July will be hot, hot, hot - so 3 days in Cairo sounds about right. The temps in Luxor average 107f at that time of year - slightly cooler in Cairo, usually with a light breeze particularly of an evening.

Do the Sound & Light Show at the Pyramids at night then visit them the next day and whatever you do - don't miss out on the Solar Boat museum by the side of the Great Pyramid.

The museum can take 2 days - if you want to see everything of interest but you will probably get about an hour and a half if you are on a guided tour.

Alexandra is easy to get to by train from Cairo too - gives you a chance to stroll along the Corniche by the sea - makes a pleasant change.

The cruise is fab too - but 7 days is a little too long, in my opinion. I think 4 nights is plenty of time to be on board the cruise. However, a week in Luxor will still only give you a small taste of the history.... but - uou will definitely want to return to Egypt once you've had your first experience

Hi Cyprus
Many thanks for your input. Have you stayed at any hotels in Luxor or Cairo that you could recommend ??
I agree that 7 days is too long for the Nile Cruise as the last few days they seem to spend it moored up in Luxor anyway.
The Hotels that the brochure says are the Movenpick Pyramids in Cairo and the Sheraton Luxor have you heard of these or not??

Hi

Ginnynick - sorry for not replying sooner, not been online for a while here.

I would recommend Isis Hotel, St Joseph Hotel and Sonesta St George Hotel in Luxor - great locations (St Joseph is the cheapest of them all - but is probably only a 2* rated, however does have a pool and great roof terrace).

For Cairo - we liked the President Hotel on Gezira Island (no pool and quite basic but great for sightseeing) for a short stay. Great steaks in the restaurant too and the barman (Mohammed) mixed a mean vodka & britvic orange

To be near to the Pyramids - about 40-60 minutes from Cairo airport and about 10-15 minutes from the Museum by car - then I would really suggest the Cataract Pyramids Resort in Giza, situated on Sakkara Road. Fab hotel, pool to die for (it's as big as a small lake), nice rooms - lots of Italians there when we stayed, so not too quiet then!

Hi,
3 nights is perfect for Cairo what dates are you staying?

Hi Flamingolil
We may have had a change of plan with what to do/where to stay in Egypt. We are thinking of booking a Hotel in Luxor for 2 weeks doing lots of excursions/trips from there instead of moving to 3 places and having to pack/unpack all the time. We would most likely do the overnight to Cairo as an organised tour at the beginning of out holiday and if we were too rushed say in the museum we could always book a flight ourselves and go back. Another tourist has sent me price lists for trips etc and to do a 3 day Nile cruise booking in Luxor will be roughly half the price of booking a package from here. By doing this we can spread all our trips out over the 2 weeks and do what we want when we want. Not bothered about a beach as long as there is a pool so the Sonesta st George' it may well be.
Have you any advice etc about Egypt or did you just stay in Cairo?
Thanks for your post
Ginny

Hi ginnynick,
I was on a cruise from Sharm el sheik and we went to cairo for the day as part of an excursion which I have to say was brilliant taking in the pyramids, nile and the british museum. Please make sure you get to visit the museum it is just mind blowing to see some of the stuff they have. I must admit our time in there was a bit rushed but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I didn't do the Luxor excursion which I regret now but we intend spending atleast a week there soon. I am sure your tour you choose will make sure you et in all the sights. Apparantley the evening light show at the pyramids is fantastic

Hiya
I have just booked our Egypt holiday. We are staying at the Maritim Jolie Ville Luxor on crocodile Island in Luxor. It is about 4km from Luxor and plenty of transport to get us from a to b. We are going to do an overnight sleeper train to Cairo booked with Jolly's and get the pyramids/museum in with that. It says you have the afternoon at leisure so we may end up going back to the museum and spend more time in there. I cannot wait now until the 07th of July 2008. Yes I know it will be very very hot but it's the only time hubbie can get off work (as we don't have kids we take time off not in the school holidays and his work partners do so they have time off with the kids).
Cheers again
Ginny

Hi Ginny,
I've been watching your thread and I'm glad that you have sorted your holiday out. The advantage of booking the Cairo trip with Jolleys as opposed to the major T/O's is that you CAN decide to spend more time in the Cairo Museum if you so desire.
You are right, it can be very hot indeed, but this means that there are slightly fewer tourists about, which means you have a little more space to enjoy the wonderful sights you will see.
With the high temperatures in mind, you may wish to visit the Solar Boat museum whilst you are at the pyramids. This museum is beautifully air conditioned, which provides a very welcome respite from the heat as well as a very well presented and exceptionally interesting exhibit.

Do have a lovely trip!

Hi carrot2502
We cannot wait for July to come. The less tourist for us the better as we like to wander and take our time in places. I have some copies of trips that a fellow tourist emailed me from Karnak Travel and I have emailed them but they don't seem to want to reply. Apparently they are based in Cairo so it's not like Jolley's where we will be able to just pop in and see what they do. What and where have you been in Egypt and do you have any tips. Anything whatsoever as this is our 1st to Egypt. There are some great reviews about where we are staying but we originally were looking at the Sonesta st George until we looked on Google maps and it looks so hemmed in where we will have our own Island to play with.
Thanks for your reply and like before anything you can tell us would be fantastic.
Cheers
Ginny

3 days is not too long in Cairo at all.

We did a major trip to Egypt in 2002 with Bales Worldwide.

We stayed in Cairo for 3 nights, in the Oberoi Mena House.

We arrived in the dark, so were quite prepared for the view from the hotel bedroom .....

Pulling back the curtains to see the Pyramids in front of you is a memory that will last forever.

Bales used an Egyptian firm to handle the guiding, Eastmar Travel. They are well worth trying to contact.

It is easy to spend 4-5 hours at the Giza Pyramid site, depending on your interest level, it could take a day.

Entry to the sites is actually very cheap, so don't dismiss going back somewhere on your own without a guide to look around more leisurely.

The Egyptian Museum cannot be done justice in less than half a day, and a guide is a must. We had the afternoon at leisure, as we planned to do the Light show that night.

With hindsight, we should have lunched near the Museum and gone back in during the afternoon on our own.

There are other sites to see around Cairo, I was particularly pleased that we got to see some of the Sakara area, and we spent an hour at Memphis on the way.

If you like to take you time don't cut Cairo short.

There is plenty to see around Luxor, but in my view Cairo has more "variety".

We stayed in Luxor for just one night before the Nile Cruise, we stayed on Crocodile Island (Movenpick), very nice hotel. The Cruise boat acted as Hotel for another night in Luxor.

One day in Luxor was spent with Valley of the Kings / Valley of the Queens / Hapshetsut Temple, the second with Karnak etc.

Three days would have been better.

In July, you must plan to go to the tomb areas EARLY in the morning. It is extremely hot in that area, don't forget to drink shedloads of water.

Don't forget that the major cause of stomach upsets is not due to the food, but due to dehydration. A problem that unfortunately self perpetuates, so remember to pack some rehydration salts.

Simon

Thanks for your reply. It sounds like we will be spending a whole day in the Cairo Museum as we love these places. As for the Pyramids, I have seen on the travel shows on TV that to access the Pyramids you have to walk bent over and go up and down steps. Is this how you remember it or not as I have quite a bad back and to walk 'crouched over' would be impossible for me. I have a disability with my back since I was born and I don't want this to stop me going into a Pyramid. The same with a balloon trip the landing terrifies me but I want to do it. We are doing 2 weeks on Crocodile Island in what seems like an Oasis of a hotel cannot wait.
Any other info/tips please feel free to help me
Cheers
Ginny

Hi Ginny,

It's easy to spend a day in the museum. If you can, get a personal guide to show you round first - tours are ok, but you might struggle to hear them at times as it's very busy inside.

Once you've been shown round "formally" you can then wander around at leisure with at least some idea of knowing what you are looking at.

I have been inside two different Pyramids at Giza, on two different visits.

Both involved walking down (and then back up) a fairly steep and long corridor, the floor being made up of planks with cross timbers to stop slipping.

Once you're inside, there are then low corridors to go along until you reach an internal room.

I am 5' 10" and I had to bend down to get inside, and at times the corridors inside were low so that I had to bend down there too.

If you have any heart problems they recommend you do not enter.

If you are even a tiny bit claustrophobic I recommend you do not enter.

To be absolutely honest, you don't miss much by not going inside.

On our third visit to Giza, we didn't enter a Pyramid but a young couple who'd become our travel partners decided to.

I warned them of the difficulties, they did it anyway and were extremely glad they chose to go into the small one as that was "enough" for them both.

The big one is a hard slog for many people (and there ain't that much to see inside), the small one is easier but even less to see. If you just want to experience being inside, I'd go for the small one.

Sorry if that's not good news, but it's better to be forewarned.

BTW - entry into the big one was limited numbers per day, costs extra and is the harder going.

Entry into the small one is "unofficial", and was free apart from the bung to the Tourist Policeman who will chuck everybody out so you can go inside
Some good news though, entry to the tombs in the Valley of the Kings etc is much easier than you might have expected. All nice walkways or shallow steps - now these are really worth going inside.

No need to bend at all, and don't be afraid of the "unofficial guides" inside some of the tombs.

They will point out some real points of interest using torches (and in one case mirrors), they only expect a couple of EG Pounds. A tip of EG£10 in one tomb gained me a friend for life and a good fifteen minutes of him pointing stuff out with his torch and showing us things other people couldn't see.

Our official tour guide didn't enter the tombs, just talked about it before we entered. It may be different if you rent a personal guide in Luxor.

If you're really into this stuff, if you haven't already I suggest getting some guidebooks to read / follow, also catch as much stuff on the TV about Ancient Egypt as you can before you go.

If you have an appreciation of who / what / where / why when you get there, seeing the "reality" brings everything into context and makes for a truly magical and fascinating trip.

Final tip for now, if you show interest in the what the guides are saying and ask "sensible" questions they will tend to focus on "you".

We couldn't believe how many ignorant people there were in some of the group tours, completely ignoring the guide, talking all the time etc etc. More than once I told people to be quiet, so I could hear the guide and advised them they could always meet us at the end if they were that uninterested.
The guides all appreciated that, and the level of interest we showed. To a man, they were all graduates and we even had two who were University Professors. They are all extremely passionate about their history and truly welcome your interest.

Writing these two posts has reminded me just how much I enjoy visiting the sites in Egypt, we've already got other plans for next years main holiday but perhaps we could squeeze in a week's WinterSun / Exploring in Luxor after Christmas.

Thanks Ginny, I'm off to surf for a bargain (sure beats working!).

Simon

Cheers Simon you have opened my eyes to the Pyramids and I think I will try only the small one. My hubbie is able bodied so he can explore the other one's and take some photos for me. I don't fancy getting stuck in one and making it my tomb as well!!!!
I agree with you that there is nothing worse than people talking while a guide is speaking and you cannot hear the guide, I have been through that in Tunis Museum in Tunisia and I was an expert at giving 'dirty' looks by the end.
With us making Luxor our base for the 2 weeks we will be able to spend as much time as we want in the Luxor Museum and Valley of the kings etc as this is the stuff we like. I cannot go sit on a beach for 2 weeks; hubbie will bury me in the sand and go home alone!!!!
Thanks again for your information (isn't the World Wide Web great) and if you think of anything more that will be of a help please drop me a line it is much appreciated.
Ginny

Re: Simon's comment above about Valley of the Kings:

"Some good news though, entry to the tombs in the Valley of the Kings etc is much easier than you might have expected. All nice walkways or shallow steps - now these are really worth going inside."

Just to add, this isn't always the case - I can't speak for all the tombs obviously but having been inside Tutmoses III, "shallow" is not a word that springs to mind!! Quite a few of the tombs have fairly steep walkways/steps leading some distance down into the tombs/mountain, so not always the best for anyone with mobility difficulties (or clautrophobia ). Luckily, I think every tomb has an info board at the entrance with a plan diagram of the route into the tomb, so you can judge the distance and elevation etc. There are also elevation plans of each tomb on the Theban Mapping Project website, here:
http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/
(FYI, Tutmoses III is no34)

Ah, wish I was going back next year now. 'Unfortunately' my holidays next year look like being in the Cayman Islands (rent-free! ) and New York.... it's a hard life

Have a fabulous time in Egypt