Cairo

Anyone been there lately. Just wondering if anyone has any travel tips for the area. thanks

Cairo is Crazy crazy place. We were in Egypt for 10 days Dec 2010.
My wife says I caused the revolution? Lol
How many, how experienced, how long,what are you looking for?

There are ten of us going from our dive shop - all ages - married, single, young, seniors and all good friends. We fly into Cairo and will stay two nights. I think we will only want to explore the middle day. Mainly the pyramids - the museum might take longer than some want to spend - I read there some people were disappointed because many displays weren't clearly identified. We will be too tired on arriving so we will probably just want to hang out by the pool the first night(hopefully it will be warm enough). Then late morning on the third day we fly out and will be spending a week scuba diving on a live aboard yacht in the Red Sea.
I did ask the hotel about a guided tour to the pyramids and then said to wait and contact them a week before and they will arrange it.
We will fly back to Cairo midday and are staying at an airport hotel. Not sure if there is anything to do that evening close to the airport.
What do you mean by crazy place? good or bad?
I heard there is a dinner cruise on the Nile with belly dancers but our hotel is out by the pyramids so I think the travel time might be more than we want to spend - a hour each way if I figure right.
thanks for any help you can give me.

I was their in Jan 2010. I do not know what it is like now. I was on a Trafalger tour and our group stayed near the pyramids as well. I believe we were able to walk to the evening light show at the pyramids. It was worth it, but very cool in the evening. The desert gets cold at night in January.

Since you have a group of ten, it would be a good idea to get the hotel to arrange a tour for you.

I went a day ahead of the group and as I went to leave the hotel on the first morning to get a cab to the museum, the doorman arranged a driver for me the day before the group tour started and I went to the Cairo museum for about 2 hours, and visited the step pyramid, took a camel ride to a underground tomb (it was just me and a guide in the tomb). The driver also took me to a carpet factory and a papyrus factory. He makes money if I buy things which I did. I biggest issue was that the driver did not stop for lunch.

I did not care for the dinner cruise, and may have gotten some bad food there as well.

Thanks for your reply. I wasn't sure about the dinner cruise so I think we will take that off the list. Did you need Egyptian pounds to pay tips and other small charges? I wasn't able to order them through my brokerage firm - guess there isn't much of a need. There is a bank at our hotel but wanted some to give to the driver for our transfer from airport to the hotel. Do you remember if they take euros? I have lots left from our fall cruise.
You must have felt comfortable if you did the tours by yourself.

thanks

I remember the street vendors were glad to take US dollars. I am sure the drive would as well. Take lots of small US bills (1's and 5's). I am sure they would take Euros as well. If I got Egyptian pounds, I got them from the ATM at the hotel.

By the way, you have to pay an entry fee at the airport when you arrive. That is in US Dollars. That is in addition to getting a Egyptian visa, which I think you have to get ahead of time. I know I did.

You want to get small amounts of pounds early as you have to pay to use the bathrooms, even in the hotel. On my first night I only had US dollars, so I had to pay with that. It was 5 pounds to the dollar, an only cost one pound. Good luck getting change.

I only did one day by myself, but I felt safe with the driver the hotel doorman got for me. So I was not completely alone. The rest of the time I was with the tour group.

Rob,
what do you mean by having to pay for the bathroom at the hotel???? In the lobby? We are use to paying since we just returned from 5 weeks in the Med but never in a hotel.
We can get a 30 day visa at the airport for $25
Someone talked about an entry fee of $22 that we pay at airport but that might have been an old fee for the visa.
I always take small bills of all currency I carry. I don't want to be told they don't have change and not get change
thanks for the reply

Cairo is the only place I had to pay to use the hotel lobby bathroom. It was not like there was a lock on the door. I suppose I could have not paid the man, but I did not think I had that choice.

It's called Backshish (or Baksheesh): a gratuity, a tip or bribe paid to expedite service. The tourist is a vulnerable victim to this practice that is everywhere. Mark Twain wrote about it, "—and out of their infidel throats, with one accord, burst an agonizing and most infernal chorus: 'Howajji, bucksheesh! howajji, bucksheesh! howajji, bucksheesh! bucksheesh! bucksheesh!' I never was in a storm like that before."