Getting to Cairo Airport from Zamalek Island
 

Have seen many complaints about traffic in Cairo and getting to the airport. I will be in Cairo April 2011 and will stay at a hotel on Zamalek Island. I'm trying to decide whether to take a train or plane from Cairo to Luxor. I have limited time in Egypt for my vacation and thought that taking a roundtrip flight Cairo to Luxor would be a real time-saver because the train ride is much longer. Question: Is the traffic in Cairo so bad that taking a train to Luxor is a better idea? Or is the convenience of flying still more preferable to train because my vacation time is limited?

Traffic in Cairo is horrible (one of my enduring memories, in fact), meaning you wouldn't want to be driving in it. There are a lot of cars, and it can take an hour to get the airport, but as long as you have a taxi or driver, from a congestion/time standpoint, it's no worse than any other big city.

Take a very early morning flight or go on Friday or Saturday and it won't be too awful.

I too have limited time and taking the train to Luxor to save time and keep days full. I find that no matter what, plane trips always tend to take most of the day, or if they are early am, I have to get up too early to check out and get to the airport.

I didn't find the traffic too bad. I was expecting hideous.. but it wasn't at all.

Don't believe all the horror stories about traffic in Cairo. Yes, it's bad and probably something that you've never experienced before; however, I've never had anybody TRY to run over me in Cairo. I can't say that about Paris, Rome, New York or Los Angeles. Just think of it as part of the Egyptian experience.

Taxi or limo from the hotel is not bad. Unless the roads are completely blocked, I've never missed a plane there when I told the driver what time I needed to be at the airport.

Warning. Like with financial institutions, past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

It was fairly easy to fly from Cairo to Luxor. We also were staying on Zamalek and flew to Luxor for just one night and it was no problem. Way quicker than an overnight train!!