Going to Egypt in June
 

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and am very impressed with all I see and your kindness. I was hoping if you could help:

My travelling companion and I are seriously considering planning a 17 night trip to Egypt (perhaps with a 3 day Jordan side-trip to see Petra/Amman) in June.

We're not big group organized tour folks (went to Greece last year and it just wasn't us). We often travel independently; however, we realize with the complexities of Egypt, we probably need a private tour.

We've been researching companies who specialize in private tours. I have a couple of good responses from Indus Travels and Global Gate Vacations.

We would like to do the following:

Cairo - 4 - 5 days
Alexandria - 2 to 3 days
Nile Cruise - 4 to 7 days
Extra night in Aswan
A trip to Abu Simbel
Perhaps a 3 night Red Sea Resort
Perhaps a 3 day Jordan trip

We're intrested in seeing all the major sights and staying at deluxe 5* places

Now my questions:

1) Any comments on the travel companies we're looking at?
2) Could we arrange this ourselves with local help?
3) Is there a local reputable Cairo travel agency who can make the arrangements for us?
4) Any other suggestions to help us?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Take a look at this link.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35109676

Elisabeth went to Jordan and Israel. There are great pictures and much information. From the sound of it, Jordan is probably worth 5 days, instead of just 3. We are leaving in 9 days for 5 days in Jordan and 15 in Israel with OAT.

Jack and Ann

Thanks. I'll look at it.

Hi - thanks to Jack and Ann for linking to my post.

This was our recent itinerary

4 nights Cairo
1 night Aswan (w/day trip to Abu Simbel)
4 nights Nile Cruise
1 night Luxor
1 night Cairo
2 nights Dea Sea
2 nights Petra

We did a day trip to Alexandria and based on our experience I'd take a pass on that and add that time to Jordan (which we did love). Also we could have tightened up that one night in Luxor but there was also a flight consideration to Amman so I'm not sure what we would have gained.....

We don't like groups tours and did our trip with a Cairo based travel planner/guide - he did a great job with the tour and the price. We highly recommend Ahmed Hamed Yousif - his email is [email protected] - lots more info on how to book in my Egypt trip report

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=35105688

And here's a link to our blog

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...ards_2008_adv/

Happy to answer any questions here or you can email me at

eseibertca AT yahoo DOT ca

This is great information from all of you. Thanks. I look forward to reading more.

Is a 4 day Nile cruise enough or should it be 6 or 7? (I suppose you can't see much from the balconies, though :-) ).

A six day Nile cruise would be fine.
You could start from Luxor
then you
could do

1.Luxor and Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings and Queens and see Queen Hatshepsuts Temple, Ramasseum, Colossus of Memnon etc.

You might want to take in the Light and sound show at Karnak Temple.

then as you cruise to Aswan , you can do the Temple at Edfu and then Kom Ombo.

In Aswan you will see all the usual places that tourist want to see like:
1. The Aswan Dam and the High Dam
2. The Temple at Philae ( which is on Agilika Island)
3. Unfinished Obelisk
4. Felucca Ride
4.Souk ( Market ) Shopping
5.Aga Khan Mausoleum
etc

but I would really make an effort to go to Abu Simble from here..it may just be your highlite of the whole trip!!

Percy

FelixM - just out of curiosity - what is your affiliation with this tour group (Oriental destinations)? Sure seems like advertising to me - and we all know that advertising is not allowed on this forum! :)>-