Hi

I would say a lot depends on how long you plan to stay in Egypt.

We have usually based ourselves in Luxor to visit the West Bank, Denderah, Luxor & Karnak temples etc and then taken the overnight train to Cairo. We've gone and stayed overnight in Cairo (once on Gezira island at the President Hotel, a long time ago - a Thomson City Break hotel) and on another occasion just on the outskirts of Giza at the Cateract Pyramids Resort (prob changed its name now).

We found this gave us the opportunity to visit the Museum, Pyramids, Sphinx, Solar Boat, Khan el Khalili bazaar, the mosque and take in the Sound & Light Show too.

On other occasions, we've taken the overnight train from Luxor (approx 10hrs travelling) in seated first class, departing at Giza rather than staying on for Cairo and taking in all the sights but leaving the same evening for the train journey back to Luxor. You can also take the tourist sleeper carriage (Abela service) rather than the seated carriage if you prefer. The seats get converted to bunks and are designed for 2 people in a carriage with bunks and a sink. There is one toilet per carriage (approx 12 cabins per carriage) - price was $55 at last trip.
The seated carriage has reclining seats which are quite roomy, so if you are one of those people who can sleep on a clothes line, this may be a good option!

Enjoy!

CwB

thanks for the info.... was thinking of staying for 2 weeks, but dont fancy a 10 hour trip on a train, i have heard cairo isnt really a place to be for a holiday either, especially for 2 weeks,
i myself wouldnt mind the travel, but i cant see my fiance being a fan of it, but i have looked at luxor, but only briefly, taking in the sights of giza etc is only a day thing really i suppose, so i have to think about the rest of the time we are there, hence why i am looking for as much info as possible, pointless asking the holiday reps as they are just interested in selling you a holiday, regardless if its right for you or not,

chubbalubba wrote:

pointless asking the holiday reps as they are just interested in selling you a holiday, regardless if its right for you or not,

Tell me about it!

The first time we "did" Egypt, we took a city break to Cairo for 5 nights and loved it. But, we wanted to get to Alexandria and had read there was a bus/coach service. I asked our rep for some details only to be advised the only way to get there was by taxi at a cost of 25GBP per person (this was in 1992). Needless to say, we did not take her up on this very generous offer and went to pick the brains of our friend barman on the 14th floor of our hotel.
We were told to take the train (1st class air-conditioned carriage), to make sure the ticket seller wrote our seat numbers on the back of the tickets in English (this is same for the overnight Cairo train too) and not to wait till the last train back to Cairo from Alexandria.... So, off we went the next morning, bought our return tickets, found our train with no problem and had a fab day out visiting the catacombs and Pompeii's Pillar and later a stroll along the corniche to see the sea and the site of the ancient Pharos plus a leisurely lunch of steak (although you will never convince me it wasn't horse or camel), chips and of course, an "ice cold in Alex" beer along the corniche before taking our train back.
There were 1st, 2nd & no class carriages as well as a number of locals travelling on the roof (we could see their shadows as the sun was going down). All in all, a great day out at a cost of a little less than 3GBP per person!!!!

Go for the sleeper train if your other half is wary. We went with 2 friends the last trip we did (both pensioners) and they thoroughly enjoyed it....

CwB

Hi, have you thought about staying in the red sea resort if you are going for 2 weeks, we stayed in Hurghada and visited both luxor and cairo,you can do either by coach or air, we choose coach its a long journey but works out cheaper we stayed in cairo overnight so got to see the sound and light show which i would recommend we took our two children aged 7 and 10 and even they didnt find the journey to bad. That way you get the historic sights but also a lovely beach holiday too

thank you all for your advice, i will bear it all in mind when i am looking for my holiday, the red sea holiday sounds great, and as i love diving the red sea sounds great, but on the other hand, i like the train idea,(although i doubt the other half will enjoy) maybe i should tell her we will be going first class( then stick her on the roof at the last minute, ha ha),

maybe a two centre holiday would be an idea, a few days in cairo and then the rest in either alexandria, luxor or the re sea

thanks guys
chubba

We travel at the end of April and are having 4 nights in Luxor ( Nile palace) for the Valley of the kings, Hatshepsuts temple, Karnak etc. - then 3 nights at Giza ( Le meridien pyramids), we will also go into Cairo to go to the museum and Citadel - then we are having 4 nights in Sharm to recover ( hilton waterfalls). If you only want to see the pyramids then a day trip would suffice to Cairo but to see even half the sites around Luxor you need several days.
Internal flights are cheap and only take an hour or so - we have a horrible last day though, we fly from Sharm - Cairo - Heathrow - Manchester in the space of 12 hours!