r/EgyptTravelTips

I'm planning my first trip to Cairo, and I would love to hear your advice on my travel plans:

Sunday: arrival; hotel close to the pyramids
Monday: visit the pyramids and the museum
Tuesday: visit Memphis, Saqqara and Dashur
Wednesday: check out of hotel and go to hotel in the city center; visit Islamic Cairo
Thursday: Visit Coptic Cairo; felucca boat trip
Friday: day trip to Alexandria
Saturday: leave (for Dahab)

Is this a realistic schedule? Am I missing something? Any other tips?

Can anyone recommend affordable (or cheap) downtown cairo hotels that is not that noisy? And has elevator? and ground floor lobby that is near the street that can be seamlessly accessed by cars? As we will be carrying luggages

I am looking for a tour guide or tour company that is the best and is run by a trained Egyptologist. I would appreciate any suggestions.

hey everyone,
me (f/25) and my partner (white, m/25) are going to be traveling to egypt in november.
i’m originally egyptian but was raised in europe, and hold a schengen passport. i also used to go to egypt with my family every year but never traveled there alone, and haven’t seen much of the country. that’s why we are travelling, and as we both still are students and do not have thousands for a trip, are trying to organise the trip by ourselves. i also speak arabic (of course with an accent unfortunately) and obviously know my way around customs and hagglers so i felt it might by hard but doable to plan a trip with a lot of time.
i have a bit of trouble getting the plan straight so i want to ask for advice if it makes sense and if you have tips.
we are not that interested in seeing all pyramids and temples and just want to see the highlights, what were yours which you found unskippable?
recommendations for food, events, art would also be much appreciated! also if you have reliable drivers i would be very grateful:)

that’s the plan:
we will be arriving in sharm and continuing directly to cairo with a car/bus.
week 1: cairo
check out some churches, mosques, the egyptian museum, khan el khalil
eat a lot of food :D
maybe day trip to a farm in fayoum to catch a break from the city.
we will be staying in an airbnb in the old city

car to alexandria, stay 1 day
bus/car to marsa matruh, stay 1 day
travel to siwa, stay 3/4 days

and that’s were it gets complicated, the travel is very far and i would love to see siwa, and at the same time check out luxor/aswan. we don’t have a big problem with traveling long distances. taking an in country flight is not within our budget, as i found cairo-> luxor to be around 250€. the only thing we booked is cairo as there were circumstances and we were unsure wether we would be able to travel. so it is a bit more last minute.

the cities in the middle do not have tourist infrastructure, so i’m also unsure about doing siwa -> cairo -> travel to asyut or something on the way and then continuing to luxor/aswan.

would it make more sense to bite through the longer travel and to go to aswan first (maybe day trip to abu simbel) and then drive up to luxor? the cruises are too expensive for us, so we will have to go by car anyway. we also thought about renting a car in luxor and driving to the red sea (marsa alam).

then luxor -> sharm el sheikh (we won’t get around a flight) , maybe 1/2 days and then fly back.

i would appreciate insight a lot as i don’t want to make it even more exhausting than it has to be.
looking forward to reading your opinions :)

I have a wedding in Egypt at 8 weeks pregnant of one of my friends. The wedding would be in Cairo. At this stage doctors can’t really tell you or advise not to travel but I’m doubtful that I should go. It would be hot there - at least 30 Celsius and a lot of traffic and also 6 hour flight. My main concern though is the water and food poisoning risk. I grew up there so It’s my culture so I’m not worried about feeling disoriented - it’s more the food part. I’d have to be extra careful for 1 week at such a delicate time. Have any of you travelled somewhere more risky at that time of pregnancy ? How did you feel? It will also be a time when 3rd trimester symptoms could hit hard. I’m almost 37 may I add.