Discover The Palaces of Cairo

Excellent Tour with a Professional Guide

Our guide was very flexible, friendly, professional, and knowlegeable. There was one of the mansions closed because it was Friday. As an alternative, we negotiated a tour of the historic Hanging Church in the old Coptic area in addition to the other originally scheduled sites.

Response from the operator: Dear Bob, Thank you for taking the time to share your review! We are delighted to hear that you had such a positive experience with your guide and enjoyed their professional, friendly, and flexible service. We appreciate your understanding regarding the Friday closure, and we are glad that your guide was able to adjust the itinerary smoothly to include a visit to the historic Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo alongside your other scheduled stops. Thank you for choosing Emo Tours Egypt, and we hope to welcome you back for another great tour in the future! Warm regards,

via Viator

The Palaces of Cairo are great

Our tour of Discover the Palaces of Cairo was wonderful. Our guide farouk (El roqa) was so informative and friendly, and he made the experience one to remember, and our driver, Reyad, was great, maneuvering through the insane Cairo traffic with ease. We will definitely use this company again!

Response from the operator: Dear Tamara, Thank you for the wonderful feedback! We are thrilled to hear that Farouk and Reyad provided you with an informative, comfortable, and memorable tour of Cairo’s palaces. We truly appreciate your loyalty and look forward to hosting you again on your next trip to Egypt! Warm regards, ziad

via Tripadvisor

Good for what it is

This tour is on the lower price end compared to similar offerings and does a good job for what it is. I was mostly tired of dealing with Cairo taxis and Ubers and wanted a no stress way to visit the palaces. This tour met those requirements. The tour operator is very efficient in communications and scheduling. There was a tour guide and separate driver which seemed a bit excessive for the tour. The guide was friendly but did not speak English all that well and had limited knowledge. Visiting the palaces filled in some gaps in 20th Century Cairo & Egyptian history not covered by the major museums. The Mohamed Ali Palace (Manial Palace) in particular was both interesting and beautiful

via Viator

The amazing hidden palaces of Cairo

From the number of other tourists we chatted to on arrival in Cairo about this tour, we wondered why no-one had heard of the palaces and that they weren’t on people’s itinerary. In our view, they all missed out. The three palaces were all very different: one in the design of an Indian palace, one with over 300 bedrooms for the ruler’s wives and one with most ornate mix of Moorish and Arabic architecture. And yet… hardly any western tourists? Our guide Hakiem, and our driver for the day, Nasser, met us at our hotel out by the GEM and in Cairo’s traffic it took almost an hour to reach New Cairo/Heliopolis and the Empain Palace. There were different options available to choose during the day and we opted to have some authentic lunch in the city, near Tahrir Square and down a very narrow side street at a koshary restaurant. It was a great experience, as was the whole day. From start to finish it took about 7 hours and our team of two from Emo tours could not have been more helpful. NB most tours tend to be on a private basis, and your guide and driver will be with you all day, making sure that you get quickly into sites and that the vehicle is very close upon exit. Driving is manic but everyone seems to understand where the others are going… the lines on the main roads are purely for decoration… so you just have to trust!

via Viator

The undiscovered palaces of Cairo

The choice of visiting the Palaces of Cairo surprised many people we spoke to whilst at the hotel, who seemed not to know about them. We were delighted with our choice. Communication was good with the company pre-arrival, and Hakiem our guide, and our driver for the day Nasser, arrived on time in their car. We had expected a larger group but were delighted to find that the majority of Emo Tours (booked through Viator) are private. Nasser was an expert in the traffic! We stopped first at the Baron Palace, or Empain Palace which looks like an Indian palace thanks to its specific design by the Belgian Empain. Second stop was the Abdeen Palace, with its 300+ bedrooms for the ruler’s wives… stunning architecture and decoration. After a stop for lunch with Hakiem at a bustling authentic koshary restaurant near to Tahrir Square (a chosen option, and glad we did), we headed for the nearby Prince Mohamed Ali Palace. Again, a completely unique experience to witness the grandeur of the old country. At all times, Hakiem and Nasser asked if there was anything extra we needed to see or do, and transported us safely back to our hotel out by the GEM. The ride was very comfortable, safe and Hakiem shared information about sights we passed as we travelled. The traffic is busy in Cairo, and the first stop took almost an hour to reach so worth consideration if time is tight. What surprised us is that whilst these palaces were so incredibly beautiful and well maintained, the number of foreign tourists there were very, very low… most of them were from Egypt. Overall, this trip made our holiday one of the best we have had, and we would highly recommend the tour and the team’s services.

via Tripadvisor