Hi, both Cairo & Luxor are about 1 hour flight away from Sharm. Cairo is a very busy city & much more Westernised than Luxor. Lots to see in both places. Luxor is much quieter & much smaller. Here you can see Valley of Kings. Queens etc, Karnak & Luxor temples & more. In Cairo you have pyramids. sphinx, the fantastic museum & more again. All depends on what you really want. Life moves at much slower pace in Luxor. In Cairo the traffic is manic!! I live in Luxor but from UK & be happy to give you any more info if you wish, just send me a PM.

thanks alot for that. think i fancy cairo. would like to see the sphinx and pyramids. you know of any cheap way to do it from sharm? £180 seems alot of money each for one day. dont fancy a long bus journey there either. thanks

Believe it or not i managed to get a Coach to Cairo from Sharm fot a measly £8, yes its not a tpyo - £8 english pounds. In fact return was even cheaper at £6.50.

I travelled with my wife and 6year old daughter and this is how we did it....

1. Got a taxi to the local Egyptian coach station, not too far from Naama Bay - cost about £3

2. Bought a one way coach ticket to Cairo - i was'nt able to purchase a return ticket (may have changed now tho) .

The Coach service provider name escapes me but try to avoid the other service which is called 'East Delta' as this stops at more places and takes about 8.5 hours.

3. The coaches leave approx at midnight and the journey took about 6 hours. There was a toilet on board, but i'd avoid it if i were you and try not too pick a seat too close to it either!

4. There is a lady (non English speaking) who sells food on the coach but we took our own food and drink which can be bought cheaply at the coach station.

5. When you arrive, rush and buy a return ticket straight the way! Otherwise you will be left with only the East Delta option, like us, which is not great.

Anyway, all in all....

Outbound
Taxi = £3
Tickets £24 (3 x £8)

Return
Taxi £3
Tickets £19.50 (3 x £6.50)

Total cost for three people £49.50

Conclusion
Would i do it again? If i had the extra cash i would fly, but if i did'nt then i'd still go by coach again.

Hi

I have just returned from a week in Luxor and visited Cairo for the day. We booked the trip via the Tour Operator and it cost £160 which included your flights and entry tickets. They also offered a train trip from Luxor which was approx £70 but was 9 hours each way on a train, I personally did'nt fancy it much!!.

In my opinon Luxor is a much nicer place for a holiday than Cairo. I found Cairo really manic and aggressive. I am a regular traveller to Egypt and I find the locals easy to deal with, however in Cairo I found them to be very aggressive when you did not want to buy from them.

As always it is personal choice!!!

Whatever you decide have a great time!!

Peggy

I think in retrospect Luxor would have been a better choice than Cairo.

It is very chaotic - i found the people truly friendly and helpful though. Also the place is very (forgive me for saying) dirty.

Cairo has the pyramids (overlooking McDonalds) and the Sphynx and the fantastic Museum but this comes at a chaotic price.

I don't think the Nile in Cairo matches up to many peoples expectations.

Go for Luxor!

I have been to both places several times and it really is a matter of what you want to see.
If it's the famous Pyramids & Sphinx and the equally famous museum then it just has to be Cairo, but it is a manic place, especially the traffic. Luxor by contrast is more laid back, it still has the hassle option but not as bad as Cairo but if you do Cairo as part of an organised tour you should be shielded from most of it. Luxor has most of the mortuary temples and religious temples grouped together in one area i.e. Luxor temple, Karnak temple, Valley of the Kings/Queens, Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.
I personally would do Cairo from either Cyprus as mini cruise or from the Red Sea as a day trip.
Luxor really needs more time, it is good to do it as the second week after a Nile cruise or as a couple of week stay in a hotel and do all the sights at a leisurely pace. As for me, well I am off to do two weeks at a leisurely pace (again) this Wednesday.
Tez

just got back from sharm and went to cairo with first choice by plane. £160 per adult which is expensive but we chose that option because they use a 737 and it only took 35mins to get there. also they go on a friday which is now like a sunday to us, no-one was working so the traffic was minimal and we were at the pyramids within about 20-25 mins. great day to go on!

We went on a weeks cruise down the Nile then had a week in Luxor with a one day trip to Cairo in March. Egypt obviously has amazing things to see, but in our experience, the whole holiday was spoilt by the locals begging, hassleing, conning and stealing from us, from the moment we got off the plane at Luxor till the moment we got back on it two weeks later. I know that they are very poor people, but it really did ruin what was supposed to be our holiday of a lifetime. Never again for us!