Highlights of Egypt

Customer Reviews

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  Lyndall

  · September 17th, 2024
  This tour was busy but exciting, comprehensive and a great way to see many places in Egypt. We chose this tour especially because it went to Alexandria as well as visiting all of the iconic sites in Egypt. The optional activities were also excellent, offering a further insight into the history and lives of Egyptian people. We especially loved Luxor and the many sights plus the very friendly locals. Cairo and Alexandria were also both excellent mainly because of our guide Walid in Cairo whose depth of knowledge and passion for the sites we visited was exceptional. Both Ahmed in Aswan and Ahmed in Luxor were very good and also very knowledgeable and flexible with our itinerary when required. Our drivers also were excellent especially Hamdy in Cairo and Abdul in Luxor. Thank you all for making this a memorable experience. Lyndall and Robert Smith (Australia)
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Dear Lyndall & Robert Many thanks for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. We are thrilled you enjoyed your adventure. Your feedback made our day and we are so happy that you had a good experience with us. We are looking forward... Show more
  
  Trip date: September 2024
• NL

  Nagwa

  · April 28th, 2024
  Me and my family had an amazing tour in Cairo with the knowledgeable, decent and experienced Mr. Waleed Saad. He truly made our tour special. We really enjoyed visiting the pyramids, Salaheldin Citadel , prince Mohammed Aly palace, Almoez street, Khan Elkhalili , and Cairo tower. The tour was organized , we got to visit a lot of beautiful touristic sites.
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Many thanks for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. We are thrilled you enjoyed your adventure. Your feedback made our day and we are so happy that you had a good experience with us. We are looking forward to welcoming you here... Show more
  Trip date: April 2024
• DM

  Dragomir

  · April 28th, 2024
  Overall we didn't have a great time, but that's not entirely due to the tour itself, so here are the details: There are two important things to know first 1. There will be a lot of free time (like half the tour is free time), in our case mostly wasted because we were told about the free time the moment it started, which leaves you literally minutes to choose an activity that is still arrangeable. We missed a few that we were very keen on doing but it was already too late to book as they need some preparation. So ask ahead as much as possible when and what you will be doing so that you can plan, almost all our days ended at noon and we had the afternoon free. The days with the internal flights are also free if there's nothing else written in the itinerary for them despite them not being indicated as such. 2. Everything is expensive and everyone will expect a hefty tip for whatever minuscle task they have completed for you or however good they have fulfilled the thing you have already paid them for. Something a guy told me at the airport when we arrived and I didn't pay attention to but should have: there is absolutely nothing free in this country. If someone is nice to you, they want money. And they will disturb you about it all the time. So, in essence there were these three problems: not enough information around the itinerary, too much money-sucking vampires and everything having a hefty tourist price. My rating for the trip is based on all three despite only the first one being directly connected to the tour. The following is detailing some things that I would have loved to be aware of before experiencing them. 1. The tipping problem is on a whole different level here. I've been to plenty other non-European trips already and I was still not prepared for this. Everyone including the people you've already paid will expect a tip to the extent that plenty of them will tell you the "minimum" tip they are expecting, or ask you more than a few times during the day or stare at you angrily if you don't give them one or if the tip is too low. Let's face it, not everything deserves a tip and we as tourists are responsible to not encourage that expectation. Despite us being there, it doesn't mean we haven't saved money to be able to be there and that we have come with a bag of cash that would love to throw at random people, half of which are so lazy that you would wonder why you even paid them in the first place. 2. The itinerary is mixed, half of it are great places, half of it you'll wonder who wants to see this thing anyway. You can do minor adjustments as far as we saw, but you have to insist in them. My mistake was that I usually go on a trip without checking the details too much as I want to be surprised here and there by not knowing exactly what I'll see and this was a bad idea here as the surprises were mostly disappointing. So a tip from me: the Arabic world is a place where you have to know exactly where they'll take you. 3. Prices are whatever people are in the mood for. Negotiations are inevitable and you will never get a price that isn't a multiple of the goods' actual value. Things were European level priced. Go to a local Carrefour to do a quick comparison and also look at the gasoline prices and you'll know what I am talking about. 4. I don't want to repeat what other reviews have already explained, so I urge you to read other reviews, especially negative ones, and I will do a quick recap in this section: they will take you to a few tourist trap stores for whatever (cloths, papyruses, essential oils, you name it); you won't be given too much info about how safe it is to walk around, so ask as much as possible or avoid as much as possible going without a local anywhere; we skipped lunch entirely as they were either trying to take us to expensive tourist restaurants or weren't happy that we asked for fast food instead; careful with the food, if the place looks shady don't test your stomach's endurance; 5. There's a lot of trash on the streets, piles, dead animals, we even saw a few dead horses lying around near the walls that surround the Giza pyramids area, a lot of stray dogs with flees, a lot of beggars, various smells that I don't want to mention Overall the amazing temples and pyramids and places that we saw were greatly overshadowed by the constant asking for more money, the overpriced everything and massive, I mean massive, quantities of tourists with super expensive filming tech that wanted to film every single hieroglyph symbol in every temple.
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Thank you so much for your review. We takes these matter very seriously to help improve our services Best Regards Salwa
  Trip date: April 2024
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  Wael

  · April 16th, 2024
  Very nice tour, profesional, knowledgeable tour guide with friendly attitude. It was really amazing 👏
  

  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Dear Wael, Many thanks for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. We are thrilled you enjoyed your adventure. Your feedback made our day and we are so happy that you had a good experience with us. We are looking forward to welcoming... Show more
  Trip date: April 2024
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  Nevine

  · February 17th, 2024
  Overall excellent. Well organised & some flexibility in itinerary was allowed. Very knowledgeable guides (Walid in Cairo an expert) . Drivers handled traffic in busy Cairo extremely well. My guide in Aswan Walid helped organise my luggage to be delivered to Nile cruise ship after it was left behind by the domestic airline. My guide in Luxor Ali not only knew his facts but delivered the info in a fun way. The hotels were comfortable enough (the Azal in Cairo in particular) & so was the Cruiser. Do ask if your sightseeing entry tickets are included in your package so you are prepared. Some early morning starts. Try to include Philae Temple, Karnak, Sakkarra & the new Egypt Museum if you have time. The Nile cruise is very relaxing.
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Dear Nevine, We are so grateful for your review. On behalf of Ancient Egypt Tours Team thank you very much and hope to see you soon
  Trip date: February 2024
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  Cornelia

  · January 30th, 2024
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  I sent a long and comprehensive feedback to Salwa from Ancient Egypt Tours a week after our return and although she was reliable with advice and support during the trip, she did not respond to my feedback for two weeks, which I find very unfortunate. If she had responded, my final rating here on Tourradar might have been a bit better. My feedback in a nutshell: 1) The organization of Ancient Egypt Tours was always fast and reliable. The planning by the various freelance guides was of varying quality. Most of the time, the program plan was adhered to and the one or other store was visited to demonstrate the production of typical products, with the option to buy. We were a small group the whole time, except for the excursion to Abu Simbel. This was done with a kind of shared cab and both the drivers and the time calculation and support on site were subterranean, for which Salwa apologized after feedback from our fellow travellers and initiated measures. You need a lot of energy for the whole tour (we had to get up at 4 or 5 a.m. several times), good nerves (chaotic traffic, noisy, dirty cities, spontaneous changes of plan) and a stable digestion (if that helps). The guides often plan lunch for 20 USD per person. We only had this once. These are definitely tourist prices where the guides make money. General motto: Everyone who is friendly to you in Egypt expects to be paid for it. 2) Costs In addition to the costs for the tour, the journey to and from Cairo, the visa and the domestic flights, you will of course have to eat there, keep tips to hand and pay the entrance fees, which amount to around €200 per person. (A credit card is required as a means of payment for most museums). 3) Hotels 3a) In Cairo we always stayed at the Pyramids Park Resort Giza. The service was friendly but each room had its own peculiarities and especially for the last night being taken there for about 1 hour from Cairo airport to sleep there briefly and then drive back to the airport meant unnecessary frustration. 2b) In Alexandria we stayed in a stylish, central hotel with a nice roof terrace but a small room with poor noise insulation to the outside. 3c) In Aswan we stayed in a well-kept hotel complex on an island (boat from/to the center) with a beautiful view. 3d) The ship was the M/S Monte Carlo with comfortable rooms, great food and a nice crew. We are undecided whether to recommend it or not. I think once you have read the feedback you can decide for yourself.
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Hi Cornelia, Thanks for sharing your experience. and we will work on improving our services to meet your satisfaction
  Trip date: December 2023
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  Gabriel

  · January 2nd, 2024
  Overall experience was good. We were with Ancient Egypt tour as an operator. Salwa is an excellent organizer. We had 4 different guides: Walid in Cairo (excellent guide), Gabriel in Upper Egypt (an excellent guide too), Marwa in Alexandria (an ok guide) and another Walid at Abu Simbel, which is a guide a won't recommend. Excellent hotel rooms at Alexandria, Windsor Palace Hotel, at Elephantine Island (Pyramisa Hotel). In Cairo, the Giza Park Resort is a good hotel, but you need to get the rooms changed if they place you in a room with problems (strong room smell, works nearby the room, room placement next the highway, although the hotel has plenty of available rooms). Each time we had a room problem (we stayed 3 different period of times there), the issues were solved. One bad point, this hotel is far away from Cairo downtown (it is a 45 mins Uber ride). Food was excellent anywhere at the hotels and restaurants the guides got us. Do not book night dinner on the Nile. It is a typical tourist trap, way overpriced. Andrea Nile tour operator will even give you little food, although it was a buffet (but you needed to be served, even by queuing at the buffet line). The tour visits were fine everywhere. We had very good drivers everywhere during our tour. We were a small tour of 4 people in Cairo and 6 people in Upper Egypt and Alexandria, as well as on the Nile cruise. The Nile cruise was ok as rooms (nothing outstanding or special), good room and dinner service too. We had tickets for the limited visit at new Grand Archeological Museum, which we highly recommend it to be visited. Use Uber in Alexandria and Cairo. Very good and reliable service. Expect to be brought at some shops which you never asked for (jewelry, papyrus stores, rug stores, ceramic stores). I guess it is part of the tour deals with the government. I would highly recommend this tour. Key to the good experience is to be in constant dialogue with the tour organizer. That works very well. She was always there for us to fix issues. For example, we had to place like 5-6 calls at Cairo airport till we were able to meet our guide. The place (the airport) was extremely crowded when we arrived. The roads were all looking like parking spots ! Also she was prompt to our guide complaints at Abu Simbel and the guide was changed afterwards. I would recommend this tour. Again, do not be afraid to ask tons of questions to clarify the itinerary and the optional list. Do this before leaving home. We loved the overall Egypt tour experience. Thanks again for all your hard work to make this tour as pleasant as possible.
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Dear Gabriel, Many thanks for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. We are thrilled you enjoyed your adventure. Your feedback made our day and we are so happy that you had a good experience with us. We are looking forward to... Show more
  Trip date: December 2023
• CS

  Chad

  · December 27th, 2023
  Overall, a good experience. Some logistical problems, perhaps to be expected. Drivers AbduRachman and Ahmed in Cairo were great and became trusted friends. Guide Dina in Cairo was exceptional. I feel so fortunate to have had her share her knowledge and kindness with me.
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Hi Chad, Thank you so much for your great review. Hope to see you again Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Ancient Egypt Tours Team
  Trip date: December 2023
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  Andréia

  · November 1st, 2023
  Overall really good.
  

  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Hi Andreia, Many thanks for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. We are thrilled you enjoyed your adventure. Your feedback made our day and we are so happy that you had a good experience with us. We are looking forward to... Show more
  Trip date: October 2023
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  Heiko

  · October 29th, 2023
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  Since there were several tour guides on the tour, and probably for other reasons, the organization was not very good. for example, we were often picked up from the hotel much later than agreed. Because of 15 minutes I would not complain, but partly the delay was up to 1 hour. The travel price is also too high for the services offered. There were many additional costs that were not included. Although you know this at the moment of booking, but the total expenditure you know then but only at the end of the trip. Quite currently I have also seen with another tour operator that this round trip is offered significantly cheaper.
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  Ancient Egypt Tours commented on this review

  Hi Heiko, We appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Thanks for your honesty in sharing this with us. We are so sorry you are not satisfied with your experience. We are taking your feedback seriously and are looking into ways to ensure this... Show more
  Trip date: October 2023