abbydog

Hi! My husband and I plan to land in Cairo from D.C. at 5:30 a.m., two days before starting a tour with G Adventures. I've asked our hotel, the Flamenco Cairo, for advice on killing time while jet-lagged until we can check in, but I wondered if others have tips from experience.

progol

Honestly, there’s nowhere I’d want to just go on my own at 5:30am in Cairo. I’d pay for an extra night and get to the hotel and rest. Are you planning to get a guide for Cairo before your tour starts or just explore on your own?

yestravel

I completely agree!

abbydog

We'll have a couple of guided tours of Cairo with our package, and we will spend the day after we land visiting museums with friends. So on the day we land, assuming it takes an hour or two to reach the hotel, we could just have breakfast there and admire the view of the river. Not a great time to arrive, I agree, but there's only one direct flight from D.C. and it's only every other day!

yestravel

Where is your hotel? You could venture out on your own to some of the sites nearby? We arrived, not at 5:30 but a day early and visited Giza on our own -- it was great.

progol

Your hotel is on Zamalek, a large island sitting off the main part of Cairo. It’s actually a good place to stay in Cairo - away from the more chaotic side of downtown Cairo and a nice mixture of art, students, and affluence - a lot of embassies are there, too. I don’t know the northern end of the island but there’s a pretty relaxed vibe in the central areas and an easy place to stroll. Further south, you’ll see the Cairo tower, one of the landmarks.

Here’s a link to an article in Culture trip, which might give you a feel for the place; I stopped into the Fair Trade shop mentioned and picked up a fair number of simple items as gifts. It’s local product - not high end but not the kind of stuff you’ll see in the souks, so a fun place to shop. It’s a small operation on the second floor of a building so it took quite a bit of effort to find it, too.

https://theculturetrip.com/africa/eg...zamalek-cairo/

abbydog

Wow, thanks Progol! I so admired your trip report and incredible planning skills, and I really appreciate hearing your thoughts about my hotel and the neighborhood. I am grateful for everyone else's comments too ... My husband is voting for just booking a room at the hotel they night before we arrive, so we will be able to recover a bit from the flight and then venture out.

progol

Thanks for the kind words, abbydog! I’m glad you found my TR helpful. And, I find it’s SO worth it to be able to get into the hotel room after a really long flight - the little extra is usually money well spent.

We didn’t explore Zamalek a lot but it did feel very comfortable to wander.

yestravel

I think that is a wise idea. We did not get to the Zamalek area and it sounds like after a a rest it will be a good place to venture out on your own. Enjoy your trip, Egypt is endlessly fascinating.