Egypt

A Fascinating Destination

Cairo - The Starting Place for your Egyptian Tour - A Unique City

Below is information of what you can anticipate and details and pictures of what you will see in Cairo and beyond along with some practical information.

Details on Cairo - a big and bustling city

This is a big city and covers a tremendous area. It can take a long time to get from one place to another due to traffic. It can be a good idea to spend one night at Giza near the Pyramids and Sphinx although this area can be easily reached in about an hour from downtown Cairo so it is not essential.

Cairo Hotels

There are many wonderful first- class hotels in Cairo. We stayed at the Four Seasons First Residence and the downtown Four Seasons is also a wonderful hotel. There are also many other good hotels but these two are truly exceptional. The Four Season Residence is connected to a very modern and attractive mall with every type of store you can imagine. This is very handy during your stay and the small restaurant it the courtyard of the mall offers wonderful meals, great desserts at very reasonable prices.

Giza Hotels

Le Meridien Pryamids was a wonderful place to stay. A comfortable very contemporary hotel with nice rooms and good restaurants and bars. The pool area is wonderful with the pyramids in the background. The Mena House Oberoi with the pyramids in the background. The Mena House Oberoi is an older hotel right across the street from an entrance to the Pyramids. This was an old palace so it has a more traditional ambiance and character.

Food

You can be very comfortable during your stay. We found a TGIFridays and many American eating establishments plus the Four Seasons, of course, had food that was very western. In fact it was not a problem at all to find foods that Americans are used to eating anywhere. It is best to exercise caution and not use ice or eat salads or eat foods that are not cooked.

Safety

I do think that you should visit Cairo on a planned tour and not take taxis and try to get around independently. We did walk from Le Meridien to the Pyramids and there are "tourist" police everywhere and they escorted us all the way. The taxis are tiny and they are everywhere. However, although I do not fully understand the situation it appears anyone can drive a taxi and it is a common way to get around the some of the red tape logistics of purchasing a car. So you do not really have good control on who is driving you around. I never felt in any danger on our trip but I was much more comfortable in my nice air-conditioned van with driver and guide.

Dress

No problem here. You see everything you can imagine.; If you are visiting mosques or churches then appropriate attire is necessary as with anywhere else in the world.

Shopping

There is plenty of shopping here for everything you can imagine. No matter where you go there will be things to buy. A Cartosh is a very popular thing to purchase. This is your name spelt in hieroglyphics on a pendant. If you go to Egypt these will be presented to you everywhere.