Already Recommended Company & Tour to Friends, Family & Coworkers
If or when, my family and/or I return to Egypt, I will go through this company again and ask for the same guides again. We had an amazing trip, filled with memories that will last my Dad, Brother, and I a lifetime.
Everyone in our group would recommend this company and in particular our guides to everyone and anyone. In fact, I’ve have already recommended the tour and guides to a few friends and coworkers. This is pretty much the highest compliment that I can give being that I have to work and see these people for the rest of my life.
With that said, I’ll get into more details:
Our group consisted of 3, my brother, father and myself. We varied in age from 83 (Dad) to mid-40’s (my brother and myself). We also varied in fitness levels, my Dad is very spry but, he’s 83 and my Brother and I are quite active.
Our interest levels also varied. My Dad and I are big European history nerds but, my brother is really interested in ancient Egypt. This was his first time out of the US and the only place he was really interested in going was Egypt.
Booking: I booked our tour through the website Tour Radar and we chose the Ancient Egypt Tour Package Discovery through Egypt Tour Club. The entire trip was very last minute. I was able to pull the entire 10-day trip together within 2 weeks of departure.
The company made my life easier. They were incredibly accommodating with departure and arrival dates. You want to leave on Sunday and return Wednesday, sure, they’ll make it work! This really worked well as we all have varied schedules.
Sam was our first guide and he met us at the airport early as we were 3hrs early. Sam helped us all into the waiting van, at which point we began our drive to the hotel. Our hotel was located in Giza, aprox. 1 ½ - 2 hrs away. While it seamed like a long drive from the airport, once we were at the hotel and saw that we were across the street from the Pyramids, we couldn’t have been happier.
The hotel, Mercure Cairo Le Sphinx, was nice, clean, and we felt safe. We were able to get in, grab a shower, some dinner and watch the sun go down behind the pyramids with a beer in our hand, life was perfect and everyone was happy.
We did have a set schedule when we arrived in Cairo. Our itinerary included Pyramids, old Cairo, Alexandria, night train to Aswan, Aswan to Luxor via river cruise, then back to Cairo and out.
After speaking with our guide Sam, he suggested the same itinerary but a different schedule. Sam devised a new schedule that he thought would be more convenient for us, with less early mornings. We told Sam, as long as we saw the places in our itinerary, we didn’t care in what order and that we would go with his recommendation.
We’re glad we did, because looking back we would have had a few more late-nights followed by early-mornings. Sam clearly knew what he was doing!
On a side note, being flexible on this trip was really helpful. We had a set itinerary, Sam suggested we change the order, we’re glad we did. Be it traffic, Cairo is crazy, demonstrations, to times the tour left/returned, things change on a sometimes-daily basis. I was a bit cautious about changing our schedule at first, maybe because you think you’re going to be ripped-off or something like that but, that WAS NOT the case, Sam knew what he was talking about.
Guides: Sam & Beacher
Both were excellent and different. We found both guides willing to work with us and came up with their own suggestions. For instance, we wanted little extra time at the Valley of the Kings, Beacher agreed and he was there early. We thought something else would require more time, Sam (more on him later) knew we didn’t need that much time there, he was right. Work with your guilds, both you and they want you to have the best experience!
Speaking of Sam, he was awesome. Because there was a lot of pickup-drop-off’s with Sam we also had a driver (I’m sorry I forgot his name). If you’re thinking about renting a car in Egypt, as we considered, DON’T. Driving in Egypt is crazy.
Anyhow, back to Sam. Sam was our guide in Cairo, Giza (pyramids and surrounding area), and to/from Alexandria. He was both interesting, funny, engaging and just a pleasure to be around. Sam was able to answer all our questions and we just had a really fun and interesting time with him.
Not only was he really knowledgeable about Egypt both ancient and present, we felt that we were in really great hands with him. He went out of his way for us.
One example, for our overnight trip to Aswan on the over night train, I assumed we would be just dropped off at the station (we wouldn’t have had a problem with that). However, Sam walked us onto the station, moved us away from the crowds of tourist and was even able to grab us a table at a café with a bathroom! Again, my Dad is 83 and Sam saw he needed to sit and he made it happen.
Sam even waited with us the entire time we waited for the train, even stayed longer as the train was over an hour late (“running on Egyptian time” – Sam). We glad he did, as the station was crowded and several trains came and went on the same platform in the meanwhile. He checked each train and finally walked us onto the correct one before we left.
He went the extra mile and we really appreciated it.
When we returned to Cairo on the last day, we asked to have Sam as our guide again and, he was a really welcome face on our return.
Our other guide, Beacher (please forgive my spelling if I’m off) was incredible. Beacher loves the subject of ancient Egypt and clearly keeps up-to-date with new material and research within the field. As mentioned above, I am a nerd and my Brother LOVES ancient Egypt. Beacher was able to answer all our questions and put everything into a world context. We spent 4 days with Beacher and it was fascinating. He joined us on deck of the cruise for tea and pointed things out, and gave us the really in-depth tours we really wanted. Just overhearing the guides at stops along our cruise, and their formulaic / standard speeches, really made us appreciate Beacher and his depth, knowledge, and updates on current thinking on Egyptology.
As I mentioned above, Beacher had us for 4 days and the most physical part of the trip. There was a lot more walking in Valley of the Kings / Queens and general Luxor area. Beacher was always looking out for our Dad (remember spry but 83) and found him a nice shady spot for him to sit (and nap) while he took my brother and I into more tombs.
He was really good at gaging my Dad’s energy/interest level. He could see it was getting hot and Dad was getting tired and was would say, “ok, Henry, you’ll want to see this tomb but, the next one is similar to the last we saw so, I’ll just take the boys if you want to sit here;” perfect!
Both Beacher and Sam were really looking out for Dad, and we appreciate it!
Beacher and Sam were really excellent and I hope they get to see this. My Brother, Dad and I are still talking about the trip and the great time they showed us.
Lastly and a side note: for anyone reading this and something I wish I knew before we went: regarding where we stayed and how it’s advertised. The company states that you’ll stay in a particular hotel / ship or “something of the same level.”
We found it odd that we didn’t know exactly the name of the hotel we were to stay in, nor the name of the ship until we boarded.
I’m very use to planning trips and this ambiguity really threw me. We were asked, “where are you staying” and we didn’t know, this made my Dad and I a little nervous.
You’re really buying into a level of service/amenities. Everything is given a rating and while we did stay in the hotel, they advertised in Cairo we were on a different ship for our cruise but, of the same rating. Our ship was just as nice, if not nicer, than the one that we thought we were going on. Again, you’re really buying into accommodations of a certain rating.
I guess the only 2 things I would have changed was, it would have been nice to know the exact hotel / ship a day or two before we left (although everything worked fine). And, where we stayed the last night before we left Egypt.
The last 2 nights we stayed in the same great hotel in Giza as we did in the beginning of our trip. It was nice and great, it was just 1 ½ hours from the airport and we had an early flight out the next morning, this made it earlier.
To end this long review, I would use this company again! I would love to see our two guides again, Sam and Beacher, and I would (and have) recommend it to anyone going to Egypt.
I have NO problem recommending this company again and if you do go, ask for Sam and Beacher!!
This activity isn’t bookable for now.!
Cairo
Pickup offered
Mobile Ticket
Offered in: Deutsch
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