Oh, Egypt! Such a popular destination, with probably the most exciting and interesting history, very well-known places, and an incredible cultural shock for many people. Egypt was for a long time on my list, actually had 2 times flights booked to Cairo but plans took a different turn, well 2023 was the lucky year, and finally crossed Egypt off my bucket list.
Let me take you through the itinerary I had, some tips and tricks I wish I knew, share with you some great contacts I made there that will help you A LOT, and many many details that I’m sure will make your life easier when booking a trip to Egypt.
First of all, some important things to know before jumping into the itinerary. I visited Egypt at the end of May/beginning of June. This would be something more like the end of the season/beginning of the “no season” due to the temperatures. To be completely transparent, I faced some hot days, but for sure not something unmanageable. Due to the same reasons, most of the places I visited were very empty, giving great picture opportunities and no crowded experience to enjoy the places. If you’re a bit more adventurous and see this as a travel experience, rather than a “holiday”, you can combat this also by waking very early, visiting key places, taking a break during lunchtime when there’s the peak sun, and continuing more in the afternoon. On my journey, the Aswan/Luxor area was a bit hotter (40-42 degrees in 2 days), but I didn’t really feel like it. I had similar/worse days in Bucharest during the summer. This depends for sure on you and how you feel about it, but on my side, seeing all those places with not many people around, I would feel like it’s a big win. Also, that week also included 2 bank holidays in Romania so my trip was much more manageable in terms of days off
I had one week planned for Egypt and I was always fascinated by the historical part of the country and some of the local experiences there. Due to that reason, I decided to skip areas like Hurghada or Sharm el Sheik on my itinerary and focused on Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and a cruise on the Nile, setting the right expectations for you. Now, let’s get started!
Logistics
Money
Negotiation is a must-have skill in Egypt. Everything is negotiable, even water. After a few days, you start getting used to the right prices for common things like water, souvenirs, or snacks. Money is not a problem and almost anybody (hotels, souvenir shops, stores, taxis, etc.) accepts any type of currency: dollars, Egyptian pound, euro, etc. Their favorite one: Is the dollar. I went to Egypt with some Dollars in cash in advance and used Revolut for anything card related, giving me access to the Egyptian pound. There will be many situations where you can pay in dollars and get back Egyptian pounds, I suggest planning your budget to include some Dollars cash with you for sure! ATMs worked perfectly fine, I got Egyptian pounds from 3 different ATMs using Revolut without any fees.
Visa
You will most probably require a Visa when entering Egypt. Check out your official requirements depending on your nationality, but for me as a Romanian, the Visa was on arrival, paid directly at the airport. It cost 25$ and had to be paid in cash. Don’t waste time there with high fees at the ATM, have some dollars with you prepared for the Visa when you arrive.
SIM card
I would say this is a must, especially since it is not expensive at all. I landed at Cairo airport and bought my SIM card at the airport directly, you will find a shop for every supported line right at the exit of the luggage area. I chose Orange, paid 6$ for a 27GB SIM, and had super strong connections across the country, no complaints here. The lady at the shop helped me set up the SIM right there in less than 1 minute. I paid for the SIM card using my card.
Pushy sellers
Pushy sellers. You may hear a lot of stories about Egyptian people being scary and very pushy when trying to sell you things. This may be for sure a very big cultural shock if going for the first time in a country with Arab influences. I felt from time to time indeed that some sellers can be more pushy than normal, but as long as you’re prepared for many “no, thank you”, everything is safe. You will for sure be approached by many people, trying to sell you camel rides, taxis, and souvenirs, just keep your smile up, politely refuse them, and continue your walk. They are trying their best to master sales skills, but they are not dangerous in any way, or at least that’s how I felt it. However, night walks may be a bit too scary, that is something I don’t recommend.
Accommodation
As I was saying, I chose for this trip to include in my itinerary Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan. I spent a few nights here and a few nights on a boat, on a Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, but more about that later in the article 🙂
Cairo
For Cairo, I chose the Marvel Stone Hotel due to the following reasons:
- I really wanted something with a pyramid view from the hotel, especially since the prices were quite affordable
- My first day was about pyramids, so it made perfect sense to have something close to the Giza location
- A few nights per week, there’s a light show on the pyramids. With accommodation close to the pyramids, you can watch that for free from your hotel’s balcony. It’s not something incredible, to be honest, and I would not pay the ticket for it after seeing it, but simply waking up and having breakfast while seeing the pyramids + also having the same crazy view before going to bed it’s just magic.
With that in mind, I had a look over the different options available in my travel period. The Marvel Stone Hotel had a great price/advantage ratio. It was honestly very fine and I would say I would stay here again. The place can be a bit cleaner for sure, but this is more on the Egyptian standards for how hotels look like. The staff was great and helpful, and the view of the pyramids was amazing, so it did the job. The area around is quite dirty, with horses around making a lot of mess, many local people trying to sell you basically anything, but as long as you’re using the location for sleeping, the pyramids view and for the great advantage of being less than a 1-minute walk to the entry in the Pyramids complex, it’s all good 🙂 For this accommodation I paid 80$ for 2 people and 2 nights, breakfast included.
Aswan
For Aswan, I chose the Kato Waidi Nubian House. This was honestly one of the most welcoming accommodations I ever had and a very great experience. The place is located in a real Nubian village and it’s probably the closest you can get in Egypt to the African roots. The Aswan culture is very different from the rest of Egypt and it was honestly an amazing experience, especially with staying in this traditional village. The owner was extremely helpful, and the breakfast and food, in general, were amaaaaazinggg!! For this accommodation I paid 80$ for 2 people and 2 nights, breakfast included, as well.
Luxor
For Luxor, I chose Steigenberger Nile Palace Luxor. This is a 5-star hotel in Luxor and even though it sounds fancy, I paid only 50$ for 2 people for 1 night. I’m usually the kind of traveler going for the local affordable experiences, this time I chose this option mostly due to the low price for a 5-star location, as the curiosity for checking it out compared to a far below option for a 10$ difference wouldn’t have made sense. The price may have also been so low due to not being in the season time, but the place is honestly looking great. Their restaurant is serving great food and very affordable prices (3-4$ for a pizza) and the pool area was great. The rooms were very clean and the hotel is positioned right on the Nile, with amazing sunset views. It’s quite close to the city center and a 25-minute walk to Luxor temple and to the area having some of the best restaurants in Luxor. For a decent price, I would for sure stay here again.
Transport
Navigating Egypt might be very chaotic sometimes, regardless of your choice of buses, trains, planes, or everything else. So let me break down what I chose in terms of transport across the country.
First things first, going to Egypt. I traveled from Bucharest, booking a direct flight to Cairo with Tarom. The flight was ~160€, and hand luggage was included by default.
Internally in Cairo, I mostly used Uber. It is very affordable and safe for sure. For a ride from Cairo Airport to Giza, where I had my accommodation I paid ~10$ and this was a 1-hour drive. Giza-Cairo, Cairo-airport, done with Uber as well. I’m usually in love with trying local experiences like buses and trains, but due to the limited amount of time I had for quite a long plan, I had to stick to the most efficient ways.
Due to the same reasons, I didn’t use the train to travel between cities internally, but the plane. Cairo and Luxor/Aswan are very far away. You can either take a night train which takes 12 hours and it’s subject to delays usually or a 1-hour flight. My strategy was: a flight from Cairo to Aswan, a Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, and a flight from Luxor to Cairo. For the 2 internal flights (Cairo-Aswan, Luxor-Cairo), I used Egypt Air and paid ~100-110$ for both flights, hand luggage included.
Within Aswan, the owner of the Kato Waidi was extremely helpful to help us with the right boat/car transportation when needed.
Within Luxor, I had an amazing experience with a local driver that initially helped us with a quick ride from the boat to the accommodation, and after negotiating a very good price, he helped us a lot with many rides: one full day to take us through all the nice places in Luxor (the Kings Valley, Karnak Temple, etc.), hotel – airport, boat – hotel and a few more rides. He was a very fair man, with reasonable prices, and very open to negotiation. His name is Mahmoud and he was actually very happy to make his details public in this article. You can reach him out if going to Luxor through Whatsapp (00 20 128 0120600) and he will be more than helpful for sure!
Now let’s move to the real part, the itinerary!
A short moment before continuing, if you enjoy this article and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee here.
Day 1
Brace yourself, you will see some 2-hour night sleep days in my itinerary, but no regrets here. This is one of those days. My flight landed in Cairo at 4:30 in the morning. The plan was checking in (I booked the hotel one night in advance, basically including this night), getting some sleep for a few hours and then checking Cairo, as some museums were a bit more suitable for the hot lunch time. Well, the plan was completely different.
Flight landed at 4:30, followed by paying for the visa, going through the security check, buying the SIM card, 1-hour Uber drive to the hotel and checking in. It was already 7:00, the sun was up, and the hotel room welcomed us with an incredibly crazy view over the pyramids. We hyped so much that we couldn’t sleep anymore so guess what? We had breakfast and went directly to the pyramids at 8:00. There was just one person in line so it was very quick and easy to buy the tickets. You have to pay one ticket for entering the Pyramids complex (~8$) and an additional ticket for every of the Pyramids if you’d like to go inside. Of course, you would want to choose the biggest one, Khufu (~14$). To be completely honest, there’s not much to see inside the Pyramid itself, but it’s rather more of a bucket list experience and the curiosity of seeing the inside of one of the 7 World Wonders. If that’s one your bucket list, buy the ticket. If not, you’re not missing much, the outside area is more than fine.
Once you enter the Pyramids complex, you will be approached by many many people trying to sell you camel rides or horse rides in the complex, selling you the idea of getting the best angles of the pyramids and taking you in the desert, where you can’t walk. That’s fake news, you don’t need that, trust me. It’s more than manageable to walk within the complex and get those great angles by “walking in the desert”, no camel ride required. First, you will pass by the Sphinx. You can get quite close to it and also have a face angle with one of the pyramids behind, it’s very intuitive to reach the area. Once you have checked the Sphinx, I recommend going to the Khufu pyramid to get a close view of it and eventually going inside if that’s something important for you.
Next from the Khufu pyramid, I recommend going to the panoramic viewpoint, with the location here. This would be a 25-minute walk, passing by the other pyramids and also really going through the desert. Once you get here, moving a few more meters up or back, you will get different angles over all the pyramids in the complex (which are 9 if you include the very small ones), for sure the best picture opportunities here!
From the viewpoint, the next stop I recommend is the 9 pyramid lounge, a restaurant inside the Pyramids complex, with some great views as well and decent food and prices. It’s again a 25-minute walk from the viewpoint, and probably the best stop for lunch while in the complex.
Covering everything here, taking many many pictures, lunch at the 9 pyramid lounge and returning back to the hotel, the time was around 15-15:30. With a sleepless night, we need some sleep honestly so a very rare moment in any of my travel adventures, I had a one hour nap in the afternoon haha. After that, a small walk in the area for some water, small souvenirs and it was almost time for dinner. We chose to have dinner at Marvel Stone, the hotel we stayed in, at the top floor terrace. The view over the Pyramids was amazing and we combined dinner with the night light show over the pyramids. The show was not incredible and I would for sure recommend seeing it for free from a terrace rather than paying the entrance fee inside the complex. The dinner was not great, not terrible, but affordable for sure. I would try a different restaurant next time.
Day 2
Day 2 was about Cairo. On this day, at ~21:30 in the evening we had our flight from Cairo to Aswan so we basically had one full day to explore Cairo. We left our hotel in Giza in the morning, after breakfast and used an app called Bounce to book a luggage storage at Madina Hostel for a super fair price (~2-3$ for 24 hours) and a great position for our first stop, The Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
With our luggage secured, we started our first stop, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Fully transparent with you, I’m not the biggest fan of museums in general, but Egypt has always fascinated me since a kid so I was really keen to learn a few more interesting things. This also depends on how much time you have to spend in the museum. I allocated 2 hours for this one, especially for wanting to see the most important piece: the iconic mask of the Golden Pharaoh, Tutankhamun.
With the museum secured, the next stop was lunch in a very popular place called Abou Tarek. This is a place serving only one type of food, the traditional koshary. This was a 15-20 minute walk from the museum and for sure a local experience in terms of food. I paid ~1.2$ for trying the medium sized koshary and I really enjoyed it, but I’m always hyped into trying local things.
Next stop, another museum. With 2 museums in one day I kinda secured most of my museum bandwidth for the year haha. Joking aside, the next museum was NMEC – National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. This is a must-see museum due to their exposition on the mummies of many kings in Egyptian history. The exposition is amazing honestly and it’s the perfect place for learning more about Egypt’s history, the relationship between the different famous kings and actually seeing real mummies, wow! I wouldn’t skip this one, an incredibly well organized exposition!
After checking the second museum, the next and final stop was the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar, for which we took an Uber from the museum. Very local, the perfect place for exercising the negotiation skills, buy some local products or souvenirs and blend in with the local culture. The Bazaar is very instagrammable, you can’t miss the corner where most of the people are taking pictures. We spent ~2 hours in the bazaar, had a Turkish coffee in one of the popular places there, El Fishawy Cafe and bought a few souvenirs for our collection. If you’re into the local market life, this is a great place to check, especially for combining it with some picture opportunities.
Followed by that, we walked back to the Madina Hostel luggage storage. A crazy experience, the traffic and crowded streets of Cairo we experienced was exactly what you hear about when people refer to Cairo as being chaotic and not very clean. If you’re into local experiences, this is again a walk I recommend (unless it’s not too late and night). Took our luggage from Medina Hostel, ordered an Uber and went directly to the airport for our flight to Aswan.
Day 3
This was again one of the low sleep nights, but exciting following days as well because of one of the top things on my list for Egypt: Abu Simbel. Actually, one of the reasons for which I really wanted to include Aswan in the itinerary was being close to Abu Simbel. So what did the day look like?
Well, we discussed in advance with the owner of the accommodation we booked for Aswan: Kato Waidi Nubian House. He helped us book a trip to Abu Simbel from Aswan. For this tour we paid 24$/person and it started at 4:00 in the morning. The trip from Aswan takes ~3 hours, we had 2 hours to spend at Abu Simbel then 3 hours back to Aswan.
So the sleep was quite tight again: our flight landed in Aswan at 00:10. Someone from the accommodation waited for us at the airport and took us there. The road might seem very shady, don’t be scared, it’s all good! The owner waited for us very late in the evening, welcoming us with cold hibiscus tea, karkadai which by the way, is the tastiest thing I drank in Egypt. I actually bought a lot of hibiscus to prepare this drink at home as well. He was extremely welcoming, and prepared a togo breakfast for us for the Abu Simbel trip happening in 3 hours and that was it. ~3 hours of sleep and there we go to Abu Simbel with of course some sleep in the minibus.
Abu Simbel was great and I’m quite sure to say that after the Pyramids, it’s one of the most impressive things seen while in Egypt, especially due to its history. There are many people doing the exact same tour in the morning from Aswan. It’s for sure a better experience to stay a night close to Abu Simbel and visit the temple late in the afternoon where almost everybody says you will have the temple for yourself mostly. That depends on your time and obsession for Abu Simbel in general, but expect to visit the temple with quite some people if you go for the same itinerary as I did.
Once the Abu Simbel trip was completed, we asked the driver not to take us to the accommodation back, but rather to the Aswan center. Why so? Because of visiting Elephantine Island and meeting the guy that helped us book the Nile cruise. Elephantine Island is a very popular place in Aswan and a place where you can really get a feel of the locals, their culture and the simple and beautiful life. The locals are very different compared to the pushy sellers you meet in Cairo and Luxor, and incredibly welcoming people. I would have wanted to explore the island for half a day, but we only had time for a short tour and buy the hibiscus tea flowers I was mentioning about.
Another reason for going to Elephantine Island was because of the Nile cruise. Doing some research on how to book the Nile cruise I saw really big prices on platforms like Getyourguide or similar. I came through a comment from insandale and that’s how I discovered the owner of Basmatic Nubian House, an incredibly friendly guy, speaking a great English (I really tried contacting many Egyptians before going there and there was a super strong communication barrier) and helping us book exactly what we needed. The Nile cruises were ranging on 450$+/pers for 3 nights/4 days, he helped us book a 2 nights/3 days cruise for 180$/pers, huge difference! He also agreed to share his contact here, you can reach him out via Whatsapp: 00201095992244. I talked to him ~1 month before going to Egypt, he booked everything and secured our cruise room without asking for any money in advance. When we met on Elephantine Island, he welcomed us to his home. We paid him for the cruise that was about to start the next day. More than that, the next day, he personally came with us to the ship, ensuring that our room is fine and everything is as we discussed, an amazing guy! After securing our deal, he also helped us book a boat trip from the Elephantine Island back to our accommodation, which was a great 30-minute boat ride, seeing the places around and how locals live. Hats off, I love discovering these kinds of people while traveling!
Back at our accommodation, we had dinner there, an incredible tasty and amazing food! On top of that, 2 rounds of the cold hibiscus tea, really addicted to this drink!
Day 4
The cruise check in was at 12:00. So we had the morning for ourselves to enjoy an amazing breakfast while checking out from Kato Waidi, followed by a walk in the local village around. I got a handmade painting that I purely love and explored a bit the local culture, the handmade work and talked to a few locals.
At ~11:00 I left the accommodation, the owner secured our trip to Aswan center. That’s where we met again the owner of Basmatic Nubian House, which as I said, came with us for the check in on the cruise to make sure everything was great. The ship itself was better than I expected for a cruise in Egypt honestly: the room was big, the bathroom was very spacious and nice. We had 6 meals included (lunch and dinner on Day 1, all meals on Day 2 and breakfast on Day 3) and the food had lots of diversity and was quite tasty honestly: many cold salads, lots of types of hot/cold appetizers, many types of food, soups, sweets, cakes, anything you would have wanted. Drinks were not included, but you could bring them from outside the ship as well. The ship had a terrace with a small pool at the last floor, lots of tables where you could enjoy a tea/coffee.
Day 1 on the cruise was a bit of exploring. We checked in at 12, and explored the ship for 20-30 minutes to get a feeling on what’s available. Understanding the drinking situation, we went out in Aswan (the ship stayed connected to the deck) to get some water for the next few days. We came back at 13:30 for lunch, just in time for the ship to leave for the first stop: Kom Ombo temple. At ~16:00 we had a free tea/coffee break on the terrace, while enjoying the beautiful Nile and staying at the pool. At ~17:00 we reached the Kom Ombo temple and everybody was free to visit it if they wanted, the ticket was not included.
Coming back from Kom Ombo, we had dinner, with the ship continuing the Nile cruise. In the evening we also had a small party organized by the ship staff which was quite fun, with local music and dances. With a big group of friends that would have been extremely fun for sure! During all this time, the schedule for the next day was displayed by the cruise on the main floor.
Day 5
Day 2 on the cruise was an early one. The ship stopped at 5:00 in a town called Edfu where you could visit the Edfu temple. Quite a nice one, I recommend going for it. This one is a bit far from the ship deck and it requires a tuk tuk ride to be in time with the cruise schedule. Once you exit the ship, there will be many tuk tuk riders giving you deals for taking you to the temple. I negotiated a ride for 100 Egyptian pounds. The driver took me to the temple, we agreed I would stay one hour, came back for me after one hour and paid him once I returned to the ship.
Returning from the Edfu temple, we had breakfast and the day transformed into a very chill cruise day: sleeping on the terrace, enjoying the pool, reading, doing a small workout on the terrace haha. Around lunch, we had a true local selling show from some locals. Many locals, using small boats started following the cruise ship, like pirates, getting ancorated to the ship and trying to sell local handmade things like carpets or scarfs. They would yell at people on the deck, throwing samples at the last floor of the ship, negotiating prices from the water. Purely incredible seeing their strategy, negotiation skills and passion put into selling every single object. The day went quite fast and as I was saying, the day was mostly spent on relaxing activities.
At around 17:00, we stopped on a deck close to Luxor (~15km away from Luxor). That’s where we first met Mahmoud, the Luxor driver I was mentioning about. We negotiated with him to take us that evening to the Luxor temple and back, because that was the only place on our list opened in Luxor that late in the afternoon. We negotiated 300 Egyptian pounds to take us from the deck to Luxor temple and come back for us 1.5 hours later. On our way back, that’s where we started getting really good with him, negotiating next trips like the airport and taking us the following days to the places on our list.
Day 6
Last day and check out the day from the cruise. We had breakfast very very early and had Mahmoud waiting for us at 6:00 in the morning. You would say I’m crazy with all these early wake ups, but trust me, it was the only way to experience things without very hot days and without big crowds of people, having places open starting at 7.
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
First stop of the day was the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. We’ve literally been the first people visiting that day and I would say it’s a must for sure. The temple is in very good condition, a perfect place for some instagrammable shots and with a really interesting history, Hatshepsut being one of only a few female pharaohs in thousands of years of ancient Egyptian history.
Valley of the Kings
Another tomb would be Seti I, which has a really expensive ticket: ~50$, due to its very well maintained tomb. I decided to skip this one.
Out of the “free” included 3 tombs, I chose: Ramses IX, Ramses III and Ramses IV. Quite happy with what I saw, I totally recommend these 3.
Valley of the Queens
Third stop, Valley of the Queens. This was quite a disappointment honestly. The place was empty and it’s totally understandable why. At the time of my visit there were only 3 tombs opened and for sure not comparable at all to what you see in Valley of the Kings. There’s also a tomb for which you need to pay an additional ticket: the Nefertari’s tomb, one of the most important Queens in the history of Egypt. The ticket is similar to Seti I in Valley of the Kings, ~50$ and I decided to skip it. I would say the Valley of the Queens is worth it only if you are very very much into history and you are open to pay the entry to Nefertari’s tomb which seems to be very well maintained.
Colossi of Memnon
The Fourth and last stop on the West Bank of Luxor was Colossi of Memnon, two big statues that have been carved out of one single piece of sandstone. This is a free stop, you don’t need to pay any ticket for it and it’s a very quick stop: probably 15-30 minutes depending on how interested you are into history.
Another important place on the West Bank of Luxor you might want to check out is Medinet Habu, for which unfortunately we didn’t have time left.
With all these places in mind, Mahmoud took us back to the cruise ship (where we left our luggage in the morning), got our luggage and went back to Luxor, to check in at Steigenberger. Again, went for the local experience and decided to have a walk to one of the most popular restaurants in Luxor: Restaurant El-Kababgy Luxor. For sure I recommend it, the food was great, prices were amazing, and the King shake was …. Wow! This was a 20-minute walk from the hotel, and I had to say lots of “no, thank you” to the many taxi drivers trying to give me a ride where I needed.
Back to the hotel, and spent the rest of the day enjoying Steigenberger, the sunset over the Nile and the area in general, not sure how soon I would stay again in a 5-star hotel haha.
Day 7
Last day in Egypt, sad reacts only. We had one more place on our list, on the East Bank of Luxor this time and super close to our hotel (~5 minutes ride, again with Mahmoud): The Karnak temple. This is a very popular temple as it was built during more than 1000 years by different kings from different dynasties.
Karnak covered most of our morning, while for lunch we decided to try one of the other popular restaurants in Luxor: Sofra. Honestly, this was for sure the best local food I had while in Egypt. Incredibly tasty, big sizes, affordable prices. If you have time for only one local restaurant, Sofra is the one, trust me!
We had our flight Luxor – Cairo late in the evening, immediately followed by the Cairo – Bucharest flight. Because of that, we couldn’t do much, but the Steigenberger hotel was very friendly with our check out. They allowed us a late check out: at 14:00 (just in time for our return from the lunch at Sofra), while letting us spend the rest of the day in the hotel complex, using the pool, gyms and restaurants. So the afternoon was again quite chilly, in preparation for the back to back flights we had.
Conclusion
Egypt is a really affordable destination and with some amazing places to see in the country’s pocket. The Pyramids have to be in everyone’s bucket list and many of the places I mentioned are amazing as well. Depending on your travel style and how open you are to local experiences, you might want to try out many of the things I mentioned.
Overall, I’m very happy with my trip to Egypt and I don’t think I would change much if I were to do it again. Hope it helps you plan your next trip and see you in the other articles on my page, safe travels!
If you want to support my work and similar articles, you can buy me a coffee using the link at the bottom of the page, thanks!
This article does not contain any paid promotion on hotels / rental car companies / restaurants etc., everything is documented based on my experience.
