Greetings fellow members!

Just wanted to see what your thougths were regarding a 5 Day trip to Egypt. I will be coming from Istanbul (where everything is already arranged), but I don't know where to start when it comes to Egypt. Should I consider staying in Cairo only? Should I go see Luxor? And if you suggest I go see Luxor, should I book a flight now to try to get as much discount as I can? Or do I wait until I get there? Any suggestions for Hostels, Tour Companies, Places of interest?

I've travelled all over the world and have dreamed of visiting the Middle East, and Egypt is my first entry into it.

Would love any advice.

Thanks.

E

5 days in Egypt isn't much. What to do with them depends on your priorities.

Personally, the best thing I did in Egypt was spend a night in the desert - we went to Bahariya oasis, which isn't too far from Cairo and stayed overnight in the white desert. I certainly recommend this as a good thing to do.

Other than that, both Cairo and Luxor are very much about "see the famous monuments." If that's what you're going to Egypt for, then obviously doing a desert trip will take a fair bit of time away from that. I found that the Cairo monuments (pyramids, Egyptian museum) were really quite boring. The living parts of Cairo are more worth your time. In Luxor, Karnak temple is definitely worth seeing, but I'm not sure that it's worth the trip by itself. Valley of the Kings, I didn't much enjoy. Tombs are not well ventilated places (naturally enough), and the number of tourists who are herded through them make it a very uncomfortable experience.

If you do go to Luxor, I'd fly at least one way. It's a long distance to travel by land, and Egyptian trains are very slow moving things.

Egypt is not a very good introduction to the middle east. Mass tourism has ruined the country, and as a tourist, it's very difficult to interact with regular people...the vast majority of people you'll have dealings with are only interested in your money, whether through providing a legitimate service, or more commonly just demanding it in return for something of little or no value. Please don't let this turn you off the rest of the region. I've only been a small number of countries around there, but there is a world of difference between Egypt and the other two I've visited (Jordan and Syria).

Hi E - I beg to differ from the above poster who didnt seem to like Egypt very much and didnt seem to get that the whole point of it is the very ancient monuments and the sheer amount of history - where else can you get that ancient that is perfectly preserved?. It is incredible! It is such a walk through ancient civilisation. And the fact that so much has been preserved so you truely get an idea of what it was like back then.
And to be honest - spending the night in a desert isnt what I would go to Egypt for if I was short of time, you ccan do that in any old desert - but horses for courses! Dont be put off.

Being so short of time and having to pick one place?? I reckon unless you have an absolute burning desire to see Cairo and the pyramids and sphinx - which are fabulous (dont get me wrong) and the Cairo museum is fascinating particularly King Tut's part and the mummified remains of the pharoahs which have been unwrapped and are 1000s of years old - they still have their eyelashes!!!
Then I would probably recommend going to Luxor. You can go to Karnak which was my absolute fav temple, also go to Hatshepsut, Valley of the kings was great - be sure to do the donkey trek back from Hat, it was hilarious! The tombs are a must see, but can be a bit claustrophobic and hot - try to go ultra early in the morning to miss the crowds and heat.
You can overfly in a hot air balloon. Shop till you drop in the souks of Luxor, then if you have time travel south and visit Edfu and Kom Ombo, Philae and the Aswan dam and you can also fly/bus to Abu Simbel which is another total fav of mine - amazing feat of engineering how they managed to move the whole monument so it didnt get flooded. If you can spend any time on a felucca (sailboat) do - fabulous - lolling around on the deck drinking beer being taken to the temples and dancing to boney-em LOLOL -MAD!
I had a blast in Egypt, the people were lovely and friendly, which suprised me and yes there is an element of shop owners trying hard to sell you stuff, but I just had a laugh with them in a very relaxed friendly manner, bartered hard and even came away with free souvenirs because of this, and the man demonstrating his flying carpets in one shop was priceless, we drank loads of tea with him, shared a hookah and were in that one shop for over an hour without buying anything.. A lot is your attitude - if you are closed to the people then you wont get to meet them properly!


Very good memories!

Zu- for the most part, you and I obviously just had different goals and different experiences in Egypt. But there were a few things in your post that I felt compelled to respond to.

didnt seem to get that the whole point of it is the very ancient monuments and the sheer amount of history

Well, I did preface my post by saying that what to do depends a lot on what the visitor's priorities are. If the original poster's goal is to see some really old stuff, then yeah, Egypt's a great location for that. But if the goal is to encounter a different culture, then spendng his whole five days on historic sites isn't really going to accomplish that.

where else can you get that ancient that is perfectly preserved?

The pyramids are big monuments, but in terms of things that fire the imagination, I find the ruins of real towns and cities far more interesting than a well preserved (or oftentimes partially rebuilt) monument. In Egypt, the most interesting historical location I visited wasn't anywhere I'd heard of before - it was Elephantine Island in Aswan, just an island full of ruined buildings and rubble, but it was positively intriguing.

Elsewhere in that vein, Iraq and Syria are home to the world's oldest cities, but they are admittedly much more of an archaeological find than a massive monument. But there's plenty of ancient buildings, cities, and monuments that are reasonably well preserved, with equally interesting history (and fewer visitors) elsewhere. Mostly I get the feeling that Egypt is just better marketed than the Hittites, Sumerians, Babylonians, Phoenecians, Assyrians and other ancient civilizations who've all left their mark. Anywhere where the climate is conducive to preserving things, you can find buildings comparable in age and preservation to what Egypt has to offer.

Re: Hospitality of the Egyptians.

I found most of them more money-sucking than hospitable. They're also taught a remarkably inflexible political line that most seem to have memorised. Just my experience. I was ripped off by the guides to the Pyramids, and I strongly suspect the Indian hotel owner in Luxor would have caught me up if he could have.

Re: where to go:

You can take a bus to Luxor easily from Cairo, but it is a full day trip.

I found Karnak and valley of the Kings to be more interesting and educational than Cairo, save the Museum of Cairo. The Pyramids are very interesting. So, if you count the pyramids as one day, museum one day, then bus to Luxor, one day in luxor, and back to Cairo. It's just about possible.

Or, you can go to Luxor and skip the pyramids this trip. You might have a day in Cairo before your flight out, which gives you either the cairo museum or the pyramids.

I did Egypt in 2 weeks! And that was on a tour that moved locations every couple of days. It's possible to see a lot in 5 days, but you'll have to keep moving and see a little of everything or pick what you most want to see and spend it there. I can easily imagine just being in Cairo for 5 days.

We did pyramids and the museum in one day (pyramids in the early morning, museum after lunch). And we did multiple stops on another day (more of just Cairo - city of the dead, garbage city, The Citadel, Khan el-Khalili...). I spent a good chunk of a day before the trip began just wandering the streets near my hotel by foot while others in the group apparently took a taxi out to see older pyramids further from the city. The point to all this being there's a ton there.

I don't know about organizing it solo, but FYI, there are overnight trains. We took one from Cairo to Aswan and it stopped in Luxor early in the morning. So, if you really want to head to Valley of the Kings or Aswan, it's possible. If you do go to Luxor, I highly recommend the hot air balloon ride. I had never done anything like this at home and was just a phenom way to start the day!



Enjoy Egypt!

marksda1 wrote:
If you do go to Luxor, I highly recommend the hot air balloon ride. I had never done anything like this at home and was just a phenom way to start the day!



Enjoy Egypt!

Sadly the all hot air balloons are grounded just now - due to the poor safety record and 3 crashes this year, the most recent into an aerial pylon. All the pilots are having to undergo retraining.

Oh wow, scrap the balloons then!

There was a crash a couple of months after my flight. My flight was happily uneventful in the death defying category. I had second thoughts about going because I'd seen an account of a burning balloon and one of the survivors who jumped out to survive. The thing is, google hot air balloon crash and see how many results there are, it's not a small number... Part of me says that anywhere you have balloons taking off pretty much every day, there will be accidents... But if there's anything they can do to minimize it, like making sure they don't fly in bad weather or bad equipment, then great...

Zuleika wrote:
Sadly the all hot air balloons are grounded just now - due to the poor safety record and 3 crashes this year, the most recent into an aerial pylon. All the pilots are having to undergo retraining.

Yeah - unfortunately the pilot of the last crash allegedly didnt heed the weather warning and took off without flight clearance.
Another no-no they all seem to do is to cram far too many people in, more than is safely recommended.
I guess its all about money - and if it is, no amount of retraining will ever make it safe.

Do any of you know any tour companies that cater to independent travellers? Was thinking of flying to Luxor from Cairo. Im pressed for time and was told to save time, I should just fly instead of wasting energy on the train or bus (if I have already budegetted that). The big question is Should I book here or when i get to Cairo?

I took an overnight train from Cairo to Luxor and that worked very well. It was some time ago so I'm not sure if it's still running.

I really loved Karnak - it's so incredibly monumental.

Also, I had a good cultural experience in Luxor meeting a local businessman and his family. In Egypt they really combine business and personal so don't feel put off if they are selling you something and then inviting you to meet the family.