Are you headed to Egypt soon? Boy, do I have some recommendations for you. My boyfriend and I recently returned from an amazing time on the African continent but not without a few hiccups!
1. My first tip for you is to arrive before your tour begins. If you can allow 1 day of rest before your official tour begins it will help you get onto their time zone. We had a short night of rest after our 30 hours of travel before our tour began and we didn't have a break until 5 days later. My mom's golden rule of vacation is to take a rest day in the middle of your trip to just sleep or just do nothing.
2. When you arrive be sure to find a reputable ATM and get the local currency. Definitely learn the conversion for your currency into theirs so that you can better haggle and pay for tours. They will always take Egyptian pounds but they could be more hesitant with anything else. Some places would take euros, pounds, dollars, and cards but these places are easier to find in Cairo.
3. The Great Pyramids of Giza were definitely the highlight of the tour and we started with them. I definitely recommend this because you will likely fly into Cairo so it will be super hard to miss them. The pyramids are also a great place to start if you are wanting to follow history. The Step Pyramid, Memphis, and the Great Pyramids are all very close to each other and start the story of the earliest dynasties of Egypt.
4. I would highly recommend learning about the history of Egypt before you travel there. I thought I had a decent knowledge but really wanted to learn it first hand from the Egyptians themselves. This kinda backfired for me because we were moving from temple to temple so quickly that I would forget how one would lead to the next. I also had a hard time understanding some of the Arabic accents of our tour guides and knowing more about the history, in general, would have helped me connect the dots better.
5. Abu Simbel! First, let's start with one of the most famous temple complexes in Egypt. This is a must for anyone going to Egypt but I would hesitate you do much else on the same day. I had a full-day tour booked but opted in for a couple of add-on tours. When the day arrived the tour guide said we were starting at 4:15 am and driving for almost 3 hours! It was a lot to handle on a relaxing vacation. We arrived at the temples and only had an hour to look around before loading back up and heading the 3 hours back to Aswan. That part not only wiped us out but we also took a boat ride to Philae temple and another boat ride to a Nubian village later that day. If you are hoping for a more relaxing version of what we did I would recommend 2-3 days in Aswan to see all the major temples and experience the town.
6. My last tip for booking your tour is splurging on a cruise down the Nile. We had a beautiful time floating down the river and experiencing the countryside at a slow pace. I would also recommend having a tour guide with you on the boat. This was a lucky purchase with our tour package and really made it easy to have the when and where taken care of for us.
One extra tip before you go is to look at websites like TourRadar and Viator for well-reviewed tours. After we had arrived we talked to some other travelers who had gone on an overnight camping trip to the White Desert. It looked like such an awesome experience but we did not have enough time in our stay to add it in.
Let me know in the comments if this helped you and what your travel itinerary looks like! I hope you have the trip of a lifetime!
If you want a few more tips check out this blog.
Stay Curious,
Karli
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