How to book a tour to go to Cairo, Egypt – meeting in the airport – the tours are highly flexible – where we stayed – view of the Great Pyramid from our hotel – our excursions – the Great Pyramids – Memphis – Islamic Cairo – Coptic Cairo – Nile Dinner Cruise with whirling dervish shows and belly dancing – prices and perks.
My parents still live in Moscow, so every year I do my best to spend some time with them. Sometimes they come to see us, sometimes we meet in other countries. This allows us to not just be hosts, but to travel and see new places as well. In 2018 our annual meeting was scheduled to be in Crete, so Michael and I decided to build a trip around it, and in the end, besides Crete, ended up traveling to Cairo, Athens, Mykonos and Santorini.
I have been to Egypt several times before, but it was so long ago that I really looked forward to doing it again. Needless to say, Michael anticipated the trip with even more enthusiasm, since seeing the Pyramids was one of his bucket list items.
I didn’t remember much about Cairo, but I remembered that it was crazy! Last time I went there, the only traffic light was at the intersection near the President’s Palace. Now there are more, but not much more! This is where you can see a guy riding a donkey followed by a latest BMW model – what a city of contrasts!
Booking the Trip
Our itinerary only allowed four days in Cairo, so instead of going by ourselves (the way we usually travel), we decided to buy a tour. During my online research I found a company, called Memphis Tours, chose an appropriate tour (5 day Cairo Short Break tour, where day 1 and 5 are used for arrival and departure and 3 days in the middle had activities), and wrote them a letter.
“No problem, they said. Just send us your flight details and a 25% deposit”. Really? So easy? In the process of booking the flight we discovered that if we move the trip only 1 day back, the flights are a lot cheaper. So we wrote them “Our flight changed. Will those new dates be ok?” “Yes, no problem!”. It was almost too good to be true. But the reviews on different traveling web-sites and forums were great, so we booked the tour.
And boy, we didn’t regret for one minute!!
Now, it needs to be mentioned that I am not affiliated with Memphis Tours, and I do not get any benefits for recommending this company. I am merely a happy traveler who wants to share the experience and hopefully help fellow travelers have a great trip.
The Tours are Highly Flexible
Mohamed, our coordinator, met us at the airport, and explained our itinerary and answered all our questions. The good thing about private tours is that if you want to skip, let’s say, “shopping stops”, you can do it without any problem. Don’t skip too many of them, because a lot of them also have museums and even little shows to demonstrate how they make papyrus or carpets. It is not only entertaining, but very educational and you don’t have to buy anything (we did buy some awesome essential oils).
Also, if you want to dedicate more time to a place, or see something more in detail, you can do so, as well. While you still have your basic itinerary, you can tailor the details to your liking. If you want to see something that is not in the program, like a tour to another city, for example, Alexandria, or even to fly to a more remote destination for just one day, Memphis tour will assist you in buying tickets and making sure you arrive on time. We wanted to go for a Nile cruise with belly dancing, and we got it!
Where We Stayed in Cairo
Mohamed brought us to our hotel and honestly, we didn’t believe what we saw: The Great Pyramid was towering just behind the fence! At night, enjoying a kebab with a glass of Sakara Gold, we watched a light show on its ancient walls.
Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel and Spa hotel is just incredible. It is a part of a famous chain of 5-star hotels all around the world. Beautiful modern rooms, several restaurants and entertainment every night. We especially loved belly dancers!
The hotel also has its own hookah lounge with an open veranda, where I spent several evenings, enjoying beautiful warm weather.
It is Good to Have a Driver!
One thing I was definitely happy for was that we had a driver. Driving in Cairo is not for the faint-hearted, for sure! Additionally, you can never know how long it would take you to go somewhere, because traffic is very unpredictable. If we didn’t have a driver, we would most definitely be late for our Nile Cruise! Cairo does have a pretty good subway system, and according to numerous tourists, it is rather crowded, but pretty safe. However, an opportunity to have a personal driver is a lot more desirable.
Our Excursions with Memphis Tours
Included in our tour program was:
DAY ONE:
- a full day Pyramid tour. Besides, you can have a scenic camel ride in the desert, surrounding the Pyramids, and take great photos! (the camel rides are extra but your tour guide makes sure you get the right price)
- Besides the Giza Plateau, you get to see the oldest Egyptian pyramid: the Pyramid of Djoser in Sakkara and its surroundings.
DAY TWO:
The next day we had a tour of the city and its surrounding, such as
- Old Memphis and its museum
- Islamic Cairo, including Saladin Citadel (oh, what crazy and bloody times it’s seen!) which is the home of the gorgeous Alabaster Mosque.
- Carpet factory and shop, where you can see how the famous hand-made carpets are made.
- Essential oils store, which is a big trade item in the country. Even the world-famous perfume companies buy their oils in Egypt.
- Papyrus store and museum, where you can see how papyrus is made and a big collection of amazing papyrus art.
- Coptic Cairo, that includes the Hanging Church and Ben Ezra Synagogue, and the street you walk, according to the Bible, is the same street the Holy Family rode with baby Jesus on their way from Israel, running from King Herod.
- Old Bazaar
- the Cairo Museum.
DAY THREE:
The third day was saved for any optional activities. You can just hang around your beautiful hotel, take a trip to Alexandria, or book any other optional tour.
Our guide Emad actually studied ancient Egyptian, and he even taught us a bit how to read hieroglyphs!
The Optional Nile Dinner Cruise
As an optional tour, we decided to book a Nile dinner cruise, where Michael got to dance with the belly dancer! That was, possibly, the highlight of the trip for him! Haha. Boys will be boys!
The dinner and the entertainment were excellent: besides the belly dancer, we listened to live traditional music and watched the whirling dervish show. Beautiful dance!
Prices and Perks
All in all, the tour was $369 per person (please double check for any changes on the Memphis Tours website) and included:
- the stay at Le Meridien
- all the transfers including the airport transfer with a personal driver
- lunches at different restaurants (breakfast was included at the hotel)
- tickets to all the monuments (except a couple of specific things like camel rides or access to the Mummy Room at the Cairo Museum)
- an English speaking tour guide and assistance hotline (via WhatsApp).
More than that, Emad
- made tons of pictures of us, absolutely free
- negotiated with camel handlers, which in itself can be tricky. There are famous stories when a tourist would be given a price, and a camel handler would take him into the desert and say “the price was one way. Now this is the price to come back”. The price to get back would be three times higher! For us a 40 minute ride with stopping for pictures cost us $25 each.
Yes, a lot of tourists can go to Cairo by themselves and, as they say, it’s not really dangerous, if you follow simple precautions (like not walking the streets at night, especially if you are a woman), but I know for sure, that if we tried to find things on our own, it would take us a lot more time, and probably cost a lot more! Only thanks to Memphis Tours, we could see so much in only 4 days, and still be on time for our flight out. Highly professional, knowledgeable, courteous, cool and fun to be around. Thank you, guys and girls from Memphis tours, for making our stay unforgettable!
Book a tour with Memphis Tours
