ClarkB

Part 1

Just back from a mid-December trip to Cairo, down the Nile, Abu Simbel, and Jordan with our friends from the US and three 'tweener kids. Overall a good trip with many fascinating sights and tons of history, but also an experience that does not have me hankering to return to North Africa anytime soon. I'm a peripatetic business traveller, spending literally half the year on the road in Asia, Europe, the US and southern Africa for my job. So leisure travel is less stimulating to me these days and I don't have a lot of patience for being hassled. If you're like me, North Africa is not the place to go to relax.

Our friends are used to the Abercrombie & Kent sort of travel, which is beyond my budget, but with a lot of research on the web (mainly the helpful folks on this board) we were able to cobble together an itinerary that was close to that standard for much less money. We used Lady Egypt to coordinate much of the logistics and internal flights, but I booked our London flights with miles, the Cairo hotel with points, and booked the Sonesta Star Goddess directly. I figure this saved the four of us over $10,000 compared to a similar A&K itinerary. However, it also left us with a sort of disconnected itinerary with no single agency responsible for the whole thing.

Before I get into the trip, let me first vent a little about the lowlights, of which there were a few. Remember the classic line from "Casablanca," when the middle-aged English tourists encounter the man in the Moroccan cafe advising them that "This place is full of vultures, vultures everywhere!" while picking their pockets? After a miserable trip to Marrakech in 1997, where we could barely leave the hotel without being swarmed with aggressive guys demanding to be our "tour guide" and accosting us so much that we couldn't even walk around the souk (and I'm a 6'2" ex-rugby player), I expected similar hassle in Egypt. I was pleasantly surprised that this was generally not the case; the street vendors were persistent but did not grab you or continue to harass if you said "no thanks." You can walk around Cairo without too much molestation, although I don't know who would want to given the choking traffic, dilapidated buildings and smog.

But we did encounter several examples of rip-offs, as noted below, mainly from some of the people we were paying to provide us with a smooth trip. This includes minor incidents with the Intercontinental Semiramis, and with our Sonesta boat and its tour guide. Overall it left us feeling frustrated with the constant money-grab and took away from the experience. These cheats with their constant demands for tips do a great disservice to the Egyptian tourism industry, the lifeblood of the country.

CAIRO

Arrived late evening on BA and breezed through the immigration line. Other countries (I'm talking to YOU, India and Russia) could learn a lot from Egypt's visa procedure -- we walked up to the currency-exchange window and purchased the visa then and there for a mere US$15. The Lady Egypt rep was there on time to meet us, help with luggage, and get us to the minivan for the ride to the Interconti.

The next morning we were met by local guide Heba Saeed, who we found recommended on this board ([email protected]). It was a good recommendation; Heba is knowledgable, interesting, and focused on the clients' needs and interests. She showed us the massive Mohammed Ali Mosque, then the churches and synagogues of Old Coptic Cairo, and then a trip out to Saqqara and the step pyramids. The next day was Giza and the pyramids, but we had bad luck with the weather and were there virtually in the middle of a sandstorm. So the photos weren't great, but it was interesting nonetheless. The last day we visited the disheveled but fascinating Egyptian Museum, in the late afternoon with very few people around the King Tut trasures, and then the ladies got their trip to the Khan al Kalili market for some shopping while the men chilled out at the hotel.

Heba also looked out for us, steering us away from the more rapacious souvenir vendors and taking us to a government shop for jewelry and other items, where the negotiation process was less time-consuming and silly. I negotiate multi-million dollar contracts for a living and don't find it entertaining to haggle with some guy for twenty minutes over a $5 piece of junk; some people may enjoy that, but I'm there to see the sights, take photos and learn the history. As a PhD candidate, she knows a lot about the tremendous history of Egypt's Pharonic golden age and conveyed it well to the adults and the kids alike.

The Intercontinental Semiramis is a comfortable hotel, and in general it was fine, if not up to the 5-star standards of an equivalent hotel in Asia or Europe. The Egyptians don't seem to have the service things quite down, but were generally friendly and tried to be helpful. But one incident really irritated me -- we needed a taxi one evening to meet our friends for dinner at the Four Seasons a 10-minute drive away. Heba had told us to be sure to take white metered taxis, rather than a gypsy cab, to avoid any altercations over the price. When I asked for a white taxi at the front of the Interconti, they repeatedly tried to get us into a hotel car that cost FIVE TIMES more than a white taxi. I even dragged the Concierge out to the curb and complained and he did the same thing, making no effort to hail a white cab and only offering the ridiculously overpriced hotel car. It was the difference between paying $4 and $20 for a ten-minute ride -- I can afford the $20, but I object on principle to being ripped off like that. Eventually I had to walk down to the street myself to hail a white cab, and of course there were ten of them there in an instant, causing another fracas over who gets to take the four of us to dinner. Ridiculous! I should not have to put up with this at a $300/night hotel, and Interconti will be hearing from me on this, as a regular customer of theirs.

(After returning from Aswan we had another night in Cairo before flying on to Jordan, and due to the bad experience with the Interconti, we cancelled that return booking and went to the Fairmont Heliopolis at the airport instead -- what a difference! A beautiful, comfortable hotel. Huge rooms, modern, great pools and restaurants, good service. If I ever go back to Cairo, I'll stay there and take cabs the 40 minutes into town, rather than staying in the middle of the city.)

The next morning we were up early for our flight to Luxor and the Sonesta Star Goddess...

(part 2 to follow)

ClarkB

Part 2 -- THE NILE CRUISE

We zipped through the clean and modern Egypt Air terminal in Cairo and flew on their nice new Airbus to Luxor. The difference was palpable; lush palms and clean desert air compared to the duststorm and traffic of Cairo. The Sonesta rep met us on time and conveyed us to the dock (such as it is) - at least a dozen cruise boats were tied up side-to-side on the river. We checked in and were greeted warmly by the captain and had a few hours to kill before the tour of the Karnak and Luxor temples.

The Star Goddess was quite nice; we had a balcony, spacious room with a sitting area and pull-out sofa for our son, and a deserted top deck with lounge chairs and a wading pool. The food proved to be plentiful and tasty, with lots of choice. Overall we were pleased with the accommodations and sailing up the river was no doubt the most relaxing part of the trip.

Our guide for the land portions was Ishmael, who was very knowledgeable about the Egyptian religious mythology that informed all of the temple design, artwork, and burial rites. He was not as good as Heba at reading his audience and adapting his presentation to their interests; at Karnak and again at Luxor his long lectures on the mythology seriously cut into my photography time. We even ran out of light altogther at Luxor, which frustrated me since we had several hours to kill sitting around the docked boat in the morning. Had we left an hour earlier, or had he not droned on quite so much about every detail of the hieroglyphs, we could have seen more of the two temples. This was a sign that not everything was going to go smoothly with our good friend Ishmael.

The next day we toured the must-see Valleys of the Kings and Queens. Simply amazing seeing the condition of these burial tombs. Ishmael gave us a helpful overview and then we dove into each tomb (guides are not permitted inside). But then the game-playing began. After the two sets of tombs, we were supposed to have visited the Hatshepsut tomb, the powerful female Pharoah who our kids had studied. For reasons unknown, Ishmael took us to the front parking area of it, but no further (even though we had paid for a tour of it), saying it "wasn't very interesting."

Instead, we piled back into the van and drove to a cheeseball souvenir shop, where we spent the next 45 minutes as our friends massively overpaid for some stone jars (Heba had warned us never to pay more than 30% of their opening offer, but my friend forgot that advice). I was seriously hacked off that we blew off a tour that was on our itinerary so Ishmael could get his kickback from his cousins at that shop.

Next he had a "surprise" in store for us if we would pay "the driver" US$20 from each family. I saw the trap coming but the wives insisted, and so we found ourselves walking through a trash-strewn local vegetable market, like that was some incredibly rare sight we were witnessing. For all of 15 minutes we walked through the market and the driver did not drive 5 minutes out of his way, and for this we're paying another $40? (remember, this is a $10k+ trip we are on). This is not what I come to Egypt for; I can stroll down to Edgware Road in London and see the same thing for free!

After that time-wasting fiasco, I made him take us to the Ramseseum, a temple in disrepair that we had passed several times on the road. He first tried to drive us down a side alley so he wouldn't have to buy tickets, claiming it was not open, but after I saw a few tourists inside, I demanded he take us in (which he did, but only after making us pay for the tickets). It turned out to be one of the best temples we saw on the whole trip, largely because so few people were there and because it was the site of the collapsed "Ozymandius" statue of the great Percy Bysshe Shelley poem fame. And I had to cajole our guide into taking us there rather than trying to extract more money from us in some lousy souvenir shop or local market!

We returned to the boat and sailed on to Esna, and the following day continued down the river and visited Edfu and Kom Omba temples. That night was the galabya party on the boat, which the kids enjoyed but I passed on. With only 19 guests on the boat (and a crew of about 10), it was nicely quiet and no atmosphere for partying, with or without your galabya.

On the fourth day we reached Aswan and were ready to depart the boat. But not before a few more annoyances from Sonesta. One, Ishmael instructed us to leave something like $50 "tip" for everyone on the boat who ever came near us. Of course he wanted hundreds for himself as well. This is on a boat where we are paying $1000 per room per night! I don't care how much trickles down to the little people working on the boat; those are clearly some of the most lucrative jobs in the Egyptian tourism industry, and I don't feel like being shaken down for hundreds of dollars in tips when I am paying that much for the service.

Secondly, my friend lost several hundred bucks when his wife mistakenly sent his pants to cleaning. The credit card was returned, but of course not the cash. OK, the same would have happened at a nice hotel in New York or just about anywhere else in the world (maybe not Tokyo). But on a boat with 19 guests? That is a bit brazen, is it not?

Finally, the piece de resistance when it comes to Sonesta. After I handed my tip envelope to the front-desk guy the morning we checked out, he thankfully accepted it and then asked if I could change a US$100 bill for him. Remember, this is the guy working what is in effect the front desk area of the ship. I had some $20s so I said sure, and he gives me this $100 note. Something felt a bit weird about it, and as I walked away I checked my wallet and (luckily) happened to have a $100 note in there. I lined them up and sure enough, the one he gave me was a couple of millimeters short in both length and width. Other than that, visually you really couldn't tell the difference. I hustled back to him and said it looked phony, and he gave me back the $20s without complaint, but with an obviously guilty look that he knew it was fake -- he even mumbled something about the bank not wanting to take it!

So let's recap -- a knowledgeable but conniving guide who short-sheets us on the tours we paid for and extorts additional cash from us with market tours, souvenir shops, and midguided advice on tipping. Then the boat I paid A THOUSAND BUCKS A NIGHT for tries to slip me a phony $100 bill -- remind me why I should do business with these guys?

So while the cruise up the Nile was interesting, comfotable and relaxing for the most part, the rip-off syndrome left me with a bad feeling about the whole thing.

On to Abu Simbel and then Jordan...

ClarkB

Part 3 -- ABU SIMBEL AND JORDAN

After leaving Sonesta in Aswan, our Lady Egypt guide picked us up and drove us to the airport for the in-and-out flight to Abu Simbel, the phenomenal temple that was relocated in the late 1960s to accommodate the flooding of the valley by the Aswan High Dam (which we also visited while in Aswan and which was, well, a big dam.) The LE guide was very pleasant and interesting, none of the Ishmael con-game going on, but we did have a bit of a problem with LE on this part of the trip. First there was some small problem with the flight tickets which LE had arranged, but the guide sorted it out quickly. He appeared a bit at a loss since Egypt Air screws with their schedules at will and does not always inform the tour agencies. So, no harm no foul.

However, the bigger problem was that we had all our stuff with us from the trip, which in our friends' case amounted to several huge suitcases. LE had no plan where to store this stuff while we visited Aub Simbel. The flight was just a half-hour or so, and I got to sit on the left side and get a few photos from the air as we approached. But after landing we loaded onto what amounted to an airport shuttle bus for the 5-minute ride to the temple. The bus could not keep our luggage because it had to go back and forth to the airport. LE had no place to put it. So here we are lugging all of our bags 100 yards from the bus drop-off to the cafe area outside the gates. The guide recommended we leave it all at the cafe and give the guy a few bucks to keep an eye on it, but after the Sonesta fiascos, the last thing we were going to do was simply trust somebody to watch our stuff. So the two moms had to sit there with the bags while the rest of us dashed through the temples, and then I went back to take over bag duty so they could see the temple, as we only had about 90 minutes before having to catch our flight back to Aswan and Cairo. A real cock-up by LE, in my opinion -- and we were the ONLY ones out of a few hundred people who looked to be carting all of their luggage around. What the hell?

Having said that, Abu Simbel, inside and outside, was a real highlight. Something not to be missed; just make sure your guides have somewhere to store your stuff.

After the relaxing overnight at the Fairmont Heliopolis, we took Royal Jordanian to Amman and were met by Osama ("call me Sam" - I wonder why! ), who was with a local agency that LE subcontracted to (never got their name). Sam was first-rate -- excellent English, knowledgable, great sense of humor, really seemed to love what he did. The only thing scheduled that day was the 4-hour drive to Petra, where we would be staying at the Movenpick. But Sam OFFERED (rather than schemed) a visit to his hometown of Madaba, center of the Christian community in Jordan, for which we had to pay a small additional fee after he checked with his agency. He did this is such a customer-friendly matter that it did not come across as an Egyptian shakedown, and we happily accepted. He showed us around the small town, we went by his shop but he wouldn't let us linger or push us to buy anything, and he bought us a terrific cheap lunch of delicious shwarma wraps. Then we visited a local church with a famous mosaic that allegedly helped researchers figure out where Jesus was baptized (if I recall correctly; at this point I was a little dazed with all the ancient history of the past week and was starting to mail it in).

After that drove up to Mt. Nebo to see where Moses looked out over the Promised Land (again, I skipped Sunday School the day they taught the Bible, so most of this was lost on me), and we had a hazy view across the Dead Sea to Israel. Not the most fertile-looking place on earth, and kind of hard to believe these tribes could fight over such barren earth for, oh, the last several thousand years.

From there we drove another 3.5 hours until reaching Petra. The Movenpick was a beautiful hotel right at the entrance to Petra; as I recall we had the choice of a "superior" hotel with LE but they did not specify it was the Movenpick before or after the booking. But I'm glad it was, because it was a very nice place, beautifully decorated in Arabic style, and extremely convenient given the amount of walking one must do to see all of Petra.

I won't go into a lot of detail as words can't really describe the beauty and uniqueness of this place. I had been to Amman before on business but never made it down to Petra, but I think it is one of those places that everyone should see. The walk through the narrowing canyon is spectacular, and when it opens onto the Treasury carved into the cliff, it is a magical sight. And it goes on and on from there. The 800-step hike to the monastery is not as rigorous as it sounds and is a beautiful hike, and when you get to the top you are rewarded with a totally deserted site with a carving almost as spectacular as the Treasury.

After a second night at the Movenpick we were driven to the Marriott Dead Sea Resort, a new-looking hotel right next to another Movenpick and a Kempinsky on the shores of the Dead Sea. This place looked great until we realized we were virtually the only guests there, and none of their four pools was heated (it barely got to 75 degrees anywhere on the trip as the rest of Europe froze). So the kids couldn't swim and the hotel access to the Dead Sea was cut off by maintenance work. Clearly we arrived at the deadest of the low season. Only one restaurant was open, the Italian, but it was fantastic. We took a short shuttle to the Kempinsky to access the Sea nearby, and that turned out to be fun despite the cool weather. The Sea was warmer than the Marriott pool, and floating comfortably with your feet out of the water and hands behind your head was a weird but fun feeling. We had one night there and then back to Amman for the flight home.

OVERALL SCORECARD: Others may quibble with my criticisms and complaints, but I'm not some homebody who is not familiar with the vicissitudes of exotic travel. I'll admit I have lower tolerance for hassles given that I travel so much for work -- spending 150 nights a year in hotel will do that to you! But given the enormous cost of this trip (only our 18-day Kenya-Tanzania safari cost more), I expect things to go well most of the time, and don't expect the people or companies to whom I am paying all that money to make mistakes or treat us shabbily. I attribute most of our problems to the cultural issues of Egyptian tourism; maybe they think you'll never come back, so why not take whatever you can get from the dumb rich guys?

The difference in Jordan was noticeable, and as noted Egypt was still not as bad as I recall Morocco being. So I guess it all depends on your expectations. The sights were wonderful, the history of Egypt at the height of their culture is truly astounding, and for the most part things went very smoothly. I would recommend Lady Egypt, but the Abu Simbel luggage fiasco is clearly something they should be able to figure out. The Sonesta boat was nice (it sure looked nicer that some of the gaudily decorated rust-buckets we saw lined up next to it), but they clearly have some leadership/training issues to sort out with their staff and especially their land guides (who I am not clear on whether they are employees or contractors to Sonesta). And as noted, I can recommend Heba Saaed highly for those looking for a guide in Cairo. And Petra should be on everyone's list -- ask for Sam!

Axel2DP

Hi ClarkB,

I understand your frustation with your luggage situation at AS, but I do think the majority of people that tour AS as a day trip usually know to plan it as such, meaning they have made arrangement beforehand so that they don't have to lug their luggages to the site. I'm sure that usually has been LE's experience with arranging AS day trips for its clients. What I've found when planning a tour is that you really need to be proactive yourself and think up situations where there might be issues and tell that to the tour operator. They're only human and can't think up everything. I'm sure if LE knew about your luggage situation beforehand they would've arange for a private car pickup from the airport.

Percy

I wonder if Lady Egypt knows that some of their guides in Luxor almost bypass a site

..just to take you on a "kickback" shopping trip.!

I read your trip with great interest.

Had I encountered some of your problems on my trip to Egypt, I think I too would not have been a happy camper.!

Welcome home and thanks for the detailed report.

Elizabeth_S

ClarkB - Osamah was our guide in Jordan as well - we had a fantastic time with him, and the driver Bashar Herzalla. Pics of both of them here

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l..._adv/d_jordan/


The rip offs can get very tiresome and as you say will ultimately hurt Egypt's tourist business. The year after our trip to Egypt and Jordan we transited through the Cairo airport on our way to Tanzania. We had to make a terminal change which involved being escorted by various airline employees (all of whom wanted to be tipped, of course) but the capper was the security screeners who spent so much time trying to get a tip out of us, they forgot to send our bags through the xray equipment and us through the scanner!

ClarkB

Percy,

Just to clarify, Ishmael was NOT a Lady Egypt guide, he was hired by Sonesta or as a contractor to them. LE had nothing to do with those problems and all of our LE contacts (including Hossam on email) were exceedingly professional and helpful.

And Axel, LE was well aware we were coming off the boat with all of our stuff and then headed back to Cairo and Jordan, as they arranged that part of the trip for us. And in fact our friends did anticipate this luggage problem well beforehand, but when I asked this question of LE by email, they did not reply to that part of the email -- I should have followed up again. There were occasions in the planning phase when LE would not clearly answer all of our questions, just some of them. Also, we never got a complete itinerary from them with all details beforehand. So there are a few things they could do better.

After I explained some of our issues with Sonesta to the LE guide in Abu Simbel (forgot his name), he did make the valid point that, had we booked the entire trip through LE rather than just parts of it, Sonesta would have been under LE's jurisdiction and we would not have had as many problems. I think while a self-serving statement, it is probably true, and perhaps the Sonesta people were a bit more greedy with us because we had booked a very expensive cruise directly with them. Nevertheless, I think we saved money overall this way, but no doubt it was a contributing factor in at least some of the problems we had, and my recommendation would be (especially for people who are not constant travelers like myself) to go with a single agency to cover everything -- then at least you know who to go to when there is a problem.

Anyway, none of these were catastrophes and the trip overall was great, especially for the kids to see this stuff. But at the same time I like to call 'em as I see 'em for other misanthropes like me who want to know what these places are really like, rather than just the guidebook-rosy view.

ClarkB

Fantastic photos, Elizabeth. And yes, that looks like our Sam.

qwovadis

Wonderful report great detail good and bad.

Similar experience with SemiRamis and Fairmonts.

Similar negative experience with guides agents in Egypt.

due to the cluture of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baksheesh

that really hurts tourism far more than they think.

Had to be very careful everywhere and learn to say no a lot.

Trip insurance a must for me inspect my money carefully

mostly go with credit cards do money change only at big banks.

Petra was WONDERFUL my fav also...

Thanks for the heads up and the giveback.

sf7307

Your experience with Ishmael sounds awful. We booked our trip through Lady Egypt and after visiting Hapsepshut's Temple, our guide <i>asked</i> if we wanted to visit the alabaster factory. We said no, and so we just continued on. The only shop we went to where he might have gotten a kickback was the "papyrus museum", but we asked to go there, and we're still (2-1/2 years later) very pleased with our purchses/memories of our trip. Tour guides like Ishmael do indeed spell trouble for Egypt's tourism industry.

Axel2DP

>>due to the cluture of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baksheesh
that really hurts tourism far more than they think.<<

It will only hurt tourism if tourists as a group refuse to yield to the demand. Three of the mosque that I vitisted in Cairo demanded that I pay 20 L.E. to climb their minarets. I tried to talk them down to 10 L.E. but they refused. I walked away from all of them eventhough I really wanted to climb at least one of them. But I wonder how many tourists before me have been willing to pay the 20 L.E. It was curious that they wouldn't even accept my offer of 10 L.E.

Local2542

Enjoyed your report and candid view. I would have felt the same way about the shake downs, and it would definitely color my view of my trip. Good for you catching the counterfeit bill and for taking charge to change your reservation from the Intercontinental to the Fairmont. Thanks for the report!

Binthair

Wow! I can't imagine driving up to Hatshepsut's Temple for a look-see and then driving on to an alabaster "factory". We passed on any and all offers of papyrus, perfume, or alabaster factories, even the Khan al Khalili, as we just are not "shoppers". We choose to spend our money on experiences, not things. Our excellent tour guide in Cairo even treated us to a fresh-pressed sugarcane drink when I inquired about a stack of cane on a cart as we drove by.

Egypt is overwhelming to visit, even with a plan in advance. There is simply too much to take in and not miss something or desire to do something differently. I was very satisfied with the tailor-made constructed only a few weeks in advance of our trip.

My main complaints were about the tourist restaurants, which, while "safe", were nowhere near as good, nor as inexpensive, as what we have here at home. I wanted to eat at more local places, and was so glad our guide stopped at the juice shop. It was a highlight I will always treasure.

Binthair

Forgot to add that my biggest other peeve is bargaining even for the smallest items. The snack stand at Hatshepsut's Temple was the very worst. Big crowds and they chart US$4 or more for a can of Coke or an ice cream bar. Definitely bring your own water and yes, be prepared to bargain almost everywhere, especially where you would never think you would have to bargain.

TravellerB

Hi Clark

I’m happy that you enjoyed with Heba Saeed, I used Heba Saeed through Le Caire Travel, she was perfect & so nice
I have a trip on 12 Jan. for 10 days in Egypt through Le Caire Travel & Heba, Wish have excellent service like you

Happy New Year

raelond

I'm happy the problems you encountered didn't ruin your trip. We used Lady Egypt and everything went well, except when we found out we paid a lot more for our balloon ride than other people on the same flight. The people who paid the least bought tickets in Luxor. A group of ladies used a US company to book their ride and they paid even more than we did. I contacted Lady Egypt and told them the lowest amount that people had paid and that we felt ripped off. They send a rep to see us at our hotel in Luxor and seemed very concerned about the situation. When we got back to Cairo they reimbursed us the difference in cash. We stayed overnight in Abul Simbel and had a great afternoon in the hotel pool before going to the temple and seeing the wonderful light and sound show.

MissGreen

Binthair - every time we were out and wanted a drink or snack our guide would buy it for us. He said it was cheaper. I would either give him the money and he would buy it but many times the guide paid and would not accept my money, but of course he was "given it back" in his tip at the end of the trip. At one store (like a 7/11) 2 x 1 litre bottles of water and 3 or 4 cans of coke cost the same as the 1 litre bottle of water we bought at our hotel which we planned to take with us "out on the road".

Our guides did ask us if we wanted alabaster, papyrus, oils etc but we said no to each of them and they never asked again. Hubbie did decide he wanted to go to a papyrus shop and Hamdy our Cairo guide took us but left us to our own devices in the shop. The store people were insistant and constantly showed us these HUGE masterpieces worth hundreds of US dollars which we didn't want. We just settled for a very small piece, probably 100 or 200 EGP.. cannot remember exactly.

I would of DEMANDED going to see Hatshepsut's temple. How disappointing for you.

Loved your report too.

Grcxx3

Binthair - $4 for a Coke is definitely a rip off!!!
I know it's been a few years for me, but the Coke is bottled in Egypt and is quite cheap. I "might" have paid $1 (maybe $2 at a touristy place), but I doubt it.

And I'm with MissGreen - I would have insisted on Hatshepsut's temple. That is still one of our favorites.

colduphere

Great report ClarkB. We were in Cairo with three kids for four days in August. I think we lucked out. No one hassled us about anything. I was always ready for a fight and no one showed up.

MissGreen

Obviously the guide that wouldn't let you do Hatshepsut didn't plan on getting a big tip!

Just another thought about guides, I liked our guide as he didn't fully insulate us from the "Egyptian experience" of being asked to buy and barter. After someone had asked us to buy something once or twice our guide told them to go away and they did.