Disappointing tour
We were very excited about going on this trip but are sorry to say we were left disappointed. Before relaying our experience, we would like to mention that the pick-up from the hotel was punctual, the car was comfortable and the driver was good. The tour was taken on 18th August 2022 and is based on our experience.
Our day started with the guide asking us which four sites we would like to see. We asked to see:
1. Catacombs
2. Roman amphitheatre
3. Pompey's pillar
4. Qaitbay citadel
The guide informed us that we would only be able to see the amphitheatre from the outside and therefore advised that he would let us do this but also take us to Alexandria Library as an 'extra' to make up for this.
Upon departing, the guide asked us how our trip to Egypt had been so far, asking whether we had visited an alabaster museum. We had indeed visited an alabaster museum (which was actually just an alabaster shop) on a previous tour and been pressured into buying artefacts. We were keen to avoid another experience like this so told him that we had already been to one. He instead suggested that we visit a papyrus museum and oil/perfume museum at the end of our tour. We told him we didn't want to visit these, and in fact reiterated this message several times over the next few hours, but the guide was undeterred and insisted he would take us to both of these anyway. Over the course of the day, he enquired about our jobs, our salaries and how many siblings and friends we would need to buy gifts for (to which we told him we didn't want to buy any gifts). He was positively animated when discussing anything relating to us buying from the papyrus and oil shop that he intended to take us to.
Our visits to the chosen sites were rushed. We were only allowed 20 minutes at the Catacombs and Pompey's pillar, despite the travel website saying we would spend an hour at each of these. The history that the guide gave Pompey's Pillar was often incorrect. For example, he claimed that the pillar was built for 'King' Pompey when actually it was not and Pompey was never a king. At Pompey's Pillar, the guide was keen to get us back into the car even though we had missed out a huge section of the site. We had to specifically ask to visit that section before the guide took us there.
The car stopped outside the amphitheatre and we were allowed to take a quick picture from the rails. It wasn't a great view and we could actually see people visiting the amphitheatre through the railings so we're not sure why he told us we weren't allowed in.
We were then were taken to Qaitbay citadel, where we were only given 30 minutes to look around. I had to ask the guide if we could spend a bit more time here.
We were then taken to another site as an 'bonus' item on the itinerary; a Mosque on the Alexandrian coastline. I had a good view inside but the guide didn't tell me anything about the building or it's history. My wife was escorted to the women's entrance, where she spent ten minutes staring at a wooden wall, unable to see anything inside the rest of the Mosque.
Lunch was included in the tour and the food was excellent. We were taken to a fish restaurant. The guide had mentioned that the restaurant served a number of meats including fish and chicken, but when the time came to eat, the guide did not ask us what we wanted to eat and had apparently just ordered for us at some point. Drinks are not included (the booking page does say this.) We ate lunch with our guide and driver and then paid cash for our drinks, at which point the told us to put a tip down as well. We would have thought that this would be within his remit to do, given that our lunch was included in this tour and both he and the driver had eaten too but didn't appear to have left a tip of their own. It felt like we were being asked to leave a tip on our group's behalf.
We then went to the Library of Alexandria. We were rushed around the downstairs museums and again given only the occasional facts, which were often incorrect. For example, at one point we were looking through replica Egyptian artefacts that were made for a film from the 1960s. The guide pointed to a replica papyrus scroll and told us that this artefact was 7000 years old, even though the sign next to it informed us that it was a replica created in 1969. The guide did not let us go into the main section of the library itself that housed the books, telling us it was closed to tourists. Looking at reviews on tripadvisor however, it would seem that you can visit the library but need to be there before 9am in order to secure tickets to enter.
Determined to take us to the papyrus 'museum' despite us repeatedly saying that we didn't want to go, we found ourselves there anyway upon returning to Cairo. It was clear on entering that this was a shop rather than a museum and that our guide would receive commission on whatever we bought. Having previously inquired about our jobs and our salaries, the guide cheerfully introduced us to the shopkeeper as two doctors who were on their honeymoon and apparently keen to buy some papyrus. After spending £200 on a disappointing private tour, it was exhausting to be pressured to buy things that we didn't want or need and having to haggle down the prices to within a non-extortionate realm. We looked for the smallest and cheapest item in the shop, originally priced at 800EGP but we managed to haggle it down to 250EGP which, although still overpriced for what it was, was a price we could live with. It was frustrating to see the guide sitting with a cup of tea and having a chat with the shop manager, whom he clearly knew and had brought us there as a favour to him, while we were being followed round the shop by staff asking why we weren't buying more pieces.
We then left with our unwanted scroll and the guide told us we were going to the perfume museum next, at which point my wife very firmly said that we did not want to go and wanted to be taken back to the hotel instead as we had a dinner reservation. On this occasion, our wishes were respected.
We gave a tip to the driver and guide. We did not feel the tour was worthy of this but it is an expected custom so we did it, and as mentioned the driver was good.
Having taken two other private tours while we were in Egypt, we are aware that some things are to be expected such as being asked if you want to visit certain "museums" which are actually shops in which you are expected to buy something so that your guide can earn commission. However our guides on other tours respected our wishes when we asked not to be taken to these shops. On the occasions that we were taken to the shops and pressured into buying things, the tours had been otherwise so excellent that we could forgive this. On this tour, we did not appreciate being rushed us around the sites that we'd paid a lot of money to see, not seeing them fully anyway, not being able to see the sites we wanted to, and then being taken to shops and pressured into spending more money for things that we did not want or need.
The guide mentioned he had gone above and beyond as he had taken us to six sites whereas the tour should only go to four. Although technically 'visiting' six sites, all were rushed, the amphitheatre was only seen from the outside, we did not see inside the library and we hadn't asked to go to the mosque, so I would not say we really visited six sites.
There are plenty of other tours that can be taken to Alexandria. Although this tour currently has quite a few good reviews, please consider our experience and decide whether you feel it is the right tour for you. We were very disappointed, and it it was a shame to visit such a beautiful and historically significant place with this tour guide. We would hate for others to feel the same disappointment as we felt.
This activity isn’t bookable for now.!
Cairo
Pickup offered
Mobile Ticket
Offered in: العربية
3 more
12 hours (approx.)
Important Information
