Weezie

I will be in Tel Aviv this summer for a couple of days and thought I'd make a visit to Egypt, but I am not sure how to do it. My Israel books, not surprisingly, do not mention Egypt or means of transportation, closeness, etc. When I was in Israel last year we rented a car and found that it was difficult for us to manage certain drives as the maps do not show all the roads and the numbers are in arabic (took me a while to figure out what was going on!). I've tried searches on both Israel and Egypt forums but I have not found much. Anyway, anyone have any suggestions? Fly? Drive? Feasibility for a quick visit?

Casual_Cairo

I have never met anyone that came from Israel for only a day trip. I don't think it is that easy, as you certainly can't drive (or take a bus) from Tel Aviv that quickly, and I don't believe any of the flights are that accommodating.

For ease, I'd look into the flight schedules and see when they come and when you could leave. From that you'll know how many days you need to be in Egypt, and you can make an assessment about if you can give Egypt that much time. Perhaps you'll need a hotel for 2 or 3 nights and only you'll know if you want to give Egypt that much time and money.

There are bus trips that do come to Cairo, but that would be grueling, I'd think, and again if time is an issue, it would be time consuming.

If you do come for a few days, there is definitely plenty to do in Cairo to keep you busy though.

Casual Cairo

Weezie

Casual, thanks for the info. I thought it might be a stretch but I'm dying to go so I was hoping a Fodorite would have a magic-wand-back-door tidbit that could make it happen. I will check into flights and try to add a couple of days and see if that will work. Obviously I need more time but I don't know when I'll get back to this area...

sandi

The best option would be to fly, but you have to check which carrier flies on which days. Some days it's an Israeli carrier, others an Egyptian.

If choosing this route, as Casual indicates, you definitely need more than a 1/day turn-around. Have to give yourself at least 3/days including flights will only provide 1.5/days on the ground.

Check those flight schedules and prices. Then if you find something that works, contact Casual for "things to do" while in Cairo.

suzpom

There is bus service between Tel Aviv & Jerusalem and Cairo - check with Mazada Tours at http://www.mazada.co.il/english/ but the bus takes about 10 hours each way and goes only through the border crossing at Eilat/Taba (there's no other way to go overland these days).

Both El Al and Air Sinai fly between Ben Gurion International and Cairo International Airports but neither has daily flights. You can check with a travel agent about that or go to http://www.elal.com and plug in departure and arrival cities to get the El Al schedule. I have never been able to find posted schedules for Air Sinai on line but you might check with EgyptAir about that. You can also take Royal Wings/Royal Jordanian (through Amman) or Turkish (through Istanbul) but both of those go around the moon rather than directly between the two cities!

But why would an guide book on Israel mention Egypt? There are guide books on Egypt, too, and they don't mention Israel! Strangely enough!

And why only a couple of days? Too short!

suzanne pomeranz, jerusalem, israel