tinydancer

We will be in Egypt next week for a 12 day tour. Our tour includes a visit to the Egyptian museum, but we will have an extra day either end and would like to go there a second time. I know we can't see everything (kind of like the Met in NY), but how much time for each visit, considering we want to see other things too? On our extra day, we are planning to visit the Citadel, City of the Dead, Ben Ezra, Gayer Anderson Museum, and then also the Egyptian Museum early in the morning. Also, on our second 'extra' day, we wonder if we should plan a second visit to the pyramids, or go for something less well traveled and try perhaps the camel market? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

baracuda2

I have not been to the camel market but have heard it is hard to travel to and once there, some people, find it upsetting because they feel the animals are mistreated. You'd have to be the judge of that. On the other hand during some of our free time we visited the Tent Makers Market in Cairo and had a wonderful time. There is much to see and shop for. It was built in 1610 to make fabric and flags to decorate the caravans headed to Mecca. The architecture is wonderful with carved wood arches, window frames and shutters, ceilings etc. Each stall sells fabrics and hand made quilts, hand made wall hangings, throw pillow covers, linens, table cloths, etc. It is a riot of color, motion, culture shock, bargaining, and few tourists. You should travel by taxi and it would help if you had a guide to assist with the language, fair price and so on. We used Casual Cairo. She and her guides know their way around. Whatever you decided to do, have a good time.

Bara

sf7307

Regarding the museum visit, it depends on how "in depth" you want it to be. There is a LOT to see. You'll likely have a couple of hours when you visit with the tour. If you go back a second time, I'd say allow yourselves 2-3 hours. I agree with comparing it to the Met (although its not nearly as big as the Met) -- you can't see it all, you can't possibly digest it all, so see what you can in reasonable chunks of time.

twelveoaks

I was on an organized tour that allowed for a couple of hours at the museum and found it to be way too little time. I, too had an open day in Cairo and did not use it for the museum and have regretted that decision since.In my opinion you need a full day at the museum. You will never see anything like it again.

shelleyk

I think you need five- six hours to do the museum justice. We arrived at noon and stayed until the museum closed which I believe was about 5:30 or 6PM. It really is a wonderful museum. If you have some extra time, rather than revisiting the pyramids at Giza, I would recommend spending the day at the tombs (not pyramids but beautifully decorated underground tombs) at Saqarra (I am not sure of the spelling, but check a guide book if you are interested). We hired a car and driver to do this for about 70 dollars for the whole day. This was one of the highlights of our trip.

tinydancer

Thank you for this information. I have made a note and will see if we can include it.

lara2009

Tinydancer,
May I get the name of your tourguide and your ittenary for Cairo please? Please feel free to email me at [email protected]