Best base for visiting the Pyramids, museums around Cairo?

Question

Heard Cairo is not a great place to stay at, and the likes of Sharm el sheikh, despite having good reports, is too far to travel from. So any resorts within,say, 100 miles of the sights?

Answer 1

Cairo is very different from Sharm, Cairo is a city, congested, very commercial and those who visit cairo do so either for business or to visit the pyramids, sphinx & Cairo museusm.

In general there are 2 types of tourists that visit egypt.

1- Recreational tourists - those looking for fun, sun, sand, sea and lots pf partying and they go to Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada or Gouna.
2- Tourists interested in seeing ancient egyptian monuments and they usually visit Cairo, Luxor, Aswan etc

There are no resorts in Cairo and vicinity, all types of hotels that cater to different needs. So you will be able to find all the Hiltons, Sheratons, Conrads, 4 seasons etc but no resorts.

If you are based in sharm and u want to visit, I strongly suggest you book a 2 day trip with a travel agency. They will do all the donkey work and save you a lot of effort. Cairo is huge and moving around such a big city is not easy and requires a great deal of time managment, a travel agency will make life easy for you.

Answer 2

The answers above are good, however, I can give you personal experience. When they ask you to stay in Giza, know that Giza is scarcely differentiable from Cairo - distance wise.

I stayed at the Gawharet Al-Ahram hotel, also known as the Husa Pyramids hotel. It's a 15-20minute walk from the pyramids! It's also a 20minute drive to Tahrir Sq. [Ministry of the Interior] which you might be visiting, and which is just beside the major museum in Cairo. The hotel is also about 30mins from the Citadel of Mohammed Ali where you'll find about 3/4 museums and 2/3 mosques of exceeding historical interest.

The hotel is relatively cheap for foreigners. I paid $30/night and got a buffet breakfast everyday. A taxi to the museum/citadel should cost you about 5USD. A trip to the pyramids will cost about 30-35 USD plus your camel!

If you're coming from switzerland/sweden or some other prim & proper place, Cairo may be raucous. If you're coming from any majorly populated city, Cairo will fit you like a glove! Btw, I'm black and I'd never been to an arab country before!

Answer 3

Cairo may be the capital of Egypt and among the biggest cities in Africa and the Middle East and a great place to visit; learn more with hotelbye . On the Nile stream, Cairo is famous for its record, preserved in the incredible ancient Islamic town and Coptic websites in Old Cairo. The Egyptian Museum in the hub of area is crucial see, with its numerous Ancient Egyptian artefacts because number visit to Cairo could be total without a stop by at the Giza Pyramids, and to the regional Saqqara Pyramid Complex. In Cairo you can see: The Pyramid of Cheops (also named the Great Pyramid or Pyramid of Khufu), the largest chart of the Giza class, and their inside of narrow passages may be investigated, although there isn't significantly to see, except a plain tomb chamber with an clear sarcophagus. Right behind the Great Pyramid could be the Solar Vessel Museum, which features one of many ceremonial solar barques unearthed in the region that's been carefully repaired to their unique glory. More south on the plateau is the Pyramid of Chephren (also referred to as the Pyramid of Khefre), that has an internal canal place which can be entered.

Answer 4

The best is to stay for 2 or 3 days in Cairo to make the visits then leave to enjoy Sharm.
Cairo is full of good things, but very crowded and polluted. Even residents of Cairo are looking to travel away from it. In case you like old areas and open museums, you have no choice then Cairo has it all.

Answer 5

yes i agree Cairo is horrendous, its traffic is crazy, but there is not really a close resort, the best place to stay is probably Giza ( as most people say above) it is a suburb about 1 hour from the airport and museum but right next to where the famous pyramids are. there are a number of hotels around there, the ones i have stayed in are the mena house literally on the door step of the pyramids, it used to be the hunting lodge of the kings and i loved it there, but i was staying in the main building. most rooms are outside in purpose built blocks. The gardens are lovely and there are some very nice restaurants there. the original parts of the building are super, the ceiling in reception is gold leaf i know cos i came back late one night and they were re-leafing it. then there is the meridian pyramids its very near maybe 10 mins walk away its very busy and fun place to stay lively also got some nice restaurants and fabulous french patisserie cafe though more casual there are no gardens but the pool area is nice and like the meridian there is something very surreal about lying on a sunbed looking at the great pyramid. Get a pyramid view room as the road side rooms can be very noisy, the traffic never stops.
finally there is the movenpic pyramids another 5 mins further on also very nice also nice restaurant, rooms in bungalows in lovely gardens.quieter but i found the beds very hard. all hotels are nice just a question of what you want. and all hotels welcome you to their restaurants whether you are staying there or not . from there you can also take taxis to saqarra or dashur or anywhere else you want to go (about one hour to saqarra) equally about one hour back into centre of cairo for all the sites there, im english and love egypt always found the people very friendly

Answer 6

Cairo may be finished in a unmarried day. the biggest issues there are the pyramids( open from 8am until eventually eventually 4pm) and the museum( open from 9am until eventually eventually 6.30pm) yet no longer in the course of Ramadan at the same time as all close at 3pm. The cruise is fantastic. To e book by an corporation isn't expensive in Egypt. with the cruise you'll visit Luxor, Aswan and the temples in between. all this with clarification by ability of a training guide. thus you want no lodges because the boat will be your inn.

Answer 7

stay in the centre by the train and bus stations loads of budget hotels walk in if you don't like walk out,
if like me all I need is a clean room and a clean comfy bed,2 days Cairo is enough , Giza sakara is a bit out hire a taxi for the day, not take me to giza and then another too where ever,price first hotel back to hotel.you can fly dow to Sharm, Luxor ,Hurgada, aswan 1hour flight, only busses to hurgada sharm, train and bus to Aswan Via Luxor 13hours travel at night saves hotel fees also we have the sleeper train on this run too, 50$ need any more info where to go what to do

Answer 8

it depends on the time you have in Egypt and what you want to see, we landed in Luxor and did all from there, Cairo the pyramids all the sights museum the Desert & Oasis Luxor to many things to mention, that was the first 6 days, then we went on the cruise to Aswan the following week, it was fantastic we paid 750$ each per trip that included everything all the tombs and temples the tour all of our food and hotels and cruise,the company.myegypt. just typed myegypt in the bar search. this came up they say all that they do.we fully recomend them.

Answer 9

I think that if you want to visit the pyramids it would be better to stay in Giza rather than Cairo! Hell of a journey!

I haven't been to Egypt and would love to go. I hope that you enjoy your holiday!

I will say that when we went to Austrailia, my Dad asked us if there was anything that we really wanted to see. He lives in Queensland and I said that the Barrier Reef would be good - but we should have booked a stop-over at Cairns before we finally landed in Brisbane. Our little country is so small - we just don't realise what distances you have to travel in others. I didn't even bother mentioning Ayres Rock!

Answer 10

what can i say fozio said it all. Cairo is huge, try to get a travel agency to book a short trip. There is no good base due to the huge size of cairo.