Reccomend a good travel agent for Egypt (Cairo included)

mickoneill30

I want to go to Egypt next month for a couple of weeks with about 4 - 5 days in Cairo and the rest in Luxor. Most of the package travel agents websites don't have Cairo as a destination. I went into Budget Travel last night asking about it and the nice lady there said they don't go to Cairo but I can do it as a day trip from Luxor :rolleyes: And that it could all be arranged when I get to Luxor.

Has anybody done a trip to Egypt similar to the one I'm looking for and used a travel agent that you'd reccommend?

lord lucan

i've done cairo by train from luxor,its a long haul,think it was 10 hours overnight,not recommended! you can fly up from luxor,its only an hour flight but to be honest you need 2-3 days to see cairo properly. we go to egypt most years and always to luxor. we fly via manchester with either thompson or my travel as their flights arrive in luxor in the late afternoon as opposed to late at night(23.00hrs) with budget. your best bet for a package including cairo is with thomas cook via an english airport,thomsons offer the same sort of product as budget. we usually just buy the flight seperately and sort out accom. ourselves.

mickoneill30

Thanks for that. Very helpful. We might go the English route. Looking at Trailfinders too at the moment. They do flights that arrive around 6pm rather than the 1am arrivals from Budget.
When you're arranging accomodation yourselves do you recommend any sites or do you just do it when you're there?

It's weird that no package guys have Cairo over here. How could people go to Egypt and not want to spend a couple of days (at least) in Cairo. I know it's not meant to be a beautiful city but our interest is in the history so with the pyramids and museums we should be well able to fill a few days.

lord lucan

to be honest they don't even market luxor like they used to,the "in" place is the red sea resorts,even the egyptian government is pushing this heavely calling it the red sea riviera. the likes of budget market egypt as a sun holiday,history/culture comes second so arranging the likes of cairo is more like hard work for the few that would be interested in it,when we first went it was with budget and they had an excursion to cairo on the second last day there,you got the train up overnight and hit the sights straight from the train by coach,first to the pyramids then the museum and then kan el kahlili market and overnight in a hotel. the next day we met the return flight home in cairo. they abandoned this when they stopped using lotus air,an egyptian charter airline. the way they look at it is that if you want to go to cairo or abu simbel(highly recommended) you can book their excursion package from budget when you arrive in luxor. there are cheaper excursion packages available in luxor from local companies(jollies to name but one) and they are always cheaper than the travel agents packages.

lord lucan

forgot the accomodation bit!:eek: we usually stay in the same hotel when we go,the best bet is to use the ever reliable tripadvisor site,just type in luxor/cairo hotels and have a look,the brochures for egyptian hotels are misleading,they have their own star system but an egyptian 5 star is probably a european 3 star. tripadvisor also have links to deals on hotel prices. off the top of my head heres the ones i'd recommend;
luxor,
1)sheraton,this is were we stayed the first 4 times we went,lovely hotel,fabulous staff,very good location,we only changed cause it was starting to look dated and aged but i believe they have refurbished a large part of the hotel recently.
2)movenpick,lovely hotel set on its own island on the nile,only drawback is its a bit outside the town so you have to use the shuttle bus/boat or taxi.
3)st. joseph,the cheap and cheerful option,we stayed there a year and a half ago as a last minute cheap week away,good location,rooms are average but the best thing about it is the swimming pool on the roof,great views across to the west bank of the nile(great sunsets).
4)sonesta st. george,don't know yet because we're only going to this hotel for the first time in march,reviews on tripadvisor are always excellent.

cairo
1)ramses hilton,very central in cairo,museum is only around the corner.
2)mena house,beside the pyramids,wake up in the morning with the pyramids in front of you.very expensive hotel though,very posh and upmarket.

faceman

Im a frequent flyer when it comes to african trips. I use a travel agent based in kenya for all my trips (i know the MD). They offer better quality holidays at a price cheaper than irish/uk agents. Their website is www.tropicalbreaks.com. (Their website doesnt detail all their african holidays but drop them an email)

If you want to PM me I can help you out some more.