Visiting the land of pyramids was like a childhood dream come true. Have always been fascinated by the pyramids and seeing it real was surreal. Husband and I decided to visit Egypt for our yearly vacation during Sept/Oct 2019 and we finalized a 2 week itinerary to cover the length and breadth of Egypt.
We landed at Cairo and decided to relax for the day. The second day we went to see the Great Pyramids, Egypt Museum, Papyrus Museum and also to a perfume shop. I would recommend spending one full day just for Pyramids and the Museum if you are interested in knowing the History. It was worth spending time in both these places. We did the sight seeing though a local agent so they would take you to the Papyrus and Perfume shop.
On the same day evening, we traveled to Aswan through the night train. You could alternatively fly to Aswan but we choose the night train as many recommended to experience this - 1. For the service they provide in train and 2. you could get to see the Nile river as you travel. The train started at 8:30 pm sharp, each coach has a steward and each cabin is designed to have its own berth, luggage case, a wash basin. It was more like a first class train in India. The steward would help you with the baggage and would serve dinner and breakfast. The meal options was also good. Highly recommend if you are on a relaxed itinerary.
The next day morning around 10:30 we reached Aswan and was helped with the local travel agent to check in at Aswan. We started sight seeing around 3 pm and covered Philae temple and Aswan Dam. We had to travel in small boat to reach the Philae temple, most of the boatmen are the native Nubian people. If you have time you could visit the Nubian village also but we gave it a skip. Aswan is the starting point for the Egyptian history and culture, and as move North you will find how the culture grew it terms of richness along the river banks. For this reason, the cruise is highly recommended.
The next day was an early start with the cabs waiting at 2:45 am since we wanted to visit the famous Abu Simbel. Its a 3 hour drive one way to Abu Simbel from Aswan and its almost the Sudan border. When you reach and see the marvel of the Temples there, you would feel the long drive and early start are so much worth. We spent almost 2-3 hours there to see both the King Ramses temple and the small temple for Hathor and Nefertari. Highly recommend visiting this temple.
From Abu Simbel, we were directly guided to the Nile Cruise which starts from Aswan and all the way to Luxor. We did 3 night 4 day Nile Cruise which sails through Aswan, Kom ombo, Edfu, Esna and gets disembarked at Luxor. The 4 day cruise was relaxing and it was a great experience to cruise along the Nile. Out of all the places Luxor was impressive in terms of temples. We covered both east bank and west bank which has valley of the tombs, Luxor temple and Karnak temple. Each temple was magnificent in terms of grandeur and architecture. Also the entertainment and food in the cruise was enjoyable. We did the full board with breakfast, lunch and dinner and we did have a good experience.
After Luxor, we booked a bus to Hurghada near the Red Sea, we stayed there for 3 days to relax in the Resorts and for the mid sea activities. We stayed in Hilton Resort on half board basis. I have always loved dolphin watching in mid sea and the main reason we wanted to visit Hurghada for this. We booked swimming with the Dolphins in Viator, it was a full day activity with lunch and it costed only around Rs. 2000 for each person. They will come to your resort, pick up by 8 am and start the ship around 9 am. First we visited the area where we could swim with the Dolphins and we saw huge number of Dolphins. After that lunch was served on board and then we were taken for snorkeling. By evening we were docked up in the shore and dropped back at the hotel.
After Hurghada, we returned back to Cairo, stayed there for 2 days before our trip back to India. At Cairo we stayed as a home stay by AirBnb (highly recommended) and visited the Khan al khaili market for shopping for a whole day. We shopped till we dropped there and got so many souvenirs, if you like chandeliers or lamps this is one place which you must visit. Or just visit to soak in their culture.
Overall this trip costed about ~80-85k per person. Few things we did to make it cheaper:
1. We booked tickets 6 months earlier, we booked it through Kuwait Airways which we got a deal of about 22k per person
2. Most of the resorts at Hurghada have an online sale, we got a deal in Hilton website for their suite room with half board for 3 days 4 nights ~20k for two people. The only catch was, it was non refundable and the sale was 4 months earlier. So if you keep looking at deals you can strike something cheaper for a good experience
3. We booked our local site seeing through an agent called ETB tours in Egypt, they did the Pyramids sight seeing, Train ticket booking, Stay at Aswan and also the Nile Cruise (Semiramis 1 Nile Cruise). I worked with almost 10 agents and found ETB to be cheaper and cost effective. Their service was also good. For the above bookings it costed around 40k per person. Again we booked this almost 4 months back so we found this cheaper.
4. We booked buses from Luxor to Hurghada and back to Cairo from Hurghada through Go Bus. We booked the Elite and Elite Plus service which was comfortable for the 3-4 hour journey we did. And it was cheap, both the ways costed around RS. 1500
5. We stayed at Mr. Magued's place at Cairo through AirBnb. If you ever visit Cairo, I would strongly recommend staying at Mr. Magued's. He is one of the best host you will ever meet and he is so passionate about travel and help you with all you need in Cairo. The place is cozy and has a classy touch to it with a garden in the back yard where you can enjoy your evening tea. For 3 nights it costed around 10k for 2 people.
6. Most of the places we stayed covered all meals like Nile Cruise, the night train and Resort at Hurghada. So we spent very less on meals and it was way cheaper in Egypt for meals. We would have hardly spent 2k for all the meals put together. We took uber in Cairo and even uber was cheaper in cairo and maybe costed around Rs. 500 for all the trips we took.
7. Shopping in Khan al Khalili was also cheaper, both husband and I would have shopped for around 5k together for all the lamps, antiques and wood work we got.
8. Visa costed around 3k from Chennai per person
Hope this helps many people when they plan for a trip to Egypt :)
