birds4us

We will be going to Egypt in March, 2011 and would like to know of any egypt tour companies to book our tours with you would recommend or have had good experience with

sf7307

Do you mean local tour guides for each city, or do you mean a tour agency that can help you plan everything, including hotels, intra-Egypt transportation, guides, etc.? We did a private (there were 6 of us) tour with Lady Egypt -- planned everything with them, from airport pickups and dropoffs, to local drivers and guides, to hotels, train travel and air travel. We were very pleased with their services. Others on this forum have also been pleased with them. I think they do group tours, too.

BeniciaChris

I have been planning our tip to Egypt for about 2 years. After long and hard thought and many glowing reviews I chose Ahmed Hamed Yousif. His E-mail address is [email protected]
We fly from San Francisco one month from today. Besides Ahmed planning all our days-flights-Nile Crusie-a trip to Jordan-a 2 day trip to alexandria, we also have 1 weeks timeshare in Heraghada,and he is having a driver drive us to our timeshare-then take us to the airport afterwards. He has been wonderful to work with and adjusted things for me. I saw the Oberie Phile Nile Cruise was booked for dates we wanted and he managed to get us a room.
After 2 years of E-mails I feel he is our friend and has taken care of our every need. Many meals are included so my husband & I can just relax & enjoy.
i will do a report when we get home October 25th. Chris

scotsgirl

Hi Birds4us

There are many tour companies in Egypt you can choose from. From backpacking type budget to real luxury.

We have been a number of times and we chose to use a private tour company called Egypt Quality Tours. We use them each time we go to Egypt now as they fix everything out for us, hotels, domestic flights, cars, boats, tours, lunches, pretty much anything we have asked them to do for us they have managed it. And their prices are very reasonable.

Lady Egypt gets good recommendations too and Debbie (Casual Cairo Tours) also gets real good reviews. So you now have 4 recommended ones to try out.

Whomever you choose from above or from the net, I am sure you will get the Egypt bug - and want to go back time and time again.

Scotsgirl

Iowa_Redhead

I went with Trafalgar in December 2009 and loved it. The tour name I went on was Egyptian Voyager. The food was excellent, the hotels and Nile cruise boat were very nice I thought, and the people on the tour were a ton of fun to get to know.

What size group are you looking for? A more private tour is one thing and a large group tour is entirely different. Your budget and accomodation wishes could help make that decision.

SFOTraveler47

My wife and I just returned today from a trip to Luxor, Alexandria and Cairo. We used Rasha Hamid. I chose Rasha based on multiple positive asessments on her abilities. She arranged and acted as a guide throughout the trip. She is very organized and is prompt in responding to all emails. She attempts to determine your pace, how much time you want to spend at each site, your interests and your desire for information at each of the sites. We noticed several other tour guides had a scripted presentation which they would give at each site.

Rasha is 24 and has a degree from Cairo University in English/Egptian History. She is a certified Egyptologist. All Egyptologists have to take periodic re-certifications.

I have no ax to grind for Rasha (although I am sure it appears that I do) but she made the trip memorable and enjoyable. She has a high energy level, personable, articulate and makes you feel as if she is a family member who is also a travel guide. For example, she made the time for the two and half hour van trip to Cairo pass quickly as she regaled us with stories of Egyptian history, culture, politics and travel.

Her knowledge of the various tourist sites is encyclopedic but she attempts to find the key areas of your interest in order to concentrate on that interest. For example, are you interested in the site's architecture, history, shopping, current affairs, etc. While some tour guides will strongly encourage you to go to a Carpet School or perfume factory, Rasha will only take you if you are interested. The same applies to restaurants. She will ask you the type of cuisine, the approximate time, the location, and the price range. She will then take you to a restaurant that meets all your requirements. For example, we were staying at a hotel near the British Museum. We wanted egyptian food, quick service and a reasonable price. She suggested Felfela, which is a restaurant not to be missed. She makes every minute on your tour count, which was important to us. Lastly, she was very reasonable for two people traveling independently. Her email address is www.egyptsunset.com

Casual_Cairo

<<we were staying at a hotel near the British Museum.>>

Really, were you in London or Cairo?

Casual_Cairo

Just kidding. Glad you liked her so much and VERY glad she didn't push the shopping. She is learning well.

gadgetboyatl

Thanks for sharing SFOTraveler47. I am going next year but planning now. Can you give me some ballpark firgures as to what to expect for such a private tour? I am arriving in Alexandria via cruise ship and the ship tours are outrageously priced just to be herded on a bus like cattle. We have two full days in Egypt.

SFOTraveler47

The cost for the day was $180 for both my wife and I. It was $90 each. The price included a driver for the day, an airconditioned 2009 van, Rasha for the day, and included all entrance fees to museums.
Pick up at hotel
-Visit the Giza pyramids ( cheops, Chephren and Mecrynus).
-Visit the solar boat Museum.
-Visit the Sphinx and the Valley temple of King Chephren.
-Camel ride (optional)
Lunch ( optional).
-Visit saqqara area.
-Visit to pyramids at Dahshur
-Visit Memphis Museum.
-Drop off at hotel.

The benefit that the tour had for us was that it was not a pre-programmed tour with 40 people. We could determine the exact time we wanted to be picked up at the hotel, what time we wanted to be dropped off, and how much time we wanted to spend at each site. Rasha's primary interest was to make sure our trip was memorable.



Rasha also took us from Cairo to Alexandria on a day tour. The all day tour to Alexandria was $100 each for my wife and I. Again, it was a completely customized tour, viewing the sites in Alexandria that we wanted to see.

Casual_Cairo

SFOTraveler - I'm curious...
You said <<it was a completely customized tour, viewing the sites in Alexandria that we wanted to see.>>

So did you pay for tickets into the sites you wanted to see separately from the $100 or what? Wouldn't it have made some difference if you wanted to see 7 sites or 3 sites? Or did they just give you a short list of what was possible?

Also, where did you do lunch? Was it ala-carte, buffet, or pre-ordered tourist fare (ie fried fish, rice, tahina and bread)?

Also were you bused both ways, and what time did you start and what time did you get back to Cairo?

SFOTraveler47

Casual Cairo,

Rasha Hamid gave us a short list of the tour sites that we could see. Admission to all sites was included in the $90 price per person.

Lunch was not included in the price. We went to Andrea near the Pyramids. Excellent choice. We had the tasting menu which included a little bit of everything. The next day, lunch in Cairo was at Felfela. The ambience and decore was exactly what we were looking for. My wife had the pidgeon while I had a mixture of pasta and ground beef. I would highly recommend both restaurants and I am grateful to Rasha for taking us to both.

Rasha and her driver picked us up at 8 AM at the hotel where we were staying (Intercontinental in downtown Cairo) in order to get an early start to see the historic sites. She dropped us off at approximately 5 PM. There was only the four of us in a Toyota van, Rasha, the driver, my wife and myself. Again, Rasha's explanation of Egyptain history and culture was worth the price. She is very engaging, enthusiatic and is an excellent ambassador for Egypt.

Casual_Cairo

Don't you just love Andrea's? It is one of my favorite restaurants.

I meant though, where did you eat the day of the Alex tour. Surely you weren't in Alex for such a short time you had lunch in Cairo, did you? Maybe you ate a very late late late lunch that day on your way back into town?

SFOTraveler47

Casual Cairo
The day we went to Alexandria, we had lunch at a take out restaurant on the roadway that borders the water. I don't recall the name of the restaurant. It was about 10 minutes east of the Four Seasons hotel. The day was a full day and we were interested in a quick lunch. Rasha was not able to join us at any of the restaurants as it was Ramadan.

Of all of the sites in Alexandria, I enjoyed the Alexandria library the most. I am an executive at Wells Fargo Bank, which is headquartered in San Francisco, but also have a Ph.D. in Executive Management. I was particularly interested in the library because of the size of the collection and that it is the oldest library. While the tour of the library was given in English by a library docent, after the tour, Rasha was able to add to the docent's description of the library. Her knowledge seemed encyclopedic.

Thanks for your kind inquiries.

Jim