts in egypt?

jodie114

We sort of have our hearts set on egypt next year for a family holiday. There will be 2 adults and 1 8/9 yo boy. W ideally wanted to see the pyrimids, sphynx (spelling?) etc, and if i can work it out correctly we ideally need to stay and fly to cairo, rather than luxor.. am i correct? its all new to me, but soo excited i want to get it right

tomjonesrules

To cover all the big sites you need to go to Cairo and Luxor. However, given the current state of affairs out there, I would not be planning to visit in the near future. I went in the summer and the hassle was so overwhelming I stayed in the hotel complex (and I am quite used to handling hassle!). Things have only got worse since, and goodness knows when it will get better.

SShar

I went to Egypt a few years back and had a brilliant trip that I would recommend. If you fly to Cairo, spend a night or few there you'll have plenty of time visit bazaars, bars and get to Giza to see the pyramids and the sphynx ( a MUST do ) and then from Cairo my hotel put me in touch with a nile cruise company who took me from the hotel to the nile mini cruise ship and we sailed down the nile and back up again, getting to see the all the sites along the way - valley of the kings, abu simbel and many many others. I'd recommend that to anyone wanting to visit Egypt but as tonjonesrules says I think much caution is needed considering the contemporary state... If you do go, have an amazing time!!!

tania29

I would recommend to go to Hurghada, but please, please, choose the decent 5* Hotel, take time to read the references on tripadvisor etc, - and then you either can fly to Cairo for an overnight (with tour agent, or yourself, it's easy to book flights on egyptair) or to buy a coach excursion, it's 3 times cheaper. The same story with Luxor.

mick_vandick

As per the above, don't plan your whole holiday in Cairo, it's just a busy city. Have a look at Sharm el Sheikh or Hurghada areas.
There are some great hotels in both for kids, some with on-site waterparks.

Stephb1986_2

I'm off to hurghada a week tomorrow I'm so excited I've been there a few times. We didn't really like Sharm el sheikh when we went and much prefer hurghada. We have also visited Luxor it was very dirty and the roads are just crazy, We did visit the valley of the kings whilst we were in Luxor there were many steps about 100 up to it then 100 inside it and then back out again on the same steps so if your into that sort of thing then that might be a good place to visit.

HTH

Steph xx

mick_vandick

there were many steps about 100 up to it then 100 inside it and then back out again on the same steps

Steph, are you sure this was the Valley of the Kings as i've been a couple of times and i can't remember any steps! We just got off the bus and walked to the valley.
Do you mean inside one of the tombs?

jodie114

i must admit i did get drawn into getting a quote from thompson for a spplashworld hotel in hungura (sp?) yesterday and was quite surprised.
Our son loves water, so that was one idea, but i know realistically i can probably do it cheaper myself... can you book waterpark hotels privately or are they tied into package holidays?

businka

You can book the hotels separately, indeed. In fact, due to current situation in Egypt the hotels are more than available

~Jem~

Get yourself on the Tripadvisor forum, it's a wealth of information.

We did Sharm last September with the 'Cairo by air' trip. There was 'trouble' in Cairo on the news the day before we left for Sharm, but when in Cairo there was no sign of problems - it's a big place after all!

Enterprise_1701C

We had a weekend in Cairo, followed by a weeks Nile Cruisem followed by a week in El Gouna. El Gouna has one road in/out on which there is a security guard, the vans had to show passes to get in/out, and only specific tuc tucs operated around the area. It is a big area, and you do not get quite so pestered as you do in the rest of Egypt, if you want a busy time you go to the Marina end, we went to the quieter end. Great beach, we had to walk about a km to get to swimming depth though!