Help, first time trip to Egypt..how long to book for?
 

hello, booking trip to egypt for my husband and i late november.
is 6 full days long enough to explore cairo, head to the white desert and see the nile?

We just got back from Egypt. We spent two full days and part of a day in Cairo (not enough) and did a three night/four day Nile cruise. That was all the time I had due to spring break. I would have liked more time in Cairo to explore and if you are going to also go to the white desert I think you will find that you don't have enough time. If you are going to be on the Nile I assume you will be on a river cruise either from Luxor to Aswan or the other way. You should definitely go to Abu Simbel from Aswan. We debated whether or not the expense was worth it ( we flew) and it definitely was. I posted our trip report - called Egypt Spring Break or something like that. Feel free to check it out. E-mail me if you have specific questions about where we went: [email protected]. We LOVED Egypt.

Thanks for your response.
I actually booked the flight-crazy cheap seat sale that was only good for today (Air France from Canada, with free stopover in Paris, and onto Cairo for $387 return, + taxes!) I am thrilled at that fantastic deal; hope others were as lucky as I was.
I will be in Cairo from 7pm on a Tuesday night until 7am the following Wednesday.
Now the fun starts trying to fit things in.
I will look into the Aswan to Abu Simbel, as oppose to the Luxor way. But once I get to Abu Simbel, do I then fly back to Cairo?? How many nights did you do?
Can't wait... :)

I think your time is fine for Cairo and a Nile Cruise and Abu Simbel, but not enough time to fit in the White Desert (you really need 3 full days for that with travel).

Some people like to do the Nile Cruise first because the relaxing pace of the cruise helps with the jet lag.

Basically, I would arrive in Cairo, spend 2 days touring. Then fly to Abu Simbel (day trip) and fly (same afternoon) to Aswan. Do Nile cruise (Aswan-Luxor) for 3 days, then return to Cairo.

You can fly back to Cairo from any of those places. In general the Luxor-Aswan cruises are 4 days/5 nights and the the Aswan-Luxor cruises are 3 days/4 nights.

Of course, a lot will depend on the exact schedule of the cruise ship you choose.

You can also do a 4 days/<b>3</b> nights cruise from Aswan to Luxor, if a longer trip sounds like too much.

The biggest problem for me with your plan is jet lag - we lost the entire first day after flying from the US West Coast.

You can definitely see the major sights in Cairo in two days; additional "poking around" time is nice but not essential.

Thanks for the replies; I am researching Abu Simbel and Luxor...
I am not worried about jet lag, as we will be in Paris for a couple days prior so will have eased our way into the time zone! Hopefully, at least!
Flying within Egypt...would you recommend a specific airline? Something somewhat economical would be helpful.
I read that you can do day trips to the White Desert-does anyone have any experience with this?
My hubby and I aren't really 'city' people, so I agree a couple days will be sufficient. All I really want to do in the city is have a great meal and hit a great market.
Any must-do recommendations?

The only airline option you have within Egypt is EgyptAir.

I have never heard of a day trip to the White Desert - it's at least 200 miles from Cairo. The LEAST amount of time I could see would be 2 days (overnight) but then you really wouldn't be getting a good exposure to the desert - just a drive by. Whenever we planned trips there - it was always for 2 nights/3 days.

If you really want to see a bit of the desert, you could do a day trip to Whale Valley. It's an interesting site, and would give you the off-road 4x4 experience. (Note: I know nothing about the tour below, just using it for reference).

http://www.desertadventuresegypt.com...?pg=prog_whale

As for "the city" - keep in mind that the pyramids and sphynx are in Cairo, so don't sell it short. And I can't imagine going to Cairo without a visit to the Egyptian Museum.

Cairo, Luxor and Aswan all have great outdoor markets -- each is different, however, and Khan Al Khalili in Cairo is kind of the "granddaddy" of them -- akin to the souk in Marrakesh. Lots of the merchandise is the same at all of them (like visiting different shopping centers in the USA)

Hi Tanya

I dont think you would be able to cope with all the rushing if trying to fit everything in. you could do, as rightly said above, Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Abu Simbel in the 6 days and I think that would be as much as you could get.

Dont forget, that if you get your flights that cheap you can always go back :-)

Get a taster of Egypt this time and then hand pick what you want to see more of at a later date.

Thats an excellent price you got for your flights!! if you can get that again, then go back in 2011 and do the white desert. you will definately need 2 or more days for that, to experience it properly. I did it over 3 days and even then I thought I could have had a few more to do it justice.

Scotsgirl

Hi there, I'm an Egypt Travel Specialist so I book lots of Egypt tours and I would definitely say that 6 days isn't long enough. I would advise a day's sightseeing in Cairo, a 4 night desert tour and then maybe a 2/3 day trip up the Nile in a felucca or Cruise ship.

Suzanne