My husband and I had such a great time on our African safari trip because of our advice on this website, so I was hoping we could ask again on advice for an itinerary to Egypt. We are going to have 7 days in Egypt, and would like to do independent travel. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on a general itinerary (ie, 2 days in Cairo, 2 days in Luxor, etc), and what the best way would be to see Luxor and Cairo, etc (would you take the train or fly?). Reading through the travel books, I am still just not getting a good idea on exactly which cities are a must see, and how much time is needed in each place. Thank you in advance!

Well 7 days is a bit short.

But since you only have 7 days ...then...

1. get a private tour guide in Cairo.

2.Fly to Luxor

When in Luxor , you can do:
The Luxor Temple

The Karnak Temple

In the valley of Kings , you should go to Hapshepsut Temple.

if you are staing right in downtown Luxor then you can walk to the Luxor and Karnak Temples.

I would get a guide because you really need some explanation of of the Temples.


Are you going to have time for Aswan !?



In Cairo you should go to the Cairo Museum.
then
The Citadel with its magnificent Mosque of Mohammed Ali.

Then the Khan al- Khalili Bazaar.

Of course it is a given that you will go to the Pyramids and the Sphinx.!!!

At the Pyramids... climb on the camel and let the camel driver taske your picture..it only cost $2.00

a very good guide in Cairo is Debbie Senters her email is

[email protected]

You can mention my name as we exchange e-mails about 4 times a year.

Any more question..just ask..will try to help

Percy

Thank you so much for your reply--so helpful. Through what I have read, I don't think we will stay in Aswan. Do you think that seeing Ramses II Temple (I think south of Aswan) is worth it or realistic with 7 days? Also, would you recommend staying in Giza as opposed to actually in Cairo (which I have heard may be nicer, and can overlook the pyramids)? I think we will hire guides in both Luxor and Cairo, so we will email Debbie (have you used her?).

Thanks again, that was so much help!

Yes I sure have used Debbie.

Please say Hi to her for me.

She is about 45-50 years old , is from the USA . Has been living in Egypt for about 15 years, so her English is perfect.

Actually I would stay at the Marriott in Cairo , and ask for a room over looking the Nile River.

Actually I would not stay in Giza,I think you will like it better near the Nile and downtown.. and don't worry Egypt is safe.

Say Hi to Debbie.
Take Care and have a nice trip

Percy

Two years ago I paid $119.00 per night here!!! so we are not talking big money .

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...ercy&fid=4

Here is my Trip report from whenI went to Egypt.

I think you will find it helpful.

The Ramses 11 you are talking about is the one at Abu Simble.

Yes,it is terrific to go here but you have to fly from Luxor or Aswan.

I do not think you will have enough time.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34698898


Here is the thread to my Egypt report. Hope this one works

percy

Yes , it work !!!!

Percy

Abu Simble was the highlite of my trip to Egypt also.

But like Percy says , you do not have enough time.

( You can always save Aswan , Abu Simble and Alexandria for the next visit !!)
jmvp

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply!

Still having trouble trying to come up with an itinerary. We really want to see Abu Simbel in the 7 days, but can't seem to figure out a way to do it easily by land. What are anyone's (Percy?) opinions on cruises?

Trip is from the night of Feb 16th, to AM of Feb 23rd

Can anyone help with potential itinerary:
1. Sat Feb 16th--fly into Cairo in the evening, stay in Cairo Marriott
2. Sun Feb 17th--maybe see museum in Cairo in AM (not a big city person), then get a ride to Giza and perhaps see pyramids in afternoon. Stay the night in Giza (maybe get guide Debbie)
3. Mon Feb 18th--tour pyramids of Giza and nearby, spend night again in Giza
4. Tues-Fri Feb 19th-22nd--either fly to Luxor and stay for 3 nights, somehow flying to Abu Simbel and back (apparently no flights go to Abu Simbel and back to Luxor in the same day, so not sure how to do this; I think the train would take too much time), or just not doing Abu Simbel at all and then flying back to Cairo evening of 22nd to fly out AM of 23rd. Alternatively, could fly from Cairo to Abu Simbel first (but would have nowhere to put our luggage) and then go to Luxor

The other potential is spending Tues-Friday perhaps on a cruise to see Luxor/abu simbel instead.

Does anyone have any thoughts, b/c I can't seem to pull this itinerary together?

Thanks!!

bump

I would recommend going to abu simbel from cairo- the airline holds your luggage while you are there for the few hours. Then you can fly to aswan- depending on the time of flights- you could go around aswan for a few hours and then fly on to luxor. We stayed the night and enjoyed it. Seeing the high dam and unfinished oblelisque is only an hour and you could probably get to philae and back in 2 hours. The flights are only once a day so that would be your limitation. They are v cheap so i wouldn't recommend taking the train when your time is limited. I had thought about doing a cruise but the dates have to work for you- they are limited and we didn't want to spend so much time in one place. Abu Simbel is worth it. I thought 2 days for luxor was a good amount of time.

You have a lot of time at the pyramids- we were able to see giza sakkara and dashur in a day (at a leisurely pace). see the light show just to see them at night - though cheesy. We stayed in Giza at Mena House and LOVED it. If you are going to move day 2- i wouldn't bother switching hotels. Our driver held our bags the first day when he picked us up at the airport and took us to the cairo museum, mosque of mohammed ali and khan el khali (hated it- left after 10 mins). Good luck.

As other mentions, you can get quite a bit done in CAI in less time, get to Abu Simbel, onto a cruise boat up to Luxor and back to CAI for homebound flight.

Sat 16 Feb - Arv CAI - o/n (doesn't make difference whether on CAI or Giza side... we stayed on Giza).
Sun 17 Feb - AM- Visit Pyramids, Sphinx; PM - Museum -o/n
Mon 18 Feb - Early 7am fly via Aswan to Abu Simbel... its a morning visit @ AS; Fly to Aswan; visit souk, Nubian Museum - o/n @ hotel
Tue 19 Feb - Morning visit High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk, Philae Island*, Board Nile cruise, cruise to Kom Ombo, tour - o/n boat
*these visits can be part of the cruise package.
Wed 20 Feb - Cruise to Edfu, Esna - o/n boat
Thu 21 Feb - Cruise to Luxor; afternoon visit Luxor and Karnak Temples - o/n boat
Fri 22 Feb - Visit Valley of Kings & Queens; afternoon fly to CAI - o/n at airport hotel.
Sat 23 Feb - Depart.

I might have the actual sightseeing while on Nile boat a bit askew, but you can get it all in. And, yes all this sightseeing is done while cruising. You just have to find a boat that departs Aswan on date shown, arrives in Luxor when shown, concluding time onboard on date shown.

Boats leave Luxor or Aswan every day, though most only on certain days... so you have to check with the tour operator who can arrange everything, including guide/vehicle while in Cairo. The boat provides a guide for guests to the sights onland along the Nile route.

Thanks so much for all of the help. The only problem that I have run into, is that there are no more flights from Cairo to Abu Simbel on the 19th (only the 20th). Does anyone know of travel agents who may have tickets?

I found that flights opened up closer to the date- maybe call Egypt Air directly- 1(212) 581-5600- though it was a gamble. I had to wait till a certain amount of time before the date of the trip - when the travel agents released their tickets.

I booked my NYC- Cairo leg w/egypt air through www.MisrTravel.org MisrTravel(NY) Mr, Hesham Elkady 1(800) 223-4978 b/c you couldn't book online.

Good luck!

If you want to do a whirlwind tour in Cairo and really like pyramids, you can probably include Dahshur and/or Zakkara on the same day youvisit Giza. We have chosen to try to see all three in one day, primarily because Giza is sooooo touristy, and Dahshur/Zakkara get far fewer tourists, and are less crowded. Also, Dahshur and Zakkara will help give an evolutionary timeline of the pyramids.

To do a Nile cruise you really need a full 7 days, arriving the night before and departing the next day, though I HAVE seen some tours, including a cruise, that take 7 days, with arrival day 1 and departure day 7.

Mark-

Mark-

No way do you require 7/days for the cruise. Many of the 7/day cruises visit the same places twice; others visit some temples north of Luxor and if I chose 7/days these would be the sites I'd want to visit.

Otherwise, the standard 3-5/days tours cover all the temples most want to see. With the 5/days you actually stay o/n on the boat rather than a hotel in Luxor or Aswan.