If you wanted to see the pyramids and the main tomb sites in Egypt, where would you base yourself?

Question

Don't know whether to do cruise and hotel, or just base ourselves one place near to most things.
We are on a very tight budget so any suggestions? We were thinking of booking things ourselves over the internet as most tours through travel agents in UK are so expensive. We did this in Nepal and had a great time. Any sugggestions please?

Answer 1

Luxor
If you are on a very tight budget i would base my self in luxor, there are several small hotels there which are very reasonable as well as lots of cheap restaurants.
In luxor there are so many places to see you could spend a week there go out every day and still not see everything. Get your self a good guide book and then hire a local taxi to take you to the sites buy tickets your self and vsit what you want for as long as you want. its much more relaxng than going with a package tour anyway. Taxis are everywhere and you must agree your price befroe you go for the whole trip it will cost very little for a morning out, as little as 7 or as much as 15 depending on the number of tourists around for a morning, include a tip thats normal practice, or you can hire bikes take the local ferry and bike there, even cheaper. tickets into the places are between 20 egyptian and 60 thats about 2 to 6 pounds, each, you can visit the valley of the kings, queens, nobles, workman, the temples of rameses, seti, medinet habu, and deir el medina, (and there are others) on the west bank. the temples of karnak, luxor and the museum on the east bank. this list is by no means exhaustive.
if you took a cruise you would travel to aswan and also see a number of other temples,( Mostly ptolomaic edfu, kom ombo, philae, and abu simble by 4 hour coach ride or 30 min plane) where as in luxor most is new kingdom and some middle kingdom . the other big area is of course cairo where the pyramids are, but it is an hours flight or a day/night train it takes about 9 or 10 hours.
in cairo you would visit giza and the museum at a minimum, as long as you dont do this in ramadan you could in theory do this in one day, there are also many other things to see in cairo but these are the main ancient sites there.
i think most people seriously underestimate the amount to see in egypt and i would reccomend that you decide to stay in luxor and really get a good look at the sites there, and maybe take a trip to cairo, leaving the cruise for another visit. Unless you intend to stay a month or more you cannot see it all anyway as there is even more in many other places to see. i have only mentioned the reallly popular places. feel free to e mail if you have more questions. i do hope you enjoy yourselves. one other thing the weather out there is now getting really hot and will stay like that til about october, you will not want to site-see after about 11am most days its just too hot.

Answer 2

Cairo can be done in one day. The most important things there are the pyramids( open from 8am till 4pm) and the museum( open from 9am till 6.30pm) but not during Ramadan when all close at 3pm. The cruise is nice. To book via an agency is not expensive in Egypt. with the cruise you will visit Luxor, Aswan and the temples in between. all this with explanation by a guide. In this case you need no hotels since the boat will be your hotel.

Answer 3

we went with the same company twice in 1 year 1week Cairo and the oasis desert area and luxor, then went back last January did luxor again as there was so much to see and do and three days cruise to Aswan. both where excellent,
and best part was we never spent one penny more than the price they Quoted, unlike some companies i could mention. its only a small business, so you will get really well looked after as we where, try them www.myegypt.co.uk they really are good.

Answer 4

Cairo for the Pyramids - the Mene Park Hotel is nearby.
And Luxor for the temples in the south.

Answer 5

for a cheapo do a cruise from luxor to Aswan.this will only cost between £50.00--£150.00 for a weeks full board.Entry to various temples is £2.00---£5.00.For about £20.00 you can see most of the tombs in the valley of the kings. A return flight luxor---Cairo (for the pyramids) is about £70.00.

Answer 6

Like Alan B said Cairo/Luxor Stay away from Sharm EL Sheik as this is a 13hr coach ride away (you can fly of course but still...)

Answer 7

Cairo

Answer 8

go to this site it will give you all the info you need.

Answer 9

cairo