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Wednesday 31 October 2012

Egypt: The Itinerary


Egypt. The land of the prophets. The land of the pharaohs. Pyramids. Ancient temples. Mosques. Salah al-Din. Who wouldn’t want to go? Egypt has been on my list since like forever so when a friend of mine, JC, texted me, “How about Egypt?” I simply replied, “When?”

I first met JC just a few months earlier in Athens, Greece, when we were climbing up the hill to go and see the Parthenon in Acropolis. The next day we went with different tour groups to Delphi but we both got there at around the same time we ended up walking around the place together. On the third day, we decided to do an afternoon trip together to Cape Sounion to see the ancient temple of Poseidon. We have kept in touch since then. The trip to Egypt means that we’re going to meet for the second time and on a different continent altogether. How cool is that, aye?

Okay, back to Egypt trip. JC and I both agreed that our trip is going to be a free-and-easy one so we arranged everything on our own. JC, being the nerd and hoarder of travel guidebooks ( B-D ), suggested Cairo and Luxor for the 6-day trip. Cairo, mainly for the obvious, i.e. the Pyramids and the mummies, and Luxor, for Valley of the Kings. We booked our flights into Cairo (JC flying in from the States via Spain and I from Dubai) so that we would arrive at around the same time. We did the same with our flights out of Egypt. We scoured for hotels on the internet and decided on 4 different hotels. Yes, you read that right, 4 different hotels, haha! We tried to book two round trip train tickets from Cairo to Luxor via our first hotel in Cairo but unfortunately we couldn’t get hold of any tourist tickets even when we asked about it one week in advance. Apparently they’re sold out well in advance we ended up booking tickets with Egypt Air instead to fly between the two cities.

All these arrangements were done prior to our arrival and we managed to come up with a rough itinerary as follows:

Itinerary   6 Days and 7 Nights

Day 1 Cairo/ Giza
+ Arrive in Cairo in the evening
+ Head to Giza from airport

Day 2 Giza/ Cairo
+ * The Pyramids & Giza, incl. Pyramids Light & Sound Show
+ Depart for Cairo City Centre by taxi in the evening
+ Hotel: Novotel Cairo El Borg on Zamalek  [ Check rates & availability ]

Day 3 Cairo/ Luxor
+ * Egyptian Museum, Tahrir Square, Zamalek Island
+ Depart for Luxor by Egypt Air flight in the evening
+ Arrive in Luxor in the evening
+ Hotel: Sheraton Luxor Resort [ Check rates & availability ]

Day 4  Luxor
+ * Valley of the Kings, felluca ride on the Nile
Hotel: Sheraton Luxor Resort

Day 5

Luxor/ Cairo
+ * Hot air balloon ride, Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple
+ Depart for Cairo by Egypt Air flight in the evening
+ Arrive in Cairo in the evening
+ Hotel: Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah [ Check rates & availability ]

Day 6 Cairo
+ * Coptic Church, Masjid al-Azhar (Mosque), Khan el-Khalili, Old Islamic Cairo 
Hotel: Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah

Day 7 Cairo
+ * Salah al-Din Citadel, Tahrir Square
+ Depart for flight out of Egypt in the evening


Itinerary Footnote
Staying true to our plan to have a free-and-easy holiday in Egypt, our original itinerary included only the cities and name of the hotels, minus the places of interests. All places of interests listed above (apart from the Pyramids and Valley of the Kings) were only decided either on the day itself or the day before. They however have been included in the itinerary above for easy reference and ideas for readers looking for a (somewhat) complete itinerary for these two cities in Egypt.


Read More:
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For other www.RambleAndWander.com blog entries on Egypt, click here.


21 comments:

Comments and feedback are always appreciated. So do leave one or two if you have the time. Thank you!

  1. Marleenazubaida Laily31 October, 2012

    More photos pls...u take such wonderful pictures, i stare at them and imagine myself there...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there, Marleena! Thanks for the compliment :-) I do intend to put up a lot of photos that I took in Egypt so do look out for future entries on Egypt here :-)

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  2. Tidak mustahil i akan menjejakkan kaki ke sini esok2 luse, terima kasih diatas perkongsian ini wahai tokeh kurma!

    Hot air ballon tu bapa rate nya?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No problem, wahai tokeh errr goyang kaki work from home! :-)

      The hot air balloon ride cost us USD100 each but you can actually get a cheaper ride for around USD60-70 per person.

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  3. MeiiNorizam31 October, 2012

    many thanks for sharing the itinerary tips! (can you share the cost too?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My pleasure, Meii :-) Will certainly try to do that every time I cover each specific place in future entries. So do check them out later :-)

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  4. Must be very majestic, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is. It's everything that I imagined it to be, and more :-)

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  5. BEST! tunggu gambar

    p/s : silent reader yg teruja bila nampak perkataan Egypt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Hidayah! Thanks for being a reader albeit a silent one :-) InsyaAllah akan upload banyak gambar daripada trip ni. Memang trip ke Egypt ni one of the best I have ever had :-)

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    2. Terima kasih di atas perkongsian saudara.

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    3. It's my pleasure, Encik Janggel :-)

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  6. Wow..7 days in Cairo..! I always feel that Cairo is a mysterious place to be... Have Cairo in mind for next year actually, but only as a stopover... i know the short visit doesn't do justice to the beauty of Egypt, though...he..he..Anyway, will wait for yr amazing photos...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Farikica! Yes, I felt 6 days was just nice for those 2 cities. We wanted to include Alexandria as well and travelled even further down south to Abu Simbel but that would be really pushing it.

      A stopover in Cairo could be a nice way for an introduction to Egypt. But do make sure that you give at least 3 or 4 days for the stopover. Otherwise you'd probably be rushing here and there, and that _might_ not be a fun & memorable experience :-)

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  7. Egypt oh Egypt! Don't know when lah can I visit this mysterious place. Will check out this when I really really really *cross fingers* going there someday. Can I request another postcard, maybe? Hehehe.. (In exchange for fridge magnets, I did save for you a few from my trips =P)

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Diana! I do believe that Egypt should be in every traveller's travel bucket list ;-) A postcard? I'm already back from the trip, haha! But if you like, I'll check if I still have any extra postcard from there. If not, maybe a fridge magnet? No promises though. Have to check it out first. :-)

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  8. Egypt. A mystical place that I would love to visit someday. :)

    mt
    Meitzeu @ Blog

    Meitzeu @ Facebook

    Meitzeu @ Twitter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there, Meitzeu! Thanks for dropping by. Am sure you'll get the opportunity to visit Egypt soon :-)

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  9. hebat, kalah travel agent tu bro.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Azuan. Tapi tak sehebat orang yang dapat sambut hari jadi dalam kapalterbang, heheh! ;-)

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  10. Egypt is mysterious just like you. I need to save a big one for this trip.

    ReplyDelete
 
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