Egypt Tour 11 Day Cairo & Alexandria Nile Cruise & Abu Simbel Hotel & Flight Inc

Bucket-list trip to Egypt met all expectations; highly recommend Look at Egypt Tours

We took the Iconic Egypt tour, 11 days including Alexandria, Cairo, Nile Cruise (Luxor and Aswan) and Abu Simbel. Look at Egypt Tours handled all of the logistics very well. We were met at the airport (by the CEO) and walked through immigration and customs, for which we were grateful. Our Hotel in Cairo, the Steigenberger Pyramids in Giza, was very nice; we could see the Great Pyramid from our lounge chairs by the pool. Breakfast was very nice, with plenty of selections. There were several on-site restaurants to choose from as well as room service. We used room service our first couple of days; the food was edible but not much more than that. The Il Giardino restaurant by the pool was better, three meals there ranging from ok to quite good. You could get to an off-site restaurant by taxi, but we didn't bother; we came to Egypt to see bucket-list sights, not to eat. The timing of the in-country flights to and from Cairo was a bit strange. We got up at an ungodly hour to catch the flight to Luxor, and then sat around for several hours because cabins on the cruise ship weren't ready. On the way back, our flight back from Aswan to Cairo didn't leave until mid-afternoon, which looked like a wasted half day, but we found a great museum to visit in the morning and our guide arranged transportation; we highly recommend the Nubian Museum (NOT the Nubian Village) in Aswan. The Nile Cruise...well, luxury is not the right word. It served its purpose - to get us to all of the sights along the Nile with plenty of time for enjoying the experience. Our ship, one of the Jaz ships, was very dated, though quite clean. The food...I've never seen such mediocre food presented so beautifully. You'll recognize the chicken and beef by their dryness on the third appearance, no matter how attractively they disguise it. OK, the sights. Bucket list is definitely appropriate. The Pyramids/Sphinx in Giza, the church and mosque in Old Cairo, the Luxor and Karnak Temples, the tombs on the west bank at Luxor, the temples along the river, Abu Simbel, Philae and the High Dam - contemplating the engineering feat of disassembling those ancient temples and relocating them to high ground was staggering. My favorite was the Karnak Temple complex at Luxor. 14 separate temples, built over thousands of years, with each successive Pharoah trying to outdo the previous ones. As usual, Rameses II was the winner. No matter which is your favorite, you will not be disappointed by the historic sights. We had local guides in both Cairo/Alexandria and Luxor/Aswan. Both were extremely knowledgeable and went out of their way to take good care of the old couple (us) with bad hearing and traveler's diarrhea. The largest group was the day trip to Alexandria; we had 8 people in the van. Usually, it was us and no more than 2-3 others - plenty of personal explanations of things, flexibility in the daily itinerary and not much time schlepping people among hotels. My main annoyance - tipping (baksheesh). For a reason I didn't expect. We were bombarded from all sides for tips - hotel, restaurants, guides, drivers, etc - that I expected. What I wasn't prepared for was the difficulty of getting a supply of small bills to use. Forget the hotel desk. Forget the restaurant. Forget the concierge on the cruise. Nobody would give you change. You pretty much have to buy something somewhere and pay cash, and you MIGHT be able to talk them into giving you change in small bills. Reluctantly. Finally, an example of Look at Egypt Tours' consideration for us. When we were in Cairo, our local guide arranged for us to purchase a coffee table book "The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Egypt". It came with a USB drive which, he said, had many videos and photos of the major sights. Several weeks after we retuned home, we got out the USB drive to start viewing the images, and guess what? It worked...once. I emailed Ahmed Abd Alfattah, the CEO, explained the situation and asked if there was anything he could do to help me. He replied immediately and explained that, although the book was not a product of his company he would see what he could do and get back to me. Since then, he has arranged for me to download all of the images that were on the USB drive from a Google Drive. I am so grateful to have this trove of images to supplement the book. I enthusiastically recommend Look at Egypt Tours and this particular tour, and I hope that you enjoy your bucket-list trip to Egypt as much as we did.

Response from the operator: Thank you so much for your feedback, we are happy that you enjoyed your tour with us , hope to see you again

via Tripadvisor

Great Egypt tour company with skillful and helpful guides and staff. Great communication and transparent.

Excellent Egypt tour company.Great communication and very transparent. Staff and guides are awesome.Recommend100%

Response from the operator: thank you so much for your lovely feedback we are so happy that you enjoyed your holiday with us

via Tripadvisor

Unforgettable experience of Egypt

Following a trip in November 2022 organized by menphis tours for 10 days from Cairo to Luxor where we visited a dozen beautiful temples, for my wife’s birthday, we were received by a super friendly, professional team with really pro drivers at the driving level, at the level of vehicles they were clean with bottles of water and handkerchiefs available free, I thank again EMAM EL SAYED For the guides thank you to OMARD SHEWETTA who is very cool and professional Thank you very much to IMAN ALAA who was impeccable in his explanations and organization for the visit of the Cairo Museum I do not want to make jealous but I have left the best for last what to say to qualify Mr. WADEA SOBHY a guide Egyptologist and a man of a human level and extraordinary professionalism who knows the history of Egypt at your fingertips and makes you live it intensely, he is respected by the dealers of souvenir shops when they come too insistently to sell you souvenirs, he gives you behavioral advice and gives you advice on the rules and customs of the country, I really advise you Menphis tours local agency located in Cairo and all are team that will make you have an unforgettable stay and treat you like kings, the hotels and the boat was of good quality as well as varied food and good quality. Again thank you all and see you soon with this time but 3 children. Sincerely, Mr. and Mrs. Désandré of France Calvados.

Response from the operator: Thank you so much

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Bad experience

We had a very bad experience going to Egypt, you can see that they were sick of the tourism and we got the worst part .. the cruiser was fine but we had to protest because they gave us the last room of the boat where the engine was .. they changed us by force of protest but also we had no sights because always the motorship parked behind another motorship and the noise of the other motorship was heard all day and night .. we had to sleep with stoppers and when you opened the curtains you saw the other boat ..the fatal food ..always the same and the staff putting disgusting faces ..always the truth is to choose well the dates and q be lucky because then they took us to Cairo and here if it was a disaster they took us to the hotel Conrad q was in the works they gave us a super old room q the same day we arrived when we showered the bathroom was flooded .. took 20 minutes to come narrowly does not flood the whole room if we did not get to stop the old marinella of the shower .. they did not want to change the room the next day when we went to rest they were making noise in the room upstairs q was in the works they were drilling!!! We couldn't believe it. Sorry? A hotel is supposed to be top-notch? We went to make a claim then we were told to take us upstairs to the best rooms q were already refurbished all this in English because according to them they could not speak Spanish and we had to fix it through the guide q also turned out to be and I mean the guide coordinator q was a facet and high-handed q took us where he wanted and made us wait. We did not want the room we had more trouble moving for a day q we did not want but very badly the only good thing the group q met ..Sweet,Eva,Raquel,Ricardo .. and our guide admet a charm q was with us in all the excursions .. but I would not repeat Egypt is wonderful is another world, but care how you organize it .. do not take care of everything ! Our date was October 22, 2022

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Wonderful Egypt but with unmotivated guides

We really enjoyed the experience of seeing all the wonders of Egypt again, which give for a lot, it was already the second time we went. Disillusionment has been the few desires of the guides to explain history and the wonders that are hidden over these stones full of history, were more concerned with taking money than explaining what is expected of a guide. Lucky the group of people was wonderful and we were able to share wonderful moments with unknown people

via Tripadvisor (translated)