Egypt Trip

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We did guided tours for everything which I really recommend if you are either all women and/or don’t speak Arabic. Everyone was very welcoming and nice and we loved our tour guides and our time there. We never felt unsafe anywhere. There were a lot of posts and advice, including from tour guides, to make sure our belongings were secured on our person especially in the markets due to pickpockets but that is an issue in most cities.

Our (hotel?–Pyramid Planet Hotel) was out in Giza which isn’t as nice as Cairo itself but I made sure there were good reviews everywhere and the owners were very nice and helpful. The wife of the owner made us breakfast and the last morning she got up early (or at least was making breakfast early) for us to take to go to the airport. It was a small room but worked fine for how long we were staying. I did get messaged from what looked like the place and it was a scam which I was emailed about later that day. This seems to be fairly common as well though since a lot of bad reviews of places mentioned it. Whatsapp isn’t the most secure so if anything looks fishy or is asking for info and you aren’t sure, you can always just reach out to the place. Better safe than sorry. They will also imitate booking.com so look out for that https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294202-d23192217-Reviews-Pyramids_Planet_Hotel-Giza_Giza_Governorate.html 

We arrived late our first night which does work out when dealing with jetlag (it is my preferred time to fly in when dealing with long flights and time differences). Our place offered a $20 ride from the airport which seemed to be the going rate of most places and we went with that due to the ease of use and we had been told taxis may try to overcharge especially for obvious foreigners. We paid American dollars to the hotel and the taxi driver (yes, ours was paid in person in cash but that’s none of my business as to why😅)

First impressions of Cairo were that it is PACKED and that no one seems to sleep. There was a little boy getting his haircut in a shop and it was midnight. People were out everywhere at all times of the day. The driving was intense. They aren’t going super fast in most places but there is SO much honking and sometimes some light taps on cars. If you are ever crossing a street put your hand out and maneuver like you’ve never maneuvered before (don’t expect people to stop). I definitely do not recommend renting a car and driving here unless you are used to similar driving conditions.

And before you start seeing my pictures and potentially noticing repeat clothes, my aunt and I both lost our luggage so….it was a great time. Luckily, I had mentioned to pack extra clothes in our carry on bags too but it was still rough. It was NOT a good time with either airline I was trying to get in touch with. My luggage came back on our last day in Egypt and my aunt’s never got to us on our 5 week trip but it did luckily make it back home.

Next the tour took us to a hieroglyphs shop, papyrus shop, and an aromatherapy place and you guessed it, you are able to purchase things there. They will bargain a bit themselves at some of the places if you just seem hesitant but pricing wise really wasn’t bad especially if you are used to American tourist prices. The essential oils we got–we spent money on them but the amount we got was so much more than what it is to get that amount in the states. You do not HAVE to get anything though.

Then that night we went on a Nile Tour. It included dinner and entertainment. It was good though I was starting to put the lag in jet lag after a bit so I was ready for bed. https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g294201-d11464021-Private_Nile_River_Dinner_Cruise_in_Cairo-Cairo_Cairo_Governorate.html

Stay tuned for Day 2!

See below!

Everything I found when researching pointed to no so we did not. Most tourists were not wearing one either in Cairo or Alexandria. If you are going to any Mosques or smaller areas then you may want to have something just in case. I think being respectful when visiting someone’s place is the way to go if at all possible.

I, personally, wore longer pants and short sleeves; no tanks. I did see some foreigners around in shorts but again it’s a respecting culture thing and how you want to go about that. I think it’s nice to dress more conservatively but they do get a lot of tourists especially in Cairo and the pyramids. I chose some light material since it does get pretty hot there and felt fine. 

Per google it mainly says you CAN wear whatever but recommend more modest and for some sites/tours/any mosques will have to dress modestly and potentially cover your hair (a lot of tourist locations may have a head covering or something either for sale or to use so can check reviews as well).

Going to ANY other country and expecting people to speak English when it is not a native language is a very privileged idea though these days it will be pretty common. We chose to do guided tours for our stay just due to language and ease of getting around. All of our guides were great and some of the places we stopped at did have at least someone who spoke but I would not expect it anywhere. The markets probably have people who can speak enough to sell things to you as well. Google translate for menus and signs actually works well enough though if you need it. 
So we didn’t have any problems but I also don’t think we were in any situations where we would have.

Yes and this is info for Americans since that is my experience. You get them at the airport after leaving the plane and before baggage claim (was $25 for Americans, in cash, per person). I’m actually going to link this other blog since they have a lot of great info and pros and cons with online vs in person and who may need to do a different process: https://www.egyptadventurestravel.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-tourist-visa-to-enter-egypt-online-or-at-the-airport-upon-arrival

If you book tours or a hotel/place to stay they will most likely be using Whatsapp.
Google translate–you can take pictures of signs/menus and things and it will translate that too. Super useful.
Here’s another forum with some more depending on what you are planning to do as well: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294200-i9124-k14555773-Useful_apps_for_Egypt-Egypt.html

We just changed our phone plan to an international one since we would be gone so long and hitting multiple countries. I’ve used a sim before though in another country and it worked fine though numbers change so non iphone users or iphone to non iphone users may need to update some numbers for texts/calls. The info should be on the sim when you get it. Here are a couple of links for info on those:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294200-i9124-k14669413-ESim_or_Physical_Sim_and_when_to_buy-Egypt.html
https://esimcard.com/blog/is-esim-available-in-egypt/#:~:text=The%20major%20mobile%20carrier%20in,from%20global%20eSIM%20provider%20eSimCard.

Visit Aswan. Literally everyone asked if we were and told us we should so apparently it is a must go. 

The pyramids are amazing to see in person. It is mind boggling and even still doesn’t look real from a distance. You can go inside some of them but if you are claustrophobic or mobility isn’t great then I would probably skip that. It’s nice to say i’ve been in one now but honestly you wouldn’t be missing much and I went in the nicer one per my guide. 

Visit Alexandria

Food tours. Best way to know a place is through its food.

We stayed in Giza for cheap. If you want a nicer/more city of Cairo feel then I would recommend more of the Western hotels on the Nile.

I, personally, would spend more time in Alexandria and if I go back I would stay there instead of Cairo and just do like a day trip to the pyramids from Alexandria. Though, I would also look into staying in Aswan since it was mentioned so often. But I am a sucker for a beach stay so that could be why I like Alexandria so much. 

Airport is fine.Customs took about an hour and we got there 3 hours before our flight (7am on a Monday in June). We were flying over to Greece. Honestly, depending on your flight the line to check your bag may be worse but I bet if you ask someone where you are staying they may have an idea of how long things could take. 

Every person did get a small pat down after the metal detector which I was not prepared for so that was a fun surprise. Got very close to that lady.

Egyptair plane is nice but the customer service/tracing was lacking (as are most airlines when it comes to lost luggage it seems). I had to have them update the same information I was giving them multiple times because it didn’t seem to be updating in their system since they had old information basically every time I called. They wouldn’t contact the last airport we were at to see if the bags were there but I did manage to get United to do that though they had (supposedly) confirmation the bags were out of their hands at that point.  The people were nice and spoke great English but the actual tracing and information upkeep was terrible (though United also kind of sucked through this process too). If you are flying with anyone and checking luggage, I’d suggest having a bag tag so you can locate your luggage location yourself or not checking luggage at all. It was a nightmare.

I am not physically disabled so I don’t want to speak on the accessibility of Egypt as a whole though I do recall a lot of uneven paths and crowded areas (confirmed here: https://wheelchairtravel.org/cairo/sidewalks/). I did go look for some other posts that have info on Egypt and accessibility so I hope they are helpful if you somehow got here first! https://wheeltheworld.com/accessible-travel/egypt
and https://wheelchairtravel.org/cairo/
and https://curbfreewithcorylee.com/2023/09/25/wheelchair-accessible-cairo-egypt/